676 
THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
May G, 
The Henyard. 
WANTED-A WHITE-EGGED “AMERICAN” 
I understand you to say that the Con¬ 
necticut Agricultural College is working to 
develop a hen like the American breeds 
which will lay a white egg. 
It is true that there is a demand for 
such a bird. 
What sort of a hen do they want? 
The ideal would be a white bird with 
yellow skin, yellow legs, rose comb and 
weighing a little less than a standard 
Rhode Island Red. Such a bird should lay 
white eggs of fair size. 
What is the need of such a bird? 
In New England the average farmer 
wants a general purpose hen. That means 
a bird which will lay a reasonable number 
of eggs, especially in Winter, which will 
dress off fairly well either as broiler or 
roaster, and which will hatch and rear its 
own chickens. 
Is there no such fowl in existence? 
None that we know of to size up to all 
these points. We have no such fowl that 
produces white eggs, therefore a farmer 
in a territory which calls for white eggs 
loses his money in using a general purpose 
fowl. 
What about the present white-egg hens? 
Like the Leghorn, they have their defects 
as a general purpose hen. They do not 
raise their own young as a rule, so that 
incubators are required. Their combs are 
so larga as to make them tender, and they 
are not so well suited to general purpose 
conditions. 
How does the experiment progress? 
They are making progress, and we un¬ 
derstand already have a fowl which com¬ 
bines some of the desired points, but not 
all. They hope to get such a bird in time. 
The breeders of Iloudans are claiming 
that they have the bird for the place. What 
about that? 
Our understanding is that the Houdan is 
a most excellent fowl, a good layer, a fine 
table bird and very handsome when well 
bred. The general opinion is that this 
breed ought to be more generally kept, but 
those who are trying to develop this new 
breed say that the Houdan does not meet 
all their requirements. 
Why not? What is there wrong with 
Mrs. Houdan? 
The following points are made against 
her for the purpose named: She is gen¬ 
erally a non-sitter. The bird they have in 
mind should be like the Reds, “Rocks’’ or 
“Dottcs,” capable of hatching her own 
chickens and taking the place of an incuba¬ 
tor. The Houdans have a heavy crest. It 
has been explained that this is no objec¬ 
tion, yet it is generally believed that in 
very wet or rainy sections this wet crest 
would be likely to cause severe colds. 
Again their plumage is generally black. 
This means black pin feathers, which should 
be avoided in the desired fowl. The skin 
of the Houdans is white and the legs are 
white and black, while the desired fowl as 
a market bird for broiler and roaster, should 
have yellow legs and a yellow skin. This 
seems to cover the matter as it comes to 
us, and will show why Mrs. Houdan, 
though an excellent bird, is not exactly the 
lady wanted. 
SHIPPING BABY CHICKS. 
I am hatching and shipping baby chicks 
and have not much experience in it yet. I 
saw in The R. N.-Y. and “The Business 
Hen” how some do it, so I tried that plan 
and had some bad results. I shipped two 
boxes with 100 in each box; of these two 
boxes the one went all right, but the other 
one over half of them were dead. 1 was 
used to having partitions in the boxes and 
only put about 25 or 30 together, but there 
was nothing mentioned in “The Business 
Hen,” so I left them out, but cannot see 
where I failed in any other way. w. r. b. 
Pennsylvania. 
Fifty day-old chicks are enough to put in 
one compartment; when 100 chicks are put 
in one compartment of a shipping box they 
are apt to crowd so hard that the ones 
in the middle get overheated or smothered. 
It is much better to put in partitions so 
that not more than 30 to 35 chicks are in 
each part. Probably some of the chicks 
mentioned by W. R. B. were smothered. 
The fact that one lot of 100 went safely 
does not prove anything. But it is such an 
easy matter to put in partitions dividing 
the chicks into lots small enough to pre¬ 
vent overcrowding that it seems as if any 
one would rather do it than risk loss by 
trying to ship in lots too large to go 
safely. geo. a. cosgrove. 
THE EGG EATING HABIT. 
If your hens began to eat their eggs 
freely what would you do to stop it? 
I think that where a flock is picking up 
the vice of egg eating it is due to improper 
feeding and housing conditions, and can be 
corrected in all except perhaps a few con¬ 
firmed cases. People too often fail to 
realize that fowls in confinement must have 
everything needed or craved supplied them. 
I do not believe egg eating is ever started 
among hens fed all the necessary elements, 
and encouraged to take proper exercise. 
Even when some of the elements are lack¬ 
ing, egg eating begins with soft-shelled eggs 
or broken eggs, due to improper nesting 
arrangements. Feed a variety, give plenty 
of shell, bone, charcoal, grit and meat, as 
well as green food all the year. Supply 
the demands of nature, and you will never 
have any egg eating. After it has started, 
after supplying abundance of proper foods, 
etc., remove any hens laying soft-shelled 
eggs, thoroughly clean up any broken eggs, 
and gather eggs frequently until the habit 
is forgotten. It is almost axiomatic that 
any vice is the result of improper condi¬ 
tions. The sane way to overcome the vice 
is, therefore, to correct the conditions. 
