American Agriculturist, August 2, 1924 
If Hens Could Talk 
The Cackle of Old Biddy Would Be Worth a Lot of Consideration 
79 
SHIP YOUR EGGS 
WHITE AND BROWN 
To R. BRENNER & SONS 
B ACK from the barns on the Robinson 
farm the pasture inclined to a small 
stream, along the banks of which grew a 
few old, twisted, neglected apple trees. 
Across the creek, the ground rose again 
to the dairy barns on the Brown farm. 
Some distance downstream, the poultry 
houses on the Jones’s farm were visible. 
The old trees had years since been passed 
by as a source of fruit for human use and 
the few apples that had appeared this year 
had fallen to the ground, where they lay 
unnoticed, except by small animals and by 
stray fowls from the nearby farms. 
Here, under the trees one sunny after¬ 
noon, three old hens met, quite by acci¬ 
dent— one from Jones’s, one from Brown’s 
and one from Robinson’s. A white 
leghorn of purest blood and teeming vigor, 
a white leghorn of blood not quite so pure 
but as vigorous as any, and a black hen 
of no purity of blood whatever and hardly 
more vitality. For the purpose of identi¬ 
fication we will call the old hens by the 
same names as their owners, who were, 
respectively, Jones, Brown and Robinson. 
They fell to talking, as old hens will— 
Some Have Them—Others Haven’t 
Said Robinson, pausing from the busi¬ 
ness of apple eating to scratch her 
head, “Seems as if the lice are uncom¬ 
monly thick this year.” To which re¬ 
plied Brown, “I don’t notice it; I’ve only 
seen a very few.” And Jones agreed 
with, “I haven’t seen any.’ 
A little later Robinson again stopped to 
scratch, with the remark, “I’m getting 
pretty well tired out. Between scratch¬ 
ing for something to eat and scratching 
lice, I don’t get a minute’s rest all day.’,’ 
Brown, and Jones raised their heads in 
surprise and Brown said, “But why do 
you have to scratch for something to eat? 
[Doesn’t your boss feed you? ” 
Meals Come Into the Discussion 
“Oh, yes, he feeds me—sometimes— 
just corn, generally toward night, only 
often he forgets to.” 
Jones asked, “About those lice—don’t 
you have your house cleaned out often and 
sprayed to kill the things?” To which 
Robinson answered, “Yes, the house is 
[cleaned out once a month or so, but this 
[spray business—I never heard of it.” 
Brown shook her head. “Well! No 
[wonder the lice bother you! And what a 
[funny way to be fed — just corn and some¬ 
times not that. ” 
With the way characteristic of the 
[manner that one old hen uses in com- 
[menting or commiserating on the ap- 
[pearance of another, Jones cackled, “It 
[certainly is telling on you. You look so 
[scrawny and stunted and droopy. My! 
[I’m worried about you. (Which she was 
[not.) Just look at Brown and myself— 
[big and plump and healthy—you ought 
|to do something about it. ” 
“What can I do? All we old hens can 
[do is just take the food and lodging that 
|our boss gives us.” 
How Some Hens Get Back 
I “Well, I know what I’d do,” clucked 
[Brown complacently; “I wouldn’t lay 
|any eggs for him if he treated me like 
[that.” 
“I don’t—not many—only fifty or 
[sixty a year. ” 
I “Huh! Guess your boss don’t make 
[much moneys from you, ” remarked Jones, 
[as she stretched her wings out in the sun. 
I'How many of you hens does your boss 
[keep?” 
I “About a hundred, I guess,” replied 
[Robinson, shaking the water from her 
[beak after drinking in the brook. “But I 
Idon’t think he will keep many next year, 
[because I heard him say that ‘we hens 
fkm’t pay.’ My, but that water is good, 
|"e don’t find much around the barns.” 
I ‘ Say,” exclaimed Brown, “you cer- 
[tainly got a funny boss; feeds you only 
|eern, no water, don’t spray, don’t clean 
ut your house. No wonder his hens 
GEORGE G. PORTER 
don’t pay. Where does he sell his eggs? ” 
“Sells ’em at the store.” 
“Why don’t he sell to a good egg dealer 
or send ’em away to a commission man, 
like my boss does? ” asked Jones. 
Why Some Eggs Don’t Sell 
“Well, the dealer won’t buy from him, 
because so many eggs were rotten and 
then there were all sizes and colors. The 
boss only gathers the eggs once in a while 
and I guess he keeps them in the kitchen 
till he gets enough to sell.” 
“It certainly is strange,” Brown re¬ 
marked, preening her feathers. 
“What’s strange?” 
“The way men do things. Now look 
here,” and she straightened up. “Here’s 
your boss, Robinson. He keeps 100 of 
the likes of you and says they don’t 
pay. Here’s my boss, Mr. Brown—he 
keeps about 100, too, but he says we are 
a good paying side line, Here’s Jones’s 
boss, keeps three or four thousand hens 
and makes his whole living from them. 
