Easy Remedy.—" Carbolic acid 1 oz.

to water,

ozs., makes a wash that destroys the lice without injury to the hog."

10

Then it

would on other animals, as cattle, cats, dogs, fowls, etc.

Kidney- Worm in Hogs and "Fluke" in Sheep, Remedy for.

—The Rural Alabamian asserts that kidnej' -worms in hogs, and the flukeworms that infest the livers of sheep are identically the same.

insect

—an insect drawing

its whole support from another animal,

A parasitic

as lice upon

—

an animal, or worms in them and the editor claims also " that lye made from

hard-wood ashes, if given daily, will work a cure; also rubbing turpentine

upon the loins."

—

Remarks. There is nothing said as to the amount to be given, but wo

should say, if the lye is pretty strong, two or three table-spoonfuls in a small

amount of slop, two or three times daily, would be plenty. Of course it

could not be given without diluting, else it would destroy the mucous mem^8

-D^ CHASE'S RECIPES.

754

brane of the mouth, throat, etc., as cows have been killed by drinking lye left

where they could get at it. But why not salt and ashes mixed, in place of

If they will take enough of

the salt and charcoal mentioned just above?

it, it will do as well without a doubt, and

Buch cases.

I

have no doubt of

their value in

W

Corn and Pork, How to Get the Most from, by the

ay of

Feeding.— The Chicago Herald inforxns its readers that "an Ohio pork

grower has learned by experimenting that a bushel of corn fed on the cob will

produce only nine pounds of pork, while an equal quantity, ground, and the

meal fed raw, gives twelve pounds but a bushel of com boiled gives thirteen

pounds, while if ground and the meal cooked, makes about 16^ pounds."

Remark. Now farmers, continue the old plan and get the nine pounds,

or take the common sense plan, that is, do the best you know and obtain the

Although every experiment might not exactly meet

16J, as you like best.

these figures, yet there as not a doubt but wtxat they will come veiy ueax

thenk

;

—

POULTRY.

HENS, CHICKENS, TURKEYS, DUCKS

AND GEESE.—

Winter Care of, upon a Large Scale— House For— Best Breeds,

Etc.— As it has been thoroughly taught through the newspapers for several

years passed that poultry raising upon a larger scale than about fifty hens could

not be done safely, I propose to give a different idea, bv quoting the report of

a committee of the New York Farmers* Club, made through the Hearth and

Home.

All that is needed to carry on the business upon a large scale is to

know how, and that is learned from this report, from one who has proved, by

several years' experience, that it has been done and therefore can be done again.

The committee was appointed by the Club to visit poultry yards and ascertain

the best mode of carrying feathered stock through cold weather, which was

as follows:

" On Wednesday last we spent the day at the farm of Warren Leland, 25

miles north of this city ( New York ), at Rye Station, and have derived, from a

careful survey of his yards, ideas which we consider important. We find him

carrying 150 turkeys, about 300 hens, a large drove of ducks, and several

dozen of geese through the winter without the loss of any of his poultry

disease of any sort, and without the freezing of their feet or their legs.

learn that he never has maladies among his poultry, that he will allow the

greater part of his hens to set in the spring, and each of them will yield an

average brood of 10 chicks; so that he will raise about 3,000 chickens from his

present flock, and his losses be very few. How does he do it ? 1. His hens,

ducks and geese have the best winter quarters we have ever seen provided for

any of the feathered tribes. Their main barrack or hennery is a stone house

75 feet long and 20 feet wide, and faces south. The openings on the north

side are small and filled with window-glass, and in some cases with double

sash.

Those on the south side are much larger, consisting of double doors,

which are opened on sunny days. In the middle of the north side is a wide,

old-fashioned fire-place, with crane and a big camp-kettle. Nearly every day

in winter a fire is lit and fed with chunks, knots and old logs that would otherwise be knocked about the wood-yard. The walls are of stone, and the floor

of rock or earth, so the fire can be left without the least danger. On cold days,

and especially in cold rains, the hens gather before this fire and warm themselves and trim their feathers.

