1456 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 12, 
The Henyard. 
Selling Cockerels as Roasters, 
H AVING often read the statement 
that it was more profitable to keep 
cockerels until they reach roaster 
size, than it was to sell them as broilers, 
I determined this season to learn the facts 
for myself. Twenty-five White Rock 
cockerels, hatched April 25, were selected 
July 13. and then weighed 40 pounds, 
11 ounces (an average of one pound, 10 
ounces) and at 15 cents per pound live 
weight were worth $6.08. I would say 
here that in order to make an even 25 
it was necessary to put in three birds 
that were somewhat smaller than the 
rest, thus reducing the average. These 
birds were put into a yard about 40x20 
feet in an orchard, and a dry mash (one 
of the commercial growing feeds) kept 
before them, in addition to which they 
were given a mixture of cracked corn, 
wheat and oats morning and night. 
Green feed was given every day and a 
supply of fresh water was always with¬ 
in reach. The picture shown at Fig. 
632 was taken the latter part of August. 
All of the feed was carefully weighed 
and up to September 15 they had con¬ 
sumed 105 pounds dry mash, costing 
$2.36; 61 pounds cracked corn 95 cents; 
77pounds wheat, $1.37. and 30 pounds 
oats 30 cents, a total of $4.98. 
I then commenced to fatten them by 
taking away the dry mash and feeding 
them all they would eat, three times a 
day of the following fattening mash, 
mixed rather wet: 60 pounds cornmeal. 
20 pounds middlings, 10 pounds linseed 
meal and 20 pounds beef scraps. This 
formula was recommended by the Maine 
Experiment Station, and I have used it 
for the past five years with very satis¬ 
factory results. During the last week, 
after they had eaten all the mash they 
were given all the cracked corn they 
would eat. During the following period 
they consumed 112 pounds of the fatten¬ 
ing mash, costing $2.55, and 11 pounds 
cracked corn, costing 20 cents; total 
$2.75. 
I sold them September 30; when they 
weighed 130 pounds (an average of 5 
1-5 pounds) and at 15 cents per pound 
live weight brought me $19.50. The fol¬ 
lowing summary shows the result of the 
experiment: 
COST OF FEED. 
105 lbs. dry mash .$2.36 
61 lbs. cracked corn.95 
77 y* lbs. wheat . 1.37 
30 lbs. oats .30 
112 lbs. fattening mash . 2.55 
11 lbs. cracked corn.20 
$7.73 
130 lbs. roasters at 15c per lb...$19.50 
Less cost of feed . 7.73 
Less value as broilers.$6.08 
Gain . $5.69 
This is a gain of nearly 23 cents per 
bird, which seems to me quite worth the 
extra labor. I think even better results 
could be obtained where it was possible 
to give the birds free range until time 
to fatten. Walter a. Roberts. 
Maine. 
Standard PoulUy Rations. 
T HERE are so many calls for feeding 
rations for liens that it seems wise 
to repeat what we have often given 
before. We shall keep this standing, or 
print it every two weeks through the sea¬ 
son. 
CORNELL RATION FOR LAYERS. 
The following whole grain mixture is 
fed to the flock at Cornell University: 
By Weight. 
Winter. 
60 lbs. wheat 
60 “ corn 
30 “ oats 
30 “ buckwheat 
By Measure. 
Winter. 
32 qts. wheat 
36 “ corn 
30 “ oats 
20 “ buckwheat 
For a dry mash to be kept before the 
hens all the time this mixture is sug¬ 
gested : 
By Weight. 
Winter and Summer. 
60 lbs. corn meal 
60 “ wheat middlings 
30 “ wheat bran 
10 “ Alfalfa meal 
10 “ oil meal 
50 “ beef scrap 
1 “ salt 
EGG CONTEST RATIONS. 
At the egg contest at Storrs, Conn., 
the following grain mixture is fed: 
Coarse wheat bran 
Cornmeal . 
Gluten feed . 
Standard middlings 
Fish scrap . 
Beef scrap . 
Low grade flour . . 
200 pounds 
100 
100 
75 
30 
30 
25 
There are little boxes holding grit, 
shells and charcoal which the liens take 
as they like. There is also provided a 
“scratch grain” made up as follows: 
Cracked corn . 60 pounds 
Wheat . 60 
Heavy white oats . 40 
Barley . 20 
Kafir corn . 10 
Buckwheat . 10 
Coarse beef scrap . 10 
Better cut this out to be used for ref¬ 
erence. 
White Eggs; Selecting Pullets. 
O N page 1914, Mr. George A. Cosgrove, 
remarks of Leghorns that: “In local¬ 
ities their white eggs command a 
small premium.” Yesterday, in the New 
York market, the difference in price be¬ 
tween the best brown and white eggs was 
14 cents a dozen! This is a premium 
worth having. The best “hennery whites” 
were 57 cents and the “hennery browns” 
were 43. My recollection is that once or 
twice this season the difference has been 
as great as 17 cents a dozen. Guess I'll 
stick to hennery white! 
