The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1886-01-09
Poultry Notes.

A constant supply of pure drinking
water is equally as important as food
An inexpensive drinking fountain is, of
course, the best method OF securing
| this, but the home made small shallow
tin dishes are the next best thing. 1t
| is true that a fowl or a chicken will
often drink dirty water even when
clean water is at hand, but this is no
reason why they should be compelled
| to do So
They should always have clean
drinking water within reach, and if
this becomes dirty a dozen times a
day it should be renewed q dozen
| times.
Buckwheat is very good for poultry,
although we think its merit is not to
be compared with other grains for the
same purpose. Decayed grain can
never be fed with safety and should
be Stunned. Dirty rice or rejected
wheat both make good grain feed and
are safe.
| In order to keep the feet of Asiatics
clean and their feet feathers from ruff
fling and breaking, keep their runs
literally sprinkled with clean, dry
sand and cut straw or chaff. Games
which are pure never have feathered
legs. Fowls may be prevented from
| picking off the plumage of other fowls
by using a poultry bit. The habit is
| begun ordinarily in consequence of
| close confinement of the bird and lack
of occupation. Turning eggs frequent
~ will aid in keeping them, because it
prevents the yolk from coming in con-
tact with the shell.
The cross-bred fowl is often larger
than any of the breeds of fine bred
stock The prizes for dressed poultry
in England have often been won by
cross-bred birds, Just as in the race Of
cattle mongrel steers frequently carry
away the prize for fattest weights.
| Blood from pure varieties, however,
was used in making the cross always.
A correspondent says the Plymouth
Rock is the best American fowl for the
| table. while in England and France n
white-skinned fowl, like the Dorking
and La Fleche, is preferred for the
table. The people OF this country de-
mand a yellow-skinned bird. The
Plymouth Rock has such a skin, vel
low legs and plumage of such color
that even when improperly dressed, or
dressed at q time when pin-feathers
are abundant, the poultry looks in
viting. A yellow skin also makes a
| fowl look fatter than a white one.
| Do not forget that in the winter
time the birds need more and better
| feed than in summer. Give the noon
meal of cracked corn, whole wheat and
oats. The evening allowance may be
| ,lDi EY,n NH
last them advantageously through the
! long nights.
! Hens often learn to eat their eggs
| from eating the egg shells which are
given to them with their food. They
! find it easy to crush their shells which
are thus scattered in their way. Ii
you have plenty of oyster and clam
shells or ground bone, the amount oil
| lime in the egg shells is scarcely worth
| saving for your fowls.
| When fowls are confined in limited
quarters, the nests should be SO con-
structed that they may bein darkness,
| or at least in twilight. This is an ey-
cellent preventive of egg-eating. Lo-
| cate the nests as far from the windows
as possible, and compel the hens to
approach them through a long, low,
covered passage which turns one or
two abrupt corners to shut out the
light. The benefit which fowls derive
from eating charcoal is very marked.
The best method of placing it before
| them is not well understood Pound
ed charcoal not in the shape in which
fowls usually find ther food, and hence
is not very enticing to them. Corn
burned on the cob and the refuse,
which consists almost entirely of the
grains reduced to charcoal and still
retaining their perfect shape, is greedi-
ly eaten by them.-POuItrV World.