The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
421 
The  Henyard 
Facts  About  R.  I.  Reds  Greenstuff  for  Hens 
May  I  remind  Mr.  Cosgrove,  who 
writes  of  White  Wyandotts  and  K.  I. 
Ued-s  on  page  227  that  some  advance¬ 
ment  has  been  made  in  the  breeding  of 
R.  I.  Reds  since  he  kept  them  15  years 
ago ;  that  this  is  true  is  proven  by  the 
fact  that  at  the  New  York  State  Poultry 
Production  Show,  held  at  Cornell,  De¬ 
cember  5-7,  1922,  of  the  seven  prizes 
taken  l>y  Reds  from  one  farm,  one  of  the 
three  first,  prizes  won  was  for  the  best 
dozen  brown  eggs  shown  in  the  contest 
where  40  counties  were  represented.  Let 
us  hasten  the  day  when  the  Reds  shall 
come  into  their  own.  MRS.  l.  a.  s. 
Oswego,  N.  Y. 
Mrs.  L.  A.  S.  is  correct  in  saying  that 
“some  advancement  has  been  made  in 
breeding  R.  I.  Reds  in  the  last  15  years.” 
So  there  has  in  the  other  utility  breeds. 
Fifteen  years  ago  we  didn’t  know  that 
the  male  bird  is  half  the  flock,  and  that 
the  high-producing  hen  transmits  her  egg- 
laying  qualities  through  her  sons,  and  not 
through  her  daughters.  Dr.  Raymond 
Pearl,  when  he  was  at  the  head  of  the 
Maine  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
Poultry  Department,  demonstrated  that 
fact  by  continued  experiments.  Some 
strains  of  R.  I.  Reds  have  had  that  ex¬ 
cessive  tendency  to  broodiness  bred  out 
of  them,  and  an  evenness  of  color  ob¬ 
tained  that  to  one  familiar  with  the  R.  I. 
Red  of  15  years  ago,  is  simply  astonish¬ 
ing.  Then  they  varied  from  a  light  huff 
to  a  dark  red.  No  two  alike  in  my  flock 
of  40. 
But  the  comparative  value  of  the  utility 
breeds  for  egg-laying  was  never  definitely 
ascertained  until  the  egg-laying  contests 
brought,  out  the  facts.  Storrs  College 
was  the  first  to  start  the  contests,  and  is 
now  holding  twelfth  yearly  contest.  The 
following  facts  are  obtained  from  a  Storrs 
bulletin  published  in  1919.  Evidently  the 
performance  in  any  one  year  would  not 
be  a  fair  comparison,  so  the  figures  show 
the  average  of  five  successive  years. 
Egg  production,  1913-1918 — 'Barred 
Rocks,  averaged,  1,534;  White  Wyan- 
dottes,  averaged,  1,631 ;  White  Leghorns, 
averaged,  1,618;  R.  I.  Reds,  averaged, 
1,514. 
Value  of  eggs,  per  pen  of  10  birds— 
Barred  Rocks,  averaged,  $51.26;  White 
Wyandottes,  averaged,  $55.75 ;  White 
Leghorns,  averaged,  $53.25;  R.  I.  Reds, 
averaged,  $50.62. 
Cost  of  feed,  per  pen  of  10  birds— 
Barred  Rocks,  $23.78;  White  Wyan¬ 
dottes,  $21.98;  White  Leghorns,  $20.59; 
R.  I.  Reds,  $23.11. 
Return  above  cost  of  feed,  per  pen  of 
10  birds— Barred  Rocks,  $27.47;  White 
Wvandottes,  $33.75;  White  Leghorns, 
$32.67 ;  R.  I.  Reds,  $27.51. 
Amount  of  feed  consumed,  per  dozen 
eggs  laid — Barred  Rocks,  7.59  lbs. ;  White 
Wvandottes,  6.61  lbs.;  White  Leghorns, 
6.17  lbs.;  R.  I.  Reds,  7.56  lbs. ' 
Value  of  eggs  for  each  dollar  spent  for 
feed' — Barred  Rocks,  $2.15 ;  White  V  yan- 
dottes.  $2.53;  White  Leghorns,  $2.58; 
R.  T.  Reds,  $2.18. 
Number  of  eggs  laid  for  each  100  lbs. 
of  feed  consumed — White  Leghorns,  195; 
White  Wyandottes,  182;  R.  I.  Reds,  159; 
Barred  Rocks,  158. 
There  are  a  number  of  other  tables  in 
the  bulletin,  and  here  is  one  where  the 
R.  I.  Reds  come  out  on  top. 
Weight  of  eggs  per  dozen — Ft.  I.  Reds, 
averaged,  25.1  oz. ;  Barred  Rocks,  aver¬ 
aged,  25  oz. ;  White  Leghorns,  averaged, 
24.1  oz. ;  White  Wyandottes,  averaged, 
23.5  oz. 
