1913. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1143 
The Henyard. 
THE CALIFORNIA LAYING CONTEST. 
The sixth month of the Napa (Cal.) 
egg-laying contest, which was the hottest 
of the year, resulted in a total of 3,025 
eggs, which showed a falling off of some 
460 from the previous month's record. 
This can be accounted for by the fact 
that the fowls are largely along in the 
annual moult, and the excessively hot 
weather, which was extreme for Cali¬ 
fornia. The American breeds are doing 
splendidly the sixth month. Of the 15 
high pens five are of the American class, 
three Barred Rocks, one White Rock, 
and one Buff Wyandotte. The high pen 
for the month was the Buff Wyandotte, 
which laid 121 eggs, being the only pen 
in the contest to go over the hundred 
mark. This pen has been a consistent 
laying pen since the contest started, 
never being out of the high scores, and 
making a record to be proud of. They 
gained 42 eggs on the leading pen during 
the sixth month, the latter laying 79 
eggs, and are now only 80 eggs behind 
the leaders. Some of the pens madfe a 
very poor showing, one pen of Buff Or¬ 
pingtons laying only two eggs for the 
month: a pen of Black Minorcas seven 
eggs; a pen of Rhode Island Reds 13; a 
pen of White Leghorns 13; the trap-nest 
pen of White Leghorns 3S, and for 
six months 406. against 6S4 laid by pen 
No. 1, also White Leghorns. As soon 
as the weather changes we may look for 
better results. We are due for cooler 
weather, but at this writing forest fires, 
covering a wide area, are raging in Napa 
County and the heat will undoubtedly 
have a marked effect on the egg output. 
Eggs are now retailing at 55 cents per 
dozen. 
Following are the fifteen highest pens 
for the sixth month : 1—Blorn and Son, 
White Leghorns, for month 79. for six 
months 684. 2—Ottcn, White Leghorns, 
for month 78, for six months 607. 3— 
Pearson, Buff Wyandottes, for month 
121, for six months 604. 4—Slocum, 
White Leghorns, for month 92, for six 
months 532. 5—Rutherford, White Rocks, 
for month 85, for six months 529. 6— 
Bunjes, White Leghorns, for month 55, 
for six months 526. 7—Stratton, White 
Leghorns, for month 3S, for six months 
524. 8—Lubben, Barred Rocks, for 
month 71, for six months 518. 9—Blom, 
White Leghorns, for month 52. for six 
months 515. 10—Worrel, White Leg¬ 
horns. for month 47. for six months 498. 
11—Bates, Barred Rocks, for month 48, 
for six months 496. 12—Huntington, 
White Leghorns, for month 42, for six 
months 495. 13—Clardy, Buff Orping¬ 
tons, for month 74. for six months 491. 
14—Stice, Barred Rocks, for month 58, 
for six months 491. 15—Stice, Buff Leg¬ 
horns, for month 61, for six months 482. 
W. H. PEARSON. 
Electrically Heated Brooders. 
Will you tell us what you know of 
electrically heated incubators and brood¬ 
ers? Can a lamp-heated incubator be 
transformed into an electrically-heated 
incubator? v. c. S. 
Valle Crucis, N. C. 
I have had no experience with elec¬ 
trically heated incubators and brooders, 
and do not think that they are in general 
use among poultrymen. The only ques¬ 
tion that could arise with regard to their 
efficiency is as to that of the heating ap¬ 
paratus, and in view of the satisfactory' 
use of electric heating in other industries, 
I can see no reason why it should not be 
entirely practicable for incubators. It is 
the heat and not the source of it that 
does the work, and I should be entirely 
willing to accept the statement of any 
reliable manufacturing firm that they 
had adapted electric heating to incuba¬ 
tors and brooders. As to whether an 
electric heater could be fitted to an ordi¬ 
nary incubator, that would depend upon 
whether it was made with that end in 
view. Some are so made, and the manu¬ 
facturers of any would be glad to inform 
you upon that point. At ordinary com¬ 
mercial rates for the current, I think 
that there is no doubt that electric heat¬ 
ing would be very much more expensive 
than oil, and for the ordinary poultry- 
man would be entirely impractical on 
that account even if so situated that he 
could obtain the service; but if one has 
cheap electric power at command this 
difference might not be material. 
M. B. D. 
Breeding from Good Hen. 
I have a Blue Andulusian hen which 
I believe would be well up among the 
classic few, had her record been kept. 
( onunencing to lay when about six 
months old, she has laid two out of three 
days often enough to make a record 
around 20 eggs per month. Except for 
a short rest at moulting—about three 
weeks—she laid continuously till 25 
months old, when she became broody, but 
was back on the job again in a couple 
m weeks. She is now 28 months old and 
m, though moulting, making a 50% 
record. Iler eggs are perfect in form, 
II vm, white shells, weighing 2% to 2% 
ounces, of especially fine flavor. Wish- 
jug to perpetuate such qualities and hav¬ 
ing no male of the same breed. I mated 
iier with a pedigreed Barred Rock two-year 
old and have seven or eight nice pullets 
and several rather mongrel cockerels. I 
wish to ask some of your authorities on 
“line” and “in” breeding, what method 
I should now follow to get best possible 
results. I have thought of using the 
best of the cockerels with the old hen 
next Spring, then using a cockerel from 
that mating with the pullets of this 
year, when they would be two years old. 
