1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
795 
The Chicken Yard. 
" THE CROWING HEN." 
We are informed that hens are some¬ 
times affected with atrophy or wasting 
away of the ovaries. The hen, of course, 
stops laying, and takes the voice, plumage, 
habits and spurs of the capon. Will you 
tell us whether this disease is at all com¬ 
mon? Is it characteristic of any particular 
breed? What causes it? Can anything be 
done to prevent it? Would you consider 
that extra large spurs on a hen indicated 
disease of the ovaries? 
The trouble you speak of is not com¬ 
mon among hens, as I never knew of 
but two troubled in that way. I think 
it is a characteristic of no particular 
breed. Of course, the bird’s usefulness 
is at an end. I have owned cows af¬ 
fected in that way, pawing and bellow¬ 
ing and exhibiting the same character¬ 
istics as the male, and they are worth¬ 
less ever after as milkers, as well as for 
reproduction. james ranktn. 
Atrophy of the ovaries is so very rare 
that we have not been able to collect 
sufficiently numerous data to come to 
any definite conclusion as to the mat¬ 
ter. I doubt whether it enters into the 
poultry problem sufficiently to amount 
to much. I have consulted our veteri¬ 
narian, and he has almost nothing to 
say. I should not consider that extra 
large spurs on a hen indicated disease 
of the ovaries. I regret that we have 
not at hand full information as to this 
matter. I doubt if it is yet obtainable. 
A. A. BRIGHAM. 
I have long ago endeavored to in¬ 
vestigate wnat has been termed by 
many—“masculine” hens. The cases 
have been so rare, however, that I have 
never had an opportunity to perform a 
post mortem. I have never noticed that 
such hens changed any. Those that 1 
have seen (very few) were coarse and 
masculine in appearance, and I have 
seen them (and heard them) crow. But 
they laid eggs and were not barren. 
The capon and hen are very similar in 
voice and habits. In fact, caponizing 
effeminates the male. Instead of the 
hen imitating the capon it is the reverse. 
Spurs on hens cannot be accounted for. 
I have seen long spurs on hens that were 
the best of layers, mostly on hens over 
two years olci. If atrophy of the ovaries 
affected hens the combs would shrivel. 
On the contrary, a “crowing hen” has 
a large comb, that is, for the breed. It 
is not characteristic of any breed, and 
is very rare, as I have only seen two or 
three cases in my experience in poultry, 
and I am 60 years old and been at it 
since 1853. 1 have often endeavored to 
study it out, but concluded that as there 
are “masculine” women (in build and 
voice), and masculine females among 
animals, so may it occur among birds, 
but I must confess that I am unable to 
account therefor, as I have had no op¬ 
portunity to become informed. 
P. H. JACOBS. 
There are hermaphrodites of almost 
every species of animals. I well re¬ 
member a specimen of a human mon¬ 
strosity of this kind preserved in the 
museum of one of the medical colleges 
in which I studied in my youth. It is 
a fully formed male and female of the 
human race. It is only a short time 
since I heard of a sheep of this kind, of 
which I took the occasion to inform 
Prof. Law, of Cornell, hoping he might 
secure the example for the college mu* 
seum. Since then I have heard of a bi¬ 
sexual bovine, and I well remember once 
killing a deer, a good many years ago, of 
this kind. In fact, there are many ex¬ 
amples of this union of the sexes in one 
animal, most abundantly among birds, 
and among birds I think among the do¬ 
mestic fowls. So we have crowing hens, 
incubative cocks, hens with spurs, and 
sometimes perfect specimens of the her¬ 
maphrodite or double-sexed animal. It 
For Home Comfort use theRocliester Radiator, 
one stove or furnace does the work of two.— Allv. 
is not a disease, but a freak of nature 
which is going back to first principles; 
a case of atavism, in fact, which occurs 
at times. Of course the abnormal ani¬ 
mal is infertile, generally, because in 
this return to first principles nature is 
unable to go all the way and make her 
work perfect. This is quite akin to a 
sport among plants, which is an instance 
of the survival of some hereditary influ¬ 
ence, and thus the crowing hen and the 
incubative cock are sports, the survival 
in part of the ancient principle of life. 
They are not instances of disease, but 
simply occurrences of a still partially 
active principle of life by which the 
present is connected with the past, go¬ 
ing back to the very origin of life in the 
universe. So, too, there is no method of 
prevention. It is an accident of birth, and 
as is done in the case of abnormal births 
—which even occur in the human race 
as well as among the lower animals— 
the monstrosity is so imperfect that it 
cannot live, and is truly and literally 
an abortion. I doubt if such a hen as 
is described ever laid an egg. It may 
cackle, but this cackling is, as may be 
said, perfunctory altogether, just as her 
crowing is. These instances are very 
interesting, as they connect the present 
with the past, and bring before the mind 
the very origin of things of life, as well 
as of all inanimate matter. We are as 
unable to explain these things, and may 
well rest as the delightful English poet 
felt obliged to do, when he wrote those 
pregnant lines: 
Little flower on the crannied wall; 
Peeping out of the crannies, 
If I could tell what thou wert all in all, 
T should know what God and man Is. 
H. STEWART. 
GAPE WORMS IN POULTRY. 
The dally papers recently announced that 
a woman at Syracuse, N. Y., haci discov¬ 
ered the worm that “causes pip or gapes 
In chickens.” It was referred to Prof. 