The chimney can easily be closed, or the logs

rolled out into the middle of the building, and feathers or sulphur used

to make a fumigation.

This is done whenever hen-lice appear; and the openings of the house can be closed so as to hold the fumigation till it penetrates to

«very crack. Smoke he finds better than carbolic acid, or kerosene, or whitewash to drive vermin.

*'

The roosts are oak slats 1 inch thick by 'i% inches wide, fastened to the

rafters near the ridge.

They are nailed at different heights and at proper

intervals.

About 2 feet below the perches is a scaffold of boards that fit quite

closely.

This is from time to time covered with plaster and ashes. Aoout

once a month the accumulations are shoveled down and piled up for the cornfield.

He calculates that 50 hens yield in the course of a year as much com-

^^

We

^55

I>B.

756

CHASE'S RECIPES.

post as would be worth $50 in bone-meal; that is to say, if he threw away hia

hen-droppings, and had to buy the same amount of fertilizing salts in bonedust, it would cost him $50.

He has paid special attention to the comfort of

his hens on the perch.

They sit on a slat 2% inches wide; their breast-feathers

come down and cover their feet, and protect them from freezing in the coldest

nights.

Of course, there is no lack of dry ashes in their house, and he find?

that after the fire goes out the hens use the hearth as a place to nestle and

shake ashes through their feathers. They enjoy it, and it keeps them sounQ

and comfortable.

" The offal of the farm, as entrails, feathers, lieads, scraps from lard, and

all the odds and ends from the kitchen are thrown into this house, and the

hens pick it over, eating all they want. Then, as soon as spring opens, all thi?

trash is shoveled and scraped out, composted and taken to the corn-field.

Besides this refuse, his poultry eat about 1 bushel of corn a day in winter, and

a bushel in summer, He raises large crops of corn because he has strong

manure to feed his crops with. In spring, after a hen has hatched, her nest is

taken out, the straw burned, and the box whitewashed inside and out, thea

filled with, fresh straw and put back for another family party.

%

Best Breed.— "After many trials of breeds he has settled upon the

White Brahmas. They lay more uniformly the year through, make the best

mothers, and the chicks grow the fastest. During summer his poultry have a

wide range, and scour the fields for half a mile or more consuming grasshoppers.

His turkeys nearly make their weight on grasshoppers and beetles, with

a handful of corn night and morning. One man has little to do in spring and

summer but to take care of chickens and young turkeys. In winter they

require but little attention, and this man then attends to the calves and lambs.'*

"The cost of his poultry -meat— and he often kills in a season 300 turkeys

and 3,000 chickens— he considers to be about 250 bushels of corn, and the

wages of his hen-wife for half the time. His gains he cannot give exactly, for

the poultry is eaten very freely by a large family and sent to the Metropolitan

when prices are high, or the supply in market defective in quality. He does

not keep exact account of his eggs, for, as a rule, he says the best thing to do

with an egg is to let a good motherly hen make a chicken of it. Your committee conclude their report by an expression of opinion that the common ideas

on the subject of poultry-raising on a large scale are erroneous. It has been

said again and again in this Club and in farm journals that there is no use in

trying to keep more than about 50 hens; if one goes deeper into the poultry

business there is backset from lice and roup and gapes and cholera and the

This is a fallacy.

sudden death of hens and chicks from causes unknown.

In the manner above described, by the wise use of smoke and lime and ashes

and a fire, by cleanliness and a wide range in mild weather, we find Mr.

Leland taking about 4,000 feathered animals through the season, for year after

and on an expense that is very trifling and

year, without calamity or loss,

unfelt on a large farm."

Bemarks.—l wish to speak here of two points particularly, which I believe

of 2% by

to be worthy of absolute confidence. First, the perches being made

perch, mak1 inch slats, fastened so they sit upon the flat or broad side of the

only easier for the hen to sit upon it, but she does not have to cling

ing it not

cords

her toes around a pole to be able to keep her position, which strains the

and makes them more liable to freeze in winter. And second, these slats will

not crack open by shrinking, as everybody knows poles do; thus preventing a

harbor for lice, riglit under the hen, which amounts to more, as I know it

must, than one would suppose by a mere thought upon the subject.

DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

Another thought or two are worthy of consideration,

757

Mr. Leland con-

siders fumigation, smoke from feathers, or sulphur, better than kerosene, or

There is not a doubt of it, as the smoke will reach every

carbolic acid washes.

crack and crevice, while many will be missed with the washes. And the idea

of a chimuey and a pretty large fire-place in the hen house, is really the grandest idea of all, by it he secures warmth, life, and health, to his poultry in damp,

as well as cold winter weather. Let the size of the house be in proportion only

to the number of poultry you wish to keep.

Now, all that is necessary to consider before engaging in the poultry

business is, what does the market demand in my neighborhood, or within

points I can quickly reach by rail?

Still, as some people will neglect their duties towards their poultry, and

some will get cholera, gapes, roup, etc., I will give a few of the best remedies

lor them, manner of feeding, kinds of food considered best generally, their

need of pure water, dust baths, etc. I will reverse the order of naming them

and begin with

Dust Baths, Necessary for Poultry to Keep tliem Free from

Lice.

— Unless you have a fire-place in your poultry house, as in the case

reported above, take dry, fine sand, or dry dust from the road, twenty measures

(the size of the measure to be governed by the number of hens to be provided

for); wood ashes, five measures; and "flowers" (fine) sulphur, one measure,

and mix well together and place in large, shallow boxes, or in a corner of the

poultry house at all events, sheltered from rain and snow. They delight to

;

bathe and dust themselves in this, as much as boys delight to bathe and froUc

in the creeks of a warm summer day; besides it keeps the lice from troubling

the poultry if the house and perches are kept free of them by washes or

fumigation.

The following is considered one of the best washes for a poultry

Ifeouse, perches, etc.

Lice in Poultry Houses, the Best Wash to Destroy Them.—

Take 1 lb. of hard soap, sliced thin, and put into an iron kettle with water,

8 qts. or soft soap and water, each 1 qt., and heat till it boils then remove

from the fire and stir in kerosene, 1 qt., continuing the stirring until the keroThis may be poured into a common pail

<Bene is all absorbed into the mixture.

of hot water, stirred well and immediately applied to the perches and every

and if

possible crevice about the house where the perches are fastened

enough is made in these proportions, to wash the whole inside of the house

Und every nest-box (the nest being first taken out and burned, new straw being

"

afterwards put in), it will be all the more certain to make a " clear riddance

of the lice. The composition I take from the N. Y. Rural of August 30,

and it may

1884, so it may be considered the latest thing out for this purpose

be noticed, it is much like Prof. Beal's remedy to kill bark lice on fruit trees.

I know it will prove " too much " for all lice which it can be made to reach.

2.

The following is from the American Agriculturist, is quite different

from the above, is very thorough in its plan of work, and may therefore suit

aome people better by the removal of every cleat and everything else from the

;

;

;

;

DB. CEASE'S EECIPES.

758

poultry house before applying the wash.

effectual as the soap and kerosene, and

the first above.

The carbolic acid is, no doubt, €f-

may be used, if preferred, instead ov

The item was given in answer to an inquiry by O. Kellogg,

of Bradford Co,, Pa., whose poultry was infested with

know how to get rid of them. The editor says

lice,

and wanted to

:

"Takeout of the house every perch, nest-box, or movable thing; remove

or anything whereby a crevice is made, so that the inside is

Then make a whitewash of fresh lime, into which put one ounce 6t

Wash the house thoroughly with this. Then wash

carbolic acid to a pailful.

the outside. Then smear the perches with a mixture of lard and kerosene,

putting it on thick, so that when the fowls roost they will get some of it oij

their feathers.

Also, put some of it on each fowl, under the wings.

This

will clear the house, and the hens will clear themselves, if no recruits are furall battens, cleats,

smooth.

nished from the house.

