1230 
®HE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 7, 
COST OF RAISING CHICKS. 
What is about the cost for raising a 
chick of the American breeds to three, 
four and five months of age respectively? 
I mean just for the feed. What I want 
to get at is the probable expense of grow¬ 
ing poultry for market. M. b. 
Sharon, Conn. 
In view of the importance of know¬ 
ing the cost of any article offered for 
sale, it would be natural to expect that 
any poultryman could tell within a few 
cents what it costs to raise a pullet or 
cockerel to marketable age. As a mat¬ 
ter of fact, however, it would probably 
be very difficult to find many poultry- 
men who could more than guess at the 
cost of a chicken at the various stages 
of its growth. There are many reasons 
for this: the cost of feeds varies con¬ 
stantly, and in different localities; 
chard, cost 3.2 pounds of grain for 
each pound of chicken, in the case of 
one flock, and 2.34 pounds in the other. 
This would mean that a four pound 
cockerel could be raised for from 13 
to 14 pounds of grain. At $30 per ton 
this amount of grain would cost 21 
cents. In this test early cockerels were 
sold as broilers, later ones were fin¬ 
ished in fattening crates, and the pul¬ 
lets were removed from the fields by 
November 1. While I do not question 
the accuracy of these figures, they seem 
to me to be altogether too low for gen¬ 
eral application, and I would not ex¬ 
pect to get these results in my own 
work. 
Some very interesting facts from a 
poultryman’s experience are given by 
Mr. R. H. Stone, of Trumansburg, N. 
Y., in a recent issue of the Tompkins 
Co. Breeders’ Journal. Mr. Stone has 
found that his hens require daily six 
quarts of grain, and 14 quarts of water 
for each 100 fowls, aside from the 
A FLOCK OF VERMONT INDIAN RUNNER DUCKS. Fig. 514 . 
chickens may be raised upon free farm 
range more cheaply than when kept in 
semi-confinement; some methods of 
feeding cost more than others; chick¬ 
ens are raised in flocks, and the flock 
rather than the individual is considered 
the unit of management and cost; then, 
again, the size of these flocks is con¬ 
stantly varying, cockerels are removed 
for sale as broilers at different ages, 
and deaths at all stages of growth fur¬ 
ther complicate the figures until few 
poultrymen feel that they have the time 
to do the bookkeeping which the com¬ 
pilation of exact cost data would entail. 
The writer has endeavored, however, 
through search of poultry literature, 
correspondence with poultrymen, and 
the results of his own experience to get 
at the approximate cost, at least, of 
raising chicks, either to maturity, or to 
a salable age as broilers or roasters. 
dry mash, shell and grit that are con¬ 
stantly before them, and the green 
stuff and meat that are fed every other 
day. He thinks, also, that if a poultry- 
man expects to raise 1,000 good pullets, 
he should place 8,000 eggs in his in¬ 
cubators. 
From his White Leghorn chicks 
hatched in 1911 Mr. Stone had, when 
matured, 52 pullets and 48 cockerels 
per hundred fowls. The average cost 
exclusive of labor, was $.074 each, their 
food, meat, grit, charcoal, etc., costing 
of these chicks at six weeks of age, 
$.004 per chicken per week. Broilers 
hatched in March and April and mar¬ 
keted in June cost from 13 to 18 cents 
each. Pullets hatched at the same time 
commenced laying by the middle of 
August, though some of them also 
moulted in December. Mr. Stone fig¬ 
ures the actual cost of these pullets up 
to laying age to have been 32 cents 
each. He also makes the interesting 
statement that his entire flock of layers 
averaged 145 eggs each in the year pre¬ 
ceding January 1, 1912, and that the 
food consumed by them made the cost 
of their eggs 12 cents per dozen. 
It will be seen that there is a wide 
variation in the estimates of the cost 
of raising poultry, and probably an 
equally wide variation in the accuracy 
and completeness of the figures upon 
which the estimates arc based. My own 
experience leads me to believe that the 
highest figures given are the most nearly 
accurate under average conditions, par¬ 
ticularly for the last year or two when 
the prices of feeds have ben so un¬ 
precedentedly high. M. B. DEAN. 
