Pratt's Practical Pointers on the Care of Livestock and Poultry

by Pratt Food Company

"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.

"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.

V SHAPED FEED TROUGH

NEST BOX

DRY MASH HOPPER

GRIT OR SHELL HOPPER

WATER BUCKET

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.

APPLYING LICE POWDER

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
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.

Months	Amount Per Day		Pounds for Each
	Per 100 Birds		Feeding
			A.M.	P.M.
November		12 lbs.	4 lbs.	8 lbs.
December		12 lbs.	4 lbs.	8 lbs.
January		12 lbs.	4 lbs.	8 lbs.
February		12 lbs.	4 lbs.	8 lbs.
March		12 lbs.	4 lbs.	8 lbs.
April		12 lbs.	4 lbs.	8 lbs.
May		10 lbs.	4 lbs.	6 lbs.
June		10 lbs.	4 lbs.	6 lbs.
July		8 lbs.	3 lbs.	5 lbs.
August		6 lbs.	2 lbs.	4 lbs.
September		5 lbs.	2 lbs.	3 lbs.
October		5 lbs.	2 lbs.	3 lbs.

Study this question of mash and grain consumption, for if your birds are not getting enough protein mash, they cannot lay eggs in larger numbers.

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Hatching the Chicks

For layers or broilers, hatch chicks early. For late markets and home use, you may bring off hatches at intervals throughout the entire summer.

The incubator and brooder are big helps where many chicks are hatched. Pratts Poultry Service Department will gladly advise you regarding makes of such machines which are giving general satisfaction.

Just a word of caution. Operate incubators and brooders in accordance with the directions furnished by the maker. Go slow in making changes.

Sitting hens are very satisfactory if properly handled. Use only quiet, motherly sitters and place them where they will not be troubled by the rest of the flock. Feed whole grain and a little green food and supply plenty of water.

Dust the sitting hens occasionally with Pratts Powdered Lice Killer so they won't hatch a brood of lice with the chicks. And paint the nest boxes with Pratts Red Mite Special to keep the blood-thirsty mites away.

Growing the Chicks

Little chicks must be attended to no matter what else is done, because lack of intelligent care in early life will be reflected in poor performance when the chicks reach maturity. One can seldom, if ever, offset the mistakes of brooding time by the best of attention later on.

Protect your chicks against the weather, against their various enemies, against diseases, against lice and mites. Keep them comfortable and happy. Start them right, keep them growing steadily until they attain their full size.

Protection against unfavorable weather conditions—rain, cold winds, blazing sun—is secured by providing well-built coops and natural or artificial shade. Coops should be weather-proof, but well ventilated, and so located that surface water from sudden showers cannot flood their floors. They should also be sufficiently roomy to keep the flock happy during long hours of confinement in periods of stormy weather.

Chick enemies include those that do their work in the coops, usually at night, as rats, weasels and skunks, and those that prey upon the flock when it is at liberty, as cats, dogs, crows and hawks.

Protection against the former is found in proper construction of the coops, which should have tight floors and fine wire netting over openings left open at night. A good dog will discourage these night prowlers and steel traps placed at strategic points will often put a quick end to their activities.

Protection against ordinary diseases lies in keeping the little birds strong and vigorous through proper feeding, exercise, etc., and by close attention to sanitation. Keep the quarters and food and water dishes clean. Use Pratts Poultry Disinfectant at frequent intervals.

A-SHAPED COOP

Aim to prevent rather than cure disease. Should there be any evidence of bowel trouble, give Pratts White Diarrhoea Remedy in the drinking water. Don't let the condition become chronic or general. In "sour weather," when colds may be expected to appear, use Pratts Roup Remedy in the drinking water.

Lice and mites work practically unseen, but they are the source of heavy loss, both directly and indirectly. In extreme cases they actually kill many chicks.

"Baby Food for Baby Chicks"

Pratts Buttermilk Baby Chick Food raises every good chick. It won't prevent losses from accidents, but it does prevent death from digestive troubles and the more common chick disorders which are so often due to improper feeding.

The original Baby Chick Food—PRATTS—contains all the food elements required to build muscle, bone and feather, to nourish the whole body, to give that strong start in life which assures rapid growth, even development and profitable maturity.

Feed the original Pratts for the first three weeks—the critical period—at least; it may profitably be used much longer. Refuse substitutes and imitations. These may be slightly less in first cost, but in results, as measured by number and quality of chicks reared, Pratts Buttermilk Baby Chick Food is

The Cheapest Food on Earth

"Your Money Back If YOU Are Not Satisfied"

Early in life, when two to four days old, all chicks should be treated with Pratts Head Lice Ointment. Rub a little of the mild preparation on top of the head, under the throat and beneath the wings. At the same time dust with Pratts Powdered Lice Killer. Treat the mother hens most thoroughly, substituting Pratts Lice Salve for the ointment. When the youngsters are ten days old, treat them again, this time using the salve. And repeat the treatment at reasonably frequent intervals to insure complete freedom from the trouble makers.

