1903 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
847 
IVIAPES, THE HEN MAN. 
Anti-Corn Mixture.—I saw in The R. 
X.-Y., on page 750, a description by A. C. 
I’.. Pattersonville, N. Y., of the way he 
feeds chickens, and the outcome of it. You 
consider it a bad ration, and state that 
you are still using the mixture mentioned 
on page 176 in The R. N.-Y. as anti-corn 
mixture in connection with corn, both for 
j’oung birds and laying hens. Would you 
give me the proportion of the mixture 
above mentioned, as I was not a reader 
of page 176, and tell me whether you feed 
the mixture in the morning only, what at 
noon, if anything, and what at night? 
Rucks Co., Pa. a. c. G. 
There are probably a good many other 
new readers who did not see page 176. 
The anti-corn mixture spoken of there 
is as follows: 300 pounds wheat bran, 
400 pounds middlings (fine). 100 pounds 
gluten meal, 100 pounds malt sprouts, 
ioO pounds animal meal. We sometimes 
add three or four bags of cornmeal to 
the above for use in cold weather. If 
malt sprouts are not easily obtainable 
substitute an extra 100 pounds of either 
wheat bran or gluten, in place of the 
sprouts. We give one feed a day of this 
mash, using milk or part milk when we 
have it for mixing. The corn or crack¬ 
ed corn fed in connection with it is 
sometimes fed in one feed, and some¬ 
times in two feeds, depending on cir¬ 
cumstances. Adult fowls that are on a 
range do not need feeding oftener than 
at morning and night, younger birds 
need feeding oftener. I think that hens 
that are confined in small quarters do 
belter to divide the corn into two feeds, 
a little at noon and the remainder at 
night. We have been feeding nothing 
but this mash in connection with corn, 
either whole or cracked, for nearly a 
year, and the health of the fiock has 
been exceptionally good. Our young 
stock was raised in the same brooders 
and houses used last year, without any 
attempt to disinfect, with no appearance 
of any signs of roup thus far. We re¬ 
cently held our “annual round-up,” plac¬ 
ing all in their regular Winter quarters, 
without finding a roupy bird in the 
whole fiock of over 1,500. This is the 
first season in years that we have not 
had more or less trouble with roup. Our 
young stock have been kept a little hun¬ 
gry, hardly eating their fill so as to walk 
away satisfied during the season. Can it 
be that the extra health and vig^r se¬ 
cured through this treatment have en¬ 
abled them to ward off tlie attacks of 
roup germs? There surely must still be 
some lurking about. 
iricBDiNG FOR ICgg.s.— You wi'ole me ad- 
vi.sing the use of ci’acked corn, wheat and 
.skim-milk for a ration for nrs' hen.s. keep¬ 
ing it before them all the time. 1 tried 
it faithfully and liad great succes.s. My 
60 hens laid from January 1 to July ], 
lOai, 415 dozen eggs. The first of August 
they began to moult and have moulted ever 
since. We never have had less than two 
eggs a da,y, but even now we are onlv 
getting four eggs i)er day out of the 60 
old hens and 2.5 pullets. I have tried to 
keep all three things before them, but of 
late have been out of skim-milk a good 
deal. Is there any substitute, and is but¬ 
ter-milk from a factory where the cream 
is cured in the old w'ay without a separa¬ 
tor or Pasteurizer any good? I :im very 
anxious to get them laying at once. One 
cause of our pullets not having laid sooner 
I fear is that the red spider and lice got 
in their pens, and we lost a great many, 
and, of course, put the others back badly. 
Then w'e have another trouble that I can¬ 
not name. A chicken’s head will swell 
fearfully on one side, almost as large as 
a walnut. I should call it the roup, but 
the hen does not have any discharge fi-om 
the nortrils nor from the eyes; the swell¬ 
ing is perfectly dry. Tl^ hen does not 
seem sick for a week, but later dies. Why 
did you not continue letting the hens 
balance their own ration? n. r. d. 
Xew York. 
