Chapter 7

_South Easton, Mass.

I have used Pratts Poultry Regulator regularly.

The egg record for 900 fowls for five months the past winter was as follows: Dec., 50%; Jan., 43%; Feb., 55%; March, 69%; April, 69%. The lower record of January was caused by some pullets moulting.

Would say that fertility of eggs averaged 87% in December to over 90% later in the spring.

J.H. RANKIN._ -----------------------------------------------------------------

Many a farmer's wife finds her poultry flock a never-failing source of pin money. Many a farm girl and boy have secured their education from faithfully saving the "egg-money." And the opportunities for profit in this line are now greater than ever before.

~Helps for Poultrymen~

In a short chapter in a general publication of this kind it is impossible to go into the finer details of modern methods of poultry husbandry. For those who desire more information on this subject we have a big 160-page book, pages 6x9 inches in size, fully illustrated with 150 photos and drawings. The title is "The Poultryman's Complete Handbook." It's worth a dollar, but we will send you a copy, prepaid, for only ten cents in stamps or silver. Address your request to Pratt Food Co., Philadelphia.

Pratts Poultry Service Department is maintained to give expert information and advice on poultry topics. There is no charge for this service. Whenever you get puzzled, write Pratts experts. They will send you a prompt personal reply containing the information you desire. No charge, no obligation. Address such letters to Poultry Service Department, Pratt Food Co., Philadelphia.

~Breeds of Poultry~

Regardless of breeding and appearance, a heavy layer is a good hen to own. And laying ability is not confined to any one breed or class of fowls. There are exceptional layers, dependable profit-payers, in practically every fair-sized flock, whether made up of standard-bred stock or mongrels.

As a general rule, however, standard-bred birds are best. By that term we mean those which have been bred to meet the typical breed and variety descriptions as appearing in the official Standard of Perfection which is published by the American Poultry Association. Such a flock is bound to be uniform in size, appearance and general characteristics, is easier to manage properly because of its uniformity, and its products, both eggs and table poultry, will also be uniform. Further the income from such a flock may be increased through the sale of eggs for hatching and of breeding stock at prices many times greater than those of table eggs and poultry.

No matter what breed you select, the most important matter, the very foundation of success, is the securing of _individual birds which are strong, sturdy, vigorous and healthy_. Only stock of high vitality can be depended upon to give continuously good results. It is time and money wasted to keep fowls which are weak, sickly or "run-down," the result of improper breeding or management.

As a rule, it is best to select that breed which is most popular locally, because such popularity indicates that the breed in question thrives under local conditions and meets the requirements of the local markets. Further, one has greater opportunities of securing good birds and a larger market for hatching eggs and stock.

_Clemson College, S.C.

We have been using Pratts Baby Chick Food and are very well pleased with it. I think that it is the best baby chick mash on the market today.

FRANK C. HARE, Prof. of Poultry Husbandry._ -----------------------------------------------------------------

Among the farmers whose markets demand white-shelled eggs, the S.C. White Leghorn is the most popular fowl. The Black Minorca is another favorite. It produces the largest white eggs.

Where brown-shelled eggs are wanted, the Plymouth Rock, Wyandotte, Rhode Island Red and Orpington lead. And for the production of the largest table carcasses the Light Brahma, either pure or crossed with a more active breed, is a favorite. The live weights of adult birds of these breeds are as follows:

Breed. Cock. Hen.

Leghorns 5 1/2 lbs. 4 lbs. Black Minorcas 9 lbs. 7 1/2 lbs. Plymouth Rocks 9 1/2 lbs. 7 1/2 lbs. Wyandottes 8 1/2 lbs. 6 1/2 lbs. Rhode Island Reds 8 1/2 lbs. 6 1/2 lbs. Orpingtons 10 lbs. 8 lbs. Light Brahmas 12 lbs. 9 1/2 lbs.

Most of these breeds have varieties, determined by color of plumage or shape of comb. Select that one which best pleases you.

~Poultry Houses~

When locating the poultry house remember that it is a great advantage to have soil which is light and naturally well drained, since such soil dries off quickly after a rain and is "much warmer," as poultrymen express it. Heavy soil, even stiff clay, may be made to serve the purpose admirably if provision is made to drain off all surface water. But avoid a site on which water settles in pools, as the surface soon becomes filthy and is a menace to the health of the flock.

