Vol. LXV. No. 2959. 
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 13, 1906. 
WEEKLY. £1.00 PEK YEAR. 
FIVE HUNDRED HENS IN ONE HOUSE. 
Mapes Plans a New Experiment. 
The idea of keeping hens in one big flock instead of 
numerous small flocks is to be tested the coming year. 
It has been incubating in my brain so long that unless 
something be done besides plan and talk, it is likely to 
meet the fate of the many incubator chicks that “die in 
the shell.” We broke ground to-day for the erection 
of a modern hen barn. It is to be unlike any I have 
ever seen or heard of in many respects, and should be 
considered in the light of an experiment. If it proves 
to be a failure there will doubtless be many ready with 
their usual “I told you so.” If a success, some advance 
will have been made along the shadowy paths to 
knowledge of the poultry industry. In either case 
readers are sure to be interested in watching the de¬ 
velopment of the idea, as well as in the outcome. I 
sometimes wonder whether the 
work of our experiment stations 
would not have more interest 
to the public if more attention 
were paid to keeping the pub¬ 
lic informed as to the progress 
of various experiments, instead 
of reserving the whole for bul¬ 
letins to be issued at the close 
of the test. 
For years the belief has been 
growing with me that a multi¬ 
plication of small flocks of hens 
for the production of eggs in¬ 
volves an amount of labor in 
their daily care, out of all pro¬ 
portion to the benefits derived 
from the smaller flock. The pres¬ 
ent venture will consist of a 
two-story building 24 x 36 feet, 
into which 500 hens will be 
placed, and handled as one 
flock. Each hen will have the 
freedom of the whole building, 
except a small space at the door 
as you enter on the lower floor. 
This will be used as a feed 
room and be partitioned off 
from the hens’ apartment, most¬ 
ly with wire netting. Cement 
or wood for floor? This is one 
of the first questions arising 
for decision. The growing pop¬ 
ularity of cement floors in all 
such buildings caused me to 
hesitate. For reasons which will 
appear further on, I prefer not 
to have the floor directly on the ground, but prefer an 
air-space under the floor, and the decision is in favor 
of a board floor. The sills will be placed on a stone 
foundation, laid without mortar. As warmth in Win¬ 
ter is one of the ends sought in planning this structure, 
many will question the wisdom of this arrangement. 
“Why did you not make a tight foundation and pre¬ 
vent the cold winds from circulating under the house?” 
This question is sure to be asked of me many times. 
We will wait and see whether results justify my choice. 
Without going into that question at the present time, I 
will simply ask what is the difference in the tempera¬ 
ture of air fanned to a stiff breeze, and the same air 
at rest, all other conditions being the same? 
The present high price of lumber makes it necessary 
to scan the lists carefully in order to keep the cost 
within bounds of prospective profits. After a somewhat 
careful examination of the subject, spruce flooring was 
decided on, for the first floor at least. I his makes a 
good stiff floor, and one that can he cleaned often with 
hoe or shovel without trouble with slivers torn off with 
the shovel. In our market the matched spruce, one 
inch thick and six inches wide, costs $32 per 1,000 feet. 
Similar goods made from southern pine can be bought 
for $25, but it is of the poorest quality, and I deem 
the spruce worth the difference in cost. The cheaper 
goods can be used for the loft floor, and possibly for 
lining on inside of studding. The site selected is a dry 
knoll 50 feet in rear of cow-barn, with room to extend to 
300 feet in length if ever found desirable. It has a 
nearly southern exposure, with never-failing spring 
water at the foot of knoll only 50 feet from front of 
building. Another spring on higher ground near by 
could be piped by gravity to the first floor. 
For a flock of 500 hens it will be desirable to have 
room for storing some grain and other things within 
the building, where it will be handy of access, and out 
of reach of the hens. Mv first thought was for a 
I'RAINING THE YOUNG STOCK FOR LABOR’S BATTLE. Fig. 320. 
four-foot alley across one entire end. This would give 
room for feeding troughs for dry mash, and drinking 
troughs, along the entire length of the alley, or 24 
feet. The Deacon suggested instead of the four-foot 
alley-way, a floor space S x 12 feet midway of one end. 
