The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
825 
The Henyard 
Criticizing Poultry-house 
I intend to erect a laying house in near 
future and send plan for a 20-ft. length. 
The house will be 20x70 ft., 10 ft. for feed 
house and the other 60 ft. divided into 
three compartments of 20x20 ft. I would 
like to hear from you before I begin. 
Pennsylvania. G. G. s. 
Perhaps the most serious defect in your 
plan is that of having ventilators at the 
lower part of the front wall. That should 
be airtight, to avoid drafts over the floor 
at the height of the fowls’ heads, as far 
as possible. The ventilating shutters, 
.such as you illustrate have not, I think, 
proved as desirable as windows that can 
be operated at the top, dropped back, in 
cold weather, and removed entirely in 
warm. Elaborately designed ones that 
force entering air to make several turns 
before reaching the interior have been 
used at one experiment station, but my 
impression is that they were not found 
fully satisfactory and are not now recom¬ 
mended in place of ample window space. 
I should prefer windows of good size, 
more palatable, but I should not consider 
it necessary. Any cistern water, standing 
for too long a time undisturbed, will gain 
a disagreeable odor and taste. This 
may be avoided by frequent additions of 
fresh water or by some method of aerat¬ 
ing it. I know of nothing about slate¬ 
surfaced roofing that would render the 
water unfit for use after the roof had 
been in use long enough to rid it of loose 
dirt and any soluble material in the sur¬ 
face layers. 
2. Toe-punching baby chicks makes a 
permanent mark if the punching is so 
done as to completely remove the web 
W’ithin the circle. If carelessly done and 
the circular bit of tissue is not entirely 
removed, the wound may close up as the 
chick grows. 
3. Hard-boiled, infertile eggs are suit¬ 
able chick food and are commonly used 
for that purpose. 
4. The ration for laying hens need not 
be changed to suit the season ; in fact, I 
do not know just how a “cooling” ration 
28% m 
4 ft. 
X 
o 
fa 
28% in. 
4 ft. 
W indows 
4 ft. 
Ventilator 
boards 8in broad 
standing 45 degrees 
5? 
■*s> 
>* 
I 
•s 
O s 
"tf $ 
* 
28% in. 
Window 
4 ft. 
I 
Ventilator 
boards ffim. apart 
X 
5 
f 
K 
- S 
20 ft. front 
Henhouse Plan 
•5 
■S» 
placed where the ventilators are shown 
in your sketch, these reaching well to¬ 
ward the plate, so that supplementary 
windows there would not be needed. I 
think that you will find this plan equally 
satisfactory, at least, and cheaper. 
M. B. D. 
could be devised, unless by the addition 
of green stuff, and this is needed in cold 
as well as in warm weather. Possibly ice 
cream might do the trick, but few poul- 
trymen can get enough of that for their 
own use. M . B . D . 
Questions in Poultry Practice 
1. I desire to put in a cistern for hold¬ 
ing the rain water from my chicken house 
roof. How large should it be to take 
care of 1,000 chickens all the year round? 
Would there be any advantage in having 
the water filtered? If so, how should the 
filter be constructed? Is there anything 
about slate-surfaced roofing that would 
make the water unfit for chickens? 2. 
What is the best method for marking 
baby chicks to distinguish different 
strains? Is toe punching permanent? 
3. I have been advised to hard-boil all in¬ 
fertile eggs and save them for the little 
chicks’ first feed. Is this a good plan? 
4. Should laying hens on a limited range 
be fed as much grain in Summer as in 
Winter? I have been told they need a 
more cooling ration. S. P. F. 
Springdale, Conn. 
1. I know of no figures giving the 
amount of water needed in a year by 
1,000 fowls, though this may possibly 
have been worked out in some arid region 
where water is not always free for the 
pumping. In any case, the size of cistern 
required would depend upon the area of 
the roof supplying it, the average annual 
rainfall and facilities for avoiding waste. 
In my own vicinity, Southern New York 
State, the average annual rainfall, as 
shown by Weather Bureau reports, is 
practically 34 in. By multiplying the 
urea of the horizontal base of the roof, 
regardless of its shape, by the depth of 
the rainfall, you could ascertain the 
amount of water falling upon it in cubic 
inches. Dividing this by 231 would give 
you the number of gallons of water that 
you might collect, less the loss by ab¬ 
sorption by shingles, blowing off by wind, 
etc. All this would probably be more in 
exercise in computation than a source of 
valuable information, however. It seems 
to me that only the total impracticability 
of obtaining well or spring water would 
justify cistern storage for poultry. Fil¬ 
tering the rain water through a layer, or 
several layers, of filtering materials, like 
sand, gravel and charcoal, would render it 
Semi-solid Buttermilk for Chicks 
Is there any difference in feeding semi 
solid buttermilk or sour milk? What is 
the best milk to give to baby chicks? Is 
a tablespoonful of semi-solid buttermilk 
in two quarts of water all right? Will 
this drink be good for them for two 
weeks without any other water? We 
cannot buy milk here by the can, as deal¬ 
ers will not sell it to poultrymen, and 
the cost is too great—65 cents for an 8-qt. 
can of sweet milk. Sour milk is not for 
sale, so we have to use semi-solid, and 
want to know the best way to feed it. A 
lot of my chicks died this year with their 
heads thrown back and twisted around ; 
lost control of themselves. Buttermilk, 
starting food was fed, and they were 
brooded right; died at two weeks old. 
