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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS—POULTRY, PET AND LIVE STOCK SECTION.
Little Leaks in Poultry Culture
On a small farm or a large poultry
plant the percentage of loss of little
chickens by accident is usually out of
all proportion to what it should be.
And much of this loss could be easily
avoided.
the time and but little considered,
if noted and kept watch of we would
be surprised to what they amount at
the end of the season, and we would
learn a valuable lesson in carefulness
in little things.
A hawk catches a chicken today and
again tomorrow. She is watched for
and if not shot Is frightened and may
not get.another for a week, but soon
that little brood is reduced one-half.
And some of the next brood and the
next go to feed the baby hawks.
Would it not pay well to make a port
able frame and wire yard to protect
these little chicks? Such a yard is
very easy to make and inexpensive and
would pay Its cost in one season. It
can be made In six sections. Two sides
and two ends, put together with hooks,
and the top in two sections. The sixe
can be varied to suit conditions, but if
frequently moved it need not be large
or high. An A coop in such a yard
makes a safe and good place for hen
and chicks if they are shut'In at night.
Of course, under such a fence, a
small animal could easily dig and take
off most of the brood in one night, if
the door was left open to the coop:
Sometimes even the grown and* near
ly grown chickens ore lost by such
prowlers. If we have a very large flock
we would hardly notice the loss for
some time perhaps..
It Is well in building the fence which
Incloses the entire poultry yard or
yards to sink along the bottom of this
fence good boards the entire way. and
under the gates, too. Under the gates
the board can come just level with the
ground and the gate hung so there will
be very little space between when it Is
cloned. This will "keep small dogs*
skunks and possums or wild cats from
digging below the fence and having a
midnight feast at our expense.
A barbed wire three or four inches
above the fence is also a good protec
tion against chicken stealers.
Water fountains are a source of
trouble sometimes, for little chickens
are so easily drowned. We even had
one little chick crawl thru the small
opening at the bottom of a cylindrical
fountain that is made to rest on its
side, with a little trough In front. The
water was low. and the Utjle fellow
went thru the open space and died.
Any kind of a dish large enough for
them to get Into is bad for them, for
If they are not drowned they will get
wet and then chilled. Lathrop chick
feeders are entirely safe foe watering
little chickens.
A tin can. with a hole punched a half
or three-quarters of an Inch from the
toR then filled with water and insert
ed on a tin lid to a larger can makes
a safe little chick fountain. The water
In the lid must stand abovt the hole in
the can when inverted.
It seems as if an improperly fastened
lifting door or loose board always man
ages to fall on a baby chick, and they
' sre so easily killed. No board that the
hen or the wind can possibly overturn
should be left near a brood.
While it Is absolutely necessary to
spray brooders and coops, especially
when mosquitoes are about, care must
be taken in doing so. Too strong a
spraying solution will kill baby chicks,
or spraying without removing the
chicks first. This may not seein worth
mentioning, but we had a good number
of a coop of brooder chicks killed, one
because our colored man sprayed one
apartment while the little chicks were
. shut up In the other. It is best to
spray in the morning and leave the
coop or brooder open for awhile so
that at night there will be sufficient
odor to keep out * mosquitoes but not
injure the brood.
Too muck care of brooder lamps can
not be given. A neighbor of ours, last
winter, 'ost two brooders and most of
the chickens In them by Are. It was a
cold night and he had turned his lamps
high, and being late he did not look at
them again in a half hour or so. which
is essential after turning up a flame in
a brooder lamp, the soot collected and
. caught Are and soon everything was
ablaxe.
Great cleanliness and careful trim
ming. not filling the lamps too full, see
ing that they are set exactly under the
opening for the fumes, allowing, when
lighting, for the fact that as the chim
ney heats the draught will be greater,
and so the flame w ill draw a little high
er, putting the chimney squarely and
securely In the brooder, and then vis
iting the lamps a half hour after light
ing and again just before retiring, and
no danger from brooder fampB need be
feared. If a lamp sputters a little, take
it out at once and flut on another burn
er until that one can be thoroughly
cleaned. Most likely Its air holes
somewhere have become clogged. Al
ways make a small opening in the
metal cap that covers the hole used
in filling the lamp. A small nail driven
thru will make it the proper sice.
