NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 2, 1911 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR 
“FAIRY TALES” ABOUT HENS. 
Cutting Down the Wants. 
I have read with some care the article by “Mapes the 
Hen Man” page 601, on his four months' house, and the 
fairy tale of profit for four hours’ work. There is one 
thing I would very much like to know,, exactly what does 
his “mixed grains” that he scatters in the litter every 
* morning and the “dry 
mash” consist of, and the 
proportions of each com¬ 
ponent part? F. G. 
Suffern, N. Y. 
For the past year or 
more I have used a 
grain mixture consist¬ 
ing of two parts cracked 
corn, one part oats, and 
one part wheat, using 
scorched wheat when¬ 
ever I can get it of good 
quality, as it conies so 
much cheaper. The “dry 
mash” is made by mix¬ 
ing 200 pounds meat 
scrap (high grade), 200 
pounds Alfalfa meal, 200 
pounds wheat bran, 200 
pounds wheat middlings 
(best), 100 pounds glu¬ 
ten, 100 pounds corn- 
meal. This is not a 
cheap mixture, but it 
seems to bring good re¬ 
sults. The wheat mid¬ 
dlings is of a grade that 
is sometimes called “red 
dog,” I think. The only 
skill required with this 
plan of feeding is to 
regulate the amount of 
mixed grain thrown out 
each morning so that 
they will eat enough of 
the dry mash to make a 
proper balance of the 
ration for the day. About 
two parts by weight of 
mixed grain to one part 
of the dry mash is the 
best “directions” I can 
give. Two ounces per 
hen is about the average 
for Leghorns, of the 
mixed grains, with the 
dry mash all they care 
to eat. 
If any of my readers 
have not read the re¬ 
marks of Mr. Clement 
on page 729, and Mr. 
Dougan on page 809, 
they would better stop 
and do so before pro¬ 
ceeding with this. Pos¬ 
sibly a flock that is only 
given grain once a day 
will not lay quite as 
many eggs as one that is pampered by constant at¬ 
tendance, but if we have got to give two dollars’ 
worth of time in order to get one dollar’s worth of 
extra eggs, where is the use? Most of us start out 
with our two hands as our principal asset, and we 
make a fatal mistake when we try to figure the cost 
of a crop if we fail to put a cash value on our own 
time. For this reason the “Hen Contest” to which 
The R. N.-Y. is devoting so much attention has but 
little value from a practical standpoint. Unless we 
know how much time Mr. Dougan devotes to his 10 
hens and the chicks, as well as the interest on the 
value of plant, etc., with an allowance for deprecia¬ 
tion in buildings, etc., how can we tell how much 
profit there is in his operations? It is profit that 
counts. 
It is all right for Mr. Clement to stand and admire 
his nice flock, provided he charges up the time spent 
to “recreation.” I cannot “stop to watch mine eat 
the grain which I throw out to them by the pailful, 
with my egg basket on my arm,” for the reason that 
they have it all eaten up before egg gathering time. 
If it were not I should certainly expect to see their 
egg yield drop. As for stopping to examine the 
perches for lice or mites, that would be a waste of 
time which I should hardly like to charge up to my 
“recreation” account. I paint my perches early each 
Spring with melted hen-lice wax, and then dismiss 
the subject from my 
mind for a year. It fills 
the pores of the wood, 
and acts as a preventive. 
The average farmer 
simply will not begin to 
fight lice until the advent 
of hot weather, when 
the lice get very thick. 
If I should wait until 
then to apply the wax I 
doubt if it would be ef¬ 
fective. I have never 
used carbolineum, which 
is also said to need only 
one application a year, 
but I visited a farm at 
Morristown, N. J., in the 
month of October where 
it is used. My friend 
keeps several thousand 
birds, and I examined 
his perches carefully for 
mites, finding little evi¬ 
dence of their presence, 
and that only where the 
carbolineum had evident¬ 
ly been poorly applied. I 
did take the time yester¬ 
day, August 11, to exam¬ 
ine the perches in every 
one of my 25 poultry 
houses, and failed to find 
a single mite, or any evi¬ 
dence of their presence. 
As I have done nothing 
for three years to pre¬ 
vent mites but paint the 
perches once a year 
with melted wax, it 
looks as though the mite 
nuisance is done away 
with for good. Better 
put the sign “no lice al¬ 
lowed” on the perches 
than on the “line fence.” 
Mites always start 
where the birds spend 
the night. Therefore 
build all poultry house 
fixtures except the 
perches with sloping cov¬ 
ers. This will insure 
their taking to the 
perches when night 
comes instead of roost¬ 
ing elsewhere. 
Mr. Dougan can get 
the ' “knack” of picking 
up four eggs at a time if he will practice a little and 
keep larger flocks, so there will be four eggs or 
more in a nest. Let him try this plan: First, take 
three eggs in a row across the palm of the hand, 
grasping them with thumb and fingers. Now open 
the middle finger and grasp the fourth egg between 
the middle finger and the index finger. With a little 
THE LIGHT BRAHMA IS THE CHAMPION HEAVYWEIGHT. Fig. 344. 
A FARM FLOCK OF PLYMOUTH ROCK FOWLS. Fig. 345 
