The complete poultry book

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CHAPTER II. THE Rearing of Chickens

All animal life has its begiimiug in the egg. In tlie imimmals this egg is hatched within the body of the raotlier, and the young animal attains to a greater or less stage of development there before being thrown upon the cold charities of the world. Among most other orders of animals, however, the egg, after being charged with a supply of nutriment sufficient to carry its inhabitant to a stage of growth from which it may proceed with but little extei-nal assistance, is removed from the body, and the life within it awakened or destroyed by the circumstances with which it finds itself surrounded.

The essential part of the egg is the vitdlus, or yelk, which, in its simplest form, is simjjly a globular mass of oily and albuminous matter, surrounded by a colorless, transparent, homogenous membrane — the vitelline memhrane. In the hen these yelks may be found as a mass of yellow balls {ovules) of all sizes, those most nearly developed being nearly an inch in diameter.

These yolks, or yelks, are an-anged in consecutive layers, as may be seen by cutting through a hard-boiled egg. In addition to the purely chemical elements which constitute their oil and albumen, they contain the life-germ of the future chick, which may be seen as a small, circular speck on top of the yelk upon bre;iking the egg into a basin. This speck is constantly kept on top of the yelk through the agency of gravity, it being lighter than the rest of the egg, while opposite it is found a comparatively dense.mass of albumen called the Ckalazce, which serves as a ballast to keep the germ txppermost on whichever side the egg may be laid.-'" By this arrangement the germ is kept constantly near the breast of the hen, in such a situation as to most promptly receive the warmth of the hen, and to avoid the injury to the growing embryo which would result from the pressure of the heavy mass of the yelk.

These life-germs exist in all eggs, but the contact of the male element, or si)erm, is required to give them vitality. Without that contact the bird's egg is simply a lump of inanimate matter, doomed to destruction. With it, this same lump of matter becomes endowed with that wonderful and incomprehensible thing, the life-principle, which renders this inanimate egg callable of building its particles together into the perfectly formed, living chick ; which gives the seed the ability to develop into the full grown plant or tree, which brings forth bud and flower with every spring-time, and of whicli Professor Tyndall, the man who has been so widely aspersed because the revelations which he has read from the wonderful book of Nature do not coincide with the interpretations which doctrinarians have ignOrantly |itit upon the equally wonderful Word, has said, in speaking of atoms:

"The way in which these atoms build themselves together is to me perfectly astonishing. You have here a play of power as wonderful as vitality itself. And depend upon it, trust me, tlie revelations of science are not in the least degree calculated to lessen our feelings of astonishment. We are surrounded by wonders and mysteries everywhere. I have sometimes — not sometimes, but often — in the .spring-iide — watched the advance of the sprouting leaves, and of the grass and of the flowers, and observed the genial joy of opening life in nature, and I have asked myself this question: 'Can it be that there is no being nor thing in nature that knows more about these things than I do? Do I in my ignorance represent the highest knowledge of these things existing rn the universe ?' The mail who puts that question to himself — if he be not a shallow man. if he be a •iKiu capable of being penetrated by profound thought — will never answer by iirofessing the creed of atheism, M'hich has been so lightly attributed to me."

As the yelko pass through the lower portions of the generative passages the " white of egg," which is pure albumen and water, is deposited around them in layers, tlie outermost of which is surrounded by two fibrous membranes, the " shell membranes." These membranes adhere closely together throughout most of their extent, but at the larger end of the egg they separate so as to form a small vesicle, the "air bladder." Outside of these membranes is formed the shell, which is a consolidated layer of the carbonate of lime, the same substance that exists in other forms as marble, chalk, etc. This layer is deposited in such a manner as to give the greatest possible strength for the material used, and at the same time is so arranged as to leave numerous pores, or breathing places, through which the water of the egg may evaporate, and the external air penetrate to support the respiration of the growing chick, or to set up the processes of decay by which eggs are so soon addled when exposed to the action of the atmosphere.

