Ihe  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
629 
Doctoring  for  the  Chicken  Fever 
A  Spring  Ailment.  —  It  was  early 
Spring.  The  patient  came  into  the  doc¬ 
tor’s  office  seeking  advice  and  treatment 
for  the  fever  which  was  consuming  him. 
Among  other  symptoms  that  he  exhibited 
was  a  certain  restlessness  and  a  desire  to 
be  out  in  the  open.  When  by  chance  he 
was  able  to  compose  himsel  for  a  time,  it 
was  evident  that  his  mind  was  running 
in  one  direction  all  the  time,  for  he  im¬ 
mediately  turned  to  a  book  that  he  carried 
with  him  and  read  for  a  while.  A  peep 
over  his  shoulder  showed  that  the  book 
contained  some  sort  of  instructions  about 
chickens.  He  read  for  a  while,  then  drew 
out  pencil  and  paper  and  began  to  figure 
industriously.  Then  he  sat  a  while  and 
dreamed.  The  doctor  examined  him  and 
smiled.  He  knew  what  the  trouble  was, 
for  he  had  touches  of  the  same  fever  each 
Spring  himself.  “Son,”  he  said,  “you 
have  the  chicken  fever.  There’s  only  one 
thing  to  do,  and  that  is  to  satisfy  the 
cravings  of  the  fever  and  raise  chickens.” 
Going  About  It.— I  suppose  there  are 
thousands  of  us  who  have  the  same  crav¬ 
ings  along  this  line  each  Spring.  What 
shall  we  do  about  it?  It  depends  upon 
who  we  are,  where  we  live,  and  the  se¬ 
verity  with  which  the  chicken  fever  at¬ 
tacks  us,  as  to  the  procedure  we  should 
follow.  If  we  are  a  farmer’s  son,  or 
daughter,  or  wife,  or — dare  I  say  it? — 
even  the  farmer  himself,  our  problem  of 
allaving  the  fever  is  probably  somewhat 
different  from  that  of  us  who  are  city  bred 
or  are  suburbanites  who  know  nothing 
about  chickens  except  that  a  bird  should 
net  at  least  $2  profit  a  year.  The  prob¬ 
lem  is  still  somewhat  different  for  those 
of  us  who  have  the  same  fever  each  year, 
who  read  up  on  the  subject  and  really 
love  chickens,  but  don’t  feel  that  we  know 
how  to  start.  Probably  most  all  chicken 
dreams  include  acres  and  acres  of  chick¬ 
ens  pouring  dollar  after  dollar  into  the 
coffers,  and  ending  in  great  wealth.  Never¬ 
theless,  there  are  some  that  really  love 
poultry  and  the  work  that  goes  with  it. 
and  at  the  same  time  keep  an  eye  open 
for  the  money  that  goes  with  it '  with 
proper  management. 
The  City  Man. — Let  us  consider  the 
case  of  the  person  who  lives  in  the  city 
or  in  a  suburban  town,  and  knows  noth¬ 
ing  about  poultry  at  all.  Supposing  such 
a  persons  wants  to  raise  chickens  for  a 
living — a  great  many  of  them  do ;  I  have 
had  a  number  of  letters  from  such  people 
asking  the  best  procedure.  The  best 
thing  for  a  person  in  such  circumstances 
is  to  go  slowly.  He  should  get  some  good 
poultry  text  and  subscribe  for  some  good 
poultry  paper,  and  should  read  them  dili¬ 
gently.  I  would  advise  against  getting 
more  than  one  such  text  and  one  such 
paper  at  a  time,  for  unless  he  knows 
something  about  the  poultry  business  and 
poultry  raising  in  general,  he  is  apt  to 
become  confused  and  befuddled  by  the 
seeming  contradictory  advice  that  is  quite 
frequently  given. 
A  College  Course. — Next,  if  he  can 
afford  it  and  has  the  time,  he  should  at¬ 
tend  the  short  courses  as  given  by  the 
State  Agricultural  College  in  his  State. 
