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Management of Poultry.
A friend from Long Island has handed us a
slip containing a communication from Mr. W. M.
Tuthill, of Sulfolk County, in which that gentle
man communicates a year’s experience as to the
profitableness of growing poultry, commencing
March 1, 1873, and ending February 28, 1874.
This is Mr. Tuthill’s statement:
Dr.
T • stock on hand March 1, 1873$ 75 00
** Feeding the same and their produce, 173 75
$248 75
Or.
By stock on hand March 1,1874. .... .$l5O 00
524 dozen eggs sold 118 09
151 ducks sold 153 10
74 chicks sold 38 64
39 fowls sold 42 60
$502 43
Deduct expenses24B 75
Balance for profits2s3 68
Mr. Tuthill communicates, along with the fore
going, his method of managing his fowls, and
says :
“ One of the most essential things, in winter,
is to have a warm house for chickens to roost in.
The best way to have a house constructed for
winter use, is to have it partially under ground,
facing to the south, with a slanting roof, reach
ing within three feet of the ground on the north
side, and the front or south side covered with
windows, so that the fowls may enjoy the warm
rays of the sun, without being exposed to the
piercing winds and freezing cold. For a sum
mer house the building should be above ground,
with ventilators, so that the fowlscan be kept com
fortable during the hot nights of summer. In
the fall, as the weather becomes cool, shut up
your summer roost, and your fowls will soon
take to their winter quarters again. In winter
I give my fowls a warm pudding for breakfast,
then keep corn by them during the day. I also
keep scrap-cake by them from early fall till
spring.— Pet Stock Bulletin.
Breeding Poultry for Profit.
Herewith we give our readers a statement of
the sales of Mr. W. H. Todd, from July Ist,
1873, to July Ist, 1874, of poultry, eggs, etc.:
Lights Brahmas—2olsl,l74.oo
Dark Brahmas—l 67 1,066 00
Buff, Partridge, White and Black Cochins —298 1,703 60
Total Asiatics—742 birds .... 3.943 60
Other varieties land and water fowls—62B birds 2,823 5
Total Fowls—l, 365......................... 6.767 10
Eggs sold for hatching -281 sittings of Asiatics. 1,236 59
Other varieties —270 sittings 716 75
Making a total of M7 sittings 2,151 42
Tiie aggregate of choice poultry and eggs 8,918 52
Prizes won in cash 1,132 00
Common Eggs—l,2B4 dozen 249 30
Capons and market fowls 100 00
Value of manure 200 00
Profits on sales of books and agencies 200 00
Eggs and fowls in family 75 00
Grand t0ta110,874 52
Expenses 3,500 00
Net proceeds $7,874 82
$3,500 covers all expenses.
How many of our farmers who own and cul
tivate 160 acres of laud can make as good a
showing in net profits as is here exhibited? We
shall be glad to hear from one farmer in the
country who can give a statement of net pro
ceeds coming anywhere near the above.
Prevention of Chicken Cholera and Roup.
1 have for the last two years tried, at the least
calculation, fifty different remedies for the
cholera and roup, for 1 have lost during that
time one hundred and fifty chicks. I keep about
fifteen or twenty laying hens. About this time
the roup would take my chicks and kill them
all off but two or three; then I would recruit
my stock, and the cholera would take and kiP
them. I have at last found a remedy, however,
which I wish to give to the public. 1 have lost but
two chicks since I commenced using this remedy,
and that was my fault, for 1 had neglected to use
it. fake one gallon of tar, rosin, or crude tur
pentine, and after dark, when your chicks have
gone to roost, smoke them, making a dense
smoke, so that it will burn during the night ;
do this once or twice during the week.—/oAa
('Arran/, Poultry World.
Ointment -Take three carrots and grate them;
place in a vessel and cover with lard, without
salt, if convenient; boil thoroughly, strain and
add auflicivnt beeswax to make a paste. This
is a most invaluable ointment for cuts, burns,
scalds, or wounds of any kind.
