Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1872-03-07
Agricultural.
Spring Chickens.

Very early spring chickens are generally
dear, and pay extraordinarily well for rails
ihg, aud they are much easier brought
through the cold weather OF the latter part
o. February aud the following month than
people suppose, and As practical knowledge
l. worth much more than au.ht else. what
] am going 10 say eau be done. and has
been accomplished extensively by the writ
or md his better half. Having little birds.
rather larger than pigeons, sell for IS cents
in April and May, giving dollar per couple
clear profit. j. making money fast enough
Ia satisfy reasonable people The way To
do il j. To have the hens all comic riahlv
lodged in 4 warm roost by the l>i OF Jan
uary. Have some nice, snug. warmly siiu-
ated nests ia place near the roost for the
hens 10 lay in. and coutri,e that they can
20 10 and from without going out into bad
weather. and IL they have been well led
they will be laying when the new year be-
gins, and If Brahma blood Is in them half
will do they will set By the end OF the
month, after Matching. put them In coops
which can be closed and made dark BY las
teuins up froht board-then ia bad wealth.
er the chickens can be fed by letting down
the board. aud be shut Up again Is soon as
they have eaten. which will cause the hen
to set still and nurse them till they are fed
again; have no bottoms to the coops and
move every day, putting dry, fine straw OF
any Kind of litter under the coop when :he
ground is wet. but In moderate weather or
whenever dry LEI them be on the sod -
Keep the hen confined till the chickens are
a month old, unless unusually mild. and let
i4vse coops be on slope facing the south.
a. q away from the haunts OF The old fowls.
There are many days in February when the
chickens Will run around the coop pickin.
blades OF grass, etc. enjoying the sunshine.
/ which puts them In stron. health 10 bear
closer confinement in cold spells and dur
ing snow storms. which. with these coops.
DO not hurt them At all and there will he
no dropping wings and no crying. as there
invariably is " hen little chickens arc raised
in glass hothouses or in any kind OF houses
or barns; for in anv of these places they
miss the fresh ground Ia be daily moved on,
and the fresh air aud sunshine which gives
them an appetite out-of-doors which they
| lose indoors. however spacious the apart-
ments may be. / have had TO dig the snow
away from the coops several times in one
season. and brush places for them to be
placed on, which is quickly done by having
spare coop and going from one 10 the
other with a basket: and by ten or eleven
| O'Clock the whole OF the broods from thirty
1 To forty coops would be seen as brisk as
| bees. dozen or more at each coop, and
racing TO meet the feeder.
The feed requires variation and should
be given every two or three hours-say one
day scaided meal at I. wheat or barley At
| cracked corn at IL, liver or other meat
chopped nne AT 2. aud bread sopped In milk
! with oats or any dry grain at I. and then
| shut up. Next dag. eg2-shells broken fine,
mixed with the mornings first meal, and
| give one feed OF some kind of sprout-d
| grain in about such a stage as malt is made
and vary this feed as convenient, and as
the chickens seem to prefer one form to an.
other; for generally what they like best is
| best for them as nature seldom gives desire
| for that which is not good. and in case OF
| anything being too rich, 1t will cloy them
till the system requires more.
1t 10 full time To assert fowls of every
kind. and TO place each variety and each
separate breed belonging to the different
varieties by themselves. giving them rOosts
and an extensive range SO far apart that
| they cannot mix or by any chance cross the
breeds. There is no greater FOLLY imagin-
able than to permit promiscuous inler-
| course. or to crowd large numbers together
| even when of one breed. Weil-fed hens
| will have accumulated strength and health
during the last month or two of the old
year to parity eXpend in laying during the
first monts Of the new year, and il properly
attended to. spring chickens in abundance
can be raised and nt for table before the
muddle, sickly. mismanaged ones have
Matched out Coantry GeRtteEsas.