Georgia's Accomplished Poultry

1895

A little 12-year-old daughter of a hotel keeper at Baxter, Ga., has a pet hen that sings to a piano accompaniment. The little girl will go into the yard, pick up the hen, bring her into the parlor, place her on the piano and commence playing something lively, and the hen will sit back on her dignity, raise her head and sing like her life depended on the effort. Georgia leads in the poultry business as well as in everything else. — Atlanta Constitution.


Accidentally Overheard

"Maud, are you going to the psychology lectures?” asked one very nice chic girl of another as the two went swishing past a knot of men on the sidewalk.
"Yes, siree!" replied Maud, "you bet I'm going to grab all the culture that goes by." — Chicago Tribune.


Against Their Will

"Believe me, women do not like these sleeves."
"Greatness thrust upon them, as it were." — Detroit Tribune.

They All Come To See This

1920

Up in Hige River, Alberta, Canada, people are coming a long way to the farm of Mrs. J. A. Osborne to see one of the most curious nature freaks ever known. Out in the barnyard a large hen is mothering five black and white terrier puppies, taking care of them as maternally as if they were her own brood. It all came about when the mother dog stole the hen's eggs. Biddy, to get even, appropriated the pups. Since then the dog will have nothing to do with her offspring. But they don't seem to care, and appear to be just as happy with the hen. Biddy will fight furiously if anybody tries to take one of the puppies from her.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 5.

The Little Darling

1895

Harold accompanies his mother on an afternoon call upon the elderly lady who has just moved in next door.
Mrs. Newcomer — And this is little Harold? Well, my little man, I hope that we shall be friends.
Harold (imperatively) — I want to see 'oo 'ittle chickens.
Mrs. Newcomer — Why, I haven't any little chickens.
Harold — Where's 'oo fezzors?
Mrs. Newcomer — Why, what does the child mean? I haven't any feathers.
Harold — Den papa storied, 'cause he said it was a ole hen dat had moved in dis house. — Chicago Post.

More Jokes

1916

The Short Course

When James A. Garfield was president of Oberlin college, a man brought for entrance as a student his son, for whom he wished a shorter course than the regular one.

"The boy can never take all that in," said the father. He wants to get through quicker. Can you arrange it for him?"

"Oh, yes," said Mr. Garfield. He can take a shorter course; it all depends on what you want to make of him. When God wants to make an Oak, He takes a hundred years, but He takes only two months to make a pumpkin."


Young Poultryman

The teacher had recited "The Landing of the Pilgrims." Then she requested each pupil to draw from his or her imagination a picture of Plymouth Rock.

Most of them went to work at once, but one little fellow hesitated, and at length raised his hand.

"Well, Willie, what is it?" asked the teacher.

"Please, ma'am, do you want us to draw a hen or a rooster?"


A Blunder

It was bathing time and from the bedroom of twin boys came the sound of hearty laughter and long crying. Their father went up to find the cause. "What's the matter up here?" he inquired.

The laughing twin pointed to his weeping brother. "Nothing," he giggled; "only nurse has given Alexander two baths and hasn't given me any at all."


Nothing Very Serious

Mrs. Casey — Och, Pat, whin the docther told yez ye had something wid a Latin name to it a yar-rd long, didn't it scare yez?
Casey — Faith, it did, Norah, darlint. But whin he only charged me a dollar, Oi knew it didn't amount to much.

Sanitary Lid for Teakettle

1916

Safety Device That Prevents Burns When Refilling.

Many a housewife has sustained a bad burn from lifting the hot lid of the kettle she was attempting to refill. A teakettle lid has been invented which will render this impossible. The lid has an automatic valve in the center which opens as the flow of water is turned upon it and closes when the water is shut off. This valve is at the bottom of a depression in the lid, and the concave thus formed is a convenient place to set a cup or other small vessel containing butter to be melted or other ingredients requiring gentle heat. The lid is of aluminum, thoroly sanitary and indorsed by the cooking experts who have seen it.



Chickens and Electricity

1916

By treating young chickens with high frequency, high voltage currents of electricity a London experimenter has made them grow more rapidly than those of the same age reared without the treatment.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 9.

An All-Embracing "Tabby"

1916

Dog, Rabbit and Chicken Are Part of Her Family.