•THE MiLSQWm WWW ■
Premium Offered.
Atlanta, Ga., April Ist, 1875.
Mr. Editor: — You are hereby authorized to say
that I will give a pair of pure bred Brown Leg
horn Chicks in the fall to any one who will send
you twenty subscribers at SI.OO each, within
the next sixty days. Respectfully,
Wm. McNaught, Jr.
♦— —
Brown Leghorns.
Allow me to say a word in favor of the
Brown Leghorns, my experience being as fol
lows : I tried common barn door fowls, but such
a uniformity as I desired could not be attained
in size, color, etc., though I have some extra
hens as far as hardiness is concerned; so I
purchased some Light Brahma eggs and obtained
from them about twenty fowls. I have reason
to believe them good Winter layers, but such
persistent sitters, that their Summer’s work
would go on the wrong side of my journal.
Also, they would kill ten per cent, of the chicks
within two weeks after hatching, and gave me
trouble in taking the wrong nest, after leaving
for a bath during incubation. But their chicks
were very hardy, and best of all to rear for
early market. I have tried Dorkings, however,
but the best fowl as regards early maturity,
handiness, great laying qualities, good flesh, and
beauty, are the Brown Leghorns. I now have,
January 20th, twenty-three Brown Leghorns,
and forty other fowls, and just got an even
number of eggs from each yesterday. I con
sider the Brown Leghorns the most profitable
for a farmer in my situation, where fowls go ad
hbitum. I have a few red ear-lobed Brown Leg
horns, and they are penciled all over, are
larger, and I think better layers, as I presume
the white ears have been looked at, and no re
gard paid to laying qualities. I am trying a
first cross between them and Brahmas, as their
comb is the only drawback.—T. J., M.D., in the
Poultry World.
Color of Chickens —Alex. B. Ritchie, Broad
Brook, Conn., writes; “1 wish you would inform
me whether Black Leghorns, which, when
hatched are half black and the other white, are
what would be called full bred, for I have just
began to raise fowls. I saw an advert isemont of
Black Leghorns, and thought I would try them
and paid $1.50 for six eggs and got 3 chicks, and
they were all half black and half white, and what
I want to know is whether they would be called
full bred.”
Reply.—The young of Black Leghorns and
other black breeds, are pure white upon the
breast and under parts; after a while the white
feathers give place to jet black ones. We lately
received a message from a disappointed and
exasperated amateur, who complained that his
W. C. Black Polish chicks hatched from im
ported eggs, had breasts as white as were their
crests. We told him that if his chicks had black
backs and sides, and white top-knots, he might
call himself a fortunate man.] — Poultry World.
Operating on the Crop.—A. E. Abbott, East
Hampton, Mass., says: “ Having read in your
valuable magazine of several persons opening
the crop of fowls when crop bound, 1 yesterday
had my first experience with a six weeks old
Light Brahma chick. Taking a small, sharp pen
knife, I made a small incision, and gradually
withdrew the food therefrom, finding the obstacle
that obstructed the regular passage of the food
to be a small feather that the chick bad un
doubtedly swallowed,anticipating a savory mouth
ful. I did not sew up the cut, but let the chick
run with the others. This morning I had to look
some time before discovering which it was, they
were all so lively. That chick is doing well, and
I have added a little to my knowledge of * how
to do it.’ ” Poultry World.
Remarkable Laying.—Robert James Denver,
Col., says: “ Thinking you would like an-item
from the far West, 1 write to say, 1 have a yard
of fine Partridge Cochin fowls, 4 hens and 1 cock.
One of the hens being occupied in sitting I got
in one day six perfect eggs, all of a good size,
from the above fowls. A pretty tough story you
will say. but it is a true one. nevertheless. It is
possible that the sitting hen laid an egg. I cannot
tell, but anyhow six eggs from four hens will do.
For layers and sitters the breed cannot be beat,
as fir as my experience goes.”
Will Eggs Hatch Shippbd by Expbbsb.—J.
