1906. 
7o5 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
MAPES, THE HEN MAN. 
On page 642 F. C. C. gives a pretty 
good idea of some of the items of labor 
in connection with the poultry business 
requiring physical strength. I am glad to 
see the attention of persons in poor 
health, who are considering the question 
of turning to poultry as a means of live¬ 
lihood, directed to this side of the story. 
It is hardly fair, however, to allow that 
article to pass without further sifting of 
the facts presented. I showed the arti¬ 
cle to the Deacon, whose good sense on 
most subjects will be remembered by 
readers of The R. N.-Y. 
“What about that dead lift of 60 tons 
made by Mr. Cosgrove?” 
“Why,” said he, “that reminds me of 
the Irishman who used to come to my 
father’s grist mill when I was a boy. He 
bought a lot of new bags that would hold 
three bushels of grain. He came to mill 
one day with four bushels of corn, having 
three bushels in one bag and one in the 
other. Complaining that his new bags 
were too big, as he lifted it out of the 
sleigh. Father asked him why he did not 
put half in each bag. ‘Faith, I niver 
thought of that,’ said Mike.” 
The Deacon allows that while Mr. Cos¬ 
grove may buy his grain, etc., in 100- 
pound bags, a person in poor health could 
buy it nearly or quite as cheaply and 
have it put up in packages of 50 pounds 
each, or even less, at most feed stores. 
As a matter of fact I have often bought 
grain put up in this way. Our 35 colony 
houses require a bigger load of grain 
than we usually draw at once in our hilly 
country, if I put a full bag in each house. 
By leaving my order and bags a day in 
advance I get it put up in bushel lots, 
so that one load will place a supply in 
all the houses. They even mix several 
kinds of grain for me and bag it in this 
way when desired. Most feed dealers in 
the Deacon’s locality keep a delivery 
wagon, and would be glad to deliver 
grain, etc., right into the bins of a person 
in poor- health, at a slight additional 
price. While it is true that “the wages 
of a hired man are not allowable from 
Mr. Johnson’s profits,” the heavy bags of 
feed can be handled by the dealer’s hired 
man with ease. 
“What about those heavy droppings 
from the tables?” 
“Let’s see/’ said the Deacon, scratch¬ 
ing his head, “he wants to clean them 
every morning, does he? Seems to me if 
his health is so poor that he can’t lift 
all he can get from any ordinary flock at 
one time, some of his friends should act 
as breadwinners.” 
As to the “picking, boxing and taking 
to the express office of 600 cockerels and 
hens,” that meads some work. The pick¬ 
ing is the main item, however, and I 
know of no work more suitable for one at 
all able to work for a living, or work 
requiring less of bodily strength. Then 
there are the buyers who prefer live 
birds. The Jewish markets in all our 
large cities require immense supplies of 
live poultry. The 200 or 300 bushels of 
mangels also represent heavy work. They 
must be taken out every day, however, in 
small lots, just as the droppings are 
handled in small lots. The Deacon con¬ 
cludes that any person in poor health at¬ 
tempting to earn a livelihood with poul¬ 
try would better keep an extra 100 hens 
or so, and use the profits from them to 
hire an occasional hour’s work, or day’s 
work, as occasion demands it. 
I predict that anyone in poor health, 
or good health either, who attempts to 
make a living and support a family from 
300 hens is doomed to disappointment. 
In order to make “$400 to $500” from 
them, everything will have to go swim¬ 
mingly. There are a good many chances 
of “missing a stroke” occasionally and 
cutting down the profits. Even a roof 
over the heads of a family, such as will 
satisfy an American family, costs a goodly 
portion of the above amount. How many 
families pay $10 to $15 per month for 
rent of five or six rooms? So many 
people fail to figure on this item of “shel¬ 
ter” as soon as they get into the country. 
Dwellings cost nearly or quite as much 
in country as in city, and those who oc¬ 
cupy them must pay the price, either in 
the form of rent or interest and taxes. 