PERRY, Maine — A black cat, Dinah by name, in the family of John Clark of Perry, adopts everything on the premises small enough for her to cuddle. Of her latest brood of kittens she was allowed to keep one, and a neighbor, coming into the house suddenly, surprised the maternal one in a clothes basket with her own jetty offspring, a gray kitten of another pussy's family, and a white rabbit. The assortment made quite a medley. Later on she added a puppy to her tribe, and she also cuddles an orphan chicken.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 7.

Insures Prize Hen for $5,000 Policy

1919

Washington Chicken Holds World Record for Egg Production.

PORTLAND, Oregon. — It isn't every hen that can carry around a $5,000 life insurance policy, but that is the amount of insurance placed on one of the hens at the poultry show here.

This hen is a White Leghorn, owned by Dr. Tancred of Kent, Washington. She set a world's record for production by laying 300 eggs in 365 days, ended Sept. 16. This is about four times the production of the average hen, so her value in the poultry world can easily be seen.

Her owner consented to allow her to be placed on exhibition by one of the poultry feed companies, but stipulated that she must be insured for $5,000.

Loading Up Chickens

1920

Some twenty-five tons of real estate in the form of sand and gravel and masquerading as 30 cents a pound chicken almost got into the New York market this week to be sold to the ultimate consumer — or goat, notes the Hamilton (Ont.) Times. The 60,000 pounds of sand and gravel reposed in the crops of 50,000 live chickens which reached the Jersey City yards in eight carloads. They were detected in time. Is this a new or an old wrinkle?

Catching Grasshoppers to Feed to the Poultry

1907

Use a Hopperdozer

That grasshoppers are good food for poultry is recognized, but in most cases the poultry have to catch their own grasshoppers. We do not commonly hear of anyone taking the trouble to catch grasshoppers for the poultry. The Colorado station this summer tried the experiment successfully.

The fields were visited by innumerable multitudes of grasshoppers, and the station men determined to catch a few bushels of them for the fowls. A hopperdozer was used and run behind a mowing machine at the time the hay was being made. The hopperdozer was mounted on wheels, so that it would not catch in the hay. Usually kerosene is used in the hopperdozer, thus killing the insects as they fall into it. But this would make the insects unfit for food.

A little experimenting showed that water would hold the insects for some time or until they could be flipped out for the use of the fowls. A hopperdozer was used on a six-acre field of alfalfa and it succeeded in catching from nine to ten bushels of grasshoppers, estimated at 3,000 to the bushel.

The Polka Dot

1919

Because in 1835 a Bohemian peasant girl danced a new step in a little village near the Polish border a Hungarian dancing master introduced it in Europe under the name of Polka, which is the feminine of Polak or Pole. By 1844, at the time James K. Polk was running for the presidency, the dance had spread to America and the name "Polk" and the word "Polka" formed a coincidence at once appealing to everyone. The manufacturers, merchants and designers immediately presented Polka hats, Polka shoes, Polka gauze and the "newest design in fabrics for gentlewomen."


Pretty Smart Chickens

A recent morning a Missouri farmer placed three crates of chickens and five bushels of potatoes in his trailer, hitched the trailer to his automobile and started for town. He was almost there when he discovered he had no trailer. He found he had parted company with it a quarter of a mile from home, and when he got back to it the crates were empty and the potatoes frozen.

He presumed, of course, the chickens had been stolen, and was greatly surprised when he went to the henhouse early next day after breakfast to find every one of the chickens there. Not one was missing. They had all returned home, but how they got out of the crates probably will always remain a mystery.

Peg-Legged Hen a Fighter

1905

Side-Wallops Fowl That Make Light of Her Infirmity

Laying five eggs a week in the season when prices are highest is a minor accomplishment of a Ware (Mass.) hen that has a wooden leg. The hen is of Rhode Island red stock, and is owned by Charles F. Wilcox.

The leg was broken last spring, when it was a pullet, by a stone from the hand of a wanton youth. The fractured support was bandaged in splints and the bone apparently knit. But cold weather had a bad effect and a sore developing, Mr. Wilcox decided to end the suffering of the hen.

His little daughters pleaded so strongly for the hen that Mr. Wilcox spared her life and amputated the leg. In tribute to its fortitude the hen was christened Martyr.

"Why can't Martyr have a wooden leg like other people?" inquired one of Mr. Wilcox's daughters. Mr. Wilcox facetiously referred the suggestion to Gilbert Girard, who declared the idea practicable, and after taking measurements of Martyr's right leg, fashioned a leg from hard maple and attached it.

