284 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
April 1, 
A PIG TALE FROM MICHIGAN, 
Having been much interested in the pig 
tales in The R. N.-Y. recently, I thought 
perhaps a Michigan pig tale might in¬ 
terest some one. In the Spring of 1889 
I made up my mind to raise some pigs, 
hut being green at the business I suf¬ 
fered in consequence. After looking 
around for a suitable sow 1 finally pur¬ 
chased one that had been discarded for 
breeding and was in the fattening pen. 
The man said she was no good for breed¬ 
ing, never giving over four at a litter. 
She was a fine looking animal, weighing 
about 350 pounds, half Chester White 
and half Victoria. I gave what she was 
estimated to be worth for pork, and I 
brought her home thinking that the other 
fellow didn’t know anything about hogs. 
She was bred to a purebred Berkshire 
and had two pigs. So ended chapter one 
of the hog tale. Next she was bred to 
a half blood Cheshire and had 17 nice 
mgs, but six of them soon died. The re¬ 
mainder I kept and picked out a nice gilt 
to breed from, having decided not to keep 
the old one any longer. From this gilt I 
raised 97 pigs in eight litters, always 
using a Berkshire male. Her pigs were 
.admired by every one that saw them, it 
being next to impossible to keep enough 
for my own use; they seemed to fill the 
bill for a good all around hog. From this 
short hog experience I learned that a 
breeding sow should never be fat; that 
she should be bred continuously; that a 
cross of the Chester White and Berkshire 
made the best market pigs for me, but 
always a Chester sow and Berkshire boar, 
and never the other way; that grass is in¬ 
dispensable to a breeding hog; that there 
is money in hogs if we only have enough 
of the fellow feeling, which makes us 
wondrous kind with the swill pail. 
Caro, Mich._ j. F B 
LEADING QUESTIONS TO A HEN 
MAN. 
The following questions are asked by 
G. P., Townsend Harbor, Mass., who 
first wishes to know how I raise my 
chicks. I use both incubators and hens 
to hatch chicks, and hens and brooders 
to raise them. 
How many are put with a hen ? 
Depends on time of year and size of 
hen; as many as I think she can keep 
warm, from 13 to 20. 
How do you feed them? 
Dry bread in stove oven, crush it with 
rolling pin, and mix with equal quan¬ 
tity of hard-boiled egg, chopped very 
fine; feed it on clean sand, so grit 
adheres to it, and gets in their giz¬ 
zards with first feeds. After two or three 
days I mix “Wyandotte Chick Feed” with 
the above (any of the chick feeds will 
answer) ; give common oatmeal with the 
chick feed, bake a “Johnny cake”—give 
small cracked corn, cut a cabbage head 
in quarters and let them pick at it; after 
they are 10 days old let them have beef 
scraps to pick at; mix fine charcoal in 
their mash; give all the variety you can. 
After two weeks feed them nearly the 
same as the old hens. 
How do you keep off hawks and foxes? 
Use wire netting over their runs. The 
little Pigeon hawk is the only kind that 
bothers much about here, and that is 
not troublesome after the first of June. 
When do you house your pullets in the 
Autumn ? 
They have free range in the Fall, roam 
over the lots everywhere, and I leave 
them out as long as possible. I intend 
to get them in Winter quarters just be¬ 
fore first snow; usually the first week in 
November sees them housed. 
How do you feed them when housed? 
The same as the hens: dry feed in the 
morning, mash at noon, dry feed at night. 
When do you expect your April-hatched 
pullets to commence laying? 
Some will lay in October; pullets of 
the same hatch will vary a month in time 
of laying. 
What is your method of breeding? Do 
you introduce new blood each season, or 
do you follow “line breeding?’.’ 
Both. I save a few of nly best cocks, 
also buy 100 to 200 eggs from some good 
breeder, and save some of the best cock¬ 
erels for breeders. I raised 104 chicks 
last year of Duston’s stock for males to 
put with my hens. 
Does your average of 27 cents per dozen 
for 1904 represent average market price or 
average market price raised by numerous 
sales of eggs for setting? 
It represents practically the market 
price, as I did not advertise or try to sell 
eggs for setting, but did sell some for that 
purpose. 
What kind of house do you prefer? 
I think more eggs will be received from 
hens in small flocks, and I prefer small 
houses, say 10x10 feet set 10 feet apart and 
connected together by scratching sheds. 
Sheds are entirely open on front (south) 
side, except for wire netting. Main doors 
of coops open into sheds, and are left wide 
open all day Winter and Summer, except 
in zero weather and during driving 
storms. Cloth drop curtains keep out 
some of the snow from sheds, also driv¬ 
ing rains. 
How often do you clean off droppings 
boards? 
Once I week when I can; it used to be 
the regular Saturday job of my hired boy, 
because he did not have to go to school 
that day. In Winter I have to wait for 
a thaw sometimes, but if they get loaded 
up too much, I go at it and manage to get 
most of it off, as the dry earth sifted on 
the boards prevents most of it from stick¬ 
ing. 
The next question is rather long to 
quote entire; it is about the “very remark¬ 
able” health of my fowls, as stated in a 
recent number of The R. N.-Y. He wants 
to know “the secret of it.” Well, so far 
as I know there isn’t any “secret” about 
it. Seeing things is one of the reasons. 
It is remarkable how blind we all are; of 
the pictures made on the eye probably the 
brain does not take note of one quarter. 
But of things concerning one’s business it 
is well to cultivate the habit of seeing. 
For instance, I sec one hen does not jump 
down with the rest for her feed, but stays 
on the roost, and I-see that the feathers on 
her head do not lie down smoothly; evi¬ 
dently she isn’t “feeling good.” I catch 
her, smell of her beak, no roup odor 
there; drop her head down and look at 
the vent; there is the trouble, canker all 
around the edge of the vent, “vent gleet” 
they call it. I just had a case of this very 
kind. I put her in a little coop in cook¬ 
ing shed; put powdered sulphur on the 
canker, gave her all the charcoal she 
would eat, mixed sulphur in her mash and 
she is getting well. She laid one egg next 
day after I shut her up. If you see a hen 
with the feathers soiled behind, examine 
her, it may or many not be something seri¬ 
ous. Look for lice in the hollow just 
above the vent and for nits at the root 
of the feathers below the vent, it may be 
that she is very lousy. This is frequently 
the case with old roosters in Winter and 
early Spring. Information is without 
doubt very valuable, but I am of the opin¬ 
ion that success with poultry, as in any 
other business, depends mainly on “the 
man behind the gun.” geo. a. cosgrove. 
A Prolific Cow.— 1 have frequently seen 
In The It. N.-Y. the milk and butter record 
given of cows. I have one with a calf record 
that I think can’t: he beaten. January 23 she 
gave birth to two, and less than a year ago 
(I do not know the exact date) she gave 
birth to three, making five calves in the year. 
I feel curious to know if this ever happened 
before. These were all good sized and living 
calves. w. n. i\ 
Rahway, N. J. 
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