The Cook County herald., 1904-05-21

Care of Sittina Hens.

- tAAOA 0hdAS uu1ucTOuS ldrmS on WHICH
some fowls are raised, but not enough
to justify the owner in purchasing and
using an incubator. On such farms
tAe old hen must still be used for the
purposes OF incubation. It will be
found that the amount of care that is
gwen the sitting hens will determine
10 considerable extent the outcome
OF the Matching operations. All poul-
Try ralsers must acknowledge that the
s1ttlng hens require a good deal of
attention, and often more than is
given them. In a state Of nature the
men at this period takes care of her.
SELL Let us =. not imagine, however,
that she always does it successfully.
IN that state She laid more eggs than
she could cover and naturally MANY
OF them spoiled. The wild things of
the wood and the air preyed upon her
nest and it was often despoiled. When
born her chicks often fell into the
clutches OF rapacious animals and
birds. Let us not suppose that the
nen In her wild state led a life of
uninterrupted prosperity. If left to
her own inclinations the hen would
Today prove very Improbable in
vestment to her owner. To make her
profitable man has had to surround
her with safeguards that would pre-.
serve her extra eggs and her extra
progeny for himself. The wild things
still try to make her and her product
tnelr plunder and frequently succeed.
The first care for the sitting hen,
then, is to see that she is undisturbed
IN her task of lowering the eggs for
three weeks. It is needless to say
chat she should not be left to make
her nest in the fence corners or the
pushes, as is sometimes done. Her
nest must be provided for her, and if
u IS an exposed place she must be
shut IN each night. On our farms
good many people follow the practice
OF turning down barrel and setting
the fowl in that. The barrel is left
rn the door yard or any other place
that comes handy. This is all right
II the owner prefers it that way, but
III such case the barrel should have
a cover to it that will permit the
entrance of air but not of animals of
prey, such as skunks, coons and
minks.
Where broodfng places are provided
IN the poultry houses the greatest
DANGER is from mites, which frequent.
~ KILL the hens on their nests. One
laTmer told the writer his experience
IN this matter. He said he had
hock OF about fifty fowl and had pro-
V1oeu a good house for them. His
nests were specially arranged for Sit
tmg, SO that tine laying birds could
be kept from the ones that were
Sitting: The nests opened on both
s1des' but at sitting time the openings
into the roosting part of the house
were closed. He set two fine birds
on some choice eggs and waited re-
suits: In few days he noticed that
Doth birds were becoming pale around
ohe combs and wattles and it was a
puzzle to him to find the cause. They
were apparently sick, and he went
on doctorins, burt this did no good.
one morning: he found one of the sit
ters dead on the nest and the other
nearly SO. He examined the dead
bird and found not a louise on her or
anything that would give hint of the
cause OF ner death. She seemed
bloodless. He took the other hen off
and gave her her freedom and she
at once began to recover. He found a
we'll hen and put her on one sitting
OF eggs, and she began to get sick.
Then he took tine bird off and began
to tear the nest to pieces. That
solved the mystery. The bottom of
the lest was a writhing mass of red
mites. Every night they had climbed
onto the doomed birds and sucked so
much of their blood that they had
killed one and nearly killed another.
Up to that time this poultryman did
not know that he had a mite in his
poultry house. This proves most con.
clusively that it never pays to set a
hen and then forget her.-Farmers'
Review
A. Flock of Pekin Ducks.