PHOTO ONO.CO 
Vol. LXIX. No. 4045 
NEW YORK, MAY 7, 1910 
WEEKLY. $1.00 PER YEAR 
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MAPES THE HEN MAN 
Comes Off The Nest. 
What has become of Mapes the hen man? We 
have not read anything from him for a long time. 
How does it happen? Is 
he setting? 
W. P. ROBERTS. 
I rather like the above 
allusion to the “setting” 
hen. There is an old 
saying that “speech with¬ 
out thought has no 
value.” What a splen¬ 
did opportunity the set¬ 
ting hen must have for 
quiet thinking! Very 
few speakers or writers 
have the ability to grind 
out a regular grist of 
“talk” or “copy” of much 
value without spending 
some time “setting.” It 
is surprising how much 
interest was aroused in 
my 500.-hen house, all 
the way from Maine to 
California. Within a 
month I have had a let¬ 
ter from a man in far¬ 
away Montana asking 
about my “hen-lieaven,” 
as he called it, and a 
call from a man who 
came all the way from 
New Hampshire to see 
it. Much of this interest 
is due, probably, to the 
fact that I described it 
while as yet it was only 
a dream. The man who 
is a “dreamer” is apt to 
arouse the curiosity, if 
not the animosity, of 
“his brethren.” 
There were two main 
thoughts I had in mind 
when I planned the 500- 
hen house. The first was 
economy of labor in 
caring for the hens, 
and the second was the 
conservation of the ani¬ 
mal heat produced by 
the hens, thus securing 
dry, warm quarters for 
them in cold weather. 
Coupled with these was 
the expectation that the 
warm quarters would 
aid materially in egg 
production in Winter. 
Results have been dis¬ 
appointing in this latter 
respect, but highly satis¬ 
factory in the two for¬ 
mer. I have permitted 
the original birds with 
which it was stocked to 
occupy it until the pres¬ 
ent time, but shall sell them as soon as they cease 
to be profitable this season, probably in July. There 
are now about 440 of them, and they are four years 
old. You can judge for yourselves about the “econo¬ 
my of labor” feature. Here is a day’s programme: 
In the morning I turn the key to the door and 
find them eagerly awaiting my visit. I have an old 
basin that holds just a day’s supply of mixed grain 
for 20 hens. I first scatter 22 basinfuls of mixed 
grain in the litter on the floor of the lower room. 
Besides this I have to open a small door, which the 
THE MAPES WATER WAGON READY FOR BUSINESS. Fig. 211. 
THE MAPES $40 HEN HOUSE. Fig. 212. 
hens use as an exit and entrance to the house. I 
also usually look to see that the dry mash hoppers 
are not clogged. The hens do'the rest. Eight min-' 
utes from the time I leave mv breakfast table this 
task is completed, and I am ready for other work. 
In the gloaming of the day I again visit them to 
collect my rent. Yesterday (April 4) I gathered 
224 eggs, which is about an average. They find their 
own drink at a nearby spring. About every two 
weeks I have the feed man place a supply of dry 
mash in the hoppers, and also a supply of mixed 
grains in some barrels 
in the hallway. About 
once a month I have a 
man collect the drop¬ 
pings from under the 
perches in the upper 
room and take them to 
market. They sell for 
enough in excess of the 
man’s charge for his 
labor to pay more than 
eight per cent on the 
value of the hens and 
the house. 1 he mixed 
grain consists of two 
parts cracked corn, one 
part oats and one part 
scorched wheat, the mix¬ 
ture costing $152 per ton. 
The dry mash is a pre¬ 
pared feed, costing $40 
per ton. Twenty-two 
basins of mixed grain 
weigh about 40 pounds 
and cost 64 cents. They 
eat about the same 
weight of dry mash, 
costing 80 cents, or $1.44 
total for feed. To-day’s 
market quotation in New 
\ ork for white eggs is 
2 5 cents per dozen. 
Freight and commission 
cost about two cents per 
dozen. 224 eggs at 21! 
cents per dozen amount 
to $4.29, leaving $2.85 
after deducting $1.44 for 
feed. How many men, 
both in city and country, 
spend more than eight 
minutes in getting from 
their breakfast table to 
their place of employ¬ 
ment, to say nothing 
about the eight to ten 
hours at hard labor, 
which they afterwards 
spend, receiving there¬ 
for less than $2.85! Of 
course, if those four- 
year-old hens were re¬ 
placed with 500 young 
hens the profit would be 
much better and the 
labqr about the same. 
As a matter of fact, I 
sell those eggs for a 
good premium above 
market quotations. If a 
beginner cannot see a 
profit ahead by selling 
his eggs at market 
quotations through a 
good commission house, 
he may well hesitate. It is not easy, as a rule, to find 
buyers at a higher price. The story of one of my 
customers is rather interesting. I was sitting on my 
vine-covered porch one hot Summer afternoon about 
15 years ago, when a stranger came walking down 
the road and up to the porch, who introduced himself 
