1398 
1h* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Those Precocious Cockerels 
On page 1117 I read the account of the 
• precocious crowing of a Brown Leghorn 
cockerel, aged eight weeks. .We have a 
flock of S. C. White Leghorns, hatched 
June 6, this Summer. You may judge 
of our surprise when on July 19 one of 
the d'ockerels 'began crowing real lustily, 
just six weeks and one day. old. At the 
date 'of writing several are crowing. We 
noticed this particularly because we have 
no cockerel with our hens at all. As we 
are newcomers here thus began the first 
crowing of cockerels on our farm. e 
find it. quite a pleasure to hear them. 
Cortland Co., N. Y. a. m. mohr. 
H. II. W. asks if the crowing of young 
cockerels of eight weeks is uncommon. 
Such early crowing as at eight weeks is 
a very good sign, although it is not at 
all uncommon among well-bred Iloudans 
that are bred for vitality and egg yield. 
It has been my habit to select my cock¬ 
erels for breeding pens by signs of high 
vitality, and this is one of the signs. 
With my breed eight to 10 weeks is a 
very common crowing age. At present 
(July 21) I have.more than one cockerel 
crowing that was hatched May 23. Some 
commenced to crow July IS. Their combs 
also are a bright red. Some of them give 
a fine clear crow just before daybreak, 
and keep it up; others do their best, but 
have not got the art to perfection as yet. 
but manage to make a pretty good squeak 
for all of-Jhat. It would be my opinion 
(other points being good) that II. II. W.’e 
Brown Leghorn cockerel is a bird well 
worthy of his best care as a further 
breeder for 1920. By all means let II. 
II. W. give the bird a name and let him 
head one of his breeding pens next year. 
Start in pedigree breeding, and from year 
to year see your flock improve; it is well 
worth while. This is what I have done 
with my Francois strain of Iloudans. and 
at present do you suppose my birds are 
letting up in their egg yield? Not they; 
not a bit of it. They have been bred for 
heavy laying when many other strains 
and breeds are beginning to let up and 
beginning to moult, and never any bird 
in my pens begins to moult until Septem¬ 
ber, and many lay into October and some 
into November. Just try pedigree breed¬ 
ing of good pure stock and see if it does 
not pay. 
New York. 
E; L. SWEETSER. 
Some Thoughts About Hatching Eggs 
No matter how carefully eggs for hatch¬ 
ing are packed, there cau never be any 
certainty that they will hatch, if they 
are to be transported a long distance, and 
the main reason for this i.s the delicacy 
of the thin membrane that separates the 
white from the yolk. When one eats a 
hard-boiled egg the membrane has dis¬ 
appeared ; there does not seem to be any¬ 
thing between white and yolk. If there 
was a tough skin like that which encloses 
the white and separates it from the shell, 
the microscopic male germ cell could not 
penetrate it and unite with the female 
germ cell on the yolk, as it must to form 
a chick. When Mr. Tom Barron and 
his wife, and her cousin. Mr. Rawclift, 
came over to this country several years 
ago, Mr. Rawcliff brought some eggs with 
him as a gift to a friend over here, lie 
took every, possible care in handling them, 
but not an egg hatched. The vibration on 
the steamer while crossing . had broken 
that little thin membrane between yolk 
and white, and let the two mix. Mr. 
Rawcliff told me that every one of those 
eggs would have hatched if set at home. 
Twice Mr. Barron sent me eggs from 
England; they were doubly packed—that 
is in two containers—and arrived appar¬ 
ently in perfect condition, yet not an 
egg hatched. After seven days m the 
incubator on testing them I found that 
the air chamber was not at the big end 
where it should be, but at the top—when 
the egg was held horizontally and re¬ 
mained at the top when the egg was in¬ 
volved; showing that the contents were 
liquefied, white and yolk mixed. 