" In a month, or less, if there is occasion, wash the house again, and

grease the roosts take care to fill all holes and cracks in the poles.

It would

be well to pass the poles through a fire made of straw, exposing them to the

flame, before greasing them,"

;

3.

Lice on the Poultry, an Ointment or Grease for.—If there

making a clean job of the

are any lice on the poultry themselves, besides

house by one of the above plans, annoint the neclis and heads, if any are to be

Been there, and under the wings, around the "vent," and inside the thighs,

legs, etc., every place where the feathers are not thick, with lard pretty well

thickened with " flowers " (fine) sulphur, one ounce at least to one pound of

lard.

Sulphur is considered, with grease, to be death to lice, but be this as it

may, the lice cannot crawl on the poles nor slats, if they are used as tfreely as

they ought to be, if a good coat of the omtment is smeared over them and I

can see no reason why some kerosene, say two table-spoonfuls to each pound

of lard, may not be added, with the sulphur ointment for the poultry, as well

;

as for the roosts, etc.

poultry is badly covered with lice, some insect powder may be dusted

among the feathers, not much will be needed, using the bellows as used for

K

*'

bugs " about the bedsteads.

else do not keep poultry.

If

At all events, keep the poultry free from lice,

no insect powder is at hand, dust sulphur among

"

all-sufflthe feathers, it will do equally well, at least many claim this to be

It is recommended in the next item below by the Iowa State Register,

«ient."

I.

To Prevent Lice Upon Setting Hens.—Which says that two or

three leaves of tobacco placed in the nest of a setting hen, then placing the

eggs upon them, will kill or drive off any lice which may be upon the hen,

and prevent them from getting upon them, which they frequently do while

setting, even if not upon them at the commencement ;

II.

and

Sulphur sprinkled among the feathers, when the tobacco cannot bo

obtained, is good to destroy hce on the fowls, and to keep them at a distance.

III. Again, another writer says, to put a table-spoonful of sulphur

m

the nest of a hen or turkey to be "set," will destroy all lice upon the fowls,

and also prevent them from getting into the nest and thus infesting the

young.

"setter." This should not be used too freely, lest it may injure the

DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

759.

chicks when they are hatched. Simply greasing the heads of very young

chickens will prevent lice from getting upon them. The old nest should

always be taken out and burned, and new straw used for each setting.

The

nest-box should also be always re-whitewashed at each setting.

IV. It is also claimed that hog's hair, used in place of straw for the nest,

never infested with hce.

writer says: " Hen lice won't stay in hog

hair." Some writers claim that nine out of every ten hens that die, die from

the effects of lice. Then "for heaven's sake," as we often hear said, keep

your hens free from lice, else, as we have suggested, do not keep poultry.

Whenever you see a hen drooping around, refusing to eat, and the comb looking blue or dark at the points or end, pick her up and look for lice, which, if

A

is

found,

"go for them" at once, as I have directed; clean the house, renew the

dust bath, and put all things again in " tip top " order.

And rememberl

Water, Clean and Pure—Its Importance Daily for Poultry.—

writer in the Fancier's

Journal believes that cholera will seldom trouble

poultry if they have a daily supply of pure water, and " that the omission to

Another writer

"Poultry should be as regularly watered as horses, cattle or any of the

domestic animals." These statements from those in the business should be

taken as the "word for the wise," which "is sufficient." The tonic given

below can be occasionally used by putting into their drinking water, as there

directed.

It is believed to be more needed in winter than summer, unless

disease is prevalent among them in the neighborhood. A few words now as

furnish it is one of the worst forms of cruelty to animals."

eays:

to food for poultry, necessity for variety, etc.

L Food— Several Kinds Necessary for Poultry to do Well.