If the little chickens are found with
out water <-n a v\arm <lav, «i«• not let
them have all they will drink at once.
They are likely to drink too much and
some of them will die as a result.
Do not let the little chickens run
where they can get •‘jiggers” on them.
These little pests will kill them all If
they get a chance.
Water, especially salt water, will kill
the chiggers. They breed in dry sand
If the portable yard is made and the
ground to which the chickens are to
be moved is kept wet down for a few
days these chiggers will not trouble.
If the hen is kept well dusted while
setting, and her nest is well prepared
with liCe powder an<| has been burned
out. if it has been used before for set
ting other hens, then lice and mites will
not trouble the little chicks.
All these are only "little things,” and
yet In one season hundreds of baby
chickens are lost thru just these avoid
able accidents.
It pays, and pays well, to be very
careful of the smallest details when
one is engaged in poultry* raising.
C. FRED WARD.
Lakemont Poultry’ Farm, Winter
Park, Fla.
The business or hah
day-old chicks has
hatching
increased
I the shell.” and then, better yet. he can
wiTh ?St any • have all his flock practically of the same
! aBe * which Is a very great advantage in
dn nn» iiminUSani *? ew * ai YL th ^ y I raising the chicks. White Leghorn chicks
i l . L 8 to a day old are advertised for sale in aU
send the tender little chicks any great! uoultrv magazines for S10 Der *—
the^rav "xs^aSnaftir nf «h yI *3ii?51 dred * Suppose a man pays $50 U
! <*'<•>“ May 1. Allowing a fora by h
•r hun-
for 500
1^i5r" , SSa.“y5»”SJ*5S:
& 22L 1 ’ he would have In the fell 400 head, worth
Sin— ■ 500 •« L ,### *1 each. Or If he oold the cockerels for
•£ w ?S ,d h ,M.«? ! broiler* when one or two pounds In
loiw te the ; weight, which would under ordinary con-
.U? >an<1 u 5 ii dltlons pay the entire cost of raising, the
ii» Slid? °t£i„ ' pu»ets. he ought to have 800 good pul-
*h® *neII- Thl* yolk furnishes sufficient > f; ts to | ay j n September or October, and
!^J ir ’*hm«it to sustain the chick s life : keep It up all winter. This, of course. Is
. days, the only thing supposing that the chicks have been weU
enfek and that the cared for from the time they were re-
fh*ek “ eeeh little body j have been asked "what propor-
JjL * *2?.- ** ,lon ot 'he chicks received In this way
22.2 E. <»» he expected to liver’ I would un-
hv C . h SM«u. • »wer. Just about as many as If they had
J3L UESlE I been hatched In your own house and car-
^ ■ rled across the road to the brooder. The
may be safely shipped any distance which brooding is the most important part, and
can be covered by express trains in three
or four days.- The muslin cover allows
Don't sprinkle lime on the droppings.
You free the ammonia and lose the
most valuable constituent.
Is the cat a chicken thief? They are
very sly and many a lost chick can be
traced to the fireside pet.
sufficient ventilation, and practically the
come overheated or carelessly leave them
where a strong draft of cold air may chill
them; but with reasonable care they may
be shipped 500 miles and the loss not ex
ceed two or three per cent.
This opens up great possibilities for the
CHICKEN COOP WITH INCLOSED. AND PARTLY COVERED RUN.
Another excellent type of brood coop that will be popular with those
who try it. Embodies nearly all the good features of the one before de
scribed, but run is only partly covered, as shown in the illustration.
CHICKEN COOP WITH INCLOSED AND COVERED RUN.
all
necessary accommodations for the health and comfort of the birds,
to construct and inexpensive in cost. With such a house the poultry-
man may leave home contented, for chicken enemies such as dogs, cats,
rats, skunks, etc., can not get in. In case of rain storms such as are fre
quent in summertime, this shelters and at the same time permits exercise,
without really confining the birds. When compelled to remain closed in
houses, chickens are fretful and lose flesh rapidly. This solves the prob-
brooding is the most important part,
the heatless brooder has come to stay*.