H. W., Lucas. Ohio, writes; ‘‘l received 13 Light
Brahma eggs on the 30th of April last, from P.
Williams, Taunton, Mass , a distance of over one
thousand miles, and hatched from them 13 fine
healthy chickens. They were packed in cut hay
with three thicknesses of paper around each egg
and the •‘mall end down. The box was light and
strong, the top securely fastened down with
setews, with a strong piece of leather across
the top for a handle.
Massachusetts Poultry Exhibition.
At the Massachusetts Poultry Exhibition,
Boston, January 29 to February 5, 1875, was a
grand success. There were 1,326 entries. Gen.
Charles A. Johnson, of Newburyport, Mass.,
carried off the honors as follows:
Gen. Johnson took the Ist, 2d and 4th prizes
for Aylesbury Ducks, as well as the special pre
mium for the best collection; the Ist prize for
Rouen ducks ; the Ist prize for Embden geese,
as well as the special prize for the largest pair
of Embden geese (weight a fraction over 53
pounds); and the special prize for Brandt geese.
Gen. Johnson’s stock of Aylesbury ducks, im
ported direct, is, without doubt, the best in the
country, while the General himself is unques
tionably our most successful breeder of this spe
cies of birds.
Eggs in a Hen.
A curious point of inquiry among zoologists
has been, for a long time, how many eggs there
are in the ovary of a hen. To determine this,
a German naturalist a short time since instituted
some careful investigations, the result of which
showed the ovary of a hen to contain about 600
embryo eggs. He also found that some twenty
of these are matured the first year, about 120
during the second year, 135 during the third,
144 during the fourth and during the fifth, sixth,
seventh and eight years, the number decreases
by twenty annually; it consequently follows that
after the fourth, or at the most the fifth year,
hens are no longer profitable as layers, unless
it may be in exceptional instances.
Sex of Eggs.
We take the following from an exchange:
“I raise as many pullets among my chickens as I
wish to, while some of my neighbors complain
that their chicks are all roosters, and they can
not see why there should be a difference. I will
tell you here what I told them, and for the bene
fit of those that do not know, that the small round
eggs are female eggs, and the long slender ones
are males. This rule holds good among all kinds
of poultry, and I dare say all kinds of birds. So
if you wish to raise pullets, set the small, round
eggs; if you wish to raise roosters, set the long,
slender ones; in this way you will be enabled to
raise whichever sex you wish to.”
The above we expect to read somewhere at least
once a year. It is perennial, and will outlive the
wandering Jew himself. With the exception that
it is an unmitigated lie, it is all right. As Tho
reau would say, it is one of the things that every
generation is fond of repeating, whether it is
true or not.— Poultry World.
A Remarkable Duck.—W. 8., Mt. Ver
non, 111., says: “Seeing an article about a duck
laying two eggs in one day, I thought I would tell
you about one I have. I keep 1 drake and 2 ducks,
one morning I got two eggs laid from the two,
and in the afternoon I got another from one of
the ducks, and she laid the next day also, mak
ing three eggs from one duck in about twenty
four hours. The reason I know that one duck
laid three is, that she lays eggs of a light green
ish color, while the other lays white ones. The
eggs were all of the usual size and perfectly
shaped.— Poultry World.
Driving Business.—l’. W., Linden,N. J..writes,
“that he has a black hen, common American
trash, that brought home a brood of chickens,
having stolen her nest on the 13th October; raised
them under difficulties, commenced laying
latter part of December, and laid “like smoke,”
no account being kept, until 15th of February,
when she was set, raised and weaned her chick
ens, and commenced laying 20th April, laying
every day but one up to 14th May, when I found
the fever again strong upon her.”-P. World.
Roup in Fowls.—ln the Poultry World is giv
en this method of treating this disease. “If
any of the fowls "breathe hard, snap their heads
or run at the nostrils, give a teaspoonful of cas
tor oil. If their nostrils are stopped up and
they make a whistling sound or open thir mouths
to breathe, make a strong suds of castile soap
and lukewarm water, and with a small sponge
wash out the mouth an 1 threat, clean out the
nostrils, then give the oil.” We advise those
trubled with this disease to try this remedy.