It has been the- custom to feed poultry

winter.

almost wholly upon corn, summer and

But, as in other things, great improvement has been made, and it has

been found as necessary to give a variety of food to fowls as it is to persons or

other domestic animals If you want them to do their best. Corn, buckwheat,

wheat, oats, cooked vegetables of all kinds, meats, cooked and raw, fruit,

refuse from the table, raw cabbage in winter, as a substitute for the tender

grasses they obtain in summer; and some think it important to cut fine and give

them rowen or second growth hay, or dried grass, more correctly speaking in

the winter; but the cabbage or other vegetables cooked, as aboved named, may

take its place very satisfactorily; but one or the other, or both, at different

times for variety's sake, would be better, and sour milk is also claimed to be

"one of the best feeds for poultry, especially for young chickens, that can be

given them," says the iVe^ York Herald, "as they thrive wonderfully upon a

diet of sour milk, and it may be given them in place of water to great advantage."

II.

Com at night in winter time

is especially valuable,

from the increased

heat or warmth it gives them during the cold months; while the other grains

are better in summer for general feeding, sometimes mixed, at otner times a

feed of one, then the other.

CEASE'S RECIPES.

I>R-

760

III.

Buck-wheat is especially valuable as a fatteaer, and is also par-

ticularly an egg producer, besides it is well liked by poultry generally.

IV. Oats are not a favorite with poultry unless ground and made into

dough, no doubt for the reason of its length of kernel, in the sharpness of the

ends, making it difficult to swallow.

V. Fine Gravel, unless they have easy and near access to it, should

always be kept where the poultry can scratch and pick it over, as they will do

daily, and eat it in considerable quantities as an aid in cutting their food in the

gizzard.

VI.

Charcoal, broken finely, should also always be given them once or

twice a week at all times of the year.

Raising Chickens, by a City Woman, with Great Success.—

The lady says:

The following was reported through the Country Oentleman.

"I have brought up chickens by hand; had 103 at one time, and never had

an insect (lice) on them. I put sulphur under their wings and on the backs of

their heads, and once or twice put a pinch in their food, and they were perfectSpeaking of chickens, I would like to

ly free from these exhausting pests.

say for the benefit of novices (beginners) in chicken raising, I am one who

never had a case of gapes among my chickens; never saw a chicken with the

gapes.

I think the reason was I never let them run in the damp, and if I saw

any tendency to looseness of the bowels, I always put a stiff dose of cayenne

pepper in the food every day until they were cured, and out of 109 chickens

hatched I only lost four, and those died from accidents boards fell on them.

I fixed up what I

I never let my young chickens run unheeded in the grass.

called "my yard, " with boards propped against sticks driven into the grass;

netting

to keep the

and then I covered over the whole place with mosquito

little ones in, and to prevent the old fowls from stealing the young chicken's

[Allow

food.

Chickens must be fed every three or four hours at first.

me to say here, not the first day, but after that.] I never feared hawks, for

we kept Guinea hens, and never lost a chicken. Many country people have

—

expressed astonishment that I, a city woman, should bring up chickens that

Never let a chicken get its feet wet,

never had the gapes. Great care did it.

I always had plenty of coal ashes for the

and it will never have the gapes.

If a number of chickens

ashes, not cinders.

little things to roll and pick in

are in one place (I had about thirty in each place,) the ashes must be changed

once a week while they are very young, and every other day as they grow

;

older."

I will mention, for the good of others, I visited a family during the past

summer (1884), in a village in Ohio, where the woman was raising about 100

I remarked to her, "you have four

chickens in a space not two rods square.

The cholera

times as many chickens in that yard as you ought to have," etc.

got amongst them and she lost a large number of them, not long after.

Many persons in different sections of the country are using some of the

incubators, such as we see at the fairs, for hatching and raising chickens.

Some use heat from lamps to keep the eggs at about 102 degrees F., and some

use the heat produced by fermenting horse manure, for the same purpose but

before any one goes into either plan extensively, they had better be certain they

have not been humbugged or deceived in the information they received about

the undertaking. To give proper instructions would require much more space

;

DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

761

There is no patent on the use of horse

than I can give it, hence this caution.

manure, nor that I am aware of on the use of lamps, still on some forms of

apparatus connected with them, there are patents, I believe.

Putting a

Remarks. Observe here,