The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-12-08

! your readers 70 write u t4iViL -4Ao
Of caring for poultry, and as 1 have
had some success, viii try and help
some who have not yet learned by ex-
perience how 10 make poultry pay,
writes Mrs. West Of Gardena, in Com
mercial Poultry. I keep from 200 TO
100 chickens of all kinds. We live on
a ten-acre piece and they have the run
of the place. II I want flowers or
garden. that is fenced. but never the
hens. I have been in California %
years and have raised thousands Of
chickens in that time.
SOME PESTS.
of all the pests to contend with
here, the mites are the very worst.
for they get a start and take you by
storm. But years ago wondered why
could not scald them as We did bed
bugs in the East, and since then I can
manage them. but you must not have
your roosts nailed TO the wall of the
hen house, or SO a hen can come in
contact with the wall, for the mites
and hide in the hen house during the
day and be ready for their work at
night. Our roosts are planned two-inch
Stats, resting on stout saw-horses. 1
can take them all outside when I go
to clean the house and scald them, and
If the nest box gets infested with
mites, just use acid. and clean with
hot water 1t will penetrate every crack
10 hafTaF than
spray or wash that is made and costs
only a little work. Go into the house
in the early morning and turn over the
roosts and see the mites hiding, filled
with blood. Some morning 1 will take
a quart of boiling water and go in the
hen house and put the rest to sleep for
good.
PURE WATER.
One thing that must be looked after
is clean, cold drinking water. / use
the best granite pans, for l am afraid
of rusty tin pans. 1 keep whisk
broom hanging near the hydrant, and
if l fill a pan ten times day it has
to be cleaned with the broom each
time. I never give any medicine in
drinking water, for the fowls will suf-
fer for water before they will drink
water with medicine in it. How would
we like to be compelled to drink water
with medicine in it when we wanted a
drink? Chickens drink more accord
ingly than do people. If you don't be-
lieve 1t, just watch them. If | have
to give medicine, I give it in milk or
mash, but never in the water. L have
been at places and seen the drinking
water for chickens just red with cop
peras.
A GOOD TONIC.
The only medicine 1 ever give, and
I have not had a drop of that on the
place for two years, is Douglas mix
ture. 1t is the best tonic made, but
don't give it all the time. Use one
pound of copperas to one gallon OF
hot water, and add one ounce of sui
phuric acid. Keep in a stone jug or
glass Jars and use one teaspoon to
pan of milk or bran mash. and give
no more than three times a week.
/ never keep geese or ducks with
my chickens, for they get the drink
ing water so filthy, and this is the main
cause of disease. I keep oyster shell,
also granite, on hand all the time and
break up every bit of glass and crock
cry for the chickens, and don't think
it will kill them, as a woman in Los
Angeles told me- She said she knew
someone had poisoned her hens, for
they had broken glass in their giz-
yards
All parIngs of vegetables are wash
ed and boiled and given to the chick
ems. 1 keep a pail in the kitchen and
all rinsings from the dishes and scraps
are put in that and then with a pinch
of salt and mixed with bran, it makes
change for the chickens, and they
like variety as well as we do. Now
they are having a treat every day, for
we are having lots of melons and they
get their share.
A NICE PROFIT.
This letter is getting rather long,
but when l tell you that I have made
over $500 a year on my hens, I think
it is worth writing about. This year
expect to make $500 or 5000. 1 do
my own work and have lots of time to
read, and belong to a few societies,
and have time to go to the city to a
good play or concert. 1 often wonder
when I go in the large stores and see
the women and girls standing all day,
how much more they could make if
they would keep chickens and take care
of them. Why, if I wanted a sewing
machine or an organ or even a piano.
I would just get some hens and make
them pay, and if I want ten or fifty
dollars, I don't have to beg for it. as
some women claim they do. For over
three months this spring my hens laid