Now your boss and mine, Robinson, 
both keep cows, both keep about the 
same number of hens and both have 
about the same kind of a hen house. My 
boss feeds us a good balanced ration, 
gives us plenty of fresh water, keeps our 
house clean and free from lice and 
generally looks after us in good shape. 
We are all alike—all white leghorns—not 
so high bred as the hens on the Jones’s 
farm, maybe, but we lay anywhere from 
140 to 170 eggs a year, more, some of us 
and those of us that don’t lay are culled 
out pretty quick, you bet! Our boss 
gathers the eggs twice a day and keeps 
them in the cellar till he sells them and 
then he grades them and gets a good 
price. I know it don’t cost my boss much 
more in labor and money to keep his 
hundred hens than it does yours and he 
makes between $100 and $200 a year 
from them, sometimes more.” 
“I reckon Brown is right,” agreed 
Jones, who had listened carefully to this 
long speech. “Her boss takes care of his 
100 hens in about the same w'ay mine 
does of the four thousand of us. I heard 
my boss telling a visitor the other day 
that ‘ 90 per cent, of making money from 
hens was in treating them right.’ He said 
that if you didn’t know how, that the 
agricultural colleges and extension ser¬ 
vices would give you all the information 
you wanted without cost. Say, Robinson, 
I wouldn’t like to have your boss. He 
must be a queer cuss. Has two successful 
poultrymen right near him and a whole 
world of information that he could get 
for the asking—and then keeps hens like 
he does. And I thought humans were 
called intelligent.” 
“I repeat, it certainly is strange,” said 
Brown, as she started back to her home 
roost. 
“What is?” 
“The way some men do things.” 
To all of which I add that the cackle of 
old hens often carries a lesson that is 
well worth considering. 
Guard Against Limber-neck 
W. H. Harrison 
I N many sections (due to carelessness 
or neglect on the poultryman’s part) 
limber-neck is by far the most fatal sum¬ 
mer disease known among poultry, 
though it can be easily eliminated if 
proper precautions are used. This disease, 
no doubt, is the cause of the death of 
more fowls and growing chicks in the 
months of July, August and September 
than all other poultry diseases combined. 
Limber-neck lurks in the fence corners, 
in the weed patches, around the house 
and barn, in the neglected and unexplored 
places, and its fatality is very great when 
we once give the matter serious thought. 
And yet, it is a disease that we may 
easily avert, for it does not creep in 
through the fence rails, nor the cracks 
in the poultry house. 
Caused by Decaying Carcasses 
Limber-neck is caused by the hens 
eating dead animal matter lying festering 
and decaying somewhere close around the 
premises where it has become infested 
with live worms or “maggots,” in which 
state it is a sure “death trap” to the fowl 
or chicken that finds it and pecks in it, 1 
because they will eat some of the decayed 
meat and maggots. And whether the 
maggots die or live after being consumed, 
the bird is almost certain to be affected 
inside of twelve hours by its unhallowed 
feast on things of the “dead,” and its 
nerve force becomes of a weakened nature 
almost instantly. The fowl seems to 
lose entire control of the muscles of the 
neck, which causes the head to droop with 
closed eyes. Its legs also become weak 
and wings of a droopy mature, and the 
fowl flounders helplessly on the ground, 
being only a helpless, nerveless wreck. 
It is a case of paralysis. 
The power of locomotion is gone, and 
in addition the poison it has consumed 
seems to affect the skin, and its feathers 
may be pulled out easily as if it had died 
at the hands of an executioner and had 
been scalded in the customary way. The 
fowl weakens at a rapid rate, death often 
occurring in twenty-four hours or less. 
After a fowl once catches this dreaded 
disease, not one in fifty will recover. 
Prevention the Only Safeguard 
“Prevention” is the only safeguard; 
that is, prevention against it is the only 
cure. We have saved hundreds—yes, 
and probably thousands of grown fowls 
and chickens from limber-neck disease 
by simply keeping the premises or sur¬ 
roundings clear of dead animal material. 
Burn or bury deeply all dead fowls and 
other animals that die on the farm. This 
is the one preventive and cure, and this 
is about all there is to it. Limber-neck 
is not really a disease, properly speaking 
it is simply the “dead sure” effect of an 
immediate cause, and if the cause is not 
there the effect will not follow. 
In Farmers’’ Bulletin 1337, the U. S. 
Department of Agriculture has the following 
to say about Limber-neck: 
The condition known as limber-neck is a 
Bonded Commission Merchants 
358 Greenwich St., New York City 
BABY CHICKS 
— 
Pullets of Quality at Moderate Prices 
5 wks. 8 wks. 10 wks. 3 Mo. 4 Mo. 
Rocks and Reds.. . 85c SI.25 $1.50 $1.75 $2.00 
Eng. Barron Whites ) 
Sheppard Strain 160c 85 S1.00 $1.25 $1.50 
Anconas. 