The birds should have the benefit of several hours of sunshine each day. So locate the poultry house where the sun can strike it freely. The shelter of tall buildings on the north, or even on the east or west, is frequently an advantage during the winter months, but the south side should be open if conditions permit. Shade trees and large shrubs about the house are a source of comfort to the fowls during hot weather and may be used to screen or partially hide the poultry plant.

The poultry house must be dry, well-ventilated, free from draughts, light, sunny and cheerful. And if it is planned with reference to the convenience of the poultryman, so much the better. The most simple and inexpensive form of construction should be used. In all sections of the country, excepting the extreme north, a single wall of matched boards on a light frame is perfectly satisfactory. Unmatched boards with battens nailed over the cracks or a layer of lightweight roofing paper over all are equally good. In fact, in case of necessity, one may use the roughest of lumber, and by covering the entire structure with roofing paper make a building which is tight and comfortable and acceptable in appearance.

The rear and end walls and roof must be _tight_ to insure dryness and prevent all draughts. Windows and doors may be placed in end walls, but these should usually be located forward of the center of the building and made to fit snugly. The rear part of the house, where the roosts are located, must at all costs be protected against cross-currents of air.

The south or front walls, on the other hand, should have ample openings to admit air and sunshine. The open-front or fresh-air type of house is much superior to the old tightly closed type. Plenty of fresh air means comfort, health, vitality and increased production.

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "~PRATTS MAKES HENS LAY~" | | | |~What is Pratts Poultry Regulator?~ A positive tonic and conditioner for| |poultry of all kinds and ages. _A health-builder and health-preserver._ | |Not a food. | | | |~What does it contain?~ Roots, herbs, spices, mineral substances, etc. | |Each ingredient performs a certain duty. The combination spells "health | |insurance." | | | |~What does it do?~ Pratts Poultry Regulator makes and keeps poultry | |healthy, vigorous and productive. It shortens the molt, sharpens the | |appetite, improves digestion and circulation, hastens growth and | |increases egg-production. _It saves feed_ by preventing waste due to | |poor digestion. _It prevents disease by_ keeping the birds in condition | |to resist the common ailments. | | | |~Has it been fully tested?~ Yes! In general use for nearly fifty years. | |The _original_ poultry conditioner. Imitated, but unequalled. | | | |~Does it give general satisfaction?~ Positively! _Satisfaction | |guaranteed or money refunded._ Test it at our risk. Increased egg | |production will prove that "Pratts makes hens lay." | | | |~How is it best used?~ Daily in small quantities. For adults, | |tablespoonful daily for 10 birds. Younger stock in proportion. Mix with | |dry or moist mash. | | | |~What does it cost?~ Nothing, because _it pays big profits_. About a | |cent a month per hen is the investment required. | | | |~Where can I get it?~ From 60,000 Pratt dealers. There is one near you. | |Direct from the Pratt Food Co., prepaid, if your dealer can't supply | |you. | | | |[Illustration: PRATTS EGG PRODUCER] | |[Illustration: PRATTS POULTRY REGULATOR] | | | | "~YOUR MONEY BACK IF YOU ARE NOT SATISFIED~" | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+

_Cincinnati, O.

I have been using your poultry foods and remedies with the best of satisfaction and results for the last ten years.

FRED O. FLAHERTY._ -----------------------------------------------------------------

From a quarter to a third of the front wall should be left open. Cover the openings with one-inch mesh wire netting to keep the fowls in and repel all enemies and food-seeking sparrows. Cloth-covered frames should be provided to close these openings and keep out driving storms. The cloth, should be open in texture, as coarse cotton or heavy cheese cloth, not "boardy" and air-tight. Frames may be left loose to hook or button on inside or outside, or hinged to the top of the openings and swung up against the roof when not in use. In some cases, as in the Tolman house, these openings are never closed, day or night, summer or winter.

It is advisable to provide one or more glass windows in addition to the openings referred to above in order to admit light when the cloth-covered frames are closed. The windows may be placed in either the front wall or the side walls. In the latter case the sun is admitted to the building more hours each day, which is a big advantage during the fall and winter months.

Poultry house floors may be of cement, boards or earth. Cement is best for large, permanent structures. Board floors are excellent in houses of any size and are almost a necessity in small ones which may be moved frequently. Earth floors seem to be favored by the fowls, but if used the earth should be filled in to bring the floor level several inches above the surrounding ground. This to insure dryness.

