The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-06-01
CHICKS FOR PIN-MONEY
Pleasure and Profit in Feathered
FOwl-Poultry and Eggs.

1FagI4 ND so you have turned your atten-
SO ton to raising Chickens" said a
INV CALL reporter to a young lady whom
he had once Known as gay and festiyely
inclined young school teacher.
$50 have" was her mirthful reply, ac
eompanied by light laugh, as if the subject
might be pleasant one; "and l can tell
you that l find it vastly more agreeable
than my old occupation of teaching the
young idea how to shoot. | don't know
which way it was; whether it was that
was in poor health and the children iIri-
tated me or because they annoyed me that
l was in poor health, but as you perhaps
remember, at the time l was all run down
and simply had to leave the department.
To be sure, it was not fashionable as it is
now 10 call everything nervous prostra-
tion,' but l guess that's about what 1t was.
Well ms soon as we moved over here L de-
voted myself to the raising OF poultry and
am proud to say that it has become sue
cess under my management.
Did you go into the project with an idea
of It's becoming mOney-maklng undertake
ing?' queried the reporter.
Not at all. | thought that must do as
all city people who take up a country resi-
dence are sure to do, and that Is to start
chicken-yard. | became so interested, and
L -
eggs to a restaurant in San francisco. Last
month | cleared $50 for eggs alone, and
little later in the season | shall have some
fine broilers to sell. do not see why more
women do not take up the poultry enter
prise az a means of making little money.
1t is not hard work. it gives the out-of-door
exercise that so many Of us need and yet
would never take unless some duty called
us with more or less regularity into the
outer air. And eggs lave been very low
.l,.. hot thay q
what | hope they will be next season"
What do you get dozen for the eggs?
Are YOU guided at all by the market price"
was the next question.
Well, this restaurant man always pays
me two cents less than the retail price of
ranch eggs in the open market. send a
case over to him every week and he will
take all that L can give him"
You use an incubator, | SUPPOSE
Indeed do not. | am one of those who
believe that mother nature is about the best
way that has yet been invented. | suppose
that phenomenal success may have attended
some such investments, but | am sure that
it would never be so with mine. In the first
place | know that | should forget to look at
the lamp some time and it would either
lower the temperature enough to chill the
life in the eggs or 1t would flame up and
smoke and roast the chicks in their shells.
So ON the whole think that would prefer
/ 70 keep 70 q setting hen"
. GU tuoy ever ge1 SICK Z
THE chickens? Why, of course, and
when they do it's just about useless 20 try
to save them. l have not had any down
with the pip for long time. That is a
funny sort of disease. The afflicted chicken
runs about apparently in great distress,
making queer raspng noise in the throat,
and the tongue Is thrust ont and covered
with a hard, horny substance. l once
knew an old German woman who was very
fond of curing sick hens, and whenever she
heard of case of pip she would run over
and offer her services, which consisted In
clutching the unfortunate fowl with Il ter
rifying grip and then cutting or scraping off
this horny eXcrescence. or course the
chicken squawked Justify. and all the hem
yard joined in the cOmmotlOn, but L must
say that, often as have seen this operation
performed, not once can | recall its having
been success, Notwithstanding the old
woman's faith in her powers. But what
lays them low with the greatest fatality is
chicken cholera. That will go through
brood of chickens and lay them out on short
notice"
"When they get sick don't you segregate
the Infected ones?"
:" never have. though perhaps that might
be good thing to do. But I'll tell you
what do have to fight continually, and that
Is chicken lice. Ugh! nothing makes me
have a creepy, Gravity sensation faster than
to thrust my hand into a nest in search OF
eggs. and to withdraw 1t covered with the
tiny little red creepers. l don't care what
any one says, 1t Is impossible TO keep ell
tlrely free from them. | keep the hen-hOuse
and the nests and the ro0sts carefully
whitewashed. give the chickens plenty
Of tiue ashes in which they delight to take
dust baths, and l use no end of insect
powder, | even puff it among the feathers
of a fowl that has been scratching more
vigorously than the law allows. For this
purpose | use one of those cute little in
sufflatprg n which sends the
dreaded stuff well over the body. Then L
give the chickens good hot breakfast every
morning. of bran and meal mixed, or some
thing else equally good, as laid down in the
poultry books, not forgetting to give dash
oil red pepper now and then to warm them
up on cold morning.
It's funny, too, about chickens; they are
different from other animals. Why, think
how far four-f0oted animals will travel for
the sake of licking salt rock, the salt ticks
for miles being the resort of all the animals.
But salt is death to chicken. We have to
be so CAREFUL not to let the scrapngs from
the table contain the refuse of any salt
food. One day some salt mackerel was
thrown into the chicken-yard by mistake
and number of chickens succumbed.
can tell you felt badly. At another time
l had been doing little gardening and
Thought that the chickens might like to pick
among the weeds, cuttings and other stuff
which | had pulled out OF the beds. so L
Threw III over the fence, ana IN leS5 lnan an
hour my finest brahma hen was dropping.
and took her on my lap and she died. l
had thrown over a tall stalk OF fox glove or
digitalis. and it had poisoned her. can
tell you | just had a good cry. | was so
fond of that big hen. l saw your look Of
surprise just now when | said | took her on
my lap. That does sound rather remark
able, and must explain it. You SEQ l
hsd raised e brood of brahmas from
gift setting of choice eggs. When
| they were little chicks they were unusually
| bright and knowing. They were the first
| in the yard to run and meet me aud they
| followed ms about whenever they could.
| often would sit down on the bench under
| the tree in the chicken-yard and scatter the
| food among them from my apron. One day
| the bodest, and, perhaps, the hungrlest,
| sprang up into the folds OF my apron and be-
| gan helping himself. In moment all the
brood, about ten in all, had followed mis-
| example. This was the beginning. They
| grew so tame that they would peck the
grain from my hand er mount to my
shoulder and take it as l offered 1t.
/ II like to, watch the chickens going to
roost. There is such struggle for the
uppermost roost have had nearly all my
| roosts made on a level, SO there. will not be
SO much fighting. Another thing--rats
gust be looked after. They eat any chicken
| thcy can CATCH"