These  courses  are  free  to  residents  of  the 
State,  the  only  expense  being  $5  (in  most 
cases)  entrance  fee,  books,  board,  and 
personal  expenses.  Practically  every  State 
gives  such  a  course  in  poultry  husbandry, 
there  being  but  few  exceptions.  If  lie 
cannot  afford  the  time  or  money  for  this 
there  are  one  or  two  correspondence 
schools  that  give  courses  in  poultry  rais¬ 
ing.  Of  course,  it  is  infinitely  more  va’- 
uable  to  go  to  a  State  agricultural  col¬ 
lege  and  take  the  course  offered  there, 
where  one  may  ask  questions  and  discuss 
various  phases  of  the  industry  with  the 
instructors,  than  it  is  to  haye  these  dis¬ 
cussions  in  writing  with  an  instructor 
who  is  miles  away.  However,  I  merely 
mention  this  possibility. 
Practical  Knowledge. — Supposing  he 
has  gone  to  his  State  college  and  has 
taken  such  a  short  course  as  has  been 
suggested.  He  has  only  half  the  knowl¬ 
edge  necessary.  He  has  the  theoretical 
knowledge,  but  still  lacks  the  practical, 
which  is  equally  as  important.  He  should 
not  think  of  starting  in  the  business  for 
himself,  or  as  manager  fore  someone  else, 
until  he  has  had  at  least  six  months’  ex¬ 
perience  on  some  up-to-date  poultry 
farm — a  year’s  experience  is  better,  be¬ 
cause  then  he  comes  in  actual  contact 
with  the  various  problems  that  face  the 
poultryman  at  different  seasons  of  the 
year,  and  has  some  idea  as  to  how  to 
meet  these  problems.  He  may  think  that 
he  can’t  afford  all  this  time,  but  he  will 
have  to  get  over  this  idea,  as  he  might 
better  take  things  easily  and  hold  on  to 
what  money  he  has  than  to  start  in  with 
a  rush  and  finish  the  same  way— with 
nothing. 
A  Backyard  Flock. — Of  course,  if  a 
person  merely  wants  to  raise  a  few  in 
the  backyard,  all  this  elaborate  prepara¬ 
tion  is  not  necessary,  though  it  does  not 
come  amiss,  and  it’s  fun.  Starting  in  a 
small  way  with  a  backyard  flock  is  an 
excellent  way  of  starting,  for  a  person 
can  get  wonderful  experience,  and  if  he 
is  so  fixed  that  he  can  expand,  so  much 
the  better.  I  have  in  mind  a  young  lad 
who  had  a  small  backyard  flock.'  He  took 
a  short  course,  as  I  have  suggested  above, 
worked  for  a  while  for  a  poultryman. 
went  home  and  began  to  increase  the  size 
of  his  flock.  He  did  so  well  that  his 
father  bought  him  a  12-acre  farm  a  short 
distance  from  town,  and  now  he  has  about 
2.000  birds,  and  is  d  oing  yery  nicely. 
The  case  of  the  general  farmer  who  has 
been  ambling  along  with  a  mediocre  farm 
flock,  and  has  suddenly  awakened  to  the 
fact  that  there  may  possibly  be  some  money 
in  his  flock  if  he  runs  its  right,  or  the 
case  of  his  wife,  or  son,  or  daughter,  is 
somewhat  different  from  that  of  the  su¬ 
burbanite.  Here  the  rudiments  are 
known ;  only  the  interest,  patience  and 
finishing  touches  are  needed.  Perhaps  a 
short  course  would  not  be  amiss  in  this 
instance,  either.  Many  farmers’  sons  and 
daughters  are  taking  them.  The  results 
are  better  poultry  on  the  farms. 
Getting  the  Stock. — But  no  matter 
whether  it  is  suburbanite  or  countryman 
who  is  trying  to  get  started,  the  same 
question  arises:  “How  shall  I  do  it?” 
It  depends  largely  upon  the  season  at 
which  one  wishes  to  start,  the  money  he 
has  to  put  into  stock,  and  his  equipment 
as  to  how  he  should  proceed.  Supposing  he 
were  to  start  in  the  Spring;  he  has  two 
or  three  choices  that  he  might  make  as 
to  the  purchase  of  stock.  He  might  buy 
hatching  eggs,  or  day-old  chicks,  or  adult 
birds.  We  can  safely  eliminate  the  last 
of  these  methods  as  being  the  least  desir¬ 
able  of  all  at  this  season  of  the  year. 
