Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1909-03-30
Poultry for the Farmer.

Farmer" What follows is In strong
contrast to the operations OF Mr.. Cur
tiss, described March 4. While In nc
way contradicting what has been said
there, 1t will appeal to the average read
ers as better suited to their conditions,
particularly those who have had the
difficulties with incubators and brooders
that he cites. 1t certainly does appeal
to his hearers. He is florist, gardener
and fruit grower; his poultry Is side
issue. Some years ago he went into the
business to interest his only son, whom
he was anxious to retain on the farm.
They supposed the only way was with
the incubator and brooder. Hence they
sent for catalogues, and, Influenced by
the glowing accounts found there Of
poor widows lifted from poverty to az
fluence, they invested in Matching ma
chine. The matches were good. Think
ing greenhouse was an ideal place fol
young chicks, they were put there. The
dampness and changing conditions soon
sent them the way of all the earth
Then brooders wero purchased. At the
end of the first year, in spite OF dis
asters, they had cleared 80 cents hen
The next year, realizing the time and
care required by the broOders, special
broOder house was put up. This was
heated by hot water pipes. 1t worked
we'll for the first hatch, but when the
second lot came on the heat necessary
was too high for the first lot, and troub
le began, and this house was found to
be impractical. Again came the small
brooders. One of these burned up, with
fifty chicks in it; others were heated too
high and some chicks were roasted, but
not quite enough for the table. In
others the lamp went out, for the same
reason az did those of the foolish virgins
in the parable, and "ln the twilight,
cold and gray, lifeless, but beautiful,
they lay." This continued for five
years. In spite of various losses they
had cleared as high as $1.S5 hen in
favorable year. At the end of this time
his son left him, having found that his
talents lay in mechanics and not In poul-
try raising. Building incubators and
brooders was much more to his taste
than feeding chickens or cleaning hen.
houses.
This left the father with lot of fowls,
in addition to incubators and brooders,
on his hands, and no time to attend to
them, and no particular liking for the
business. Therefore, he sought and OBJ
tanned another partner, who went back
to first principles, the old-fashioned
way, with improved appliances: They
used a coop, in which they hatched
choice eggs. These are made of cheap
lumber. The coop proper. is twenty
inches square, with tight floor and
roof. A door in the rear allows for the
entrance of the hen; on the other side,
fastened to the coop, is little yard, the
width of the coop and three feet long.
The sides are made from stats, through
which the little chicks can run out.
The top is covered with muslin. A
trapdoor opens into the yard. This Is
raised or lowered by rod attached to
it and extending to the outside. A box
filled with earth or an upturned sod is
placed In the coop. In this are put
some tobacco stems and litter, and in it
the hens are set. They are by them
selves, have the yard to feed and dust
in, and cannot we'll leave the nest. A
number of coops of sitting hens can be
cared for in this way at less expense
than can like number of eggs In an in
cubator. After the chicks come out the
same coops are used, and can be scatter
ed about as may be most convenient.
In this way larger percentage of chicks
are raised than by artificial means, and
at less cost. The infertile eggs are test
ed out the same as in an incubator, and
are saved to mix with cornmeal and
milk to make "johnny cake for the
first feed of the young chicks. Later
they are fed a mixture of one hundred
pounds each of ground oats, bran and
middlings, with fifty pounds OF both
cornmeal and beef scraps. This Is fed
from youth to old age. He uses the
cloth front house, and gives out. in the
form of folder, plans and specifications
for house for fifty hens, which are
eagerly taken. =,
The eggs and surplus poultry are sold
at the door to a retailer. The price is
cent or two more a dozen or pound than
the market price. All the grain is pur-
chased at retail, and everything from
the place which fowls eat Is charged
against them at market prices. Under
the last method the net profit has been
So a hen on flock of two hundred. He
takes delight in saying that he attributes
his success not to anything he has done,
but to his partner, who Is his wife,
Tribune Farmer.