Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-06-11
Poultry ON the Farm.


longs to the small artillery of farming op-
Grafton, which in the generality of in
stances might be brought into play much
more extensively and powerfully than it
is. Common fowls are calculated to Weld
greatest returns, and where there is plenty
of water ducks are likewise profitable.
Turkeys are rather delicate and difficult
to rear, and geese are destructive birds to
cOrn-stacks and grain fields, which rem
ders their adoption unadvisable except in
marsh districts, or where grass lands sur
round the homestead. But common fowls
are seldom out of place under any circum-
stances, provided only they are sufficient
lY we'll fed, and no kind or stock will paw
for good feeding more than fowls When
they lay four or five times a week, or
even every other day, the drain must
be immense on their internal organisms,
such as to render ample and good nutri-
ment particularly desirable. In fact, such
abundant production cannot be long
sustained without it, and the reason some
people make so much larger profits from
keeping fowls than others do arises
in nine cases out of ten from the nature
of the feeding. Sorts, of course, have
something to do with the matter, but the
best kind, deserving more fully the ap-
pellatiOn " everlasting layers" cannot go
on producing without the machinery of
production be kept adequately sustained.
On the other hand the worst species that
ever appeared before the barn-door, by
high feeding, may be made to lay abund-
antly. When it is considered how short
a period it takes fowl in full laying to
yield eggs of an equal weight to herself
all this will appear very evident.
Not only should fowls be fed well, bu
with a variety of different kinds of nuss
tritive substances. They are in their ma
lures partly gramnivorous and partly car
nivOrOus. Experience proves the utility
Of giving them plenty Of animal food, for
the sustenance of their powers of egg
production largely depends thereon. Any
Otfal, such as the carcasses of horses, COWS
or sheep that have been lost on the farm
cannot be converted to better account than
to be made food for fowls. If the car
casses decOmpOse they are not less valua-
BILE for the purpose, as they breed
maggOts, which are most delicate NOR
sells for gallinaceous appetites. Grubs
and worms of all kinds are most
largely sought for and devoured by these
feathered tribes, which is the reason
they are so frequently found exploring
dunghills and heaps of loose rubbish and
earth, or, when there is nothing of this
kind to explore, scratching the surface of
the ground with their feet This natural
inclination is so strongly marked that it
should be catered for studiously by those
who would make the highest returns
from poultry-keeping. Where the arabic
fields are contiguous to the homestead,
fowls have been frequently known to fol
low the pillow in search for grubs and
worms, just as rocks do. By narrowly
watching this useful proclivity, some
farmers have tried to turn fowls to good
account as grub destroyers, by having
portable houses for them, which may
be moved about on wheels to the spots
wherever following and cultivation are
get attached to their house, which, if
moved when they are rOosting there al
night, carries them along with it, and
proves veritable travelling caravan. Not
only are fowls by this system made useful
scavengers to the farm in destroying pests
to agriculture, but an additional advan-
tage is obtained in the capability of re-
moving them quite away from the neigh
borhood of the grain fields when ripen-
ing for harvest. These, not unfrequently,
dAC COuGlS uOuS W GLIc uOuGSIGcCt, dLu III
such cases have been known to sustain
serious injury from fowls, to prevent
which farmers have often found it neces-
sary to imprison this portion of their
stock in an old barn, or some other build
ing, until the grain is gathered in.
Fowls require vegetable food likewise,
for which reason, wherever they have no
paddock, orchard or open fields to roam
about in and help themselves, green refuse
of some kind or other should be thrown
to them. Cabbage leaves, potato Feelings,
weeds, hedge clippings or anything of a
similar nature will do. Without abund-
ant serving of grain of some sort they can
scarcely be expected to thrive; but arabic
farmers usually have great deal Of tail
corn that can scarcely be utilized in any
other way. Fowls act as scavengers, too,
in other ways besides destroying worms
and grubs, as they pick out and devour
immense quantities of small seeds of
weeds from the chaff of corn winnowings,
which otherwise would get mixed up
with the farmyard manure and be carted
back to the fields for productiOn.-Egeter
and Plymouth (Eng) Gazette.