Lowell, Mass. p, G . f. 
There is no essential difference between 
semi-solid buttermilk and sour milk, when 
the former is diluted to the consistency 
of ordinary buttermilk. One part of the 
semi-solid product to seven of water is 
supposed to restore the original form io 
this product, but it is fed in any dilu¬ 
tion, from clear paste up to the greatest 
dilution desired by the feeder. Diluted, 
one to seven, it may be given as the only 
drink for the first few weeks of a chick’s 
life, and my own impression of it is fa¬ 
vorable when it is used in this way. I 
am now feeding it diluted in about that 
proportion, without, however, trying to 
be accurate in the measurements, to 
young chicks which get practically no 
water in other form, and have done so be¬ 
fore, with excellent results. If I could 
get skim or buttermilk locally in sufficient 
quantity and at reasonable price, I should 
not purchase the more expensive con¬ 
densed product, but, where the former are 
not available, I consider the semi-solid 
product a help in chick raising that it 
would be hard to do without. m. b. l. 
Now tell me, what is the opposite of 
misery?” “Happiness!” said the class in 
unison. “And sadness?” she asked. 
"Dladness.” “And the opposite of woe?” 
G id dap! shouted th6 enthusiastic 
class.”—Good Hardware. 
osemo 
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PINE TREE BABY CHICKS 
50,000 for Immediate Delivery 
PINE TREE Pure-Bred CHICKS 
_ 50 
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50 
100 
500 
1.000 
$5.50 
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Barred Rocks or Rhode Island Reds.. 
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8 io 10 weeks old White Leghorn Pullets for immediate delivery 80c each; 12 weeks old $1.00. 
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PINE TREE HATCHERY 
Box R 
STOCKTON, NEW JERSEY 
POT 
QUALITY 
CHICKS 
Low June Prices Effective May 26th 
yuAUTyfthe ‘ ,on< ” of “.-*>»'* —4 ch?cKr r ^ 
FOR PROMPT DELIVERY 
26 
$3.50 
4.00 
4.25 
4.50 
2.75 
White, Black and Brown Leghorns 
Barred Rocks. 
R. I. Rads . . . 
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Mixed Chicks. 
60 
$6.50 
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Order at once—don* 
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$ 12.00 
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9 7 Chick Association 
50,000 WHITE 
LEGHORN CHICKS 
Ready for Immediate Delivery 
at These Reduced Prices 
Kerr’s Guar an ted White Leghorn 
Chicks are bred under the supervision 
of our own experts. 
WHITE LEGHORN PRICES 
Kerr’s 
Utility Prices 
100 Chicks $14.00 
;50 “ 7.50 
25 “ 4.00 
Kerr’s Special 
Matings Prices 
100 Chicks $19.00 
50 “ 10.00 
25 “ 5.25 
The price for 500 chicks is % cent 
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Order today. Ask for our 
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THE KERR CHICKERIES, Inc. 
<Member International Baby Chick Ass'n.) 
Newark, N. J. Syracuse, N. Y. 
Box No. 9 Box No. 9 
Frenchtown, N. J. Springfield, Mass. 
Box No. 9 Box No 9 
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“ ox ■ Stockton, New Jersey 
CHICKS 
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CHICKS THAT ARE CHICKS 
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_' Frenchtown, N. J 
H°FX0V , !l G |’i0KV O |y. , ? B ( ? N re v DS j Raby turks *1.25 each 
rI.O.NA I10K.Y1 MU, O.v.fn, V.Y. | Eggs reduced May 15th 
Jersey Black Giant Hatching Eggs 
hundred in case lots. Brook cron? Farm. Cranbury. N X 
STANDARDIZED PLANT NAMES 
V. Coville and Harlan P. Kelsey, of the Am¬ 
erican Joint Committee on Horticultural 
Nomenciature. It gives the approved scien¬ 
tific and common names of plants in Araer 
man commerce, and will be of great value 
matters" u 1 urlst8 and aI1 interested in such 
Price postpaid, $5. 00. For sale by 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
333 West 30th Street New York City 