The leg, which was fitted several weeks ago, has never been removed, and the daughters of Mr. Wilcox refuse to be convinced that scales, feathers and toes will not eventually appear on the artificial leg.

When Martyr made her first appearance with the barnyard fowl after acquiring the wooden leg, her former associates united in attacking her. Martyr, however, had learned the value of the leg as a weapon, and with hard side swipes bowled her antagonists over. Her assailants adopted a conciliatory policy thereafter.

A favorite recreation with Martyr is to insert the wooden leg in the snow, and, curling the right leg beneath its feathers, stand for half an hour or more at a time, enjoying the discomfiture of imitators. Once the wooden leg became frozen in the ice, and Martyr had to be rescued.

"Talking Hen" Is A Wonder

1908

Aristocratic Chicken Refuses to Drink from Ordinary Vessel

Atlantic City, New Jersey — A talking hen whose superintelligence puts to shame the wildest dreams of nature fakers is the pride of Mrs. John C. Ford of this city. Mrs. Ford vouches for the statements that the fowl possesses qualities high above ordinary instinct.

" 'Jo' — short for Josephine — seems to be afraid of visitors," said Mrs. Ford. "But the minute we are alone she talks to me plain enough for me to know exactly what she means. She calls me 'mommie' and she can say that as plain as any child. She has also learned to call for 'water' and if she gets thirsty during the night she will stand under our bedroom window and call out until we come down and give her a drink."

The hen drinks from a glass and absolutely refuses to notice the drinking dish used by less educated fowls in the same yard.

"If she doesn't get enough to eat she calls out: 'More, more,' " said Mrs. Ford. The hen immediately notifies the family of having laid an egg by scratching on the kitchen door and leading the way to the spot where the egg is hidden.

Hens Ate Deadly Dynamite

1910

Owner Won't Go Near Them, Afraid of Their Eggs

Winsted, Connecticut — A man who has a small farm a few miles from this town does not dare to trample on a small portion of it, and is afraid to eat his own hens' eggs. Heavy fowls he had been fattening for Thanksgiving are immune from death for the present, so far as his killing them is concerned.

Dynamite is the cause of his trouble. He opened two one-pound sticks of the explosive, into which a little frost had found its way, and after breaking the cylinders into pieces spread them on a flat stone in the sun to dry. He meant to use the dynamite in a lot he is clearing.

When he went to get the explosive after he had drilled holes in a big boulder, he saw a flock of his hens scratching in the dynamite, and eating it as they would eat small gravel. That's why the farmer does not dare to eat his own hens' eggs, for he fears particles of dynamite may lurk in the shells.

"Who knows where that dynamite they ate is now?" he said, sadly. "Suppose it's got into the shells? Think I'd run the risk of cracking one of those egg-shells? Yet how are you going to eat eggs without breaking the shells?"

And that's the story in an egg shell. The puzzled farmer cannot tell by the looks of his hens which ate the dynamite, therefore he doesn't dare eat any of them at Thanksgiving. As for swinging heavily on their heads with an axe he shudders at the thought.


Not Responsible

Nurse — What's that dirty mark on your leg, Master Frank?
Frank — Harold kicked me.
Nurse — Well, go at once and wash it off.
Frank — Why? It wasn't me that did it! — Punch.

Czarina the Peevish Python Force-Fed

1910

Star Monster Made to Devour Two Eight-Pound Roosters

New York — The regal or reticulated python Czarina, measuring 24 feet in length, weighing 200 pounds and possessing a color pattern of a richness that rivals oriental tapestry, had to be fed on two eight-pound roosters, feathers and all, at the Bronx park zoo a few days ago, and now it is satisfied and preoccupied with digestion.

Czarina, the star monster of her kind, has been very peevish of late. The keepers in the reptile house notified Curator Raymond L. Ditmars that the big snake had refused food, and it was then decided to force the python to eat. So three husky keepers fearlessly took the creature from its glass cage out into the open. There the reptile wiggled for a half hour while the three keepers tried to straighten it out so that it could be stuffed. And they had to be extremely careful, for if the python should coil itself around the body of one of them it could with great ease crush him to death. After a hard struggle the big snake was forced to swallow two roosters which had been purchased in a Bronx butcher shop for the banquet.

In captivity the regal python is vicious and resents any familiarity on the part of the keeper. While confined it prefers to feed on poultry and can engulf without difficulty, as it did a few days ago, two eight-pound roosters in full feather. Two such fowls usually constitute a square meal, but a very hungry snake of this species will consume four chickens of this size and be ready for more within ten days' time.