It  is  difficult  to  see  how  any  fairer 
comparison  of  these  four  breeds  could  he 
made.  All  the  pens — good,  bad  and  in¬ 
different  of  each  breed,  are  taken,  and  the 
figures  above  given  are  the  average  of 
what  each  breed  did  in  five  years. 
It  seems  rather  ungallant  to  show  Mrs. 
L.  A.  S.  that  R.  I.  Reds  have  usually 
taken  a  back  seat,  but  there  are  the  facts. 
GEORGE  A.  COSGROVE. 
Poor  Laying 
I  have  a  flock  of  120  hens,  coming  two 
years  old  this  Spring,  part  Barred  Rocks 
and  part  Rhode  Island  Reds,  in  good 
condition,  plumage  glossy,  combs  red.  I 
am  feeding  4  qts.  of  wheat  in  scratch  and 
a  wet  mash  of  2  lbs.  cracklings  and  bran 
in  morning,  4  qts.  of  oats,  scalded,  at 
noon,  8  qts.  of  corn  at  night,  cabbage  and 
clover  hay  for  green  feed,  and  4  qts.,  by 
mesnre  of  ly  mash,  which  seems  to  be 
about  all  they  will  eat.  Plenty  of  fresh 
water ;  kept  housed  only  during  bad 
weather.  House  has  240  ft.  floor  space. 
I  am  only  getting  16  eggs  per  day  from 
them.  Would  like  your  advice  as  to  feed- 
iug  them  to  get  a  greater  egg  production. 
Parkton.  Md.  MRS.  C. 
I  should  judge  that' this  flock  was  get¬ 
ting  pretty  nearly  its  fill  from  whole 
grains  and  vegetables  and  was  not  eating 
enough  ground  mash  for  good  egg  produc¬ 
tions.  Hens  should  eat  nearly  as  much 
mash  containing  beef  scrap  in  the  propor¬ 
tion  of  one-sixth  to  one-fifth,  by  weight, 
or  its  equivalent  in  dried  milk,  bsh  scrap, 
etc.,  as  whole  grain.  When  laying  well 
they  will  need  as  much  mash  as  grain, 
and  when  laying  heavily  they  may  eat 
more.  Proportions  suggested  are  by 
weight,  not  measure.  u.  b.  D. 
I  have  seen  a  lot  in  The  R.  N.-Y. 
about  how  to  make  hens  lay.  Hens  need 
grass,  or  some  other  green  stuff  to  eat, 
and  where  they  are  kept  near  neighbors 
you  see  them  in  pens  where  there  is  not 
a  mite  of  green  to  be  seen.  If  those  who 
own  the  hens  would  cover  the  ground 
half  an  inch  deep  with  oats  and  dig  them 
in  to  the  depth  of  four  inches,  part  of 
the  oats  would  be  on  top,  others  just  cov¬ 
ered  and  come  up  soon,  and  those  covered 
deeper  come  up  later,  and  so  furnish  the 
hens  with  green  feed  for  a  week  or  more. 
Repeat  this  often  and  you  will  find  this 
will  help  the  hens  more  than  anything 
you  can  do. 
The  long  time  it  takes  for  butter  to 
come  is  continually  coming  up,  but  I  see 
nothing  of  that  remedy  which  is  sure  to 
cure  the  matter.  Give  the  cows  one  tea¬ 
spoon  of  saltpeter  once  a  week. 
Kennebec,  Me.  frank  lowetx. 
Corrosive  Sublimate  as  a  Disinfectant 
I  have  a  leaflet  on  intestinal  worm  of 
poultry  from  the  Massachusetts  Agricul¬ 
tural  College,  in  which  they  advise  soak¬ 
ing  the  infected  brooder  yards  with  a  so¬ 
lution  of  bichloride  of  mercury  (corrosive 
sublimate),  one  ounce  to  eight  gallons  of 
water,  using  one  gallon  to  10  sq.  ft.  to 
kill  the  eggs.  Druggists  say  they  would 
not  use  the  stuff  on  their  place,  would 
not  have  it  around,  consider  it  very  dan¬ 
gerous,  remedy  worse  than  the  disease. 
Do  you  think  oats  would  grow  on  land 
soaked  like  that?  Would  not  little  chick¬ 
ens  be  killed  if  they  ate  the  dirt?  I)o 
you  think  another  disinfectant  would  do 
the  business?  c.  e.  b. 
Belchertown,  Mass. 