Prolific Turret.—W. A. Myers, New Oxford,
Pa., write*: “ 1 have in my possession a White
Holland Turkey Hen, wichh, as an egg-producer,
bids fair to rival the famous Leghorns. She
began laying the last of March, and up to the
present lime. July 10th, hxs laid sixiy-five eggs,
and is laying yet. During this time she has not
offered to sit, and has at no time been more than
three days without producing an egg.’
CHOLERA.
Much has been said about this scourge of the
poultry yard, and many different medicines have
been prescribed, and many “ sure cures” dis
covered, which have nearly always failed to cure
when put to the test. Now, we do not pretend
to have discovered an infallible remedy for this
destructive disease, but will simply give the
particulars of a case for what they are worth.
A few months ago we had a valuable Rouen
drake stricken with this fell destroyer. Being
away from home at the time, the disease was al
ready far advanced when first brought to our
notice. All the symptoms showed cholera in
its worst form. Feeling quite sure that he
would die in spite of all that could be done, we
decided to try the merits of kerosene oil, hav
ing heard from various sources that it was a
“ sure cure.” Taking some corn meal we stirred
into it kerosene oil, making it quite wet; then
administered a dose in the shape of a good-sized
pill, and awaited the result. He appeared to
grow weaker, being unable to hold up his head.
Then we gave him another pill and allowed him
to drink freely. Thus matters went on without
much apparent change during the first day, in
which time we gave about four or five of the
pills, allowing him to drink freely of pure wa
ter at brief intervals. At the end of this time
he began to revive, and continued gaining
steadily until well; several pills were given after
he commenced to improve.
Kerosene may not be & sure “sure cure,” but
in this instance we are confident that it saved
the life of the bird. If there are other breeders
who have tried this or other remedies we should
be pleased to hear their experience in the, mat
ter.—National Poultry Journal.
Gravel lor Fowls.
There is one thing, says the National Poultry
Journal, that is more necessary for the health,
comfort and productiveness of fowls than gravel.
A bountiful supply of eggs can only be obtained
when a corresponding supply of gravel, or some
substitute therefor, is provided for the layers.
Appropriate to the subject we quote the follow
ing from the Growing World:
Hen’s Teeth. “Scarce as hen’s teeth.”
This is an old saw. Yet you should see to it
that your fowls are possessed of good teeth.
Not natural ones exactly, neither artificial ones;
but natural-artificial ones, in the shape of gravel
stones, with which they may triturate the food
in their gizzards. Hen’s teeth comprise no in
cisors, nor canines ; but are all grinders. The
flattish or scaly gravel is not suitable, but a
form approaching the apherical is to be pre
ferred. If your neighborhood is not gravelly,
blocks of granite or quartz may be reduced to
irregular, angular fragments, which are excel
lent. Shells of the quahog, or round clam,
pounded, servo the double purpose of grinding,
and affording a supply of lime for the formation
of egg shells, and on this account are better
than oyster shells.
Remedy tor all Poultry Diseases.—A cor
respondent, signing himself “H. E. W.,” com
municates to the Lonpon Land and Water what
is assumed to be a ” remedy for all kinds of dis
eases in poultry.” He says: “ Our Australian
friends use pickled wheat as a medcine for their
fowls, and declare that it works an unfailing
cure; that the effects of a few grains are almost
magical; if a fowl be too ill to eat, with a swollen
heap, and unable to see how to pick up its food,
a dozen or two of the pickled grains should be
put down its throat. The wheat is pickled
with bluestone.
Good Weight.—S. G. Wood, Nashville, Ten
nessee, says : “ I have a Light Brahma cockerel,
that weighs at four months old four pounds and
thirteen ounces.
The Southern Publishing Compaay
Want agents for the Womans Home Book of
Health, the only complete work of the kind.
No la ly can afford to be without it. Price $2.50
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