The Republican journal., 1873-03-20
Winter Management of Poultry.

Mr.. G. w. Dickerman tells us, III the
New England Homestead, how he feeds
and cares for his hens so as to s'make them
lay" His winter management is as fol-
lows:
| fill several boxes or half barrels with
earth before the ground freezes, and keep
it where they can have access to it at all
times during the winter. | have also had
barrel of airs Stacked lime standing for
years in the hen coop, and found it an eX-
cellent preventative of lice Further, |
have load of clear sand hauled on my
| premise Just at the edge of winter, and
| occasionally throw a few Shovelfuls into
their winter quarters. This gives them the
| grindStones, without which they cannot di-
| geSt their grain.
My winter quarters for them are not rs
large as they ought to be. being only II
feet square for from 90 to 80 fowls, but they
have the ward whenever the snow does not
forbid. Instead of cleaning out those quar-
terS weekly or oftener AS is often recon-
mended in the books, occasionally throw
a few ShOvefuls of earth (trom the boxes
before mentioned) over the droppingS.
| Their quatt ters are not so warm as should
| provide were | to build a house expressly
| for them, but | have two large windows in
| the south and east sides (discarded sash
from an old house,, which gives them all
the benefit of the suns warmth and makes
mp for considerable lack Of battenin@.
Cold weather is the trying time when
most people complain that their hens do
not lay. 1t requires more attention to the
| fowls to get eggs in the winter than in the
summer, but they can be had. Give them
sunlight and keep them warm in the first
place, and secondly give them varied food
feed principally corn through the win
fp, 1.,,+ Al
wheat, potatoes and meat scraps. Part Of
| the corn | feed whole, and Il part | have
cracked and ground into meal. prefer the
| cracked. | feed whole grain at night, and
| the ground in the morning, on the principle
| that through the long night they need some
thing that Will stand by them, that having
d@ested all their nights feed hv morning
they need something that they can act upon
quickly. For the same reason, in the very
coolest weather, when | go out to give
them tneir mornings feed. carry basin
of warm water from the teakettle and wet
mp their dough with that. 1t will warm
them quickly and make them feel comforta-
BILE, an essential as have before said, tn
a supply of eggs. The wheat | feed i.
screenings, which can be had at any feed
store probably.
Mashed potatoes fed warm are lust The
vegetable food they need. and We're on
farm should carefully husband a few bush
els of the small potatoes for this purpose.
The meat scraps ] buy of the butcher IN
large cakes, and believe it Is as cheap aS
corn, while it answers purpose like that
of the bugs and worms of the summer.
very important part OF the ego is the
shell in fact an egg without a shell don't
amount TO much. And unless the hen has
material for the shell, the other pre- para
tions are void lii winter the hen has little
chance to secure shell material for herself,
and hence it must be furnished her. have
found the simplest way to do this Occa-
sionaly ] throw a handful Of bones upon
the Goals, clear them little pound them
fine and mix them with the feed. II bones
are not to be had, oyster shells may be
served the same way.
The tendency to set is a troublesome one
out Of its proper place; bnt this difficulty,
which seriously annoyS some poultry keep
ers is easily obvated. | have large
covered coop in the yard, into which, As
soon as l find 4 hen inclined to set, | put
her with 4 rooster, feeding her libcralIy
and with Il variety of food, shells. bones,
etc. week of this treatment viii rure
her every time, and usually sat her tmme-
diately to laying again.