The deadly blood-sucking mites do not live on the bodies of the birds, but make their homes in cracks and crevices of walls and floors of the coops. Attack them there. Clean coops carefully, then spray or wash walls and floors with Pratts Red Mite Special. Repeat as necessary. That will fix 'em. But you had best do the work on a bright, sunny day when the flock can be kept outside until the coop dries.

Feeding the Chicks

Do not feed chicks for forty-eight hours after hatching. In fact, you may safely wait until they are seventy-two hours old before giving them their first meal. Nature has provided for nourishment during this period and it is best not to upset things.

If possible, start the youngsters off on their life's journey with a drink of sour milk. Let them have sour milk to drink exclusively for the first ten days at least, and give it to them all through life, if this excellent food drink is available.

The principal feed for the first three weeks and profitably for a much longer time should be Pratts Buttermilk Baby Chick Food, a real "baby food for baby chicks," a mixture which is properly balanced in composition and in the right mechanical condition to insure quick digestion. As chicks eat so little during this period, as measured by pounds, one is fully justified in paying a relatively high price per pound for this special feed which will give them a strong, vigorous start and put their digestive organs in proper condition to efficiently use less expensive foods when food consumption becomes heavy.

The ideal baby chick food, Pratts, is made of a variety of foodstuffs so blended as to supply, in proper proportion, the nutrients required to build flesh, bone and feather. It is ground exceedingly fine so it may be consumed freely and yet not tax the digestive organs. Obviously such a feed cannot satisfactorily be prepared at home, which explains the rapidly growing demand which has arisen for Pratts Buttermilk Baby Chick Food during recent years.

For the first day or two, feed Pratts Buttermilk Baby Chick Food exclusively at intervals of two to three hours. At first, spread it upon a shingle or piece of board. Later place it in little troughs or shallow dishes. Let the chicks eat a reasonable amount, what they will take in twenty to thirty minutes, then remove it. Supply a bit of fine, bright grit during this time.

Rohrerstown, Pa.

I have used the Baby Chick Food this season and have had excellent results. I find it to meet all requirements. It makes rapid growth and at the same time maintains vigor.

L.B. SPRECHER, Director, Penna.
State Poultry Association.

The second or third day after feeding has begun, cut out a meal or two of the baby chick food and instead sprinkle a little regulation chick feed (scratch feed) in the litter. There are many good brands of such feed on the market. If preferred, one may be made as follows:

Scratch Feed for Chicks

Cracked Wheat	15 lbs.
Fine Cracked Corn	15 lbs.
Pinhead Oats	10 lbs.
Broken Rice	3 lbs.
Charcoal	2 lbs.

At the beginning of the second week the scratch feed may be given three times daily, just the quantity they will clean up and hunt for more, and the baby chick food left in open hoppers or dishes to which the chicks may run at will. By this time, too, grit may safely be left in open hoppers before the flock. And if milk is not given freely it is well to supply some additional animal food each day. Fine fish scrap or beef scrap—always of high quality—may be fed sparingly in troughs or on pieces of board. Do not feed too much of this material. If bowel trouble develops, reduce the quantity of animal food. The amount given may be increased progressively as the youngsters gain in size.

While Pratts Baby Chick Food need not be fed longer than the first three weeks, it is good practice to continue its use for two to three weeks longer. But at any time after the critical twenty-one day period one may safely begin to substitute a somewhat coarser and heavier developing or growing mash for the baby chick food. We advise the use of Pratts Buttermilk Growing Mash. Here is a good home-made mixture:

Growing or Developing Mash

Cornmeal	10 lbs.
Wheat Bran	20 lbs.
Feeding Flour	10 lbs.
Fine Ground Oats, Sifted	10 lbs.
Fine Fish or Beef Scrap	10 lbs.

"The regular use of Pratts Poultry Regulator in the ration for growing chicks prevents deaths from common disease, increases the appetite and hastens growth. This means less loss, earlier laying or market maturity, bigger profits."

P.G. PLATT, Sec. Delaware Co.
Poultry Assn., Wallingford, Pa.

At six to eight weeks of age, or as soon as the youngsters can comfortably eat coarser grains, the fine scratch feed may be replaced by a coarser mixture. Equal parts, by weight, of cracked corn and wheat, form the basis of this, with barley, heavy oats, kafir corn and buckwheat added for variety if available at reasonable prices. When the flock is weaned and well feathered, the regular laying mash may be substituted for the growing mash, though the latter may well be continued for a much longer period.