The labor and time required to take care 
of 300 hens, where the feed is purchased, 
does not represent a livelihood for a 
self-respecting American family. What 
is the use of fooling people into believing 
that time and labor will go so much fur¬ 
ther in the poultry business than in other 
callings? If that were true, poultry pro¬ 
ducts would be getting cheaper, instead 
of advancing constantly in price. 
o. w. MAPES. 
FUNGOID DISEASE IN CHICKS. 
Could some one give me much-neede<J in¬ 
formation as to what ails some of my Rhode 
Island Red chicks? When my first broods 
hatched I used a highly recommended lice 
killer (a powder) on the hens, but it. did not 
agree with the chicks at all. It seemed to 
salivate them, and made their eyes sore; in 
fact, it killed a number of them, and, of 
course, I quit using it. I thought that as 
six or eight weeks had elapsed the effects of 
it would be eliminated, hut about two weeks 
ago f noticed two chicks with what looked 
like a small dark-colored wart on top of 
their bills right over the nostrils. It con¬ 
tinued to grow until it was as large as a 
kernel of field corn in each case. The chicks 
both continued to eat well, but grew poor 
and weak! I removed the hard, horny crust 
from the growths and applied a good salve 
I had, but to no purpose, as they both died, 
and I could think of nothing to lay it to 
unless the poison of the lice killer remained 
in their blood after so long a time had 
elapsed since using it, which seemed strange, 
to say the least. Since then no less than 
a dozen have been peculiarly affected, though 
none has yet died. Still there are at least 
four which I know will die soon, and I am in 
constant fear of new cases. These are not 
affected exactly like the first two, yet it is 
the same kind of a disease. Most of them 
have tlie growth on each side of the bill, and 
something resembling canker extends from 
it into the mouth and down the throat. They 
cannot even close their bills on account of 
the size of the growth, but they will eat. 
Still others have one or both eyes affected, 
the eyes being swollen to the size of a 
chestnut, and protruding from the head, 
sometimes breaking and matter escaping 
from them. I have usedi coal oil on them, 
as I thought it might be a germ of some 
kind which the oil would kill, but do not 
know that it helps them. I do not know if 
it is contagious, but have put the four worst 
cases by themselves. I have been feeding 
them cracked corn mostly, but have fed 
considerable wheat also. They have unlim¬ 
ited range, and I shut them up closely at 
night, so there are no drafts. They are not 
lousy, and seem healthy other ways than 
what I have mentioned. I have about 300 
and have taken the best care I know of 
them, and this worries me extremely. There 
are a few of the younger chicks that never 
had any of the powder used about them 
that are beginning to show signs of the dis¬ 
ease. It takes two or three weeks for the 
growths to develop and make the chicks get 
poor or droopy. G. h. f. 
Ohio. 
This resembles very much a disease 
called “fungoid.” It is contagious, and 
all birds that show any sign of it should 
be separated from the rest and the worst 
cases killed and burned or buried deeply. 
The bead-like swellings usually start on 
the comb or wattles; are first hard to the 
touch, then grow soft and burst, discharg¬ 
ing a yellowish liquid, which causes fresh 
ulcers, and so on. If this is “fungoid” 
it may be possible to save the birds 
when first taken by washing the head 
often with a strong solution of carbolic 
acid; say 10 grains of the crystals to a 
quart of water; and feed soft food with 
plenty of black pepper in it. There is an 
unusual amount of musty grain of all 
kinds on the market, owing probably to 
the long-continued damp weather. It has 
been impossible to get good clean grain 
some of the time, and I have been 
obliged to feed stuff that was not fit 
because it was impossible to buy any that 
was' better. Barley has been one of the 
cleanest grains I have used, but even 
some of that has been musty. So when 
a man writes that he feeds wheat and 
cracked corn, etc., one cannot tell 
whether it was stuff fit to feed or not. 
Fowls that have free range as these do, 
will stand improper feeding for quite 
a while, but it will tell sooner or later. 
GEO. A. COSGROVE. 
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