I have often been on a passenger train, 
when the engineer would back down to 
take on another car. and bump into the 
other car with such force as nearly to 
throw me out of my seat. Think oi a 
box of eggs up forward in the 
car enduring that jar. Perhaps 
pressman has handled 
utmost care, the eggs 
express 
the ex- 
that box with the 
arrive with not a 
shell cracked, yet every egg was spoiled 
when that jar came. The customer 
writes: “I tested your eggs the seventh 
day and every egg was rotten, not one 
fertile egg in the lot.” And the seller, 
hatching eggs from the same pen, knows 
they were fertile. Now the question is, 
what is the fair, just, honest, thing to do, 
as between buyer and seller? The seller 
is out’the eggs, the cost of the container, 
and his time in packing and delivering 
the eggs to the express company. But 
he has the price of the eggs. The buyer 
has nothing. Some sellers state to the 
buyer that when they have delivered the 
eggs carefully packed to the express, their 
responsibility ends; and if the buyer takes 
the eggs under those conditions, there 
is no complaint to be made. But where 
there is no such agreement it seems to 
me that the seller ought always in fair¬ 
ness to furnish another setting at half 
price and to that extent share in the loss. 
Of course, the buyer could buy chicks by 
paying twice as much money; in fact, he 
has taken a chance on getting more chicks 
by buying eggs, and lost. Now, will he 
stand by his gamble and be “a good loser,” 
or will he ‘‘squeal?” Undoubtedly there 
are men mean enough to claim that eggs 
did not hatch when they really did, so as 
to get another setting for nothing from 
those who advertise to replace eggs that 
do not hatch ; but they are few and can be 
ignored. 
In 50 years’ experience I have noted 
that complaints seldom come from an old 
breeder; it is the amateur, the man new 
at the business who is most ready with 
complaints. A word as to values. I 
know a man who has first-class White 
Leghorns; his lowest price for cockerels 
is $5, but he sold eggs for setting at $2 
per setting. A woman buys a setting 
and hatches only two chicks. At once 
she is indignant, wants another setting 
for nothing, feels defrauded. But tin* two 
chicks live; if one is a cockerel she has 
two and a half times the value of her 
money, also the other chick. I don’t 
think she has much reason to complain. 
Few poultrymen new to the business 
realize the value and importance of a 
male bird, bred from generations of high 
producing liens. lie is far more than 
‘‘half the flock.” for 
hen transmits her 
through her sons, not 
ters. But in buying 
man who sells them 
portant things to be 
happily, records may 
the high producing 
laying potentiality 
through her daugh- 
breeding stock the 
is one of the im- 
considered, for un- 
bo manufactured. I 
know of cockerels bred from a hen that 
laid 257 eggs last year, and she the prod¬ 
uct of generations of trap-nested ances¬ 
tors. Such a male bird—useful himself 
for four or five years—is really worth a 
high price. 
It would be interesting to know how 
much the average output of eggs from 
American hens lias increased since the 
egg-laying contests began and the knowl¬ 
edge of tlie importance of good male birds 
became more general. I have no doubt 
there has been a substantial increase. 
GEO. A. COSGROVE. 
Construction of Henhouse 
As I am intending to build a new hen¬ 
house. and wish to have it right, I am 
coming to you for advice. I am enclosing 
diagram of location showing partial pro¬ 
tection from west winds by the barn. 
West winds are very strong here; also 
have quite a lot of south wind. North 
wind is of little account, and east side 
faces large hill, which affords protection. 
I wish to build one-story high, with about 
400 to 450 square feet of floor space; have 
thought of building about 14x30 ft. to face 
east; roosts along west side, large window 
in south end east of roosts, and other 
windows, and ventilation openings cov¬ 
ered with cloth on east side. I have 
hesitated about this coop, as so many 
poultry-keepers advocate openings on one 
side of building only, and at present 
prices experiments are rather costly. 
New York. G. w. 