My own-.experience and what I saw
done by my neighbors last year convinces
me that stronger and healthier chicks can
he raised without heat than with. Fred
Gammack raised 1.600 White Leghorn
chicks last year In cheese boxes, sim
ply cheese boxes, obtained at the gro
cery stores in Hartford. No artificial
heat whatever was used. Last * fall 1
went thru his poultry houses, and never
saw a thriftier lot of birds, and he tells
me they are laying to beat anything in
his experience. Mr. Gammack takes stiff
paper—strawboard—and makes a little
yard in front of the cheese box. tacking
the strawboard to the sides of the box.
and cutting an oval hole on each side of
the box where the strawboard joins it, so
that the chicks when they crowd in the
corners, crowd themselves thru the holes
right into the box. An iron wire ring
fitting loosely inside the box has a
"sheet” sewed to It, and one or two cot
ton stuffed "blankets" are dropped on
the “sheet.” The ring Is suspended from
the top edge of the box by bent wires.
That Is all the "mother” the chicks have,
and it does the business. The cheese
boxes cost nothing; the rest of the mate
rial 5 cents or 10 cents. A cheap way
certainly of brooding 25 or $0 chicks.
Mr. Gammack had a lot of the old lamp
brooders. He tore the Insides all out, re
taining only the four sides and the roof,
and put the cheese boxes Inside on the
ground. When -the chicks were two
weeks old the paper "yard” was removed
and the chicks had the run of the inside
of the brooder, and remained there until
large enough to be put In colony houses
out in the cornfield. For the man who
has not a suitable place to keep incu
bators. or the time to attend to them,
the opportunity to buy day-old1 chicks Is
a great convenience. Order* for chicks
should be sent Into the dealers as early
Ing the time when chicks
Two year* ago I bought
200 day-old chicks—Rhode Island Reds.
They had to be carried about four miles,
then shipped to me by traln.and car
ried two miles to my place. The chicks
arrived in good condition, not a dead one
in the lot. and I raised most of them;
selling the cockerels for broilers. I se
lected 40 of the pullets in the fall, put
them in a 10 by 20-foot house, and they
gave me 10 to 20 eggs a day all winter.
The mammoth Incubators, holding 20,000
to 20.000 eggs, hatching a larger per-
rentaftc than .mailer machines, and re
ducing the labor rest. have made the
production ■ * ’ “ - — —■*-
liable busln
Editor's Note; Till* business of day-old
chicks has come to stay, and a large
percentage of next year’s trade will be
In this commodity. The tireless broodeni
are all right to use In this climate In
the spring, but unless intelligently han
dled. many chicks are lost. That they
will ever entirely supplant the heat
- - tohie- r —
brooders Is hardly i
using cheese boxea. and they are ad
mirably adapted for the purpsoe. I pro
pose to use this means for brooding a
thousand chicks that will be Incubated in
the next two week*.
This style of house is popular among breeder* in territory subject to
more or less cold weather, ft is subject to many modifications, and
adapted to this section, if curtain fronts are used during settled weather.
The window is not a drawback, even in the South, for in good weather it
may be removed or thrown back, as preferred. It is easy of construction,
well ventilated and convenient. Add to this its inexpensive construction,
and you have an ideal house.
little red hen
TM . POULTRY TONIC
WHITE DIARRHEA CURE
Ceres ROUP sod CHOLERA like
magic. We gnuaniee it. Send S
cents in stamps to pay postace on
free sample. Booklet Free.
V&TVE P0UIT1T TQItC CO.
229 SfcuflBlif. ft Wane. W.
The H. A D. Brooder ie the ONLY
Fireless Brooder that solves the VENTI
LATION problem satisfactorily. Imper
fect ventilation and too much heat are
responsible for much loss of life among
baby chicka In the H. A D. the chicks
are COMFORTABLE and HEALTHY. It
stops tbs discontented "cheep, cheep.” It
ia light and easily moved from place to
place. Whether you are raising SO chicks
or 5.000. you NEED this brooder.
Fifty-Chick size,$2.00
Liberal Discount to Agents.
For sale by
J. H. REYNOLDS
P. O. Box 300, Atlanta, Ga.