The accompanying cuts show typical designs of satisfactory poultry houses. When building, just bear the above principles in mind and the results will be satisfactory.

The Tolman type is a strictly "fresh air" or "open front" house. For a flock of thirty to forty birds this house should be ten feet wide, sixteen feet front to back, seven feet to peak of roof, front wall four feet and rear wall five feet high. The highest point of roof is five feet from the rear wall.

The entire south side is a wire-covered opening, save for boards placed as shown in the cut. A full-sized door is located in the east wall opposite the window in the west side. Roosts are placed near the north wall, level with or slightly above the front opening.

_Port Dover, Canada.

After a long experience I find Pratts Poultry Regulator to be absolutely the best tonic to keep a flock of poultry in condition. Just as soon as I find a pen is not doing well, I use the Regulator in their mash. Almost immediately I notice their appetites improve, their combs redden and they lay better. I have also made trial of your other remedies and I find them all absolutely reliable.

JOHN S. MARTIN_ -----------------------------------------------------------------

For a flock of one hundred or more birds the New Jersey Multiple Unit Laying House is to be recommended. Each unit is twenty feet square, accommodating a hundred fowls. Similar units may be added for each hundred additional birds. The drawing on page 48 shows two units.

In this house the front studs are nine feet high, rear studs are four and a half feet high.

Simple, inexpensive furnishings are best. The cuts show home-made equipment which will meet all practical requirements.

~Getting the Eggs~

Early-hatched, well-matured pullets are the most dependable layers during the fall and early winter months. Some few yearling hens may continue to lay fairly well during their molting period, but, as a rule, egg production drops with the feathers and does not begin until the new coat of plumage is completed and the system readjusted. So yearlings, taken as a whole, do little toward filling the egg-basket until January or later.

Get the early-hatched pullets into winter quarters by late September or early October before they begin to lay. But be sure the house is fully prepared in advance. Clean house! Disinfect thoroughly with a strong solution of Pratts Poultry Disinfectant. Kill every germ. Avoid possible loss.

_Cherokee, Iowa.

I have used Pratts Poultry Regulator for the last twenty years and always had the best of results. It is a great egg producer and the best feed to keep little chicks strong and guard off that terrible disease, bowel complaint. In fact, I cannot do without it.

GEO. WM. LYON._ -----------------------------------------------------------------

~Get Fall and Winter Eggs~

It is most desirable that the flock begin egg production before the weather becomes severe. Get the laying habit established while the season is favorable, and it is comparatively easy to maintain it. And, as production will not commence until the layers are fully matured, the pullets must be hatched early to give ample time for them to make the needed growth.

As a rule, it takes about seven months to mature pullets of the general purpose breeds and six months for the egg breeds. Therefore, March and April chicks of the former, and April and May chicks of the latter, are most valuable. This is a general rule. Some poultrymen are experts in this matter of growing chicks and can bring them to laying maturity in less time.

If disease appears take instant action to check it. Delay of a day or two may permit an epidemic to get well started. In order to enable you to give proper treatment without delay you may well keep a stock of Pratts Poultry Remedies on hand.

Give every bird a thorough treatment for lice. Work Pratts Powdered Lice Killer all through the plumage. This will fix the lice, but will not kill the eggs. In anticipation of the latter hatching, rub Pratts Lice Salve in the small feathers about the vent and beneath the wings. That means death to the young lice as they appear, but to make sure, apply the salve at intervals of a few weeks.

Don't overcrowd the house. Better have a hundred hens comfortable and laying than double the number crowded and loafing.

Leave all ventilating openings wide open. Keep them open until winter storms make more protection necessary. During the summer months the pullets have had plenty of fresh air. To bring them into a warm, tightly closed house is to invite general debility and an epidemic of colds, catarrh, roup and other allied diseases. (Pratts Roup Remedy dissolved in the drinking water every few days, especially during changes of weather, will help to prevent such troubles.)

Keep the house clean. Remove the litter from the floor as soon as it becomes damp or soiled and replace with new, fresh material. Clean the droppings boards at frequent intervals. Wash with Pratts Poultry Disinfectant or scald the food and water dishes. Disinfect the whole house every few weeks, taking advantage of sunny weather so quick drying will follow. Disease causes loss--disinfection prevents disease. Therefore, DISINFECT whether you see need of it or not.

