American Agriculturist, November 15, 1924 
Chicken 
Forcing the Hens Molt 
T he common idea that if hens are 
compelled to molt early they will 
quickly feather out and commence laying 
early in the winter is erroneous. This 
statement is made by the poultry men of 
the New Jersey State College of Agricul¬ 
ture, after several years of observation. 
Laying hens should be allowed to 
molt naturally. An early molt does not 
signify quick resumption of production. 
Usually the late-molting hen is the heavier 
producer. In fact, a lack of feather 
growth is one of the things to look for 
when selecting hens for holding over a 
second year for the breeding pen. 
Very often show birds are forced into 
a molt by a restriction of feed. This is 
done so that the birds may be in full 
feather once more for the show season. 
This should never be practiced with 
utility stock. It will cause production to 
stop and will weaken the hens at a time 
when their full strength is needed. 
It is unwise to change the general char¬ 
acter of the feed during the molt. The 
addition of some oil-carrying ingredient, 
however, such as sunflower seed, will aid 
in the development of new feathers. 
A Creditable Pullet Record 
HE items we have published about 
early pullets have created quite a bit 
of interest. We received dozens of letters 
from subscribers, telling of their success 
Chatter 
Hinders Early Laying 
with early-laying pullets. Mr. A. H. 
Hotaling of West Lebanon, N. Y., writes 
that he had a utility White Leghorn pullet 
in April and in 3 y 2 months she laid her 
first egg. But more interesting still is 
Mr. Hotaling’s note that from a flock of 
115 pullets hatched on June 19 he had an 
egg record of 2,700 eggs and the birds 
were housed in NO up-to-date hen-house. 
That is quite a record for pullets. Part 
of this can be explained by the fact that 
Mr. Hotaling culls his flock thoroughly 
every year. 
Easy Method of Picking Fowl 
HEN picking a fowl, first scald the 
bird in hot water at a temperature 
of about 160 degrees Fahrenheit. A 
minute or two at this temperature is 
sufficient. Then wrap the bird quickly 
in a burlap sack, leaving only the neck 
exposed. This permits very thorough 
steaming. 
The feathers are removed by rubbing 
instead of picking, starting from the neck 
and working back. The burlap sack is 
removed as the work proceeds. The 
sack should not be removed more quickly 
than the feathers, for the feathers must 
be steaming while being rubbed off. It 
will not take more than ten minutes to 
clean a duck or goose in this way, and 
a chicken can be cleaned in four minutes. 
—E. Whittaker. 
T B in Columbia County 
{Continued, from page 3J0) 
that were under test represented about 
75 per cent, of the entire township the 
names of those who had not applied for 
the test were again divided up among the 
committee and this time different indi¬ 
viduals were given new names. In addi¬ 
tion two men agreed in each case to make 
the trip to the various men and to urge 
their cooperation in the work towards the 
end that the town could be cleaned as an 
area. 
A Thorough Piece of Work 
As a consequence of this clean-up 32 
more men signed the agreements and 
had their herds tested. This left seven herds 
of the total of 155 in the town who had not 
been reached. The total number of cat¬ 
tle owned by these 7 men was less than 
20 head. This being over 95 per cent, 
of the herds, a report was made to the 
Commissioner of the Department of 
Farm and Markets in regard to the sit¬ 
uation, calling his attention particularly 
to the fact that these seven men were 
mostly those who owned cattle for their 
own use and who were as a rule working 
at other trades anti for this reason were 
hard to reach to bring proper informa¬ 
tion to. 
The Commissioner addressed these men 
at some length, calling their attention to 
the fact that the greater part of the 
township had been tested and that for the 
good of the community they should sub¬ 
ject their animals to the test, thereby 
avoiding the necessity of an individual 
quarantine on the part of the State. 
This letter immediately brought results, 
for of the seven, five immediately applied 
for a test. Leaving two who did not, one 
of these two owned one animal and the 
other two. 
Thus, in a period of two months a town¬ 
ship was tested with the exception of 
three animals. It will be no question but 
what these will also very shortly come 
under the test, as there is no opportunity 
for the owners to secure bull service in the 
county unless their animals are tested. 
