Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1872-08-29

While our hearts are now so joyful let u.s. Mary
not forget,
To thank the God of heaven for being out of debt
For He gave rain and sunshine, and put strength
And heightened out our days to see no mortgag
on the farm.
SOMETHING ABOUT CHICKENS.
Mrs. Mary G. West gives the readers of th'
Mobile Register some excellent hints on tht
treatment of fowls, drawn from her own ex
perience, and Prof Stelle, the able agricultu
raj editor, makes some valuable comments OF
some points, which we also reproduce:
I have made up my mind to write you s
chapter on chickens; but that does not imply
that am going to tell you all about wha
manner of creatures chickens are, and how
they are produced; for I am writing to edi
tors who must understand something about
these things, and for farmers wives anc
daughters, who know thing or two as well
as myself. I don't want to write for any
body else-don't intend to do it-and there
fore may confne myself to a few practical
hints, which I consider new, and which hope
to make of service to that class Of readers fol
whom they are intended.
Laying.-Hens lay more regularly all
through the year in the far South than they
do in the North. The greatest lull is in the
spring, (January and February just about
the time the hens North commence their sea.
sons laying. Eggs are not very plentiful with
us at this writing. We never feed our hens
much with view to increasing their laying
qualities, as people do in other sections-it
might be better if we did.
Setting.-I always find it best to set hens
under shelter and on the ground. If the last
is not practicable, have green sod taken
up thin and placed under the nest. This is
very important, for the earth contains heat
enough to keep the eggs in good condition
while the hen is off in quest of food, something
which boards or mere litter under the nest,
would not be sure to do. make my nests
Of stray pounded or hrnisad- finally with the
| poll of an axe, usually laying it on q smooth
cut stump of a tree to pound it.
Testing Egqs.-On the evening of the sixth
day after setting the hen, 60 to the nest with
lighted candle, and holding the eggs up be-
tween it and my eyes, carefully observe their
appearance If they look clear and red,
know they are sterile, and so take them from
the nest they will not yet have been spoiled
by the hens sitting upon them. The fertile
eggs containing birds, will appear dark; that
is they will show no light through them. 1t
is great folly to let hen sit all through her
term on sterile eggs, finally converting them
into "rotten eggs" when they may be so easi-
ly detected by this simple process.
Assisting Nature.-About week before
the time for Matching, in dry summer weather,
I go to the nest when the hen is off, and sprin-
kle the eggs pretty thoroughly with warm
water. I find this great aid to nature in
the process of Matching, as it has tendency
to soften the shells. 1t applies equally we'll
to all kinds of poultry. .
Roosting.-I find that young chickens should
have clean and well-ventilated roosting
place. 1t is best for them to sit on the bare
ground. The ground of their house should
be thoroughly cleaned at least once q week,
by scraping it out to the depth Of, say, two
inches, and supplying the place with fresh,
loose earth. The loose earth acts as an abb
sorbent, and keeps the house pure, and the
chickens in a healthy condition. And the
loose earth removed once week from large
flock of chickens is worth almost as much as
the poultry, for it is one Of the most excellent
fertilizers that could be applied to plants. It
should be we'll stirred together and carefully
housed until the time for using it is at hand.
If convenient, to cover it close in boxes or
barrels, all the better. We have tested quite
variety of fertilizers this season, but none
with results better than those shown by the
scrapings of our chicken-house-ED.
Feeding-Very young chickens will have
to be fed regularly until they are able to run
about in quest of food. In their case most
persons in this section use corn meal slightly
wetted, but experience has taught me to be-
leve that corn "grits," given dry is best suited
to their wants. feed my young chickens
regularly four times each day. In regions
further North and less favored for poultry
growing, it is usual to feed young birds regu-
larly but sparingly about every two hours
throughout the day; that is, where persons
make poultry.growing a business. Adult
poultry is fed twice day-morning and
evening-and corn, wheat, oats and barley,
with various garden vegetables, finely chopped,
generally make up the feed. In our expe-
rience we have found them to do as we'll as
could be desired on boiled sweet potato
mashed and mixed with small proportion
of corn meal-about one part of the latter
to four or five of the former. Irish potatoes,
carrots, turnips, pumpkins, squashes, apples,
or peaches treated in the same way will be
found to answer every purpose.-ED.
Doctoring.-My chickens are never sick,
consequently l have no doctoring to do. l
think sickness among fowls is more the result
of bad management than anything else; and
that doctoring does more harm than good.
Remove the cause and the effect will remove
itself. 1 have, on several occasions, when
chicken cholera was bad in my neighborhood,
given, mixed in the food of my fowls, small
proportions of powdered charcoal, oxide of
iron and flour Of sulphur. Never had a true
case of cholera but do not pretend to hold
that the drugs administered should have cred
it for it. Rather think that keeping the
houses clean and their floors we'll covered with
fresh earth has been the medicine that saved
my chickens.
BURNs.-W. H. Lewis sends the following
remedy which he has tested and knows to be
good One ounce air-slacked lime and three
ounces hogs lard mix thoroughly and apply
to the burn. 1t will afford immediate relief,
and when applied to fresh burn will heal
the sore and leave no scar Wemay say that
whatever will exclude air will give relief.