THE) RURAL NEW-VORKER 
767 
“The Favorite Hen Contest” 
The Favorite lien Contest is beginning 
t<> get lively. Several of the birds which 
were slow to start are now coining for¬ 
ward in lively shape. There will be found 
below figures showing the total number 
of eggs from each hen up to May 16th. 
The White Wyandotte, Tilly, is still in 
the lead by a margin of 11. Polly, the 
It. I. Rod, has crawled up until she is 
tied with Louisine for second place. Each 
hen has laid 110 eggs since the first of 
November. Then comes Rose with 102, 
and close behind her are three birds, 
Hetty M., Betty, in the Red list, and 
Beauty, the White Leghorn. The others 
as we see are scattered on. with several 
of them still in the ring. For example, 
Betina, the Black Minorca with 84 eggs, 
to remember how' much depended on her 
record, and on May 13th she was re¬ 
leased from her prison and will now start 
at laying again. The hen is in splendid 
shape in every way, and the contest man¬ 
agers think she will surely be one of the 
leaders. At present there seems to be 
every indication that she will run over 
200 eggs, but no one can tell about these 
things, and we make no statement except 
that Tilly is likely to surprise the big 
poultry fraternity. A picture of this ex¬ 
cellent bird is shown herewith. We leave 
it to our Wyandotte friends to determine 
whether she is a “dumpling” or not. She 
w r as scored by Judge Card, who gave her 
92 *4 points, which certainly indicate 
that she is a good bird from the Wyan¬ 
“ Tilly,” the White Wyandotte “ Favorite Hen.” 
still has a good chance, as there are 24 
weeks yet to go, and the best laying sea¬ 
son for the Minorcas ahead. In fact 
there are five or six more birds that will 
without question come up and show them¬ 
selves for a good record. Several of them 
made a poor start, and no one can assign 
a reason for it. In several cases the sis¬ 
ters of these delinquent hens at home are 
laying remarkably well. 
However, we are all good-natured 
about it, or at least as good-natured as we 
can be. Mrs. T. Schwenk, of Connecti¬ 
cut, is a philosopher over her R. I. Red. 
It seems we made a mistake in printing 
the name, as Mrs. Schwenk says it should 
have been Rosie-Lou instead of Roxy-Lou. 
Mrs. Schwenk says that it is the privi¬ 
lege of every lady to change her name, 
and she frequently makes a better record 
when she has her own say about the 
change. When the change, however, is 
forced upon her, Mrs. Schwenk claims 
that the lady will often resent it, and 
perhaps that’s the reason Rosie-Lou has 
H‘*t given us a better egg record. Now 
we give her her true name, and this is a 
good test for Mrs. Schwenk’s philosophy. 
May we not expect a tremendous record 
from Rosie-Lou now that her rights are 
restored? The main interest thus far in 
this contest, however, gathers around the 
remarkable performance of Tilly, the 
A hite Wyandotte. Up to the first of May 
1 illy had laid 122 eggs, and she was tied 
with Tom Barron’s best Wyandotte for 
the fifth place among the entire thousand 
hens. The best individual up to May 
first was a Barred Plymouth Rock with a 
record of 130 eggs. Then came a R. I. 
Red, with 129. No. 3 was a White Wyan¬ 
dotte with 127 ; then another Wyandotte 
with 124, and then our good friend Tilly 
with 122. It will be remembered that 
1 illy took a vacation of five weeks when 
she first entered the contest Counting 
from the time her first egg was laid, this 
remarkable hen has outlaid every one of 
the thousand birds in the contest. Up 
to May 16th. she had laid 130 eggs. 
On May 10th nature asserted itself, and 
1 illy became broody. Then she seemed 
dotte standpoint. It evidently makes 
some of the breeders thoughtful when this 
unknown hen out of an ordinary farmer’s 
flock steps right out of the henyard into 
the contest, and from the time she laid 
her first egg heads what are supposed to 
be the best utility layers in the country. 
Tilly was an unmatured pullet, weighing 
but a little over four pounds when she 
came to the contest. She now weighs 
something like o 1 /^ pounds, so that she 
has made a steady gain in addition to 
laying as she has done. We must remem¬ 
ber that this bird came from just an ordi¬ 
nary flock, and was selected by her owner, 
a farmer’s wife, w ho had no experience in 
grooming a hen for this contest, or in 
selecting utility layers. Mrs. Stevens, her 
owner, says that the sisters of Tilly at 
home are averaging nearly as well in 
their egg yield. We hope that next year 
Mrs. Stevens will be able to enter a full 
pen of pullets of much the same breeding 
as Tilly, and it will be very interesting to 
see if this bird is an exception or a for¬ 
tunate chance, or whether this laying 
blood is found in the entire flock. 