Follow-up Well Organized 
To follow up the work of eliminating 
diseased cattle the county purchased 
a spray outfit and a quantity of disin¬ 
fectant. Immediately that reactors were 
removed from an owner’s premises the 
veterinarian made a trip to the place and 
supervised tlier thorough disinfection of 
the premises. Usually this has been done 
by a man that was hired especially for this 
work but the committee felt that this was 
one of the most important parts of the 
work to hold the area free from subse¬ 
quent infection and that the most quali¬ 
fied man that they could assign to the 
work was the man that made the test- 
Such a procedure brought a man to 
supervise the work that was thoroughly 
familiar with conditions at that particu¬ 
lar farm. This supervision of disinfection 
was made at no cost to the owner with the 
exception of the wholesale cost of the dis¬ 
infectant that was used, this usually run¬ 
ning from a dollar to two dollars per man. 
The fact that 24 per cent, of the cattle in 
the township were condemned at the 
first test as tuberculosis made the follow¬ 
up work in the cleaning of the stables 
very important. 
An arrangement was made in the town¬ 
ship whereby cattle could be removed 
for slaughter at a New York City packing¬ 
house the day after they were appraised. 
This prompt removal of animals was 
greatly appreciated by the farmers and 
was one of the well-worked out plans of 
the committee. In addition excellent 
service was maintained as far as the ap¬ 
praiser was concerned, orders being rapidly 
executed from seven to ten days after the 
tests were completed. 
How Campaign was Conducted 
At the same time as this was taking 
place in the township of Kinderhook other 
sign-up campaigns were in process under 
direction of the manager. The way that 
these campaigns developed was left al¬ 
most solely to the initiative of the commu¬ 
nities themselves. The ground was pre¬ 
pared by a certain amount of publicity on 
the part of the Bureau and as a result 
three townships made definite requests for 
area work at the start. Meetings were 
called in these communities and the work 
was explained in detail, and the methods 
of proceeding about the work were set 
forth. As a result in all three cases from 
the initiative of those in attendance, a 
committee was appointed, one man from 
each school district, to canvass the dis¬ 
trict for cooperators in the work and to 
report back to the Farm Bureau office so 
that a summary could be made. Further 
plans will establish the names of the cattle 
349 
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Use a Royal non-freeze drinking fountain this winter and keep the hens healthy 
and happy. Warm drinking water keeps the birds in good health and they have 
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100.75 
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owners in the towns and a comparison 
may be had between the number that is 
signed-up and the total number of owners. 
The County T. B. Committee is pledged 
to authorize work in that township that 
has the largest percentage signed-up 
at the conclusion of the work in the pre¬ 
ceding town. 
Following the completion of the work 
in the town of Kinderhook, work was 
started in the town of Stuyvesant. In 
three weeks out of the total of one hun¬ 
dred and four herds in the town there were 
under test some eighty-five. The names 
of the owners of the remaining nineteen 
herds were given back to the committee 
the same as was done in the case of the 
preceding town of Kinderhook. Although 
all records are not as yet complete indi¬ 
cations are that equally good results will 
be had in this case as well. This will make 
two towns that have been completed in 
a little over five months while at the same 
time the retests have been regularly made 
at ninety-day intervals. This will pro¬ 
vide for the starting of the third township 
about the first of January. 
Factors that Control Success 
The orderly proceeding of the work is 
due mainly to the following factors: 
(1) Intelligent knowledge of the work 
and local county conditions on the part of 
the men in charge; (2) Control being cen¬ 
tered in an organization that is qualified 
to represent the county interests for the 
farmers; (3) Testing being done by a 
highly competent veterinarian; (4) A 
thorough sign-up campaign at the mini¬ 
mum of effort; (5) Prompt appraisals and 
removal of reactors; (6) Thorough disin- 
factant of premises under strict super¬ 
vision of a competent man; (7) No retests 
allowed to run more than ninety days 
after the condemnation of reactors; 
(8) No community being urged to conduct 
a sign-up\ campaign but rather that the 
request tosenter the work came from their 
own choice; (9) and lastly only that work 
was promised that could reasonably be 
completed within the period of a year. 
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