We did not continue to l(et our bens 
balance tbeir own ration because they 
acted just as this correspondent’s seem 
to have done. We got fine results for a 
time, but later on the fiock seemed to 
lose in Health and thrift. It seems to be 
pretty well settled that placing the three 
kinds of food where the hens can help 
themselves at will, is sure to produce a 
big egg yield for a time. This is spe¬ 
cially true in cases where the hens have 
previously been scantily fed, and are 
not in their moulting period. The sur¬ 
prise of a full meal whenever it is want¬ 
ed, seems to act as a stimulus to the egg 
machinery, requiring only from tw’o to 
three weeks to get it in full operation. 
From my experience, this result can be 
depended on after hens have fully re¬ 
covered from moult, but it is useless to 
try it earlier. The buttermilk mention¬ 
ed by this correspondent should be al¬ 
most as good as skim-milk. The trouble 
with swollen heads may be some form 
of roup. This disease is apt to appear 
in different forms, sometimes called by 
different names. The same offensive 
odor from the breath can usually be de¬ 
tected in all forms that have come un¬ 
der my notice. 
Wii.n Game Rations. —Some of our 
chickens had a feast a few days ago on 
“possum” meat. It seemed like the 
“irony of fate” to see them picking 
opossum bones entirely bare of fiesh. 
We have had (|uite an epidemic of 
skunks, opossums, etc, A number of 
dead birds had been found, indicating 
their presence, and special pains were 
taken to shut every door at night. Fin¬ 
ally we began to find partly devoured 
birds inside the houses in the morning. 
An examination revealed the culprit in 
the shape of an opossum, snugly curled 
up in a corner out of sight. He had evi¬ 
dently entered early in the evening, be¬ 
fore the doors were closed, and been 
made prisoner. Jesse got out his traps 
and now has quite an array of skunk 
and opossum skins. When you find a 
dead hen with the meat all eaten clean 
from the bones of the head and neck, 
you may look out for “possum.” When you 
find most of the carcass devoured, with 
the gizzard left untasted, then look out 
for skunks. When you find them simply 
dead from sucking of blood from a 
wound in the neck look out for minks 
or weasels. When they are simply bitten 
through the back, and cast aside for new 
victims, look out for the neighbor’s dog. 
I have known several cases where dogs 
would kiH in this way by the dozen, af¬ 
ter the manner of sheep-killing dogs. 
O. W'. .MAI'ES. 
POULTRY BUSINESS IN CALIFORNIA 
The poultry business in California is 
carried on a little differently from what 
it is in the East. In fact, it is so differ¬ 
ent that successful eastern poultry rais¬ 
ers coming out here have to learn the 
business all over again in many re¬ 
spects. To begin with, a house that you 
can only put 10 or a dozen fowls in we 
can safely use for 75. Do not suppose 
for one instant that because we have a 
mild climate we need only slat houses. 
Our cold is very damp and penetrating, 
and the winds are very cold in Winter. 
We build our houses of single walls with 
batten over the cracks. We employ both 
the yarding and colony systems; the 
colony system being the most popular. 
But between you and me, I do not think 
it is the best. My favorite house is a 
house and scratching shed combined 
with a dropping board. Wheat is our 
principal feed, backed by bran, mid¬ 
dlings and cocoanut oil cake. Corn is 
too expensive for us. Some crushed 
oats are used. Pretty nearly every va¬ 
riety in the catalogue is raised in thq, 
State, but the White Leghorn is the 
principal, one, Minorcas and Plymouth 
Rocks taking second place, as the Cali¬ 
fornia market demands a white egg. 
Poultry is sold by the dozen out here. 
We have some very large poultry farms, 
ranging from 500 to 6.000 hens each. 
Petaluma is the principal poultry cen¬ 
ter, but there are many other places that 
have large poultry farms. 
The following are the exact figures of 
the receipts for egg and poultry for one 
week at Petaluma: 
September 
Dozen 
Dozen 
eggs. 
poultry 
2 .? 
. 5,904 
174 
24 
. 5.796 
2.30 
25 
. 5.790 
42 
26 
. 6.080 
28 
. 6.0 IS 
i74 
29 
. 5,688 
164 
784 
This is from one town alone, but in 
spite of all this, California does not pro¬ 
duce enough poultry and eggs for her 
own use. San Francisco imports from 
four to six carloads a week. w. s. rose 
Take-Down Repeating Shotguns 
Don’t spend from $50 to $200 for a gun, when for so 
much less money you can buy a Winchester Take- 
Down Repeating Shotgun, which will outshoot and 
outlast the highest-priced double-barreled gun, 
besides being as safe, reliable and handy. Your 
dealer can show you one. They are sold everywhere. 
