Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1886-08-13
In The POULTRY YARD.
How Hens and Young Chicks Should Be
Cared For In Early summer.

Cared For In Early summer.
One must not expect too much. The
poultry-keeper certainly will be disap-
pointed unless he discounts his hopes
fifty per cent. and is contented with half
as much as he expected. The maiden of
the old story who counted her chickens
too soon is only type of the modern
poultry amateur, who uses additional
and multiplication too freely, and is
badly cut up by division when he comes
to sum up the results of his business.
Nevertheless, there is a way of being
successful in keeping poultry, and the
man or woman, boy or girl, who can
keep flock of twelve or twenty fowls,
and can figure up ut the end of the
season a profit of few dollars from
them, is on the way to make larger
business profitable. One thing at least
is favorable, which is that poultry prod
ucts are salable everywhere at fair
prices, while near large town or city
quite good price can be obtained for
both eggs and chickens. Near large
city profit of 81 per head has been
made from flock of twenty-five light
Brahma hens. the eggs averaging seven
dozen to each hen for the year and the
young fowls forty pounds per hen.
which resulted from an average of e ght
CHI cks to each hen, and each young
fowl when fat for the holidays, weigh
ing one with another, five pounds. At
% cents dozen for the eggs and IL
cents pound for the chickens the sum
total equaled 1915 per hen. This in
| stance will afford basis for compar-
ison with other hocks less favorably
situated, and if the usual division be
INDUCED in and the product be halved,
and the prices then be halved, there
will still be the very comfortable and
satisfactory profit of nearly 81 per hen.
This figuring ought to be encouraging
to the ambitious young poultry-keeper,
who can see very clearly that it does
pay to rear poultry, although the price
of eggs and fowls may be low, if he is
careful and attentive to the needs of his
flock
In spring and summer care is most
needed. The breeders are busy and the
young chicks arriving freely require at
tention. The greatest bane however, of
the poultry yard is fussing. When a
hen is we'll set she should be left alone.
The hen understands the business of
incubation better than any incubator
maker, and the only care required
after hen is safely on the nest
is to watch for the chicks and be
ready to take them from the nest
until all the brood is Matched. A
small basket, with piece of blanket or
"a 10th 30 @lxa
nestlings will be found very useful to
save the young chicks from being
crushed in the nest. AS they are Matched
they should be brought in and put in
the basket, which is kept in warm
place. No feeding is required for
twenty-fcur hours or more. The little
creatures will sleep and digest the rem
nants of the yolk inclosed within them
during the one or two days the re-
| mainder of the brood are coming forth
, The coops should be roomy and should
be put in dry place. After number
of years practice we think an open sheC
facing the south is the best place for the
coops, which are thus protected from
5 sudden rain storms or rough weather
. When the hen is in the coop with hel
brood she will get along without being
t watched, and fussing is again bane t.
q her. The staple food for young chick
4 is cracked wheat and corn. A coffe,
| mill will serve to crack the wheat and {
bushel of corn may be taken to the mil
and be ground into coarse hominy
0 This is for the first few days feeding
D Whole wheat may be given when thu
: chicks are ten days old. The creates
: treat is few earth worms dug from
rich damp soil, and these are swallowe,
, with avidity, and seem to b,
: heathfil. In place of these we tax,
8 some lean beef and chop it flint
: and give teaspoonful to brood of tel
I or twelve once a day. Pure water re
8 newed three times a day is indispensa
g bic. The very frequent "gapes" which
: destroys one-third of all the chicken
q Matched, as we believe, is easily avoide,
' by keeping the chicks on clean ground
. Our chmks have the run of the garden
$ the coops being set among the melons
!. where there is more room, but adjacen
: to the other coops. The sprightly, &C
tive Young creatures will wander owe
!. half an acre of garden, picking up tn
4 flea beetles from the radishes and tur
n nips, the flies from the onions, jumpin.
L up W tdhc vi Pcu Jugs iioii Iiic HiolOn
a and cucumbers, and by their restless
3 ness disturbing every insect pest ant
. saving something from its ravages. Ii
i garden of half an acre there is room
i for twenty crops of ten chicks each, an,
i the service these 200 chicks will do will
h pay all the cost of rearing them. 4
q little corn-meal scattered around plum
g tree, which is Jared Immediately after
v ward. will bring up the chicks, whicl
? will seize upon every sly curculio whicl
10 drops and lies as if dead, and will thu
it save the plums. The garden ground i
o clean and tine cape worms are not pickle,
: up to iufest the young chicks.
But the hens should not be neglecte.
altogether. They are. or should be
incloscd in yard and kept out of mis-
chief II the yard is large, as it shoul,
be. and divided into two parts to affor,
. change, and each half alternatel,
xxgfA TO