I  have  had  no  personal  experience  in 
this  matter  and  am  willing  to  take  the 
statements  of  the  Massachusetts  Agricul¬ 
tural  College  with  regard  to  it.  I  confess 
that  the  idea  of  killing  the  eggs  of  intes¬ 
tinal  parasites  in  the  soil  of  poultry 
yards  by  soaking  that  soil  with  a  solu¬ 
tion  of  corrosive  sublimate  does  not  ap¬ 
peal  to  me,  at  first  blush,  as  very  prac¬ 
tical;  still,  if  the  experiment  station  has 
tried  it  out,  the  investigators  should 
know..  Corrosive  sublimate  is  a  powerful 
germicide  and,  likewise,  a  dangerous  poi¬ 
son.  if  carelessly  handled.  Druggists  do 
well  to  warn  their  customers  with  regard 
to  it.  It.  forms  a  colorless  solution  with 
water,  and  thus  gives  no  evidence  of  its 
presence  in  that  solution.  It  is  a  very 
commonly  used  disinfectant,  however,  and 
is  safe  in  careful  hands.  For  use  by  sur¬ 
geons,  it  is  ordinarily  put  up  in  tablets, 
colored  blue  to  attract  attention  to  its 
character.  If  a  solution  is  made  for  do¬ 
mestic  use,  it  would  be  wise  to  add  a  lit¬ 
tle  laundry  bluiug,  so  that  animals  or 
children  would  be  less  apt  to  drink  it  for 
clear  water.  I  should  not  expect  it  to 
interfere  with  the  growth  of  oats  when 
used  as  recommended,  or  to  kill  chickens, 
if  they  were  not  turned  upon  the  land 
soon  after  the  application  of  the  solution. 
In  this  I  should  be  careful,  however. 
Killing  parasites  and  their  eggs  in  the 
soil  is  not  an  easy  matter.  I  should  ex¬ 
pect  corrosive  sublimate  to  do  it,  if  any¬ 
thing  could,  hut  to  undertake  to  sterilize 
any  considerable  surface  with  it  would  be 
quite  an  undertaking.  m.  b.  d. 
Leg  Weakness 
I  have  about  150  pullets  which  look 
healthy  until  suddenly  they  seem  to  lose 
control  of  their  wings  and  legs,  and  occa¬ 
sionally  one  grows  weak  and  in  a  few 
days  dies.  On  investigating  I  have  found 
in  two  blind  intestines  thread-like 
worms.  Are  these  worms  the  cause  of 
their  condition,  and,  if  so,  _ what  would 
you  recommend  for  a  remedy?  From  baby 
chicks  we  fed  considerable  sour  skim- 
milk,  dry  mash  and  scratch  feed,  and  they 
have  had  free  range  until  cold  weather. 
What  quantity  of  sour  milk  do  you  ad-- 
vise?  --  M.  d.  h. 
Cattaraugus,  N.  Y. 
This  description  sounds  very  much  like 
that  of  a  disease  of  unknown  nature, 
generally  called  “leg  weakness,”  from  its 
chief,  and  almost  only,  symptom.  Grow¬ 
ing  pullets  and  cockerels  suddenly  lose 
the  use  of  their  legs,  though  apparently 
healthy  in  every  other  respect.  Many 
times  the  apparent  paralysis  is  recovered 
from  within  a  few  days,  and  the  bird 
seems  none  the  worse  *  in  other  eases 
the  affected  bird  dies  after  a  few  days. 
Older  fowls  may  also  be  affected,  the 
mortality  in  whole  flocks  sometimes  being 
great.  As  you  have  found  intestinal 
worms,  it  certainly  would  he  rational 
treatment  to  try  to  get  rid  of  them,  even 
though  you  do  not  know  it  to  be  the 
cause  of  the  trouble.  I  should  give  such 
affected  fowls,  as  soon  as  it  showed  signs 
ot  the  trouble,  about  two  teaspoonfuls  of 
spirits  of  turpentine  mixed  with  an  equal 
amount  of  castor  oil.  This  is  best  ad¬ 
ministered  through  a  soft  rubber  catheter 
passed  down  into  the  crop  of  the  bird, 
a  small  glass  syringe  being  used  to  force 
the  oil  through  the  catheter.  Like  other 
worm  medicine,  turpentine  should  be  ad¬ 
ministered  upon  an  empty  stomach,  in 
order  that  it  may  have  its  full  effect  upon 
the  contents  of  the  intestines.  Castor  oil 
may  be  given  alone,  as  a  psysie,  in  these 
eases,  but  neither  it  nor  any  other  remedy 
<>f  which  I  know  can  be  depended  upon 
as  a  cure.  m.  b.  d. 
Buckeye  Colon 
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