During the first few months of confinement very large specimens of this variety of snake appear to suffer from the restraints of captivity, and refuse food. Whenever a large serpent is thus languishing and approaching a suicidal end, it is necessary to feed it by force and thus counteract its sluggish appetite.

Generally young rabbits are killed and tied together with twine; the snake is then held by the keepers as nearly straight as possible and by means of a pole the meal is forced down its throat a distance of about six feet. Food thus administered usually changes the snake's demeanor toward captivity. With such a meal once digested, there comes an appetite for food, which usually can be detected by the snake's actions, although for a time the reptile may lack sufficient courage to feed voluntarily.

Attention on the part of the keeper usually renders a repetition of compulsory feeding unnecessary, although occasional specimens are very stubborn, as in the case of Czarina at the park.

Kansas Chickens Meet Motor Trains

1910

TOPEKA, KAN. — In any one of 20 Kansas towns today one may see hundreds of chickens running and flying, with many squawks and cackles and calls, to meet incoming motor trains. At every station along the lines where motor cars are operated the chickens have learned to hike with all their might to the depot whenever they hear the sharp blast of the siren whistle of the motor cars.

Chickens usually run away from steam trains, but they run for the motor cars. The chickens are as regular about meeting these cars as the bus driver and the postmaster. Every old hen, pullet, rooster and cockerel not penned up answers the call of the motor car siren. This whistle sounds more like a fog-horn than a railway whistle, and can be heard long distances. When the siren sounds the chickens take the shortest cut to the station.

What's the reason? Grasshoppers, Just, plain, old, ordinary, tobacco-chewing, green, red, yellow, streaked, striped and spotted grasshoppers. Bunches of 'em, fat and juicy from feeding in Kansas corn and wheat fields.

All the motor cars have pilots, fenders or cowcatchers of a big scoop-like pattern. They are made of heavy steel bars and covered with a wire screening. As the cars go hiking through the country these fenders gather up thousands of grasshoppers. Going the six or seven miles between stations a motor car will often gather a bushel of grasshoppers on the fender.

These are the big T-bone sort of grasshoppers that are found only in the fields. They are the porterhouse and sirloin cuts of the hopper family and they make a very delectable repast for the chickens. The chickens cannot catch very many of them in the fields and gardens, as the hoppers are quick and make long flights.

The grasshoppers are not any more plentiful this year than in former years, but the chickens never had a way of catching them as they have this year, this being the first season of the motor cars on most of the lines. The chickens of the small town, when the whistle sounds, make a quick dive for the depot, ready to pounce on the hundreds of stunned hoppers lying on the fender.

Sledgehammer Bandits Raid St. Paul Safes

1920

Also Steal 800 Quarts of Liquor From State Asylum

ST. PAUL, Minnesota — The band of "sledgehammer" bandits, after looting more than fifty safes in Minneapolis in the past month, evidently have begun operations in St. Paul by raiding three Como avenue business places.

The lock of a safe at the Great Lakes Coal and Dock Company was hammered open and $500 worth of Liberty bonds and $40 in cash was taken.

The same gang is believed to have hammered the lock from the safe at the Carnegie Dock and Fuel Company, and strong box in the office of a third Como avenue company.

That the "sledgehammer" bandits have a taste for good liquor as well as safes became apparent when nine of them in three automobiles made an informal call on the State asylum for the insane at Anoka.

Eight hundred quarts of liquor, used for medicinal purposes, packed in the refrigerator, were stolen.


Hens Laying for a Record

LINCOLN, Nebraska — Twenty-six hens laid 23 or more eggs each during February in the national egg-laying contest being conducted by the Nebraska agricultural experiment station. One hen laid 28 eggs. She is a Rhode Island Red, owned by M. C. Peters, of Omaha. Two others, both White Leghorns, laid 25 eggs each. Seventeen hens laid 22 eggs each.

Five Hens Lay Eggs in Deep Snow Nests

Feb. 1920

Fowls Dig Their Own Snug Roosts on Roof of Barn

HILERTON, New York — It being the warmest day of the winter, Chester Wasselton, a poultryman of this village, opened the door of his hen house to allow his hens to come out and enjoy the sunshine. Late in the afternoon Wasselton went to the hen house and seeing the hens were on the roosts closed the door.

