One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered Part 77

Kindly advise me about keeping hens in an orchard. I would like to know if they will injure the trees in any way if kept in large numbers. In what way would they benefit the trees?

From the point of view of the trees there is no doubt that they would be advantaged by the presence of the poultry, providing the coops are not allowed to interfere with the proper irrigation and cultivation. If it is practicable to handle the fowls in coops without causing the soil around the coops to become compacted by continual tramping, and if they are not kept upon the ground long enough to cause an excessive application of hen manure, which is very concentrated and stimulating, the result would unquestionably be beneficial. From the point of view of the tree, this benefit of injury would depend upon how long the fowls were kept around the tree and the maintenance of them in such a way that the soil should not become out of condition physically or too rich chemically for the satisfactory performance of the tree. If they can be moved frequently, and if they are only put in place when the soil is in such condition that tramping around the coops will not seriously compact it, the presence of fowls would be an advantage. On the other hand, if the coops are to be kept in place for a long time and all the ground outside of them crusted and hardened by tramping and the soil under the coops overloaded with droppings, the thrift and value of the trees will be seriously interfered with.

Caponizing.

Can three to four month old c.o.c.kerels be caponized successfully in summer, and if so, what care, feed, etc., do they require afterwards?

The birds should be between two to three months, not over four, unless some very large variety that matures slowly. Size is equally important as age, and a bird to be caponized should not weigh more than one and a half pounds. The work can be successfully done in the summer season, but the fowl must be kept without food or drink for at least 24 hours, longer is better and keep in shady place. After caponizing, feed the bird what soft feed he will eat up and let him have plenty of water.

Then leave him to himself as he will be his own doctor. In two or three days look them over and if there are any wind-b.a.l.l.s, simply p.r.i.c.k with a needle to let the air out; this may have to be done two or three times before the wound heals up, but after it has healed, treat just as you would other chickens and feed them about twice a day. There is nothing made by trying to rush nature; it takes fifteen months to grow a good capon of the large breeds.

Roup Treatment.

Up to a week ago the chickens had been exceptionally well in every way.

Now they seem to have a cold and a running at the nose and with it a bad odor. It was suggested that this might be the beginning of roup, but I see no swell-head.

The distinguis.h.i.+ng characteristic of roup is not so-called "swell head"

or other form of cold, but the offensive roupy odor. When the cold has reached this stage it is a p.r.o.nounced case of roup, and highly contagious. Separate all the ailing fowls and segregate them in comfortable hospital quarters, warm but with one side partly open for fresh air. Disinfect the quarters of the well fowls by spraying with distillate or cheap-grade coal oil and sprinkling the floors and about the houses with air-slaked lime. Use some simple remedy like coal oil or permanganate of potash to cleanse the throat and nostrils. With coal oil, first wipe the eyes and bill with a clean cloth dipped in the coal oil, then inject with a sewing-machine oil can enough coal oil to open and thoroughly clean out the nostrils. If the throat is affected, give a tablespoonful of sweet oil and coal oil, half and half, two or three times a day until relieved. One of our correspondents has sent us the following treatment with permanganate of potash which he has found the best roup remedy he has ever tried: Dissolve 1 ounce of permanganate of potash in 3 pints of water, hold the fowl's head in this for a second, then open the beak and rinse out the mouth in the solution. Wipe with a clean, soft cloth and apply a very little witch hazel or carbolated salve to the eyes, nostrils and head. Repeat the operation as often as the throat and head become clogged with mucus. Until the disease is eliminated from the premises, keep permanganate of potash in the drinking water of all the fowls, both sick and well. About 1 ounce to each 2 gallons of water or enough to give the water a claret color.

The sick fowls should be allowed no other feed but a little stimulating mash three times a day. Where the fowls do not show a decided improvement in the course of a few days, or where the disease has a.s.sumed a violent form, all such birds should be killed and the bodies burned at once.

Bad Food for Chickens.

My chicks are about three weeks old and have always been strong and st.u.r.dy, but when taken sick first appear a little dumpish, then the head seems a little heavy and the neck lengthens out. As the disease advances they become staggery.