When the egg is subjected to a continuous heat of a little more than one hundred degrees, the germ, if it has been fertilized, soon begins to increase in size, and within twenty-four hours small blood-vessels may be seen forming a beautiful zone around it If the heat be maintained, with i)roper conditions of moisture, these blood-vesselo will continue to extend, until by the third day they will have commenced the formation of a temporary membrane, lining the shell membranes and called the allantois, which gives rise to that opacity shown in fertile eggs that have been sat upon. This membrane serves as the lungs of the growing embryo, which absorbs the contents of the egg and converts them into blood, which ib aerated by exposure in the vessels of the allantoi? to the oxygen of the ai: tha<. penetrates through the pores of the shell. This work goes on more and more actively until the nineteenth day of incubation, by which time the lungs o: the embryo chick will have so far developed that they begin to perform their proper function, and its beak will have ruptured the air vesicles at the large end of the egg, which has considerably increased in size through the evaporation of the water from the albumen of the egg. At this time a peculiar tapping-like sound may be heard by placing the egg to the ear; this has been commonly ascribed to the pecking or the chick against the shell of the egg, but it has been shown to be due to the respiratory action of the lungs of the young chick.* About the end of the twenty-first dav of incubation — a few hours sooner with

'•'Tegetmeier.

THE EGG.— INCUBATION. 17"

fresh eggs, a few hours hiter with stale ones — the chick will break the shell, and will soon emerge.

The egg is thus seen to contain every element, except oxygen, necessary to the formation of the living chick; tlie flesh, blood and bone; the horn of the beak, claw and quill ; the plume of tlie feather, the various internal organs, and tlie digestive fluids.

AVith this review of the constitution of the egg, its nature and the best methods of managing it may be more easily understood. Thus the processes for preserving eggs depend upon the ])()rous construction of the shell, the point necessary to be attained being the complete exclusion of the air; wliich may be accomplished by coating the shells witli oil, grease or wax, or by immersing the eggs in a thin, creamy mixture of lime and water. Simply sealing the eggs in air-tight jars will jjrevent their decay for a considerable time, and where it is desired to preserve them for hatching purjjoses, this method should be employed in preference to filling the pores with oil, etc., as it is necessary to the growth of the embryo that these pores should be kept open.

The peculiar construction of the egg-shell gives it such strength that a man may exert all his force upon it without breaking it, by jdacing it endwise between the palms of his hands and applying the force ecjually at all i>oints; hence eggs may be packed in barrels, boxes or baskets, and shipped long distances without injury, provided they be surrounded by some elastic material, as oats, bran, cut hay, etc., thoroughly packed around all sides, so that they cannot come in contact witli each other. This fact, and the peculiar internal coustructiou of the egg, the yelk and albumen being surrounded by separate membranes, and the germ so perfectly balanced, rendering the mixture of these parts imi)os.sible, make the shipping of eggs for liatching purposes so feasible that they are annually sent in large quantities hundreds and thousands of miles, through the express companies, being simply packed in light boxes, or i)referably in baskets with handles; a layer of bran, oats, sawdust, or, best of all, finely cut hay or straw, being placed in the bottom of the basket; the eggs placed on end on this, and surrounded with the jiacking material in such a way that they will not touch, and the whole held in place by a cloth cover sewed to the sides of the basket.

INCUBATION.

In the management of incubation, Avhether natural or artificial, we may learn much from the habits of the hen that is allowed to follow her natural instincts; thus, her nest is generally located upon the ground, under the shelter of a fencerow or thicket, and secluded as much as possible from intrusion ; the earthy floor of the nest, being non-conductive of heat, retains that imparted from the body of the hen, while its moisture, together with that gathered by the hen during her early morning excursions for food, prevent an undue evaporation of the water of the egg. The eggs are never disturbed by turning or other handling, and when the embryo matures into a chick it pecks its way out of its stony cell without any other help than its own instinct and that of its hen-mother. The success of this method of incubation is proverbial, and he who can secure as large a percentage of chicks from his eggs under any method of management, as does the hen that thus steals her nest, may be well satisfied.