This  is  because  at  this  season  all  the  good 
birds  are  being  kept  as  breeders  or  lay¬ 
ers,  and  any  that  would  be  sold  would  be 
the  culls  of  the  flock,  and  not  those  that 
one  would  want  to  keep  as  the  foundation 
stock  of  a  good  poultry  flock.  It  would 
simmer  down,  then,  to  the  choice  between 
hatching  eggs  and  baby  chicks.  Of  the 
two  methods,  the  buying  of  day-old 
chicks  is  more  desirable  for  a  number  of 
reasons.  First,  the  heavy  investment  in 
incubator  equipment  is  not  necessary ; 
second,  unless  a  person  has  had  some 
experience  in  the  operation  of  incubators, 
there  are  liable  to  be  heavy  losses  due  to 
poor  hatches ;  third,  if  the  chicks  or  eggs 
have  to  be  shipped  any  distance,  the 
chicks  will  stand  shipment  better  than  the 
eggs  will.  However,  if  a  person  has  the 
equipment,  and  has  had  the  necessary 
incubator  experience,  he  could  buy  the 
eggs  to  a  greater  advantage,  since  they 
are  about  half  as  expensive  as  the  chicks. 
No  matter  whether  you  have  decided  to 
buy  eggs  or  chicks — 'personally  I  think 
the  chicks  are  the  better  buy  of  the  two — 
the  next  questions  is  where  you  are  going 
to  get  them.  Write  to  some  reliable 
breeder  who  has  been  recommended  to 
you,  but  don't  get  them  at  the  10-cent 
store.  If  you  don’t  know  of  any  such 
breeder,  write  to  your  State  experiment 
station  or  agricultural  college  for  a  list 
of  breeders ;  most  poultry  departments  at 
these  stations  have  such  lists  available 
for  distribution.  Get  purebred  stock,  and 
don’t  be  satisfied  with  the  ordinary  mon¬ 
grel  stuff — be  willing  to  pay  a  good  price 
for  the  stock,  so  that  you  can  command 
and  get  good  qualities  as  to  type,  shape, 
plumage  and  egg  production. 
Improving  a  Flock. — If  you  have  a 
flock  of  birds  at  present  and  want  to  im¬ 
prove  it,  it  is  not  necessary  to  dispose 
of  the  old  flock  all  at  once.  You  can  buy 
a  few  settings  of  eggs  from  a  breeder  of 
a  good  strain  of  birds  and  hatch  them 
under  hens,  keeping  this  new  stock  and 
gradually  eliminating  the  old  ones.  Rather 
than  bothering  with  hatching  with  hens, 
I  would  get  a  small  incubator,  as  it  is 
far  less  trouble ;  or  baby  chicks  can  be 
bought  instead  of  the  eggs,  as  suggested 
above  for  the  beginner. 
I  have  not  mentioned  houses  or  other 
equipment  which,  of  course,  go  along 
with  starting,  but  those  matters  can  be 
arranged  to  suit  the  taste  and  pocket- 
book,  more  especially  the  latter.  The 
matter  of  the  stock  is  somewhat  harder 
to  decide  upon  and  of  the  greatest  im¬ 
portance,  as  is  also  the  matter  of  gaining 
the  necessary  knowledge  and  experience 
before  starting.  The  chicken  fever  is  a 
very  contagious  disease,  especially  at  this 
season,  but  unlike  other  fevers,  is  a  pleas¬ 
ant  one  to  have,  and  profitably  as  well  if 
the  cure  is  gone  at  in  the  right  way. 
RALSTON  R.  HANNAS. 
Owners  Say, 
Hupmobile  Costs  are  Lowest 
The  most  amazing  thing  about  the 
Hupmobile  has  yet  to  be  learned 
by  the  vast  majority  of  motor 
car  buyers  and  owners. 
That  is  the  fact  that  our  owners’ 
carefully  kept  cost- records,  and 
their  letters  to  us,  strongly  indicate 
that  the  Hupmobile  cost  of  opera¬ 
tion  and  maintenance  is  lowest 
among  motor  cars. 
This  is  particularly  true  when  the 
records  cover  a  period  of  years. 
What  we  are  repeating  here  is  the 
actual  experience  of  Hupmobile 
fleet-owners,  and  of  individual 
Hupmobile  owners,  who  pre¬ 
viously  operated  cars  generally 
conceded  to  be  among  the  most 
economical  five  manufactured, — 
and  who  have  formed  their 
judgments  on  the  sound  basis 
of  cost-per-mile. 
Hupp  Motor  Car  Corporation,  Detroit,  Michigan 
£Th 
Mg  Hupmobile 
Hupmobile 
The  Farm  Flock  on  Free  Range 