Your chicks have eaten soured food, decayed vegetables or tainted meat.

Baby chicks are just like other babies and the same care should be used that their food be always sweet and fresh. Wet food should never be given chicks, nor raw meat nor anything the least bit tainted or stale.

Put a teaspoon of coal oil in each pint of drinking water and see to it that the latter is kept pure and cool. Mix a teacup of sulphur with enough bran or shorts for each 100 chicks, moisten with sweet milk and feed it on clean boards, what the chicks will eat up clean in some, twenty minutes. Give them one feed of this each day for three days if the weather is dry. Clean the brooders and runs daily, then dust white with air-slacked lime and cover the lime with a sprinkling of clean sand. Rake and clean up the yards where they range and never let them eat any of their grain or food out of dirt and filth. You cannot doctor such small chicks and must depend upon the coal oil in the drinking water. Keep the water fresh, but add the coal oil until the chicks are relieved.

Open-Front Chicken Houses.

In what direction shall I face open-front poultry houses?

North or northeast is the proper direction to face the open fronts of poultry houses and coops in the Pacific Coast climate. The prevailing winds are from the south and southeast in the winter, and from the west and southwest in the summer. The occasional north winds or "northers,"

may be called dry winds, in fact, are an indication of dry weather, and so do not harm the fowls even when cold. We like the upper half of the north-end or slide of our poultry houses open with inch-mesh covering the open s.p.a.ce and the eaves extending several inches as a protection.

In case of an unusual storm from that direction, one thickness of burlap may be tacked to the edge of the extending eaves, and to the lower part of the opening. This will admit plenty of fresh air while breaking the force of the wind. We also have a large trap door for the use of the fowls, in the solid lower part of the open end, and the large door, for cleaning and sunning the house, in the west side.

A Point on Mating.

I have fine roosters a year old this April; would you advise keeping them for mating with the same hens next season, or do you advise selling each year and getting fresh stock?

The young males will be all right to mate with the same hens next season - that is, if they come through the molt with vigor. They will be just two years old and at their best. The molt is the test for both, hens and c.o.c.ks. If they show no signs of ailing or weakness during that period, it is proof of the proper stamina and vigor.

Age for Mating.

At what age may a c.o.c.kerel be mated with hens?

From nine months to a year is the proper age to mate a Leghorn c.o.c.kerel.

c.o.c.kerels of the larger breeds should not be mated before a year old.

White-Yolk Eggs.

Why are eggs watery and light-colored?

The trouble is in the feed somewhere. Too much green feed, especially green feed that springs from wet, soggy ground, will sometimes make the eggs watery. Or if you are feeding more mash feed than dry grain, it will have that tendency. Some people claim that the feed a hen eats does not affect the egg at all; but if it does not, why do eggs differ in color and quality? Eggs that are laid by hens fed wholly on wheat, or the by-products of wheat, such as bran, shorts or middlings, all have a pale yolk. Now feed the hens some green feed - any kind will do - and the eggs from the same hens will have a yolk several degrees or shades darker.

Poultry Diarrhea.

Will you kindly tell me the cause and cure for bowel trouble among hens?

The "quick cure" for chick diarrhea has not yet been found. Prevention is the only sure remedy. The first treatment in diarrhea (which must not be confused with simple looseness of the bowels) should be a mild physic to clean out the digestive tract. Epsom salts is probably best for this purpose where a number of fowls are to be treated. This is usually given in the drinking water, but Dr. Morse, who has charge of the investigation of poultry diseases in the Bureau of Animal Industry, gives the following directions for administering the salts: "Clean out by giving epsom salts in an evening mash, estimating one-third to one-half teaspoonful to each adult bird, or a teaspoonful to each six half-grown chicks, carefully proportioning the amount of mash to the appet.i.te of the birds, so that the whole will be eaten up quickly." For a few days afterward, feed only lightly with dry grain and tender greens, such as fresh-cut mustard and lettuce leaves. Keep plenty of pure, cool water, with just a thin skim of coal oil - one drop to each pint - for drinking; also plenty of sharp grit and fresh charcoal broken to the size of grains of wheat.

Limber-Neck.