Wheeler, of the Geneva Experiment Sta¬ 
tion, who says: 
It seems very improbable that any 
other disease besides the common gapes 
of poultry can be referred to in the clip¬ 
ping. This disease was observed and 
publicly described 100 years ago. In re¬ 
porting the disease from Baltimore in 
1799 Dr. Wiesenthal said: “It is gen¬ 
erally known that these symptoms are 
occasioned by worms in the trachea.” 
The life history of the gapeworm (Syn- 
gamus trachealis) was unknown for a 
long time, however, for Dr. Leidy in 1883 
wrote: “The source of the gapeworm 
of chickens has not been discovered.” 
In the report of the United States De¬ 
partment of Agriculture for 1884 was 
printed a translation of a paper by Meg- 
nin detailing his studies of the gape dis¬ 
ease and its cause. His investigations 
were made in different parts oi France, 
where very serious losses had been 
caused, principally among pheasants, by 
the red worm, as the gapeworm was 
commonly called. In 1883 Dr. H. D. 
Walker, of Franklinville, N. Y., began 
investigations which led to the discov¬ 
ery that the earthworm is a host for the 
embryo of the gapeworm, and that the 
disease is very commonly caused by 
chicks and the young of some wild birds 
eating earthworms from infested ground. 
Studies were made of the development 
of the egg and of the embryo. 
The Syngami are almost invariably 
found in pairs, the male, which is about 
one-fifth of an inch long, attached per¬ 
manently to the female, which is some¬ 
thing more than about half an inch long, 
the pair thus showing the forked ap¬ 
pearance. Both male and female are at¬ 
tached by their mouths to the mucous 
membrane of the bird’s trachea. The 
Syngamus does not lay its eggs, and 
these are usually freed by the rupture 
or disintegration of the body of the adult 
worm after its death. The disease may 
be communicated by the birds swallow¬ 
ing adult worms that have been coughed 
up, by their getting either eggs or the 
embryos in the water or food, or by eat¬ 
ing earthworms infested with the em¬ 
bryos of the Syngamus. A solution of 
salt killed the embryos of the Syngamus 
and also earthworms quicker than other 
substances tried by Walker, so he rec¬ 
ommended the liberal use of salt on in¬ 
fested ground. Megnin found benefit 
from the free use of garlic in the food, 
giving at the same time careful atten¬ 
tion to securing pure water. Other 
remedies are sometimes used, but it is 
best to Keep the young birds away from 
infested ground wherever this is pos¬ 
sible. _ * 
A Dozen Hens. —Twelve B. P. Rock 
hens and two W. Rocks laid in 10 
months 2,452 eggs, and raised 48 chick¬ 
ens. Their largest month’s record was 
August, 280; September, when moulting, 
217. Their house was very poor and 
cold; snow and wind found a ready en¬ 
trance. The hens were confined all the 
year, or the 10 months, not even a yard 
to run in. All our coal ashes were sifted 
on the floor and the house was not 
cleaned often. They were not lousy, and 
were healthy. Chickens I had in coops 
outside had two bad cases of gapes, but 
cured them with vinegar; I mixed it in 
meal and fed them. This year, however, 
I poured half teaspoonful vinegar down 
the chicken’s throat; it was a very bad 
case. It effected a cure, and that 
chicken follows me whenever I go out. 
The feed was hot mash in the morning 
of bran and cornmeal, half of each, with 
a teaspoonful of red pepper two or three 
times a week. Corn at noon and again 
at night. Potato skins, etc., were given 
them in the raw state; nothing was 
cooked; oyster shell for grit. They were 
fed plenty of corn; they were not fat, 
but in good working condition. They 
laid eggs when they were two cents 
apiece, and those who had fine hen¬ 
houses, and White Leghorns, 60 of them, 
bought eggs of me to do tneir Christ¬ 
mas cooking. mrs. f. c. Johnson. 
Erie Co., Pa.__ 
WINTER-LAYING HENS. 
All our hens lay in Winter; pullets start 
about December 1. Pullets are in warm 
houses at all times. Old hens quit moult¬ 
ing about November 1. I feed shorts and 
bran in morning, warm; mixed grain at 
night, oats, corn and sunflower seed. 
Have Winter oats and rye for green food 
in Winter. J- R- 
Tennessee. 
I have pullets at seven months old now 
that were laying in October, but not down 
to solid business. Pullets should be put in 
permanent quarters at five or six months 
old, and given a little extra care, similar 
to that given to laying stock. My Winter 
specialties are green cut bone, chopped 
peppers, a little condition powder and lime 
mixed with what brains we have, and fed 
accordingly. w. T. s. 
We feed no specialties to encourage lay¬ 
ing, only all the grains that we raise on 
farm, principally; corn with a little oats, 
wheat, buckwheat and rye, or just what 
we have in quantity. See that their sleep¬ 
ing places are clean and warm. I find with 
our flock of 25 or 50 (which we have gen¬ 
erally over Winter), that if we see to it 
that they have good care for the nights 
they will choose their locations for day¬ 
times, and that we get about the best re¬ 
sults with little work. k. 
Double Moulting.— I have never known 
of a case of double moulting in a hen. 1 
have frequently known of pullets moulting 
in the Fall after laying a number of eggs. 
The pullet whose picture was once shown 
in The R. N.-Y., together with her eight 
chicks that were hatched when she was 
less than six months old, shed her feathers 
the same Fall. She was hatched in March, 
and had raised her brood of chicks, moult¬ 
ed, and commenced to lay again in De¬ 
cember of the same year. o. w. mapes. 
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