Connecticut western news., 1903-04-23
DARK AND BRIGHT PICTURES
'NIapes the Hen Man" Writes of the Ups and Downs of Poultry Raising.
ITo BE coNTINUED.l

TMapes the Hen Man. Writes of the
 Ups and Downs of Poultry Raising.
 You must take the bitter with the sweet" is an adage which holds true no less in the chicken business than in other walks in life. It seems as though d goodly portion of the bitter has got into our cup recently in connection with the brooder chicks. wonder whether others have had a similar experience. If SO, there will be a kindred feeling. All at once we began to find a good many dead chicks under the breeders in the morning, often two or three in each brooder. In looking about for a cause I started out with my thermom- eter one evening and found that under some of the breeders it would run to 110 degrees couple of inches above the Aeefs- Here was cause wikh q vengeance. recalled at once an ex perience I had along this line a couple of years ago.
 One hot day in summer our hens were left shut up in the houses all day. My intention had been in the morning to leave them shut up till noon and then let them out. l went off to town, however, aud forgot to leave any word to that effect. I was unexpectedly de tained in town until nearly night. When 1 started out to gather the eggs at night, l saw at once that there was trouble on hand. It had been an un- usually hot day, with the thermometer close to 100 degrees in the shade, and
 
 of the hens were dead, and others were dying from the effects of the heat. I dropped my egg baskets and started on run to get them out into the fresh air. Some of the fiocks were affected more than others. Those that had bushes growing about the houses, inter fering with the movement of what lit- tie wind there was stirring, seemed to be the worst Some were dead, and others had lost the use of their legs. carried all such out and placed them in the coolest spots could find, but to no avail. They were mostly dead next morning. When first discovered them, their eyes were still bright, but they seemed to be paralyzed and could nei- ther stand nor walk. Those houses all had an open window on the south side and an open door on the north side with wire screens, and it is not likely that the heat from the sun made them any warmer than 110 degrees. Still it was hot enough to kill the hens. know of a man who put a steam radi- ator in his hennery in winter and killed all his hens with kindness. The first morning after turning on the steam he found his whole flock of sixty hens dead. He had overcome them with heat. If mature hens can thus easily be killed with too much heat, is 1t any wonder that our brooder chicks are sometimes killed in the same way? Speed the day of the practical self reg ulating broOder. In my own case, how ever, the lamps were already turned as low as was consistent with perfect combustion, so removed some of the hover cloths, thus allowing surplus heat to escape.
 'I thought you said chicks knew enough to move out when 1t got too hot for them if they are given the chance" So did. If there had only been few chicks in each brooder, there would have been no trouble, I think. With ninety to a hundred, however, In each brooder it is likely that those on the edges were comfortable, while few in the middle. where the heat was great est, could not get out and consequently perished. Right on top of this came cold wave and frost, with more of the bitter" in the other direction.-O. W. Mapes in Rural New Yorker.