Indian Runner Ducks. —As I have 
seen nothing in your paper lately from 
the “Bashful State,” I thought I would 
send you a picture of my flock of In¬ 
dian Runner ducks, so you could see 
that we are not all asleep. In 1910 I 
got a setting of eggs and raised five 
ducklings, which proved to be three 
males and two females. One of the fe¬ 
males laid her first egg February 12th, 
1911, and in 217 days laid 203 eggs. The 
second one did not make so good a 
record, but laid 200 eggs during the 
year. I raised 150 ducklings and sold 
$5 worth of eggs for hatching; now 
have 62 laying ducks which promise to 
be as good layers as the old ones. I 
think they are far ahead of the hen. 
South Royalton, Vt. w. s. H. 
Sick Cockerel. 
I have an extra good cockerel, now five 
months old, from good stock, which has 
never been sick since he left the shell, but 
suddenly two or three weeks ago he seemed 
to have lost his appetite. He seems well 
enough otherwise, not quite as lively as 
usual, but otherwise I could notice nothing 
wrong with him. His color is good, his 
feathers look well, he is the right weight 
for his age, but unless I take especial pains 
with his food he will go to roost with only 
about a tablespoonful in his crop, while the 
others have crops as large as teacups. As 
soon as I noticed he did not eat I changed 
to anything that he would eat; bread and 
milk seems to suit him, and also slightly 
sprouted oats; other grains he does not 
touch ; bran, charcoal and grit are always 
before him and fresh water. I cannot see 
that he eats the bran or the charcoal. For 
two weeks now I have fed him good bread 
and milk and oats. Itaw meat does not 
seem to tempt him. I am very anxious to 
have him head my flock next year as he 
has many fine points. I have kept him 
from going down hill by special care, but 
certainly do not want to have to feed him 
forever on bread and milk, and if you 
could tell me what to give him for his 
appetite I would be much pleased. 
New York. thomas. 
I suspect that you are coddling that 
cockerel and that he enjoys the process 
so well that he intends to keep you at it. 
My advice would be to give him all the 
liberty possible and let him hustle for a 
living for a few weeks. If he really ha's 
no serious disease, a little hard work for 
a living will do him more good than medi¬ 
cine can, and his appetite will increase in 
direct ratio with the difficulty he has in 
gratifying it. If, on the other hand, he is 
delicate, and needs the care you are giving 
him to prolong his life, you do not want 
him in your breeding pen, and the sooner 
he dies the better for you. m. b. d. 
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CHICKEN 
CHOWDER 
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metal 
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r 
To introduce Purina Chicken 
Chowder —the great egg-produ¬ 
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through your dealer, this ser¬ 
viceable metal hopper chock full 
of Purina Chicken Chowder, 
for only Thirty Cents (30c). 
“If Chicken Chowder 
won’t make your hens lay, 
they must be roosters.” 
Purina Chicken Chowder assures 
an abundance of eggs because it 
contains approximately the chem¬ 
ical ingredients found in an egg. 
It makes fertile eggs for hatching. 
Offer made East of the Rocky Mountains, 
through dealers only. If your dealer 
can’t supply you send us his name. 
Poultry Book Free! 
For your dealer’s name, I 
will send you this 48-page 
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plans of houses, breeding 
and feeding charts, space for 
daily egg records, cures of 
diseases, etc., etc. Write 
to-day, edition limited. 
Col. Purina, Purina Mills 
827 South Eighth St., St. Louis 
EVERY LOUSY HEN 
is losing real money for you. Every egg you don’t 
get is so much money lost. Stop that leak ! Hens 
tormented with lice can’t he expected to lay eggs. 
You can keep them free of lice with one application 
a year, and Circular 61 tells you how. Sent Free. 
Write us today. 
CARBOLINEUM WOOD PRESERVING CO. 
181 Franklin Stroet New York 
An elaborate series of experiments 
was carried on at the Cornell Experi¬ 
ment Station, in 1909, to ascertain the 
cost of raising broilers by seven differ¬ 
ent methods of feeding. The figures 
given in their report are very instruc¬ 
tive, including all details even to in¬ 
terest upon the investment in incubators, 
etc. According to their tables, the cost 
of raising a chick to six weeks aver¬ 
aged $.098 for all flocks, and to 12 
weeks, the last six on a fattening ra¬ 
tion, $.177. It is to be remembered that 
these figures include cost of eggs, in¬ 
cubation, brooding, food and care. The 
experiment was concluded in early 
October, all the broilers having been 
marketed through commission mer¬ 
chants, and all methods showing a net 
loss. The conclusion was reached, 
therefore, that raising broilers for the 
late Summer market is not a profitable 
proposition. A conclusion with which, 
I think, all poultrymen will agree. 