This Favorite Hen Contest is doing 
more than we expected in the way of in¬ 
teresting people in utility poultry. We 
shall learn before we are done with it 
many things about the common stock on 
our farms, and also about the part which 
actual selection and handling during the 
Fall plays in this poultry contest. 
Rhode Island Reds to May 16. 
Mrs. Carrie M. Bliss, Virginia. Pocahontas.. 0.4 
Mrs. E. S. Marlatt, New Jersey, Polly.lit) 
Mrs. T. Sclnveuk, Connecticut, Rosie-Lou_ 44 
Miss Ethel A. Pierce, New Hampshire, Lady 
I*ierce . 37 
Mrs. Samuel O. Travis, New York, Rose!103 
Mrs. W. R. Merrick, Massachusetts, Hetty M. 08 
Miss Edna M. Porter, New York, Hetty. 44 
Mrs. Andrew J. Wilson, Connecticut. Betty. 100 
Mrs. E. P. Andrews, New York, Golden Lass. 54 
Mrs. Cecil Parnham, Maine . 45 
Leghorns—Record to May 16. 
Mrs. N. D. Rand, New York, Lucy. 26 
Mrs. Lewis J. Happieli, New York, Lady 
Hopeful . 73 
Mrs. V. I>. Miller, Ohio, Ann. 74 
Mrs. A. J. Skellie, New York, ity. 53 
Mrs. C. L. Todd, Virginia, Patsy'. 77 
Mrs. Walter Fletcher, New York, Peggy.... 5 <; 
Miss Tillie B. Cloud, Pennsylvania, Peggy. 
Mrs. Josephine Hollenbacli, Pennsylvania, 
Viola .. 71 
Mrs. W. K. Phelps, Pennsylvania, Beauty... 07 
Mrs. Tj. E. Hilhorn. New York, Madam Toot- 
soy . 68 
Mixed Breeds—Records to May 16. 
Mrs. F. M. Earl. Connecticut, White Wyan¬ 
dotte, Gladness . 01 
Airs. A. N. Conell, New Y'ork. White Wyan¬ 
dotte, Dolly . 15 
Mrs. R. W. Stevens, New York, White Wy¬ 
andotte, Tilly .1.130 
Mrs. AV. S. Walters, Alichigan, Barred Rock, 
Bridgman Girl . 69 
Airs. G. L. Iiottigeb, Virginia, Barred Rock, 
Roxie . 57 
Aliases Osier and Wilcox, New York, Barred 
Rock. Alarguerita . 12 
Mrs. Robert H. Wood, New York, White 
Rock. Faith . 36 
Airs. Joseph di I’abrizio, New Jersey, Black 
Minorca, Betina . 84 
Arrs. Emma II. Wood, Now York, Buff Or¬ 
pington. Louisine .119 
Airs. Edwin Walker. Massachusetts, Huff 
Orpington, Lady Ashby .SO 
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How large a silo is required to keep 
five cows, aud let me feed all of the top in 
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of silage? I expect to build a square silo 
inside my barn \yith the corners cut on 
the octagon. J. o’L. 
Cortland, N. Y. 
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Cottonseed in Place of Beef Scrap. 
H< iw does cottonseed meal compare 
•with beef scrap for poultry, especially 
chicks? I have been feeding it to laying 
liens with very good results up to date, 
and it seems to me to be an economical 
substitute for beef scrap. 11 . o. f.. 
New York. 
I do not believe that cotton seed meal 
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We have extended experiments under way 
at the present time, which for the past 
two years, bear me out in that statement. 
The mortality has been high, the egg pro¬ 
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if he wishes to use cottonseed meal use 
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nr to the extent of about 10 per cent in 
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II. R. L. 
Care of Little Chicks. 
I have just started to keep chickens 
and have 22 little chicks three days old. 
Will you give me a little advice on how to 
feed and care for them? p. t. p. 
New Jersey. 
If I had 22 little chicks to care for I 
should turn the job over to some broody 
lien and should expect her to relieve me 
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If I didn't have the hen, and couldn’t bor¬ 
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fireless brooder, made from a cheese box, 
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corn, cracked Avheat, pinhead oatmeal, 
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bran, wheat middlings, and sifted beef 
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three of the slightly moistened mash, 
keeping the same mash before them, dry, 
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especially avoid over feeding upon moist¬ 
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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
333 West 30th St. New York City 
Standard Fruit Books 
Successful Fruit Culture. Maynard_$1.00 
The Nursery Book. Bailey. 1.50 
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