THE COMPLETE POULTRY BOOK.

lu carrying into practice the suggestions thus received from nature, we should endeavor first to secure eggs as freshly laid as jjossible, since those Avhich have been laid for some time will not hatch so promptly nor ])roduce such*thrifty chicks as those more recently laid ; the eggs should have lieen laid by young and thrifty fowls, as there Avill be a large -per cent, of infertile ones, while the chicks j)roduced will be of weak constitution, among eggs laid by old hens, and especially among those fertilized by old or puny cocks; the nests for the sitting hens should be located upon the ground if possible, or if this be impracticable, a few shovelfuls of earth, or a piece of sod, should be put in the bottom of the ^^^^ nest-box, arranged in the form of a nest, and covered

with cut hay or straw, or with leaves. The nest-box should not be so deep but that the hen can leave it without disarrangiug her eggs — Fig. 1 represents a good form — and should be so arranged that other hens may be excluded ; otherwise there wiil be continual (juarreling, resulting in the breaking of eggs and the laying of fresh ones which will not hatch in season, and will thus be destroyed.

In Fig. 2 we illustrate a hatching-coop for use where very early chickens are desired. The coop is four feet long, three feet wide and four feet high, being made large enough to give ample ventilation when closed. The nest is made in one corner of the coop, or two hens may be set in opposite corners at the same time, and when the chicks are liatched they may be confined in the coop when necessary. Tiie sash is 3x4 feet in size, and may be raised or removed entirely when desired.

Fig. 1.

Where several hens are sitting at the same time, it is well to have each nest connected with a covered run-way, in which food and water may be placed for the hen, and wiiich will prevent her returning to the wrong nest, or being disturbed by the attemjits of other hens to lay to her. Such an arrangement is shown in Figs. 3 and 4, which represent the plan of a sitting-house contrived by a correspondent of Farm, and Fireside from Hillsdale, Pa., who writes under the nom de plume of Keystone :

INCUBATION.

" This house is made for fifty hens, and is twelve feet long, from east to west, by eight feet wide, from north to south. There are doors at the east and west ends, and sliding glass windows, six by eight feet in size, in the south side. Boards six feet long by one foot wide are set on edge under the north side, in such a way as to form boxes one foot square inside the house, and one foot by live feet outside.

Fig. 3.

The inside boxes are used for laying and hatching, and are connected by doors with the outside boxes, which are used for feed-boxes, and are covered with laths nailed so close together that the young chick cannot get out. The inside boxes have lids, which are shut down when the hen is set, and the door to the outside box is then opened. Feed, water, gravel, etc., are placed in the outside box, and the hen will thus be able to help herself without being interfered with by other hens."

Fig. 4.

Lice sometimes become so troublesome as to drive sitting hens from their nests. On this account a nest-box should never be used a second time without thorough cleansing and "whitewashing, or fumigating with tobacco smoke. Should the hen become lousy, sulphur or pyrethrum may be dusted under her feathers, but no

THE COMPLETE POULTRY BOOK.

greise should be used, as it Avill get upon the eggs and prevent them from liatch iiig by closing the pores. The placing of tobacco stems among the litter with wliieh the nest is made has been found beneficial. Flowers of sulphur is also used in the same manner.

The disinclination of the hen to sit anywhere but in the nest which she has first chosen may be overcome, and the visits of intruders prevented, by the use of a door of coarse wire netting, which Mill be fonnd serviceable for many purposes in tlie poultry-yard. If the hen cannot be permitted to forage at will, food and water should be placed within reach, and her eggs should be occasionally sprinkled with water. The turning of the eggs to cause them to be evenly heated is entirely unnecessary, but if any should by any accident be broken, those remaining should be washed in tepid water, to prevent the clogging of the pores of the shells.