While several thousand chicks are 
reared annually at this station, I am 
told by the head of the poultry depart¬ 
ment that they have never calculated 
accurately the cost of raising pullets 
to a laying age, but they have con¬ 
sidered it to be from 40 to 60 cents 
each. Here is a wide .range o'! possi¬ 
bilities, but one that will easily be un¬ 
derstood by any practical poultryman. 
Prof. Graham of the Guelph, Ont. 
Experiment Station, is quoted by one 
of the prominent incubator manufac¬ 
turers as stating that records kept by 
them of two mixed flocks of chicks, 
both early and late hatched, and raised 
upon free range of pasture and or- 
) i i » j 
5KWrn:rTTT-rTH»— HOW io Make 
Your Hens Lay More Winter Eggs 
f'r'rrrrrrrrYrfYy 
LN' YVVVSA/yWNA/WWvA 
MM 
Your hens ought to be paying you bigger profits just now than any other time of the whole 
year. Prices are away up, but fresh eggs are scarce. Hens —your hens —have a tendency to put on 
flesh during winter instead of producing eggs. This is due to closer confinement, lack of exercise and 
green stuff. ^Hens need a tonic^during cold weather to keep the egg clusters active and turn the largest possible Hf) 
J exactly that. It positively makes hens lay more eggs. imn 
Dr. He ss Poultry Pan-a-ce-a 
TIoee Pnnl Pon. n O o n non r\ n f Ixa n rlr n/\n »-l.. O C\ „ _ _ !. 1 1 . 
Dr. Hess Poultry Pan 
a-ce-a contains: 
Potassium Nitrate. An 
Eliminant. 
Nun Vomica. A Nerve 
Tonic 
Quassia. A Bitter Sto¬ 
machic and Appetizer. 
Hyposulphite of Soda. 
An Internal Antiseptic. 
Iron (Sulphate). A Blood 
Builder. 
Iron (Red Oxide). A 
Blood Builder. 
Carbonate of Lime. An 
Antacid and shell 
forming. 
Sodium Chloride. An Ap¬ 
petizer and Cleanser. 
Under the supervision of 
Dr. Hess (M.D., D.V.S.) the 
above is carefully com¬ 
pounded and blended, with 
just enough cereal meal to 
make a perfect mixture. 
has been on the market nearly 20 years—it is the only egg-produc¬ 
ing tonic that has stood the test of time. A penny’s 
worth of Dr. Hess Poultry Pan-a-ce-a is enough for 30 
fowl per day. If it doesn’t make your hens lay more 
eggs, your dealer will return your money; and it also 
cures gapes, cholera, roup, indigestion, etc. 
Our Proposition. You buy Dr. Hess Poultry Pan-a-ce-a of 
your dealer. II it fails to make your hens lay more eggs and 
keep your poultry healthy, he is authorized by us to refund 
your money. i% lbs. 25c (mail or express 40c); 5 lbs. 60c; 12 
lbs. $1.25; 25-lb. pail $2.50; except iu Canada and extreme 
West. Ifiyour dealer cannot supply you, we will. Seud 2c 
for Dr. Hess 48-page Poultry Book, free. 
DR. HESS & CLARK 
Ashland, Ohio 
A 
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Jr 
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-" 
DR. HESS STOCK TONIC. A combination of powerful tonics and mild laxatives. Increases diges - 1 
lion —reduces food waste—puts most of the ration on the animals’ bones or in the udder. A positive flesh bone and milk 
producer. Ingredients plainly printed on every package—take them to your druggist and he’ll tell you these tonics have 
wonderfully bracing effect on steers, hogs, sheep, horses, cows, etc. Sold on a liberal money-back guarantee. 100 lbs. 
$5.00;25-lb. pail$1.60. Exceptin Canada and extreme West and South. Send 2c for Dr. Hess Stock Book. 
FREE. Dr. Hess (M.D., D.V.S.) will at any time prescribe for your ailing animals free of 
charge if you will send him full details. Mention this paper and send 2c stamp 
96-page Veterinary Book also free. 
a 
INSTANT LOUSE KILLER KILLS LICE 