This will give the same floor space, in much more con¬ 
venient form for storing or mixing feet. It also gives 
32 running feet around three sides of this enclosed 
space for feeding and drinking troughs, all of which 
can be kept filled from the feed-room, without enter¬ 
ing the liens’ apartment. 
Much has been said of late about the amount of labor 
required to care for 300 hens, and whether or not a 
person in poor health can perform it. It is believed 
that in this style of building all the work in connec¬ 
tion with the regular daily care of 500 hens can easily 
he performed by a school boy or girl out of school 
hours. M_v granddaughter. Bessie, who lives with me, 
will probably undertake to give a practical demonstra¬ 
tion of flu; -ibovCi after the plant is'got into working 
order. She is soon to celebrate her thirteenth birth¬ 
day. Our school is only two or three minutes’ walk 
from our home, and she can easily get a few minutes’ 
time during the noon hour. The rest can be managed 
before and after school hours. Such a practical dem¬ 
onstration will be more valuable than volumes of theory. 
o. w. MAPES. 
DRY CORNSTALKS IN SILO. 
We have a reader In West Virginia who for some reason 
does not want (o cut the green forage for silage, hut thinks 
he can husk about the first of October, and as fast as the 
husking is done in the field haul the fodder and cut it into 
a silo, thus making a respectable forage. So far as our 
information goes this has never proved satisfactory, although 
there may he cases where it would pay to do it. Generally 
speaking, however, we think it would pay better, provided 
the grain is wanted, to haul the fodder under shelter some¬ 
where and cut or shred it dry as needed by the cattle. 
What is your opinion? 
The great value of silage is 
its succulence; that is, the nat¬ 
ural juices of the plant are pre¬ 
served, and at the same time the 
solid portion kept without dam¬ 
age from mold or decay. 
Where corn has once thorough¬ 
ly dried out, much of the starch 
and sugar has turned to woody 
fiber, and no application of 
water will ever restore them. 
If put in the silo in this form 
it will firefang and be of little 
worth, and if there is put in 
sufficient water to prevent this 
(most times an impracticable 
thing to do), it will be far in¬ 
ferior to the corn shortly after 
it has first been cut. It is well, 
too, to remember that simply 
cutting fodder adds nothing to 
its nutrition any more than it 
adds to the nutrition of a tough 
piece of steak to run it through 
a meat chopper. To be sure, 
the hash is more palatable, and 
requires less mastication, conse¬ 
quently it is better; so are the 
cut stalks as compared with the 
whole ones, but they are not 
silage. I should much prefer 
to put the stalks in a rick or 
shed, and then cut them after 
the weather was cold, if it was 
not convenient to get power to 
cut at intervals as they were 
needed. My own experience of 
putting dry cut or shredded stalks in large quantities, 
even in a shed, has not been very satisfactory. 
1 imagine the questioner wants to use his corn for 
other purposes than feeding cows from the silo, but 
would like to get the most possible out. of his stalks. 
If he can, as intimated, thoroughly wet these stalks, he 
can husk as suggested and cut the stalks into the silo, 
and they should come out in fair condition, but they 
will be a long way from first-class silage. I have, in a 
like case, followed this plan, which works well; in 
fact, we have been picking corn to-day. That is, when 
we do not want the corn in the silo, and want to get 
the most out of the stalks, we let the corn stand until 
the ears are well glazed. Then go through the field 
and pick off all the best of the corn. We do not put 
this in heaps, but scatter it thinly in rows, where the 
wagons or harvester will not drive over it. Then cut 
the stalks and put them in the silo, where they keep 
well and make excellent silage, lacking, of course, the 
full cjtiotq of corn, This corn will not be injured by 