On the eighth or ninth day of incubation, the fertility of the eggs may be tested by holding them between the eye and a bright light, or more certainly by means of the "egg tester" shown in Fig. 5, which represents a tin cup three inches high and two and a half in diameter, narrowed at the top so as to leave a round opening of such size as to admit the end of an Qgg:, and having an oval mirror fastened at an angle of forty-five degrees with the axis of the instrument, as

INTUBATION— CARE OF THE CHICK 21

shown by tlie dotted line, opposite whicli, and one inch above the bottom of the cup, is an opening one fourth of an inch in diameter and furnished with an eye piece. Enough light will be transmitted through the egg, if it be infertile, to form a distinct image of the yelk upon the mirror, while if the egg be fertile the allantois will have extended over tlie inner surface to such an extent as to render tiie whole opaque. Experience will enable one to decide upon the fertility of the eggs as early as the fifth or sixth days of incubation, at which time those witluliawn as infertile may still be used for certain culinary operations, while those which have been sat upon for eight or ten days may be used advitntageously in the food of the young chicks.

Further than this, all handling of the eggs should be avoided, and when they begin to hatch, especially, they should be let alone. A chick that has not strength enough to work its way out of the shell will not be worth anytliing after it gets out; wliile attempts to assist it are likely to do more harm than good, by prematurely rupturing the blood-vessels of the allantois, which (!orresponds in this respect to the after-birth in animals, and this may cause the I'liick to bleed to death. The chicks should be left in the nest until tlie hen leads them off, .unless there has been so great a difference in the age of the eggs as to cause a number of them to be many hours later tiian the rest m hatching, in which case it may be necessary to remove them to prevent the hen from leaving the nest. The better plan, however, is to confine her there, giving her food and water (the young chicks will need nothing during the first day), and leave the chickens with her, as tiiey will not thrive so well anywhere else as with the hen.

CARE OF THE CHICK.

Tlie young chick, when first h.atched, has just filled itself with the egg yelk, and will need no other food until that is fully digested, or from twelve to twenty, four hours. As the first food of the young human or quadruped is its mother's milk, so there is no other food so suited to the wants of the newly hatched chick as that which lias heretofore sustained it, or eggs. To give this food in the best condition beat up an egg with two tablespoonful's of milk and set it in a

Fig. 6.

warm place until it coagulates, or "sets" into a custard, and feed it in this condition. This is much better than boiling it hard. This food should be continued for three or four days, adding gradually a larger and larger proportion of bread crumbs soaked in sweet milk, — (sour food is injurious to young chickens, hence only so much should be given as will be eaten clean at each feed), — and of oat raeal, or a mixture of bran, oat meal and Indian meal, scalded and fed cold.

THE COMPLETE POULTRY BOOK.

If the chickens are confined in coops a very little finely chopped meat should be given once a day, — a piece as large as a walnut will be sufficient for a dozen chicks — and also some form of green food, as chopped grass, cabbage leaves, or lettuce. AVhether confined or not a little cracked corn or wheat screenings should be added to their food after they are a few days old, and the quantity

Fig. 7.

gradually increased as they grow older. Soaked bread should only be given in very small quantity, as it tends to produce diarrhoea. Milk should be given but sparingly at first, and then only in the shape of cottage cheese, but the quantity may be increased as they grow older, and for fowls two months or more of age it maybe given sweet or sour, and will be found a cheap and acceptable food. If th^ hens are quiet, and other circumstances do not forbid, the chickens will be more thrifty if allowed to range at will; but if the hens are inclined to take

Fig. 8.