FREEi f\ir 160-Paqe Ulusiraied Catalogue, 
Y' WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS CO. NEW HAVEN.CONN. 
Your Cows Will Pay 
bigger profits and you will have 
an easier time of it if you use an 
EMPIRE 
Cream Separator^ 
the easy runniriK, easily cleaned, long- 
lived. no-repairs machine. Our book shows 
why it pays you better than any other. 
May we send you a free copy? 
EMPIRE CREAM SEPARATOR CO., 
Bloomfield, N. J. Chicago, Ills. 
tiarpiKs 
Tubular 
Separators 
differ widely from" the complicated 
, “bucket bowl” types. Its bowl bp no 
/complications; all others have. It has_a 
I waist high milk vat; all others^ 
I are head high. It has bottomf 
\feed. simple, accessible gear -1 
i ing, stands on its own bottom. I 
. No other does. Skims clean,| 
I turns easy. Ask any user. 
Free Catalogue No. 153 
^P.M.Sharples,West Chester, Pa.| 
k The lharptn Co., Chicago, Ills,’ 
SENT 
under positive gfuaran* 
tee to refund money 
if not satisfactory. No 
boltinefood. Perfect 
digestion. All tinned, 
no rust,easily cleaned. 
KEYSTONE CALF FEEDER. 
Used and endorsed by leading dalrjmen, a^cultural col¬ 
leges and experiment stations. Complete ^vith extra nipple, 
flM, express prepaid. Boole free. Agents wanted. 
M. T. PHILLIPS, Box 18, Pomeroy, Pau 
DE LAVAL 
CREM SEPARATORS 
As much better than imitating 
separators as such separators 
are better than setting systems. 
Send for catalogue and name of 
nearest local agent. 
THE OE LAVAL SEPARATOR CO. 
I Randolph & Canal Sts. 
j CHICAGO. 
74 Cortlandt Street, 
NEW YORK. 
Save Cream 
Save much on the cost, save labor 
of cleaning and operating by 
, buying the 
AMERICAN 
CREAM SEPARATOR. 
We send to you to put it on trial. 
It will prove these things to any 
man’s satisfaction. You should know 
about it. Ask for the free catalogue. 
American Separator Co. Boi 1066, Bainbrtdge, N.Y 
HOWTO FEED AND BREED HOBS 
is of Importance to swine growers.» A 
practical, clean, common-sense swine 
paper for farmers can be had from now 
to January, 1905 , by sending 10 Cents 
In Silver at once to 
BLOODED STOCK, 
Oxford, Pa. 
Only One Hand 
needed to stanchion Cattle 
if you have our 
Steel Latch Stanchion 
When open is locked ready for 
cattleto comein; closed.itswlng^s 
I freely. Best dairy cattle tic be* 
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; greatest freedom. Made of selected 
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TOLEDO PLOW CO., Dept. R, TOLEDO, OHIO, 
COW COMFORT 
means cow profit. No stobto or dairy 
barn Is eomploto witbooi Ahs 
FOSTER STEEL STANCHIOR. 
All steel end iron. **V** bm. No oor- 
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build a cow bam without them. Write 
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FRANK H. BATTLES, 
k Seed Grower, Reehostor,NaY« 
Tost of the Sc^KbS 
I 
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i ■ Stock Food cannot be fed with a decided profit, as the test of 
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Dr. Hess 
STOCK FOOD 
is the only scientific stock tonic on the market. It is formu¬ 
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Our Information Bureati.— For any disease or condi¬ 
tion for which Dr. Hess Stock Food is not recommended, a 
little yellow card enclosed in every package entitles you to a 
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Dr, Hess Stock Rood is sold on a Avrlttcn 
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DR. HEISS & CI.AIIK, 
Asbland, Ohio. 
Also Mfgrs. of Dr. Hess Poultry Pan 
a-ce-a and Dr. Hess Healing Powder. 
T.r complete treatise on stock and poultry disease, written Dy 
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Instant Louse Killer Kills Uce. 
