1904 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
29i 
good ventilation, and the rest is not so 
important. 
Crowded Hens. 
O. W. Mapes, in The R. N.-Y., says he 
believes that 200 hens could safely be kept 
in a room 20x 20 feet. Well, Mr. Mapes has 
more than 200 hens, the expense of a build- 
ins 20x20 is not prohibitive, and there is no 
law to prevent Mr. Mapes from giving a 
practical demonstration of confidence in 
his belief. 
The above clipping from Farm Poultry 
comes as a sort of challenge, and no one 
can be more anxious to see such a “prac¬ 
tical demonstration” than myself. Had 
I not expected to make a trial of 200 
hens in a 20x20-foot house another 
Winter I should not have ventured to 
advance the idea. It takes but little 
more time to scatter enough feed for a 
large flock than a small one. and one can 
have a better idea of whether the hens 
are getting the proper amount of food 
when he can stand by while they are 
eating. This consumes too much time 
where hens are kept in small flocks in 
sufficient numbers to secure a good in¬ 
come. Feed, labor and interest on cost 
of plant are the big items of cost in egg 
production. If we can reduce the two 
latter to a given amount of the former, 
a decided gain will result. This I be¬ 
lieve can be done by larger flocks with¬ 
out detriment to the egg yield. In say¬ 
ing this I know that I am challenging 
criticism from most of the experts. The 
following extract from a personal letter 
from Mr. Turner shows that he “trem¬ 
bles” because he has 150 hens in a house 
60x16 feet: 
A number of years ago an egg buyer 
called and bought of me Winter eggs, com¬ 
plaining of the unproductive condition of 
his flock of hens. He represented his flock 
as much larger than mine and not an egg. 
I asked for particulars. T advised a radical 
change, so radical that I knew he would 
not heed me. First of all kill half his flock 
even though he had to give their carcasses 
to the remaining half. Of course this was 
not necessary; he could have sold them to 
the butcher. In your statement of inquiry 
you fortunately refer to the identical hou. e 
which in the Winter of 1898-99 I tested .the 
very problem you propound. I copy from 
my private poultry journal of that date: 
Total stock 400 pullets. The house in ques¬ 
tion is No. 3, and the exact number of pul¬ 
lets in No. 3 I cannot, at this minute, tell, 
but in the vicinity of 185. January 1, 1899, 
snow two feet deep, savage weather, hens 
confined; January 2, cold and cloudy, two 
hens died from catarrh( roup); January 3, 
fine day, stock healthy, appearance O. K., 
plenty of meat and bone; January 9, still 
confined, weather sharp, snow two feet 
deep, too many hens in house No. 3. Janu¬ 
ary 10, zero, many of the fowls in house 
No. 3 affected with colds; 125 hens enough. 
January 11, 12 below zero, no wind; January 
12, reduced house No. 3 to 150 hens; this 
is the highest number compatible with 
health and profit this house can accommo¬ 
date. House No. 2 (90x16) can carry 225 
O. K. From the above recorded experience 
my pullets in house No. 3 caught cold, roup 
developed, egg production ceased. I quar¬ 
antined about 50 from this house. I copy 
from journal under date of February 1, 
1899. “Lost from roup to date 35 pullets. 
February 2, lost two more from roup; many 
in pens with one eye closed. House No. 3 
contains 132 hens and a total stoppage in 
egg production, besides the brain and soul- 
trying ordeal of doctoring hens. Since that 
experience I, until the present, have kept 
the total number down to 125, which I con¬ 
sider plenty. In Summer all things are 
changed, and I can entertain 200 or even 
225 in the same house and the same num¬ 
ber (200 or 225) can be comfortably cared 
for if one is sure of suitable climatic influ¬ 
ences that will permit daily, or every other 
or thrice weekly roaming out of doors. The 
foregoing experience, not theory, amply 
answers your interrogation. I am now 
carrying 150 pullets in this house (and I 
tremble), they are fine and from these I 
am harvesting between 50 and 60 eggs daily. 
Mr. Turner thought he settled the 
question five years ago when he wrote 
“125 hens enough.” “House No. 3 now 
contains 132 hens and a total stoppage 
°t egg production.” He now writes un¬ 
der date of December 24, 1903: “I am 
now carrying 150 pullets in this house 
(and I tremble). They are fine, and 
from them I am harvesting between 50 
and 60 eggs daily.” The former experi¬ 
ence was evidently due to some cause 
aside from crowded* quarters, since there 
are more hens in the very same house 
now. Turn on more light. 
o. w. MAPES. 
“Did dat last job o’ yours do you any 
good?” asked the first burglar. “Well, 
it’ll improve my education, I guess. The 
man of the house was a book agent, and 
before I got away he made me buy a 
cyclopaedia.”—Philadelphia Press. 
We have before us a copy of “Poultry 
Keeping for Profit”—a handsome book of 
196 pages, Sxll inches, crowded full of use¬ 
ful and valuable poultry information. The 
accompanying illustration gives but a faint 
idea of the beauty of the cover, but beau¬ 
tiful as it is, it will be valued more for the 
common sense articles in it. It discusses 
the poultry question thoroughly from A to 
Z. Among the articles which have espe¬ 
cially appealed to us are chapters on 
Profitable' Broiler Raising, 
Winter Chickens or Soft Roasters, 
Profitable Egg Farming, 
Incubators on the Farm, 
Profitable Duck Growing, 
Woman’s Work—What She Can Do. 
In addition to these practical articles, it 
lists all the standard poultry supplies, 
remedies and late conveniences and appli¬ 
ances for the poultry raiser's uses, it de¬ 
scribes fully the famous Cyphers line of 
incubators and brooders, and gives hun¬ 
dreds of illustrations of the largest and 
best equipped poultry farms in the world, 
telling how the leaders have attained their 
success. 
The book has been prepared at great ex- 
pehse; it is worth dollars to anyone inter¬ 
ested in poultry, but we have by special 
arrangement with the publishers provided 
for the free distribution of a limited edition 
to our readers. You ought to have this 
book and you may have it absolutely free. 
Send your name direct to the publishers, 
Cyphers Incubator Co., Buffalo, N. Y., and 
mention this paper. You’ll get the book b> 
return mail. 
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A treatise on the diseases of stock 
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