Would this method be wise? r. j. c. 
Massachusetts. 
If you wish to perpetuate the blood of 
this Blue Andulusian hen with the hope 
of fixing her desirable traits in her pro¬ 
geny, you may line-breed according to 
the plan of Felch, a chart illustrating 
which was published in the April 12 is¬ 
sue of this paper. You may mate a son 
and a grandson back to this hen. The 
progeny of the hen and her grandson will 
contain seven-eighths of Andalusian blood ; 
re-mating these great grand children with 
grandchildren of the original hen will 
give you progeny containing 13 J 16 of her 
blood, and mating these, in turn, with 
the great grandchildren, you will have 
progeny" containing 27-32 of the original 
Blue Andulusian blood with which you 
started. In this way, starting with a 
half-and-half cross, you gradually bi’eed 
out the undesired blood, leaving a pre¬ 
ponderance of the blood which you de¬ 
sire to perpetuate. Whether or not these 
descendants of the Blue Andulusian hen 
will repay your trouble by perpetuating 
their ancestor’s valuable traits can best 
be demonstrated by experiment. I think 
the chances even more remote than the 
descendants. m. b. d. 
The Cosgrove Henhouse. 
Will Mr. Cosgrove describe his new 
henhouse, and his method of feeding and 
handling? Does he still believe in the 
“dirt floor?” If so, how does he control 
rats and mice? a. c. 
New York. 
I still believe in the dirt floor. Rats 
are kept out by. the cemented foundation 
which is down 18 inches in the ground. 
Mice might get in through the one-inch 
mesh wire netting in front, but I never 
see any signs of mice in the house. As 
to feeding I do not weigh or measure the 
feed, but am governed by conditions, the 
time of year, the looks of the droppings, 
and as to whether the birds are thin or 
fat, even the size of the eggs is an indi¬ 
cation to be noted. 
I always feed mixed feeds; that is 
cracked corn, whole wheat, barley and 
oats, and let each hen select according to 
her “personal” needs. A dry mash is 
before them all the time, consisting of 
bran, middlings, cornmeal, ground oats 
and beef or fish scraps. Leghorns do not 
get too fat—at least mine do not—under 
feeding conditions that would ruin liens 
of the American breeds. One very im¬ 
portant food is the clover which my lawn 
mower furnishes. My 55 Leghorns eat 
from 14 to 20 quarts of it every day. 
GEO. A. COSGROVE. 
Four-legged Poultry Vermin. 
Seeing the article on “The Foes of 
Poultry,” I would like to tell you what I 
think about the subject. Regarding rats, 
I have_ a friend who has lived on his place 
for 17 years, and during the first 14 
years he was overrun with rats. lie had 
several different dogs, and while some of 
them would catch a few, they did not 
lessen the number lhueh. I kept telling 
him to get as many female cats as neces¬ 
sary to keep the rats down, and at last 
he did get two cat-T, and for the last three 
years he has had no trouble at all. 
Another friend of mine was bothered 
with skunks. He was a breeder of fancy 
birds, and so. of course, was more an¬ 
noyed when his birds were caught. Now 
he sets a box trap, and when he catches 
one he takes it out where he buries them 
and shoots it. 
. Still another friend was bothered with 
foxes, and all the hunters around were 
there trying to get them. They had killed 
probably $100 worth of his best fancy 
birds, and one day he noticed they seemed 
to gather around where the dead birds 
were, so he decided to trap them him¬ 
self. He set the traps in a sand bank 
and put stuff for them to eat around 
them. Last year he caught 13, and five 
of the skins he sold for $7 each. Now 
there is no sign of them, and he has the 
traps set in a sand bank so he could tell 
if they came around there. w. p. r. 
Massachusetts. 
A Minister's Hens. 
I am a lover of all kinds of “stock.” 
but being of limited means, and a mem¬ 
ber of a profession that cannot, legiti¬ 
mately, be engaged in money-making (I 
am a minister, and my business is making 
morals, not money). I cannot go into! 
“stock-raising” any deeper than keeping 
a few fowls. I have some of the best, 
and a part of my relaxation is breeding 
them and having them to look at as some¬ 
thing alive and vital. I find that the 
principles of productiveness are the same 
in every department of land and animal 
productiveness—I might add, also of the 
production of morals. If I care for my 
birds according to the natural laws of 
bird life I get good results; but not other¬ 
wise. And if I care for my parish ac¬ 
cording to the laws of human nature. I 
get good results; and only so. A farm 
and a church both operate in the same 
universe; both are governed by laws 
derived from the same Eternal Law 
Giver. The wise man obeys. a. h. l. 
Massachusetts. 
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