The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-02
THE CHICKEN FANClER.
BY WILL T. STEPHAN.

arrangement hung from nall.
 "Whys that's my patent boot rack" replied the Colonel. You see Bill lives over the hill milo and half away. He'd come in here with his boots covered with Chambers County mud and stick 'em on my window sill.
 T got after him one day, 'Bill,' I says what the dickens do you want to come in here and put your muddy feet on my window sill in that way for2"
 having a friend If you can't put your feet on his window sill?"
 "After this I went to work and rig ged up my patent boot bracket. A man can put his feet ,on 1t without muddying or ,hn.t hurting the window a Dit
 But there were other things to learn about the chicken raising business. The secret of the success in 1t was em- bodied in one sentence of Colonel < ~"Never feed your chickens anything you would not eat yourself"
 That is the principal of a number of rules whose observance has brought his success and money. Another im- portant rule is absolute cleanliness in every detail of the country farm. Col onel Spratling has twelve or fifteen soapstone drinking troughs. These troughs are hollowed out of native soapstones by the negroes on the place and set in many places about the yard. Each one of these troughs Is swept clear of water four or five times day and refilled with clean water.
 The incubatcrs used on the Red Belt Poultry Farm are of the larger sort, each holding from between 800 to 40O eggs. With the proper care, primarily the turning of each egg in the incuba- tor once a day the incubators should hatch out S5 per cent. of the eggs en- trusted to them.
 Colonel Spratling holds 1t of great importance that the young chickens immediately after matching should re- ceive the utmost care.
 After hatching," he said the little chickens should remain in the incHt aacn | taken taken out they ' should be held to a spoon of water and made to take one drop. They should then be put down upon a pile of clean sand and made 10 take single grain of sand into their craws. After this there Is no trouble whatever in getting them to eat"
 They should then be put in the brooder and kept there without being turned out for a week. The bottom of the brooder should be filled at all times and all the time the chickens should be kept in cleanliness. We follow that rule here and we have never had any mites and we have never had case or cn0IeId dHlOHB OuE CIllChOhc.
 At the end of the week they should be permitted to take occasional runs out in the yard when the weather Is fair. And here comes an important dry food. Feeding wet dough or any thing of that sort is a serious mistake. The chicken raiser should have at all times some cracked wheat. .. or pPt spPten, n cially prepared chicken food with
 A good incubator should hatch at least 95 per cent: Of the eggs entrusted to 1t. The breeders, if they are given raise al least 90 per cent. of the chick ems until they are for such liberty as the wire pens afford How as to the quality of food for the chickens when receive thorough care and attention. A mixture of oats and chopped corn IS very fine. Moreover prepared feed should be given them and they should The best forage of this sort have found to be grec1 barley, turf oats rye. wheat sowed In the lots in the rear of the house. The man wh, wants to raise chikens successfully should never overlook the importan matter. of keeping charcoal an' crushed oyster. shells within reach O
 Now the question is raised. Is ther' ly is. I answer that question botl from general information and iron county of ohio last year no less thai $175, ,000 worth of chickens and egg were sold. This county from being one of the poorest in Ohio has becaus' of the chicken industry in the pas twelve years become one of the richest man in that county wrote me that h. had last year sold $25,OOO worth O ing the months of the present year. sold $500 worth of eggs and chickens and the best seasons of the year ar yet to come"
 to the cost of raising eggs and chick ems as well as to the cost of keepipl them. On my place 1t costs just cents to produce a dozen eggs. All m! ccive cents apiece for my eggs. al all of them are sold for breeding pur poses.
 be produced for cents. He will neve cost more than 10 cents. To keep ! grown chicken throughout the yea will cost between 75 and so cents.
 the world for raising chickens. Why if the Southern people would get dowI to the business right they would fint that it was simply gold mine, The subject was near to the Chickel Fancier's heart. He would talk on i for hours and talk of 1t interestingly too, but there was train coming fo his guest to catch.
 As we drove through the big gat' which Tom, the black and faithfu servitor. held wide for us, we heart the stentorian voice of the old Chickel Fancier calling. "Ho, boys, ho. boys his term of summons to his pets, am we saw them gathered about his fee in a futtering mass several hundred strong. cackling and fussing for thu crumbs that fell from his hands. There are worse things than chickel