I would suggest building this house a 
September 20, 1919 
little deeper chan you propose, say 18 
or 20 feet. The more nearly square a 
building the less the cost, and, in this 
case, the further back from the front win¬ 
dows that you will use as ventilators 
the perches may be placed. It is the 
generally accepted practice to place win¬ 
dows upon one side only, making all other 
sides tight. These windows may then be 
opened or, in the Bummer time, removed 
to admit an abundance of fresh air with¬ 
out permitting drafts to blow through 
the building. It would be well, too, to 
face the building a little to the southeast, 
rather than directly south or east. This 
will catch the first rays of the morning 
sun through windows w hich should reach 
from within two feet of the floor nearly 
to the plate. These windows should be 
loose or hinged at the bottom so as to 
drop back .a few inches at the top for 
ventilation. Hopper or Y-shaped sides 
will force the air to enter over the tops 
only. Cloth ventilators have lost their 
popularity; open windows and such de¬ 
vices as the wind baffler* described in 
bulletins from the poultry department of 
Cornell University at Ithaca, N. Y. (free 
upon application), have largely displaced 
them. M. b. n. 
Preaching in one of the State capitals 
an Australian bishop noticed in his con¬ 
gregation a strange face. The following 
Sunday the same individual appeared, and 
later in the week the bishop met him in 
the street. The bishop stopped him, con¬ 
gratulated him upon his attendance at 
the cathedral, and added. “You don’t live 
here, do you?" “No." said the stranger. 
“I live way back," mentioning the name 
of the place. “Have you many Episco¬ 
palians there?" inquired the bishop. “No, 
sir,” was the reply. “What we are mostly 
worried with is rabbits."—Melbourne 
Leader. 
SERVICE 
Wouldn’t it 
be worth while? 
If you could afford to employ an ex¬ 
pert to spend all his time studying 
how to mix the feeds for your stock, 
to furnish them exactly the nutrition required and get 
the most out of the home-grown roughage—wouldn’t 
it be worth while? 
For each individual feeder this would be impossible 
but TI-O-GA Feeds represent exactly that service. 
Our feed expert has spent his life in the study of 
animal nutrition from the feeder's standpoint and 
TI-O-GA Feeds are the result; they make use of all 
the available supplies to furnish the required nutrition 
at lowest cost per unit and maintain at all times the 
proper balance required to obtain the desired results. 
In the feeding of Cows the roughages are first con¬ 
sidered, for they are grown on the farm and must be 
utilized. They are grouped into three classes and a 
feed prepared to use with 
Red Brand TI-O-GA Dairy Feed to be fed with 
ensilage, pasturage, green fodder or low protein 
roughage. 
White Brand TI-O-GA Dairy Feed to be fed 
with medium protein ary roughage. 
Blue Brand TI-O-GA Dairy Feed to be fed 
with high protein dry roughage. 
With the plan as outlined, users of TI-O-GA 
Feeds virtually receive our expert’s service with 
every bag. Each bag contains literature giving 
classification of roughage and full feeding tables. 
Every bag of TI-O-GA Feed is guaranteed to 
give satisfactory results when used as intended. 
Ask your dealer for TI-O-GA Feeds and send 
for Book on TI-O-GA Feed Service containing 
valuable information on feeding and conservation 
of home grown feeds. 
each class and with it form 
a perfect balanced ration: 
The same careful service is fur¬ 
nished in the preparation of: 
TI-O-GA Brood Sow and Pig 
Feed. 
TI-O-GA Growing Shoat Feed. 
TI-O-GA Fattening Hog Feed. 
TI-O-GA Chick Feed. 
TI-O-GA Growing Mash. 
TI-O-GA Growing Grains. 
TI-O-GA Laying Food. 
TI-O-GA Poultry Grains. 
Tl-O-GA Calf Food. 
TI-O-GA Horse Feed. 
Colonel’s Ration (Full Feed for 
H orses). 
& Elevator Co. Waverly, N. Y. 