them so far from the house as to worry them out, or to expose them to hawks and vermin, or if neighbors are so close as to render confinement necessary to prevent trespass, it may be necessary to coop the hen. In this <;ase the coop should be located upon grass land if possible; but it will be found an advantage to have a plot of plowed land near by, by stirring which occasionally, and placing the coops upon it in dry weather, the chickens will soon be taught to hunt for worms. The coops should be moved daily, as the souring of the food and the

CARE OF THE CHICK.

excrement of the chickens very soon renders the ground under them a propagator of disease. Fresh water should be given daily, and if given in shallow iron dishes or in dishes containing iron scraps, the rust which forms will be beneficial to the chickens in preventing disease. No straw should be placed under the coops, as the young chicks will be more liable to become entangled in it and

Fig. 9.— Coop ivilh Floor.

trampled by the hen. It will be well, however, to place fresh sand or sifted asheS under them frequently, esjiecially if they cannot be moved every day.

In Figs. 6 to 12 we give several designs for coops. Fig. 8 represents a square box without top or bottom, three sides being made of common barn-boards twelve inches wide by two feet long, and the fourth side slatted with plastering lath. The cover is made of three pieces of barn-board, each twelve inches wide by thirty inches long, nailed to two gables cut out of six-inch fencing. The whole is made of pine, and is very light and convenient. Fig. 9 represents a triangular coop made with a floor and door in order to exclude rats. The manner of making and using the floor is shown in Figs. 10 and 11. The same floor maybe used in the coop-firstdeseribed, and a door may be made toslide in behind the slats. A hen-coop should never have a floor in itif itcan be avoided, however, as it is necessary to the health of both hen and chicltens that they should have access to the ground. If a floor is used it must be frequently cleansed ; if there

THE COMPLETE POULTRY BOOK.

be no floor this cleansing is efl'ected by moving tlie coop to a fresh spot each morning, by which means the hen may be furnished daily with fresh grass, which she needs.

ri"s 12 and 13 give designs for coops where it is desirable, on account of hawks, cats, or for other reasons, to confine the chicks as well as the hen.

Fig. in

In Fig. 12 the runway is latticed witli lath, wire or twine. In Fig. IS with lath, although either of the other materials may be used here also. Twine netting is made for these pui-jioses, being tarred for outside work. It is cheap and very convenient, especially when more than one breed of fowls is kept. By its use portions of the lawn or garden may be temporarily set oil" to tlie use of the fowls, while the tarred netting may be advantageously used in the more permanent divisions of the poultry-yard.

Whether the hens be cooped, or allowed to run at large, a feeding-pen should be provided for the chicks when they are a few weeks old. For this purpose the pen shown in Fig. 14 will be found very convenient. To make it, get out fourteen strips one inch thick by two inches wide and six feet long; upon the edges of

DISEASES AND ENE.MTES OE THE YOUNG CHICKEN. .

these strips nail plastering latlis cut to half lengths (two feet), so as to make spven hurdles, each two feet wide by six feet long, nailing the laths one and one Iialf inches apart. Set four of these hurdles together so as to make a square pen, tying tlioni or 7iailing tliem together at the corners, and cover this pen with the remaining three hurdles. This will make a pen in which the chicks can be fed without being robbed by the greedy hens or the larger chickens, and the little fellows will soon learn to run to it when called. These hurdles will also be found very convenient for making the covered runways shown in Figs. 12 and 1,3.

DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF THE YOUNG CHICKEN.

The young chick has little to fear from ditease, if it be properly fed and lioused. Its worst enemy is the gapes, which is not a disense, but a result of the irritation caused l)y a parasitic worm, Sclerosloma syiH/ttnms, which finds its way into the windpipe and so impedes respiration until it finally causes death. The complete history of this parasite has not yet been ascertained. It is of a reddish color; the female is five eighths to three fourths of an inch in length, the male about one eighth. In a gaping chicken these worms may be found to the number of three to six or more pairs, and the body of the female will be found to contain ova of various stages of development, up to the completely grown embryo. It would seem that these worms must have another stage o'f existence, either in the body of some other insect or animal, or in the soil, butthis point has not been investigated. The probability is, however, that this stage is possed in the soil, and that they are capable of existing there in the pupse state until awakened into life again by being taken into the stomach or lungs of the bird. The gapes seems to be more troublesome on a moist soil, and in this it shows a similarity to the disense called Paper-skin in sheep, which is caused by the presence of a threadlike worm, SfroTif/ylns filai'ia, in the bronchial tubes of that animal, and which, like the sclerostoma, passes from our knowledge after leaving the body of its host.