By the way—I have a pen at Storrs 
this year. Three of the birds (Nos. 483, 
486 and 487) are a cross between a full 
blood Tom Barron cockerel and hens of 
my own stock. No. 481 is a daughter of 
“Miracle Mary,” my good 
Tiie R. N.-Y. mentioned 
I'm afraid my pen won’t 
top because 1 am not sufficiently expert 
to select immature pullets that I believe 
will lay heavily later on. I had to be 
sure of my pullets; so I sent birds that 
I knew were laying. The 10 birds have 
old lieu that 
last Winter, 
be away up 
the back part of the roof of the mouth 
to sever the arteries. Then with a short 
club hit the top of the head sufficiently 
to stun the bird. Begin to pick imme¬ 
diately in order to get the feathers off 
before death contracts the muscles. Some 
pickers sit beside the box for the feathers 
and hold the neck between the right 
knee and the box to prevent scattering 
blood. A pail of water should always 
be near into which the hand can be oc¬ 
casionally dipped. The feathers stick to 
the wet hand and are removed much more 
easily. Hard rubbing with the wet hand 
will remove much of the down. Profes¬ 
sional pickers have knives of good steel 
and razor sharpness with which to re¬ 
move the pinfeathers and shave off the 
down that cannot be removed by hand. 
If possible visit a professional duck- 
picker. w. n. ii. 
Another Hex Record. —On page 1328, 
I find record from H. B. Smith, from 
450 S. C. White Leghorns for one year. 
Below is my report for eight months foi 
35 S. C. White Leghorns two and three 
A BUNCH OF COCKERELS FOR ROASTERS. Fig. 632. 
probably laid 100 eggs already—so that 
will be their handicap. They laid seven 
eggs the day before they went to Storrs 
and only laid four eggs during the first 
eight days of the contest. I think they 
will strike their gait pretty soon—when 
they get used to the trap-nests and ac¬ 
customed to their new environment. 
Whatever they do—good or bad—will be 
a lesson anyhow. geo. bowles. 
Connecticut. 
R. N.-Y.—In Boston and some other 
cities the brown eggs command a pre¬ 
mium nearly as large. 
Ventilation for Henhouse. 
C OULD you assist me in solving my 
ventilation problem? I have a poul¬ 
try house 12x15 feet, which is divided 
into two pens, with three-quarter parti¬ 
tion. Three sides of the house are tar- 
papered, the front of house which faces 
the South has eight sashes 2x3 feet, ar¬ 
ranged so the lower sash, which is one 
foot above cement floor, is glass, the up¬ 
per are covered with burlap. The roost 
is seven feet back from window, and one 
foot below upper windows. My Leghorns 
all sneeze and have colds. Is it the fault 
of my ventilation? Have I too much 
glass or too much burlap for our Long 
Island climate? Would you make any 
change in arrangement of windows? 
Long Island. b. k. 
The only test for efficiency of ventila¬ 
tion in a poultry house is the condition 
of the air within it. This should be so 
dry at all times that moisture will not 
condense upon the walls and quickly 
render the litter damp and sticky. If 
you are keeping the sash in your house 
closed, the burlap very likely does not 
afford sufficient ventilation, and it would 
be better to keep the upper sash partly or 
entirely open at all times, save during 
a driving storm or, perhaps, upon an un¬ 
usually severe Winter night. Dry air, 
even if very cold, is harmless to warmly 
clad fowls while warm, moist air is ab¬ 
solutely incompatible with health. I 
would advise placing the perches as far 
back from the front as possible and 
providing a drop curtain which can be 
lowered in front of them on extremely 
cold nights. The upper sash can then be 
left open at practically all times. While 
fowls should not be exposed to direct 
drafts particularly while upon their 
perches, the tendency is to give them 
too little, rather than too much, fresh 
air. When the ends and rear wall of a 
poultry house are made airtight, the 
front may be made very largely of wire 
poultry netting to the advantage of the 
occupants and owner. m. b. d. 
years old (about one-third three years). 
Total eggs 2.721, 227% dozen, average 
price, per dozen, 47 cents. Amount re¬ 
ceived from eggs $106.78; feed $41.51; 
eggs, per hen. 128; profit, per hen, $1.86. 
On August 11 of this year I sold the 
35 hens and received $14.36, which is in¬ 
cluded in the amount received. No eggs 
were sold for hatching or used for this 
purpose. I feed tin* Storrs Agricultural 
Experiment Station formulas with all the 
cabbage they can eat the year round. My 
coops are open front with drop curtain. 
My hens are kept in beginning with the 
first cold spell until the middle of March. 
I am a commuter working in New York, 
and have about two hours each day with 
a half a day on Saturday to give to the 
poultry business. I keep no fancy show 
birds, but breed for the quantity only. 
I have all May-hatched pullets, number¬ 
ing 40 which have started to lay. These 
pullets were handicapped in laying be¬ 
cause nearly all had the chicken-pox, 
which I am glad to state was readily 
overcome. The reason I kept the three- 
year-old hens was for the simple reason 
that I have heard of others having hens 
considerable older which gave a profit to 
their owner. c. s. D. 
Clifton, N. J. 
The department of poultry husbandry 
at Cornell, is sending out members of the 
staff to give instructions to poultrymen 
in culling layers for Winter production 
and breeding stock. The trips are made 
in circuits, the arrangements being made 
in advance. The work is done without 
charge except for hotel and traveling ex¬ 
penses. 
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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
333 WEST 30th ST., NEW YORK. 
Picking Ducks. 
C AN someone give me any information 
as to the best way of picking ducks? 
In dry picking, particularly in young 
ducks, it is difficult to clean-pick with¬ 
out tearing the flesh, and in getting off 
the very small fuzzy feathers, and I 
fear to scald them, as the hot water may 
give the carcass a greasy appearance. 
New Jersey. a. h. k. 
To dry-pick a duck suspend it by the 
legs and with a sharp knife cut across 
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