~Poultry Feeding~

The more food the birds eat beyond bodily requirements the greater the amount of the salable products they create. Any hen that is a natural layer will turn the surplus food into eggs. If she is naturally a meat producer she will build flesh or take on fat. And the sooner the fat producers are identified and removed from the laying flock, the better for all concerned. Your birds will not "get too fat to lay"--they will get fat if they don't lay. And _the big problem is to induce the layers to eat as much food as they can digest_ in order that they may lay heavily and steadily.

To overcome all possible danger of overfeeding, Pratts Poultry Regulator should be regularly added to the mash. This natural tonic and conditioner contains appetizers, to stimulate the desire for food--digestives, to insure complete digestion and assimilation of the food consumed--laxatives, to regulate the bowels--internal antiseptics, to keep the entire digestive tract in a condition of perfect health--worm destroyers, to expel irritating and dangerous intestinal parasites.

Regularly used, Pratts Poultry Regulator insures freedom from the more common poultry disorders, reduces feed bills by preventing feed waste due to sluggish digestion, hastens growth, improves the egg-yield, shortens the molt, makes the entire flock more efficient, swells the profits.

Pratts Poultry Regulator should be added to the mash at the rate of one and three-quarters pound to each hundred pounds of mash. Mix thoroughly so each layer will get her share. The ideal poultry ration is a varied one. It contains mineral matter, green food, animal food and grains. The absence of any one of these groups of foodstuffs means a reduced egg yield.

_I am both selling and feeding Pratts Poultry Regulator, and make a specialty of high-bred Buff Orpingtons. Twelve cockerels, worth from $20 to $75 each, were all placed in healthy condition by use of Pratts Poultry Regulator and their quarters disinfected with Pratts Disinfectant.

W.H. TOPP, Westgate, Iowa._ -----------------------------------------------------------------

The staple grain feeds are corn, oats, wheat, barley and buckwheat. The grain by-products, bran, middlings and gluten feed, to which may be added corn meal, ground oats and ground barley.

Animal food of some kind is an essential to growth and egg-production. Skim milk and butter milk, fish scrap made from oil-free fish, beef scrap, fresh cut green bone and good grades of digester tankage are all excellent. But use only feeds of this character which are of prime quality. Oily fish, poor beef scrap and mouldy green bone will surely cause trouble.

Fowls on range during the growing season will pick up all needed green food. In the winter one may feed cabbages, mangel wurtzels, beets, carrots, etc. Or, if fresh stuff is not available, heavy oats may be sprouted and fed when the sprouts are two or three inches long. Dried beet pulp, a dairy food made at beet sugar factories, is a convenient green food. It must be well soaked before feeding.

One saves much time, and not infrequently some money, by buying ready-mixed feeds, especially dry mash. In, making such purchases, be guided by _quality_ rather than price. Adopt some brand made by a reputable concern and give it a fair trial. But do not hesitate to change if a better brand becomes available. Just try Pratts Milk Egg Mash.

_Kingston, R.I.

I have used your Baby Chick Food with the best success and would gladly recommend it to anyone wanting such food. I do not only use it for baby chicks, but for those 5-7 weeks' of age.

C.E. BRETT, Rhode Island State College Dept. of Poultry Service._ -----------------------------------------------------------------

~Feeding Dry Mash~

The most simple and generally satisfactory feeding method is the dry mash system. Feed a certain amount of the scratch mixture--whole and cracked grains--each day and permit the fowls to complete the daily ration by eating dry mash--ground grains--at will. Keep mash before them in open hoppers and let them help themselves.

The mash, because of its high protein content, is the real egg-maker. And during recent years there has been a tendency toward restricting the scratch feed and inducing the layers to eat more mash. Results seem to indicate that this plan is best, increasing the yield and reducing feed costs.

The laying ration now recommended by the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station is simple and efficient. This ration is made as follows:

~Dry Mash~ lbs.

Wheat Bran 100 Wheat Middlings 100 Ground Oats (heavy) 100 Corn Meal 100

~High-grade Fish Scrap or Meat~

Scrap 100

~Scratch Grain~ lbs.

Cracked Corn 200 Wheat 100 Oats (heavy) 100 Barley 100

The same institution has perfected the following feeding table showing what amount of scratch feed should be given the layers daily each month in the year. This is a most valuable guide, especially to the inexperienced poultryman. When the birds are fed scratch grain, as indicated, they will naturally eat enough mash from the open hoppers to meet their requirements.

~Amount of Grain to Feed Layers Each Month in the Year~