Early Breeding’ cockerels $1.00 each 10 weeks old. Am 
also offering matured hens, good breeders $1.50 each. 
$1.25 each for 25; $1.00 each for 50. 
Order from this ad or write to-day. 
FAIRVIEW POULTRY FARM ZEELAND, MICHIGAN 
Super-Quality July Chicks 
HATCHES JULY 29. AUG. S. 12 and 19 
Strickler’s Tancred-Barron Large Type 
ENGLISH S. C. WHITE LEGHORNS 
1 Pens headed by Tancred 285-egg line cock- 
| erels* and Lady Storrs 271-egg line cocks and 
cockerels, mated to hens bred for extra 
heavy egg production. PRICES: $8.00 per 
100; $38.00 per 500; $75.00 per 1000 by Spe¬ 
cial Delivery Parcel Post Prepaid. 100% live delivery 
guaranteed. 10% books order. 
LEONARD F. STRICKLER SHERIDAN, PA. 
BABY CHICKS 
BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCKS. . . .$9 per 100 
RHODE ISLAND REDS.$10 per 100 
S. C. WHITE LEGHORNS.$7 per 100 
Prompt Shipment Live Delivery Guaranteed 
NITTANY VALLEY HATCHERY 
Box 102 BELLEFONTE, PENNA. 
FREE RANGE STOCK 
Mixed Stock .... $7 per 100 
S. C. W. Leghorns $8 per 100 
Barred Rocks. ... $9 per 100 
Postage Paid. Live Arrival 
Guaranteed. 
JUNIATA POULTRY FARM, RICHFIELD, PA. 
LONG’S GUARANTEED CHICKS 
Rocks, $S per 100: Wyandottes, $11 per 
100; Leghorns, $7 per 100; Mixed, 
$6 per 100. Reductions on large 
amounts. Good, lively, Free Range 
CHICKS, carefully selected. Delivery 
guaranteed. 
Catalog 
LONG’S RELIABLE HATCHERY 
R. D. Long, Mgr., Box 12, MILLERSTOWN, PA. 
Chick Price Smashed 
Order from this Ad. 
Mixed and Assorted, 100, S7 I S. C. W. Leghorns, 100. $8 
S. C. B. Rocks . 100, $10 I S. C. R. I. Reds.. 100, $10 
Live arrival guaranteed. Delivery free. 
TROUP BROS.. R.D.No.3, MILLERSTOWN, PA. 
BABY CHICKS, 
that are hatched 
to grow. Barred 
Rocks 15c, Buff 
Rocks 17c, Reds 16c, S. C. White and Brown Leg¬ 
horns 13c, Mixed 10c. Prepaid 100% live deliv¬ 
ery guaranteed to your door. For quick service 
order direct from this ad. or write for circular. 
J. W. KIRK, Box 55, McAlisterville, Pa. 
D A DV rUlY From heavy laying free range flocks. 
BAD I LH1A s. C. White Leghorns, 100, $7; S. C. 
Brown Leghorns, 100, S7; Barred Rooks, 100, $9; S. C. 
R. I. Reds, 100, $10: Broilers or Mixed Chix, 100, $6.50. 
Special prices on 500 and 1,000 lots. 100% prepaid safe 
delivery guaranteed. Address 
J. N. NACE, Box 30, RICHFIELD, PA. 
W E are NOW booking orders for 12 weeks’ old 
White Leghorn Pullets. All Pullets farm 
raised, milk fed, hatched from extra heavy lay¬ 
ing strain, 500 yearling hens for sale. Chicks 
and Ducklings at reduced prices. 
IDYLDELL FARM, Wolcott, New York 
D A DV _Barred Rocks, 9c; R. I. Reds, 
DADI 10c; White Leghorns, 8c; Mixed, 
7c; 100% live delivery guaranteed; postpaid. Reduced on 
500 lot . Order from ad or write for free circulars. 
F. B. LEISTER, Box 49, McAlisterville, Pa. 
symptom of several diseases, among which are 
botulism and ptomain poisoning, which are 
characterized by a paralysis of the muscles of the 
neck, which makes it impossible for the bird to 
raise its head from the ground. This condition is 
due to the absorption from the crop or intestines 
of poisons which act upon the nervous system and 
cause paralysis. It is generally associated with 
the eating of spoiled feed or putrid meat in which 
certain poison-producing organisms are growing 
or of fly maggots which have bred on such material. 
Treat.—The best treatment is to give a full dose 
or purgative medicine, that is, one-half teaspoon 
of Epscm salt, or three or four teaspoons of castor 
oil for a grown fowl. Unless treatment can be 
given very soon there is little hope of saving the 
bird. Spoiled canned goods should not be fed to 
chickens. Carcasses of fowls or other animals 
should be burned or buried deep as soon as found. 