Mt. Pleasant Farm. Charles e. bryan. 
I had a flock of 160 pullets which I kept 
confined one Winter, and they started eat¬ 
ing eggs, so I gathered the eggs twice 
daily and bought eggshells from a baker 
and kept the eggshells before the fowls all 
the time and it seemed to work all right. 
Of course there were a few that I did not 
break of the habit. I believe that the cause 
of this habit is because the fowls are not 
fed the way they ought to be, and also not 
the right kind of feed. I think my method 
would be practical with almost everyone 
where eggshells can be bought. After I 
found the fowls were eating eggs I made 
feeding hoppers to hold the shell, and let 
them help themselves; kept shell before 
them at all times, and put the shells in the 
hopper just as I bought them from the ba¬ 
ker, that is, not ground fine. Feed them in 
as large pieces you can, so as to make the 
shells look like broken eggshells. Maybe 
this method would not work when fowls 
are on free range. I think there were five 
or six fowls I killed which I could not break 
of their habit. I have never been troubled 
with fowls on free range. 
New Jersey. clarence h. fogg. 
Empty an egg of the white by a hole 
that you make in the shell. Then mix the 
yoke that is left with plaster of Paris. 
Then put the egg on warm ashes to harden. 
Give the falsified egg to the hen. The 
effect is certain; the hen will lose her bad 
habit. mrs. g. m. h. 
Rhode Island. 
I believe the habit of egg eating usually 
starts from lack of lime in the food of 
hens when in confinement, and having the 
nest boxes open. When scattering the 
grain in the litter when feeding some gets 
in the nest boxes, and the hens scratch 
in the boxes for the grain, break the eggs 
and soon find not only the grain but broken 
eggs as well. As to cure, I would furnish 
lots of lime in the form of cracked oyster 
shells and darken the nests so the hen 
can’t see the eggs or anything to scratch 
for. Furnish plenty of scratching material 
on the floor- for them to work in, and 
thereby keep Biddy’s mind occupied. I 
know of several cases where the hens had 
this habit and were cured by this manner 
of treatment. J. e. van alstyne. 
New York. 
A Wedding Present.- —My husband and I 
have been reading the different accounts of 
hen records with much interest. We think 
our little flock did pretty well for March. 
When we started into life partnership last 
Fall, among the presents given us were 
four hens, one rooster and 14 pullets 
hatched August 26. All of these pullets 
were laying at six months of age, and the 
record for March for the whole flock is 
357 eggs, or 29% dozen, which were sold 
at an average of 26% cents per dozen, or 
$7.88. We figure their feed cost $3.55, as 
follows: Oats, $1.15; wheat. 50 cents; 
ground bone, 40 cents; corn, $1.50. None 
of these pullets underwent any system but 
were picked out at random from a flock of 
70. The hens are two or three years old. 
Three different breeds are represented. No 
account of the hayseed, clover, shells or 
mlik was kept. mrs. a. j. w. 
Connecticut. 
TROUBLE WITH TURKEYS. 
Out of 81 turkeys hatched I had only 
about 50 left for Thanksgiving market. I 
consider this too large a per cent to lose, 
when they were given the best of care and 
attention. Insects were unusually scarce 
and no grasshoppers at all, and I think that 
might have been one of the causes of loss. 
If such was the case would you consider 
it advisable to feed the commercial beef 
scrap? If you do, at what age should I 
begin feeding it and how often and how 
much for a flock of 25 at a meal? At 
the different stages of feather making tur¬ 
keys seem more inclined to be ailing, and 
especially so when getting their wing 
feathers. I would like to know what feed 
you think would be best to give for feather 
growing. h. d. 
Staatsburg, N. l r . 
I think as you do, this was too large 
a per cent to lose. Three years ago I 
hatched 76 turkeys and raised 72 to 
mature birds. Several years ago I had 
only two hen turkeys. The two hatched 
26 poults and raised 25. I shipped them 
to Boston for Thanksgiving and my 
check was $43.85. I thought that pretty 
good! This inquirer says insects and 
grasshoppers were scarce; that might 
make a difference. As to feeding the 
commercial beef scraps, I do not know ; 
I should prefer to get the scraps from a 
local butcher. I hear a great deal of 
complaint about the young poults at the 
stage when they are getting their wing 
feathers. Some advocate pulling them 
out. My method is to feed all the wheat, 
good wheat (not screenings), they will 
eat at that time, for wheat makes bone 
and muscle. Give them all the clean 
fresh water they want, and I save my 
eggshells all through the Winter for 
the little turks at that time. Dry the 
shells as you save them and crumble 
them fine. They are very fond of them 
and eat them ravenously. I find there 
are many little things connected with 
turkey raising some people would call 
foolish, but I do not care for that, as 
long as I have good success in raising 
them. MRS. E. j. RIDER. 
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