The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1879-11-29
FARMERS COLUMN.
Poultry and Poultry breeding.

POttitry and Poultry breeding.
When the hens are to do the Matching they |
need TO be removed TO the "sitting" room.
This siiotild be done at night. Move the
hen carefully and quietly and put her on
the nest with dummy eggs for few days
until she is sitting steadily. The French
use turkeys and do not wait for them to be.
''broody," but make them drunk with a
wine-gsss Of spirits when they are wanted
for use. An ordinary-liEed turkey will cover
twenty eggs and may be used forsee'fal lots
oi eggs.
1ncubators and artificial mothers, howev-
er, have been brought to such state-of per-
fection that II seems folly to cling to the old
method. The saving comes from the avoid
ance of loss by breakage, by hens leaving
the nest or trampling the half-hatched
chicks to death. Moreover, the incubator
and brooder are always ready for use and
save the time Of hens, which can be devot-
ed to laying. In both the natural and arti-
fetal method it is necessary to full success
that theeggs receive daily airing.
As the chicks hatch, remove them from
the nest as fast as dry, and cover them with
some warm material until ready to put them
out. Here is where the brooder artificial
mother comes into play. The chicks may
be taken from the hen or the incubator, and
put into the brooder, where, by means of
small lamp, they are kept warm and dry,
and receive all the brooding they need
more than with the hen for the brooder is
always ready to hover them while the hen
ir not.
The young chicks need no food for the first
twenty-fou hours. After that they should
be fed plentifully and often. At first give
them the yolks of hard boiled eggs chopped
or crumbled fine. After the second day mix
coarse corn meal and wheat bran, equal
parts, and scald it. When two weeks old,
begin feeding cracked corn or wheat for their
night fool. In addition to this they may
be given occasional feeds Of boiled rice small
potatoes boiled and mashed and mixed with
little corn or barley meal, bread crumbs
and stale bread stepped in milk or water; in
fact, all the scraps from the table should be
saved and given to them. Green food--cab-
bage chopped fine, onions, ditto, celery tops
and, best of all, lettuce-is highly relished
and should be fed to them often. To give
delicacy to the flesh of the chicks designed
for the table, make their principal feed for
q week or ten days before killing, barley
meal moisened with milk, and occasionally
alternate with Indian meal.
The greatest profit in raising chickens
must come by getting them fit for market at
the earliest possible age. The average cost
of Matching and raising chickens Il speak
now of doing so by artificial means) until
they are eight weeks old, is not over fifteen
cents each. At this age they seould weigh
from one and a half to two pounds. The
cost for the next two months will be more
than doubled, while the increase in weight
will not be over fifty per cent. 1t follows,
therefore, that the most of the profit comes
from the first two months care and feeding
B >-ilers at this age will sell in April andNIay
in our cities, at from IS cents to 81 per pair
and sometimes as high as $3.50.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
Among the questions most often asked me
are the following: Are the chicks as healthy
under the care of the artificial mother,as un
der the natural parent? Answer-more so,
and especially because they escape the lice
pest which always stacks chickens soon af.
Ter they are hatched. Question-Are artf-
cially hatched chickens likely to have gapes
and chicken choleFa| A.. After careful ex-
animation and experiment l am satisfied
they are not Q. Is it necessary to be very
careful in handling eggs? A. No; not as
careful as we are apt to think. Jolting does
not harm, though a sudden jar which sepa-
rates the inner connection from the shell
does. @. Is it good to wet food long before
feeding? Yes. Unless wet long enough be-
fore feeding to allow it to swell, it will dis
tend the crop, and is apt to cause sickness
and sometimes death. always prefer to
cook food for chickens and all stock, and be-
lievc in the practice most heartily. Q. Is
eistern water injurious to fowls? A. Not if
pure. Q. Is it good plan TO put pepper in
food2 A. don't believe in atimulants of
any kind, or in any Of the condiments and
artificial foods in vogue. Good, wholesome
foods fed often, is hest, and helps most to.
force the six weeks broilers, in the sale of
which lies the profit ofponltry raising The
question about gapes and cholera was put to
me because it seemed that the artificial
method would prevent the spread Of such
contagious As to the tick and cape worm
DR.. Law thinks it not unlikely that the cape
worm lives in parasite state in the abdo-
men of the tick, and he gives an instance of
similar case in certain species Of a tape
worm common in dogs.-A, NJ Halstead in
Rural Nel0 Yorker.