The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1870-11-03
FARMERS COLUMN.
gn~1F FAT POULTRY.

"A writer in the London Farmer thus
sensibly discusses the question Of over
feeding of fowls, and offers some whole
some advice to breeders upon the subject.
The old and obsolete idea that fowls can
be over fed so as to boone non-egg pro
ducers, is thorough " exploded by the
theory and experience here adduced.
He saws: " Pleasant as the sight is to see
a yard filed with q good fat. hens, and
oyerioyed as the heart of che henwife
NAV be when she sees them growing
more and more plump every day, still
we venture to affirm that in the case of
hens, as in many others, the old proverb
is applicable-"i it is just possible to have
too much of good thing" 1t may sound
al, first somewhat like an anomaly when
we say that the. latest hen in the yard
NAV be the most Improbable, but it is
quite true; and unless it. be about Christ
mas time, and required for the table,
(when no doubt il. would appear to ad-
vantage,) it has every chance OF remain
ing so until it gets thinner. ) We all
know that cattle may be too lat to breed,
and certainly it is no uncommon sight to
see very fat hens which do not lay but
as to the cause of the latter, much miscon-
ception prevails. A henWife, on seeing
an extra fat bird cease laying, will ex
claim, ooh, it is too fat to lay" and this
opinion is common among very many of
those who deal in poultry matters. 60 Our
experience has shown us that the more q
hen gets to eat the more she will lay :;
and as a hen weighing about five or six
pounds lays her own weight in six weeks,
d cff AN
Our doctrine, hence, is that hens become
fat because they cease to lay,not thatthey
cease to lay because they become fat. Of
course. in the case of boosters this does
not hold good they have not the same
drain on their system as those running
about, consequently they become SO fat
that the eggs are not properly fertillzed,
and it Is quite possible that fowls confined
in small space and very highly fed, viii
CEASE laying; but when hens have plenty
of scope for exercise, and ordinary good
feeding, there is no reason why they
should not lay regularly or at least there
is very little fear of them becoming too
fat to lay. 1a aa5fa7a9 s8of b54ssEsgo3
Instead, therefore, of reducing the
quantity of food given to hens, the wlsest
plan Of egg getting would be Ito give
them more than they ordinarily consume.
This would appear at first sight, to be
an impossibility for, although we take
a horse to- the we'll we cannot make him
drink no mere can we compel fowls to
eat more than they want butif were
fleet that one cause which limits their
appetite is their inability to digest more
than certain quantity of the hard grain
which forms their regular diet, it will be
obvious to many that by softening the
food, either by grinding or. cooking. we
may enable them to dispose of a little
more Some people will Likely lsay to this,
"Well, but my hens are able to dispose
of more meat than i care to give" Quite
true, but supposing you have thirty hens
and giving them an average amount OF
food, you will get a certain number of
eggs. If now you kill ten of them, and
give to the remaining twenty half the
amount of food that these ten would have
consumed, you will get more eggs and
save grain. Or, il you feed one bushel
of corn per week to a certain number of
fowls, and get four dozen eggs by feed
ing bushel and a-quarter you will prob
ably get six dozen of eggs. Here, while
one bushel gives four dozen, the extra
quarter bushelS gives the full equivalent
of half a bushel. This is not mere theory
or speculation, for we have practically
tested this very thing, and know by
experience that we are right. 1t is but
proper to add, however, that the grind
ing and cooking of the. food for fowls
produces such an effect that, while the
actual quantity required is not increased,
the effects of this quantity are greatly
increased. "--RurGl New YORKER .y95msy
PETROLEUM AS PAINT.-We recon-
mend the use of petroleum to preserve
wood-not as . paint. Nothing should