Next morning the poultryman heard a loud cackling which came from the roof of the hen house. He secured a ladder, placed it against the structure and climbed to the roof, which was covered with three feet of snow. Wasselton says that when he reached nearly to the peak of the roof he was surprised to find five of his white leghorns buried in the snow. Furthermore, he says that when he removed the hens he was dumbfounded to find that each hen had laid an egg.

Wasselton placed the eggs in his coat pocket and threw the hens from the roof. He expresses the opinion that the hens flew to the roof the night before, dug their way down to the shingles through the snow and, as it was warm, made no effort to leave.


Cake 14 Years Old, Served At Wedding

First in Family to Marry Won the Fruity Confection

ST. LOUIS, Missouri — A wedding cake made fourteen years ago was served as a breakfast following the wedding her of Miss Geraldine Isabelle Buchanan, of California, Mo., to Lieut. Austin Smith Parker of Greenville, S.C.

The cake was made from a recipe for Chinese fruit cake and preserved in brandy to be served at the first wedding in the family of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Buchanan, parents of the bride.

Chicken Thief Pursued, Riddled

Pennsylvania, 1908

Enraged Farmer, After Chase, Puts Twelve Holes Through Him

Pottsville, Pa., Feb. 7. — Exhausted after a long chase, Isaac Bevan of Shenandoah, Pa., was riddled with bullets from two revolvers which his pursuer, Anthony Sinkiewicz, emptied into his body as he lay helpless in a snow drift. Twelve shots took effect, one passing through the heart, causing instant death.

Sinkiewicz had for some time been annoyed by chicken thieves and fixed up a burglar alarm. He was awakened by this alarm and he and a boarder at his home armed themselves and gave chase to the intruder by means of tracks in the newly, fallen snow. The chase continued for more than a mile, when Bevan dropped from exhaustion. Seven chickens were found in a bag which he carried. He was unarmed. Sinkiewicz gave himself up to the authorities and has been charged with murder.


Leap Year Girl's Quick Work

Philadelphia, Feb. 7. — Miss Louisa M. Hahn has led to the altar of the Mount Airy Methodist Episcopal church J. Horace Laucks of Germantown. Miss Hahn on New Year's day, ten hours after she became acquainted with Laucks, said to him: "I like you very much. Let us get married. I suggest you take time to think it over, say until tomorrow." Laucks made up his mind within four hours.

False Teeth Missed After "Tonic" Spree

Feb. 1920

"Must Have Swallowed 'Em," Loser Tells Jailer

EAST POINT, Georgia — Tom Williams, a pencil peddler, who imbibed too freely of hair tonic and landed in the police barracks, reports to the turnkey that he is short a set of false teeth and that during his uncertain wanderings he must have swallowed them.

A diligent search of the station house and surrounding territory failed to reveal the missing molars, and it was finally decided to take Tom over to the Grady Hospital, where an X-ray picture might be taken, to find out whether the liquor he drank was strong enough to pull the teeth on down with it.

Tom was somewhat skeptical about the X-ray, but anxiety as to the whereabouts of the teeth finally led him to consent to the experiment, which will be made when his nerves have become more settled.


Dime Chick Gets Prize

CROOKSTON, Minnesota — Several weeks ago Arthur Kirsch of Crookston bought a tiny chicken at a local five and ten cent store for a dime. Recently he entered the chicken at the Pennington County poultry show. It was adjudged to be a full-blooded white Leghorn and carried off a blue ribbon with a score of 92 points.

Forced to Sleep in Hen Coop, Is Charge

1920

Man, 68, Gave Nephew His Money, Received Abuse, He Says

MARYSVILLE, Cal. — Fearing that his nephew would drive him into the street and he would eventually become a public charge and die to be buried in a pauper's grave is the reason given by Manuel G. George, sheepherder, for filing suit in Judge Eugene P. McDaniel's court to compel Manuel E. George to return $500 which the old man transferred to the younger man's account in a local bank on promise that the latter would care for him.

The complaint recites that he is 68 years of age and that when he went to live with his nephew the latter's wife and children abused him and he was compelled to sleep in a filthy chicken coop, although in ill health.


Steals a Dying Man's Watch

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — As Samuel Sterling lay dying of pneumonia, his mother and sisters screamed and wept and the attention of passersby was attracted. A number of persons entered the house and went upstairs to see what was wrong. One of the strangers, a stout man about 25 years of age, grabbed the dying man's watch from a bureau, ran from the house and made his escape.