1$04 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
3i3 
MAPES, THE HEN MAN. 
Rhode Island Reds.—1 am much pleased 
with my little flock of live Rhode Island 
Red pullets. 1 would like your opinion of 
my ess record for January, which was 92 
esgs, and February 114. Do you consider 
that a sood record? Two of these pullets 
were hatched the last of June and three 
tlie last of May. They have not had any 
high feeding such as green bone or cut 
clover. Would you advise me to use their 
eggs for setting? mrs. w. 
Ilartsdale. N. Y. 
Judging from the reports which have 
come to hand in response to my invita¬ 
tion for records of good Winter laying, 
a genuine boom has been started for the 
Rhode Island Reds. At least four-fifths 
of the accounts of good Winter laying 
seem to be from this new breed. By all 
means use the eggs from these birds for 
setting. 
Care of Young Chicks.—W ill you tell 
me the best way to feed and care for 
young chickens? We use hens for setting; 
try to have two hatch at one time. They 
have range of buildings and yard, but we 
lose so many by hawks rats, minks, etc., 
that it seems to me we should do better 
if raised in wire enclosure. T. h. 
Claiborne. Va. 
In ft section that is reasonably free 
from “varmints” which prey on young 
chicks, free range is undoubtedly best, 
after they get strong enough to follow 
the mother without getting exhausted. 
This gives well-developed birds, pro¬ 
vided sufficient food is given. Do not 
make the mistake of supposing that the 
old hen can scratch for a large family 
where there is nothing but dirt in which 
to scratch. Better give at least two 
feeds a day of grain in some form. 
Where it is necessary to protect from 
hawks, rats, etc., a frame 12 inches high 
made by setting four boards on edge, 
with inch mesh netting stretched over 
the entire top, will answer the purpose 
nicely until chicks are half grown. 
Bread crumbs from graham bread, 
where this is obtainable, make a good 
safe feed to start with, and cracked 
wheat and cracked corn mixed, half and 
half, or some of the prepared chick 
foods for dry feeding will give good re¬ 
sults with little trouble. Where no free 
range is given animal food in some 
form should also be provided. 
Building Small Houses.—O n page 219 
you say “they are kept in small houses, 
* * 10 x 12 feet.” Will you describe your 
"10 x 12” house? You also say: “With 
buildings as I could now plan them.” Do 
you care to describe this building? 
Vineland, N. J. m. r. t. 
As intimated last week, I shall prob¬ 
ably erect before another Winter a 20x 
20-foot house and attempt to keep 200 
hens in it all in one flock. “The best- 
laid plans” often prove disappointing, 
and this may prove another instance of 
that. kind. I expect to keep in view the 
conserving, as much as possible, of the 
animal heat from the hens, with provi¬ 
sion for sufficient ventilation to keep 
the air pure and the walls dry. A col¬ 
ony of 200 can be fed and cared for 
easier than four colonies of 50 or 10 
colonies of 20 each. I would rather 
build and test first, and describe after¬ 
wards. Our present 10xl2-foot colony 
houses are simply shed-roofed affairs, 
eight feet high in front and five feet 
four inches high in rear, made as near 
wind-proof as possible by the use of 
single siding and paper lining. They 
front nearly south and have a door and 
window in front, with a small entrance 
for the hens between. A table for drop¬ 
pings extends the whole length of the 
building at the rear, with three perches 
above it. Under this table is a small 
open door covered with wire screen in 
Summer. This and the open window in 
front gives a good change of air through 
the house without a draft on the hens 
on the perches above the table. In Win¬ 
ter this small door is kept tightly closed 
while the window in front is kept open 
more or less for ventilation. Unless 
the window is kept open a little these 
houses get quite frosty and damp in se¬ 
vere weather. I prefer an open window 
on the south side and colder dry houses 
to warmer houses and dampness with 
the window closed. 
Eggs for Hatching.—Mow do you select 
eggs for hatching? Do you keep separate 
pens for breeding stock? If so. how many 
hens to a rooster, and how closely do you 
keep them confined? Do you feed such 
breeders the same as others? Have you 
ever tried setting eggs that were “off 
shape” or rough shelled? If so, what was 
the result? R. 
There is a small spring brook run¬ 
ning through the pasture land devoted 
to our hens. A small group of seven 
colony houses lies on the side of this 
stream nearest our barns and dwelling 
house, while (he bulk of the hens are 
located on the other side of the stream. 
The very best of our hens are placed in 
these seven houses, and from them we 
get our eggs for breeding purposes. 
They are not fed and handled different¬ 
ly from the remainder of the hens, ex¬ 
cept that we keep one or two roosters 
(usually one) with each of these colo¬ 
nies, while with the bulk of the colo¬ 
nies we keep no roosters. There are 
about 50 hens in each colony, and the 
eggs are reasonably fertile, averaging 
about 300 fertile eggs to each 360. I do 
not consider these ideal conditions for 
securing fertile eggs, but we only need 
eggs for hatching for about six weeks, 
and it would hardly pay us to divide 
into smaller flocks for that short time. 
By piling a few extra eggs on top of the 
trays for the first five days, we have no 
trouble to get as many fertile eggs as 
the trays will hold, and allow for easy 
turning. There is very little loss on 
the infertile eggs at this time of year, 
as we test them out on the fifth day, 
and find ready sale for them to bakers 
at nearly full price. If I wanted to se¬ 
cure best conditions for fertile eggs I 
would want one male (Leghorn) to each 
colony of 20 hens, and then allow free 
range and feed no wet mash. I have 
never tried setting eggs that are “off 
shape,” always discarding those that 
are not about perfect in shape, size and 
shell, expecting like to produce like. 
We delayed starting our incubators this 
Spring until March 15. so as to allow 
(he snow to melt and give the hens a 
few days run on the ground. With one 
male and 50 hens closely confined in our 
small 10xl2-foot houses as they were 
this Winter for over four months, I 
should not expect very fertile eggs, nor 
chicks with great vitality. At this 
writing (March 25) the snow has mostly 
disappeared, and our three large incu¬ 
bators are all filled. o. w. mapes. 
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. _ _ lugnt...._ 
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