212 
TIIH RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 11, 
MAPES, THE HEN MAN. 
Electric Poultry Feeding. 
At bottom of page 71! of The Business lien 
O. W. Mapes refers to a method of closing 
his henhouses at night when first built by 
pressing and electric button. I have an elec¬ 
tric service installed on m.v poultry plant 
that tells me when the temperature in my 
brooder house and incubators go wrong, and 
a variety of other tilings, and would not 
think of getting along without, it. If Mr. 
Mapes would tell the readers of Tut: It. N.-Y. 
how he did it. it would greatly Interest me, 
and very likely many other poultry keepers 
who are electrically inclined. N. l. g. 
South Lee, X. H. 
Tt would make quite a story to tell 
“How I did it.” Some of us have a fac¬ 
ulty of seeing with our mind's eye things 
that have not as yet materialized. Ex¬ 
ercising this faculty, after caring for a 
small flock of hens a number of years, I 
could see how I might have a number of 
such flocks or colonies scattered about on 
my rough pastures, and feed all the flocks 
simultaneously, if 1 had an elevated feed 
box in each house with an opening 
through which the grain could fall out, 
which 1 could operate by electricity. My 
flock of 40 hens was giving a profit of 
about a dollar each, and it took not more 
than three minutes to walk from the 
barn to the hennery and give them their 
breakfast or dinner, as the case might be. 
I figured that I could make the rounds 
to 40 or 50 colonies three times a day, 
and thus have a paying business. At 
prices which guaranteed eggs were bring¬ 
ing at that time, and prices of grain, each 
hen would only have to lay 100 eggs a 
year to clear a profit of $1. The reason 
l wanted the electric feed boxes, was to 
feed all the flocks simultaneously at their 
own homes, and avoid having them con¬ 
gregate about me as I carried their feed 
to them, thus tempting them so far aivay 
from their homes that they would not get 
back. Closing the doors at night was an 
afterthought in order to save steps. 
I know practically nothing about elec¬ 
tricity, and never saw such a device in 
operation, so I had to begin at the bot¬ 
tom. I did know, however, that an elec¬ 
tro-magnet has a pretty strong “pull” 
when the current is on, and that it ceased 
to pull the instant the current is broken. 
I soon learned by experimenting that I 
could take a small brass or steel wire, 
and wind a spiral spring over a rod the 
size of a lead pencil. This spiral spring 
also had a “pull” when extended, strong 
enough to release a latch, but not strong 
enough to pull the armature away from 
the electro-magnet when the current was 
on. After making a hopper-shaped feed 
box large enough to hold a feed of grain 
for 40 hens, it was fastened against the 
inside wall of the hennery as high as I 
could conveniently reach, and a hole cut 
in the front side near the bottom large 
enough to let the grain fall out over a 
disk below, which scattered it well over 
the floor of the house. Over this hole a 
slide was fitted, and another spiral spring 
attached to the slide. This spring had 
sufficient "pull” to raise the slide from 
over the hole. My latch was simply a 
lever made from bard wood, -fastened to 
the front of the box with a screw which 
acted as a fulcrum. The armature was 
fastened to tile upper end of this lever or 
latch, and the lower end engaged the 
point of the slide and held it down over 
the hole when the armature was held 
against the magnet. The first spring was 
attached to the lever opposite the arma¬ 
ture, so that when the current was broken 
and the magnet ceased to pull, the tipper 
end of the lever to which the armature 
was made fast would be pulled by the 
spring in one direction, moving the lower 
end of the lever in the other direction, 
thus unlatching the slide. This allowed 
the other spring to lift the slide, and the 
contents of the box to run out through 
the hole. The same spring which lifted 
the slide from over the bole, was after¬ 
ward made to lift a latch, which allowed 
the dodr, covering the small opening 
which the hens use as an entrance and 
exit, to drop in place at night. This small 
drop-door is fastened up during the day 
by means of a string passing up and over 
a pulley with a counterweight at the other 
end of the string a little lighter than the 
door. 1 his word picture may not be very 
lucid, but will give you some idea of 
"how I did it.” 
Many of the problems presented were 
new to me, and I entered into the solu¬ 
tion of them with as much zest, and 
probably with as much profit mentally, as 
the average school boy or girl tackles 
algebra or the dead languages. What I 
had seen with my mind's eye was finally 
seen with the physical eye, when I could 
look out upon 35 flocks of hens scat¬ 
tered over the fields, press an electric 
button, and see the whole business start 
with a rush of feet and wing home for 
their dinner or supper. Some years they 
have given $1 each profit above cost of 
feed, and other years nearly so. The 
problems which present themselves for’ 
solution along the road of the hen man 
are not all connected with electric de¬ 
vices. Those were easy beside some which 
yet remain to be solved. 
What is the need of so many small 
flocks? 
I have since learned that electric feed 
boxes are not necessary in order to keep 
the colonies from intermingling to any 
great extent, and that the trouble and 
expense of keeping up a battery and the 
line in order are items to be considered. 
I believe that the practical egg producer 
of the future on an extensive scale will 
have much larger flocks than we of to¬ 
day. I thought a year ago that I would 
try 200 hens in one flock in a 20 x 20- 
foot house. I have hesitated about trans¬ 
ferring the picture from my mind's eye to 
my physical eye, because 1,000 bens all in 
one flock and one building, presents a 
more attractive and profitable picture. 
One man should be able to care for three 
or four such flocks with much less work 
than for my 35 small flocks. I can see 
no good reason why the hens will not 
be more comfortable and more produc¬ 
tive in such a building than in small 
flocks. 
A two-story house 30 x 60 feet would 
be ample for a thousand hens, and could 
be well built for about $ 700 . T would use 
the lower floor for a feeding and laying 
room, and the upper story for the roost¬ 
ing quarters. Such a building could be 
economically heated in severe weather, 
and the plan appeals to me very strongly 
from the practical side. 
“Hens by the acre” when I only saw them 
in my mind’s eye, was not a more invit¬ 
ing picture. Results in life come from 
thinking first, decision second, and action 
third. T have only reached the first stage 
as yet. Possibly some of my readers 
may be ready to take the second and 
third steps in advance of me. 
o. w. MAPES, 
Arsenate of Lead. —We have l>een using 
arsenate of lead for spraying potatoes the 
last two seasons, and like it much better 
Ilian Paris-green. I have used the homemade 
mixture, also Swift's arsenate of lead, and 
find that Swift's sticks a little better than 
the homemade, hut costs more. I have used 
them both with Bordeaux, and if it can get 
dry on the vines before it rains it will take a 
very hard rain to wash it off. There is no 
danger of burning the vines with tlie lead 
as with Paris-green. We use about two 
pounds to a barrel of water. e. J. B. 
ITackettstown. X. .T. 
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Rub hard worked horses with 
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