Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-11-22
POULTRY FARMING.
Some Valuable Hints Cleaned from Pc
sonaI and SuccessfuI ExDerience

A writer in the Los Angeles Times, sign
ing himself robin Railroad" gives the
following personal experience in poultry
farming:
In the year 1924, remember, as well as
l remember anything that ever took place,
hunting hens nests in the barn loft for my
mother to set under her hens, and ever
since then have taken a pretty active
hand in raising chickens, ducks and tur-
keys. Some years we raised as many as
300 chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese
After was married. my wife and went to
live by ourselves. l thought l could do
better than to cultivate the dunghill, so l
went to Louisville, KY, and bought me
pair of Black Polands, with tremendous
big white topkno; and crest had nice
lot for them in an orchard, where they had
plenty of room and plenty of bugs, " for
whar de hen scratches, dar am de bug"
My my what layers they are when cared
for. [ had hen that laid over 300
eggs in one year. But laying is all they are
fit for. They are poor settlers and poor
mothers, and not very good eating, but we
made lots of money by selling the eggs at
so cents per dozen, when / could buy COM
mon eggs for 81 cents. 1 built nice house.
to keep them dry and warm in winter.
In 1850, think it was, sent to George
P. Burnham, of Boston, for pair of brown
Shanghais. as he was then importing d.
rect from China. He sent me a splendid
pair by express to Louisville, KY, which
cost me SIS 25. My neighbors laughed at
two chickens. "All right" said |, while
you laugh I'll make 500, and have lots of
chickens for market left" What fine
chicks did come from that pair! Many of
the hens weighed six and eight pounds,
and the roosters were bigger than hen tur-
keys. Everybody who made any pretense
to raise poultry wanted to buy. "All right"
said |, lust as soon as my pullets begin to
lay you can have eggs at So per Dozen"
made lots of money out of my venture, and
had the best fowls to eat we ever had in
our lives. When 1 left that part of the
footstool in 1856 for Minneapolis, Mimi,
took a coop of these big chickens with me.
The rooster was boomer-iust three feet
from the end of his toe-nail to the end of
his bill.
In order to feed them well and be as
little trouble as possible, made box the
shape of mill-hopper that would hold
100 pounds of oats, $50 pounds of corn or
wheat, and nearly as much barley, and
made a frame for it to set in. Then under
meath it put shallow box, say two inches
deep and one foot square, close under the
mouth of the big box, and fastened it
there and put Stats so the chickens could
poke their heads through and pick grain
out of the shallow box. One week gave
them corn, next wheat, next oats or rye,
keeping plenty of grain in the box, which
ran down and out just as fast as they ate
and no faster. The grain was always clean
because the fowls could not get their feet
into it.
There is popularity about fowl. Feed
him or them three times day and they
will stuff their crop about as tight as a
drum, but put the feed in box where
they can get whenever they go after it and
they won't eat two tablespoonful at a
time except at night, when they will fill up
a little more. My wife boiled potato-peel-
ings, apple-peelings, turnips, cabbage and
sich," and stuck in bran or meal and
gave them a mash. Besides, she used to
give them sour milk and all scraps from
our meals.
To water fowls and keep their water pure
and fresh is very essential to their health.
l got the biggest jug l could find and drove
four posts into the ground, nailed a board
on top Of them with hole cut in the board
big enough almost to let the jug go through,
turned the jug mouth down, and put a
block under and tin plate ON top of that
which came within half an inch of the
mouth of the jug; filled the jug with pure,
clear water, and turned it upside down.
The water will run into the tin plate Just
as fast as the fowls drink it out, and no
faster. Then l fixed barricade to keep
them from putting their feet in the plate.
Once day gave them water, and once a
week l gave them grain, which lasted all
the week. They were healthy and nice.
Eleven years ago l came to Los Angeles,
and our chicken and barnyard was about
$50 by IS feet. If the offal from horses and
cattle is thrown into such a yard it is plenty
big for fifty or sixty hens and eight or ten
roosters, but if it is simply fowl yard it
is not large enough for so many unless
they can be allowed to run abroad fall,
winter and spring, on eight or ten acres.
Youmay turn on as many more and they
will do well.
We tried black Spanish and white Leg
horns and Bramahs and Dominique. We
took care of them, and did well until the
vermin got on to them. l supposed that
had to have warm, dry houses for them. as
| did in Minnesota and Indiana. But just
here was where l went astray badly. l
spent $3.50 in gold building houses for them,
and they had not been in them six months
DSiOIt tnty wee lul VI NCiiuih diid beShH
to die l was showing friend of mine
my chickens and my buildings.
Ali Robin" he said your hen
houses in this county are worthless. Turn
out those chickens and shut the door. and
don't open it again. Make your hens roost
in those willows, and in six weeks you
won't have sore-headed hen on this land"
"Why," said /, : they will catch their
death OF cold when it rains, and all die
with roop."
"Not bit of it. The rain all through
winter won't hurt them the tenth part as
bad as those chiggers and lice"
did that same thing, and it turned out
Just as he said it would / tore the house
down and made crib for corn, and we
never had healthier chickens in our lives.
| set out three pepper trees for the chickens
to roost in. We make them roost in the
trees yet, or on the ground, just as may
suit. The rain and wet kill all the chiggers
and lice, but don't hurt the fowls Bit