Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-03-14
FooD For FowLs.-The following is copied
from the Live Stncl, InnrnnI.

There is no question that is Oftener put to those
who are thought to be authorities in poultry
matters than "What is the best food for fOwlsP
even by those who have had considerable expe-
rience in keeping poultry. The reason for the
very general ignorance on the subject is, that
hens are commonly mere appendage to a farm
establishment, kept for such eggs as it suits
them to Law in accessible localities, or for the
table at thanksgiving or Christmas, and they
gain their principal support by picking mp food
where they can find it, acting, in truth, as seay-
engers about the farm-yard No one really
knows how much they eat, nor what, except that
most farmers have an indefinite idea that large
amount of corn goes into their crops.
1t is really point upon which a great deal is
to be said very much to the purpose. You will
certainly accomplish little with your hens by
cOnfning them to meal and water, with now and
then little corn in the grain, as do most of our
neighborS. The hen is not simple feeder. She
needs more variety and a fuller diet than your
horse, because she has more to do in the way Of
production, accomplishing regularly the separa-
ton from herself of a rich mass of animal it's
sues, bearing a large proportion to her own
weight, and that mass the very cream of nutri-
tious matters, no waste be allowed in that per-
feet creation-an egg.
Although the most common mistake is to for
get that hen is as really a hesh-eating animal
as a Bengal tiger, though not as exclusively
carniverous. The place of the insects that they
catch in summer must be supplied by plenty of
against raw meat for dogs, certainly holds true
of hens--they become irritable under its use
If they are shut up, give it to them on the bone,
and the exercise necessary in picking it off will
be useful. There is not care enough given TO
keeping hens out of mischief when they are con-
fined. There is a great field for ingenuity in
contriyng occupation for them. When they
are greedy for fresh vegetables in winter, when
access to grass is denied them, place a small
raw cabbage in their quarters, or few raw
Swedish turnips with the outside removed, and
let them drill away. Whether shut up or not,
they are in winter partially confined to their
room or the barn and sheds during the deep
SHOWS and severe cold OF winter, and they
should not be forced to stand idle for, if they
do, one or two things is apt to happen, and
either is destructive of profit. One thing is
plucking each others feathers. This is quite
frequent We often receive missives like the
following:
Dear Sir: What under the sun can do with
my fowls? Theyi are picking off each others
feathers from the word go. They then stand
shivering in the cold. more Grlorn, mis- ra-
bic set you never saw. Everybody who comes
along laughs at them, and don't care for that,
but they laugh at me too. l can't staLd such
stock. | have fed them animal food and vege
table food, lime, ashes, gravel, milk, blood, and
what not, and finally gave them all the feathers
freshly plucked from the fowls we killed; but it
makes no difference. Yours in affection and
evaporation,
The above is an exact copy of the original,
minus few phrases too strongly emphasized to
lay before our readers, and which we would
thank our correspondent to omit the next time
he writes us. Our reply is that there is no cure.
No system OF feeding will stop the vice. Fowls
in plucking each other are after the feathers of
the new moult, which are loaded with blood aud
nutritive juices at the quill ends. When they
once learn the trick no amount of meat, milk,
blood, &C., will stop them, unless indeed COM
,,Iaea tsse e
prevention however which our friend must use
when he has killed the old lot of fowls and
started with new. And that is, keep his fowls
busily employed when they are not at range, by
forcing them TO peck and pick and scratch for
great portion of their food. Their dry grain
may be buried daily under mass of swamp
hay, straw, or any convenient rubbish that they
can remove, bur not without diligent labor.
The other curse, which is sometimes attached
to idlenesS in fowls; flor idleness is cured in
their cases as certainly as in biped of higher
grade) is egg deYouring. 1t not unfreaueutlv
happens that one hen learns to eat her own eggs
and the rest initiate, and all hopes Of the keep
er getting any are at an end We are pretty
certain it makes them lay, but there is about
as much profit in it as in swapping one new
greenback for another. The cure is as impossi-
bic as In case of feather eating, and the proven
ton, is the same occupation, exercise diversion.
Besides additional security is found in contriv-
ing the nests so that they may be as secluded
and dark as possible. We must knew how to
take advantage OF the natural habits and in
stincts of our leathercd charge, 1t happens for
tunately that hens hate above all things TO STAY
in dark corner in the day time or enter one eX-
cepting to lay, though curiously enough they
prefer just such place for that purpose, 1t is
best then to keep this in mind while contriYing
nests.
Care should be used to secure the requisite va
riety of grains. Wheat and corn are the best
in oil 80, gE,, -, A.
kernel ground and cooked, enable one to change
the bill of fare, with sufficient frequency In
dian corn is the cheapest of all the grains for
poultry. We have used buckwheat and it is to
be recommended "for a change" though we be-
lieve that there is so little comparatively raised
and so great demand for it for the table that it
is about the dearest grain we have. 1t apparent
y stimulates laying more than anything save
animal food. OF coarse nice wholesome swil
and the various odds and ends from the table
are Just the things, for they fish, flesh, fowl,
fresh vegetables and breadstuffS combined
1t is one of the most difficult points to settle
theoretically, how much stimulus is needed by
hens. Most practical breeders are in the habit
Of using condiments unintelligibly, rather as
matter of habit, while some writers appeal to
the habits Of wild fowl OF various species, who
use the spicy buds which the forest AFFORDS, al
though we do not know that the aromatic
favor which generally depends on some sub
stance present IN small quantity, is what at
tracts them. Cayenne pepper is certainly the
most convenient cOndment, and the cheapest
that can be purchased, but the farmer can do
better than to buy it, for the biz red peppers of
their gardens treated with hot water and the
infusion stirred into meal, will do Just as well
exactly, the properties of the two being
identical. There is no reason why the law Of
variety should not hold good here, as well as
elsewhere, and our fowls get an occasional dash
OF ground mustard in their dough. Ginger we
have seen recommended, but medical men oh
ject TO its ha6itual use in the human subject
on the ground that il enfeebles digestion, and
this is reason enough for avoiding it when we
can 10 as well without it. Indeed we might rec
ommend our readers TO use it gingerly. Over
stimulation shoald he avoided. The regular
supply of eggs is not to be expected from an ar
tfcaized or even too fat fowl. You cannot act
directly on the oYaries Tor egg organs) but only
through the medium Of sound and vigorous
constitution, and ii is in the highest condition
OF the system that the most perfect working of
the reproductive apparatus is to be expected.
There is one additional article that we must
not forget 10 mention, although il is supposed
that Jretty much everybody understands its ne
cesslty. Lime in some form, such as pounded
bones and shells raw or burned Isl indispensable
both for the growth of the skeleton in young
stock and the renewal in the old, for a bone is
always undergoing alteration just like muscle,
| aud also TO supply the material of egg Shells
| Nice chemical calculations as to quantity re-
| quiled, do not stand us in much service, for il
| is a fact that the appetite demands a supply of
these things considerably in excess of the real
needs of the constitution, judged by pounds and
ounces. We eat very much more salt than we
| need, and none are the worse for it.
THE KooKA OUTBREAK IN INDIA The last
fortnight has robbed the camp of much of its
interest in denudng it of so large and impor-
| tant body of troops | cannot say that the
| kOoka outbreak of itself has attracted any con.