Above all things, see to it that nothing but feed of superior quality is supplied. Moldy, chaffy, grains and weed seeds may be cheaper to buy than sweet, sound materials, but the latter are cheaper to feed.

Begin giving green food when the chicks are three or four days old, cutting it up finely so they can eat it. And continue to feed greens liberally at all times. It's good for the health and cuts feed bills, too.

Care of the Growing Chicks

As the chicks grow, provide larger quarters if the original coops are at all crowded. And teach the youngsters to roost early, especially where brooders are used, so they will not "pile up" in corners when the heat is removed. When the brood is five to six weeks of age place low roosts, lath tacked on six to eight-inch boards, in the coops. The sturdier individuals will soon learn to use them and educate the rest of the flock.

Pay special attention to the water supply. Have clean water available at all times. And do not leave the water dishes in the sun, which will quickly make the water so warm that it is unfit to drink.

Give the growing pullets as much space, indoors and out, as you possibly can. Feed them liberally. Keep them clean and comfortable. In every way help them gain the health, strength and vigor which they must have in order to do full duty in the laying and breeding pens.

Finally, cull your flock without mercy, beginning at hatching time and continuing to the end. If any baby chicks are crippled or weak, dispose of them at once. As the flock grows, mark—by toe punching or otherwise—all individuals which show evidence of being lacking in vigor, which are stunted or do not make rapid growth, which fail to feather properly, which are ever noticeably sick. Then rush them to market as soon as they reach the proper weight. Thus you will save for your own use only those which are physically right, which have the health and stamina that will enable them to stand up under the strain of continuous egg-production. And such a flock, after it has undergone the further culling of a year in the laying pen, will give you breeding birds capable of producing worthwhile chicks.

Poultry Diseases

Prevention of disease is most essential. And the first step consists of carefully selecting the birds which will he given a place in the flock, retaining only those which are healthy and vigorous, and rejecting the weaklings and physically unfit. The next step is to keep the birds in a high state of vitality through proper management and keep contagious and infectious diseases away by adopting the necessary sanitary measures.

Fresh air, wholesome food and clean water are essential. Equally necessary is the use of Pratts Poultry Regulator, which keeps the birds in perfect condition internally and so prevents such self-developed disorders as indigestion, constipation, and the like.

Most of the serious diseases which take heavy toll of carelessly managed flocks are due to germs of various kinds. These may be introduced in many different ways, and when present in the flock they multiply and spread with great rapidity. Cleanliness and sanitation will largely overcome them, and as each fowl is worth so much money under present conditions, it is really economical to prevent loss even at the expense of some time and of germ-killing preparations.

Pratts Poultry Disinfectant costs but a trifle. A gallon, diluted with water, makes fifty gallons of a powerful disinfectant, one that is highly efficient, but both safe and pleasant to use. Spray the house and furnishings and wash feed and water containers at frequent intervals with this economical germ-killer. Results will surely be seen in healthier, more productive birds, less trouble and less loss from disease.

Staunton, Va.

I would not have tried to raise expensive poultry without Pratts products in my house. While I was a boy at home we always had a supply of Pratts on hand.

I find that my success is due to the use of the Pratts products kept constantly on the shelf.

H.L. CAMPBELL.

In this condensed book we can discuss only the more general disorders. The subject is covered thoroughly in Chapter IX, The Poultryman's Complete Handbook, including directions for equipping a hospital, administering medicine, symptom and treatment chart, diagrams of the fowl's digestive system and skeleton, control of poultry vices, etc. Send a dime, in silver or stamps, for a copy, to Pratt Food Co., Philadelphia.

If necessary, do not hesitate to consult the poultry experts connected with Pratts Poultry Service Dept. They will give you personal help without charge. In writing, give all symptoms and necessary facts. Address such letters to our Philadelphia office.

It is important that diseases of all kinds be recognized as early as possible, and equally so that immediate treatment be given.

Watch your birds! If any show signs of being out of condition, examine them carefully to determine the trouble. Then give them the care which is demanded in each case. Quick treatment will often effect a speedy cure of a valuable bird that might be lost if the disease became firmly established.

Pratts Poultry Remedies include dependable preparations for most common poultry diseases. They are guaranteed to give satisfaction and are inexpensive. Keep a supply on hand. Use promptly as occasion demands. The saving of a single good laying or breeding fowl by instant treatment will more than pay the cost of a well-stocked poultry medicine shelf.

POULTRY LICE AND MITES

Body Lice—There are many different kinds of these parasites and all are serious trouble makers. They cause endless annoyance, check growth and egg production. Lice-free fowls are healthier and more comfortable, therefore more productive and profitable.