The remedies for the gapes are several. The worms may be removed by makiug a loop of horse-hair, introducing it into the windpipe of the chicken, giving it two pr three twists, and withdrawing it. A still more satisfactory method is to take a feather, strip oflT the web to within half an inch of the end, moisten, insert

26 THE C O 31 P LETE POUITRY BOOK.

to the bottom of the windpipe, and withdraw a? before. If the feather be dipped in kerosene, turpentine, or a weak solution of carbolic acid, such worms as are not caught will be killed, and immediately sneezed up by the chicken. Another method is to fumigate with sulphur or carbolic acid, to accomplish which, place a hot bricli in the bottom of a box, cover it with a board having an inch augur-hole in the centre (the board is to prevent burning the chickens' feet),and througli this augur-hole drop upon the hot brick a teaspoonful of flowers of sul])hur, or a few drops of carbolic acid; put in the chickens, and cover the box for a few seconds. This must be done very carefully, «r the chicks as well as worms will be killed. Still another method, recommended by correspondents of the Poultry World, is to confine the chickens in a small box, with a coarse cotton or linen cloth stretched over the top. Upon this cloth place a quantity of finely pulverized lime, and with a stick gently tap the cloth, so that the lime-dust will sift through. This will cause the birds to sneeze, and the worms will be thrown up in a slimy mass, without any danger of any being driven further down. Whatever remedv is adopted, it is essential that all the worms should be burnt, as well as ail chicks that may die of the disease, as even if the worms themselves are killed, their eggs may not be, and will go on propagating the evil.

Next to gapes, lice are perhaps the most to be dreaded of the foes of the young chick ; and to keep these pests in check requires constant vigilance. Prevention is emphatically the remedy here. The coops should be whitewashed, inside and out, and all parts of the buildings, nest-boxes, etc., used by the fowls should be thoroughly whitewashed, or washed with water in which tobacco stems have been steeped, with petroleum, or dilute carbolic acid, and the oftener this is done the better. If, in spite of precautions, the lice make their appeai-ance, then grease the hen on the back and under the wings with a mixture of lard and kerosene, using only enough of the latter to make the grease run easily, and being careful to keep it out of the eyes; or, what is better, apply pyrethrum, or Persian insect powder, for sale at all drug stores, and which, when fresh and pure, is a certain remedy for these pests. It is applied by blowing it up under the feathers by means of a small bellows which should accompany each package. Unless the lice are verj' bad it will not be necessary to grease chicks which the hen is brooding, as they will get enough from her.

Rats sometimes give great trouble in the poultry-yard, carrying off chickens of two and three months of age in large numbers. "When they go at this they generally have a hiding place under some pile of rubbish tc which they drag the chickens to eat them. If this place can be found, and the partly eaten chickens dusted with strychnine, it may abate the evil, but the surest riddance will be to organize a i"at hunt and clean out the whole premises.

Hawks are sometimes very troublesome, and very difiicultto manage. In such cases the following device, communicated to Farm and Fireside by a correspondent from Talbot county, Georgia, would certainly be worth a trial : "Place a live chicker. in a large rat-trap, bird-cage, or lattice-box, fasten a steel trap to the top of the box or cage, and elevate them upon a pole or high stump where the chicken can be distinctly seen by the hawk. If properly arranged, you may expect to find his hawkship caught in the snare."