The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-10-23
EGGS IN WINTER.
valuable Suggestions Concerning the Cars
of Hens in Cold Weather,

y
for the poultry should be the fall and
winter, just as these are the best sea-
sons of the year for the dairyman, who
| is provided with the fresh cows and the
| facilities for making butter when the
supply is scarce. Every producer should
aim to have his products when others
have none and the markets are bare of
them. Eggs are cheap in the summer
| and so are chickens; but when the
summer glut of them is over and con-
sumers are crying out for more, then
| the prices advance and the lucky house
wife who has laying pullets, or whose
| well-fed hens are over their broodng
and moulting and are beginning to sing
| their lays once more, makes the biggest
profits of the year. Moreover, careful
of the surplus summer eggs, she has
| these packed away in some preservative
which keeps them fresh until the prices
| become remunerative, when they are
fed out as the demand warrants at
| treble the summer prices.
There are several methods of pre-
serving eggs for winter use and sale.
| We have tried several of these, and find
| the oil process the best for domestic
use, but it is too troublesome to clean
| the eggs for sale. This process is as
| follows: A pint of boiled linseed oil is
warmed and one ounce of melted bees
wax is well mixed with it. The eggs,
taken when quite fresh, are carefully
rubbed all over with the mixture and
placed on the small end upon layer
of hard wood saw-dust, corn-meal or
bran in suitable box or keg. When
the layer is full the eggs are covered
] over half an inch with the material. Of
these three the best packing was found
to be corn-meal which lies close. Dry
sand also answers the purpose very
well. When the box is filled it is put
away in COOL dry cellar. When used
the eggs are dipped in warm water and
wiped dry if thought necessary, but
this is not necessary when they are to
be broken for use.
The chemical preparations -iceline,
glacialine-and the German and
Havana processes all affect the yelk,
causing it to become hard, although
the two first mentioned have kept eggs
perfectly sweet and unchanged, as far
as the whites were concerned, for more
than year. The lime process is the
best for eggs that are to be sold, as
only an expert can detect any difference
between eggs thus preserved and fresh
ones. The process is as follows: Some
fresh quicklime is Stacked in water in
suitable vessel, and when the lime is
reduced to soft liquid, water is added
to make up twenty gallons for peck
of the lime. The clear lime-water is
dipped off after settlement of the I'M
dissolved lime and is put into clean
cask until this is half full. Fresh eggs
and no others should ever be kept
over-are carefully placed in a shallow
| dipper-a shallow tin wash-bowl with
handle serves well for this purpose
and are gently poured out into the
lime-water, in which they settle down
gradually as the barrel is filled. When
the barrel is full up to an inch from
the top a cloth is laid over it,
leaving border of a few inches
all around; this is covered with
the semi-huid lime left from the slack
ing to the depth of an inch, and this is
pressed closely around the edge of the
top of the barrel. The cloth is then
| folded over the lime, and water is
poured over this and kept upon it, so
as to have it always covered. This
prevents access of air and keeps the
lime around the eggs in caustic con-
diton, avoiding the absorption of car
bonic acid from the atmosphere. The
lime is deposited in the pores of the
shell and causes slight roughness,
which is preceptible when the eggs have
remained two or three months in the
pickle. The lined eggs sell during the
winter for nearly the same price as
fresh eggs, the difference being two or
three cents dozen.
The continuous supply of eggs from
the hens during the winter is scarcely
possible, as this is the resting spell for
the fowls, and warmth and outdoor
exercise and special food are all neces-
sary for the peculiar condition of the
hen in which eggs are produced. But
much may be done to overcome natural
proclivities by skjllful management
Thus, by setting hens in January or
February and rearing early broods, by
keeping such breeds as the Leghorns
and Plymouth Rocks, which are noted
as precocious layers of eggs and as
productive in the winter; by providing
Il comfortable, dry, warm, clean house
and suitable food, such as warm baked
potatoes, hot parched corn, fresh bones,
broken SHREDDED cabbage, finely-cut
clover hay and hot meal of scalded
corn mush, with little salt and pepper
and sulphur in it, good many eggs
may be procuredin the winter There
should be a reserved force, too, kept on
hand in the way of hens which have
been permitted to brood and rear
chickens late in the season. Thus, if
hens are given nest of eggs in
fall, and have rest from laying, they
will go to work in January if well fed
and cared for, and the young chicks,
also well cared for, will come in for
broilers very early in the season.
There must be, however, every requi-
site provided for the care of both hens
and the young chicks; tight, warm
house and warm nests for the latter
will be especially necessary.
Vermin are the great drawback to
success in pursuit of eggs in the win
ter. These pests may be kept at bay,
if not wholly cleared from the poultry
house, by the liberia! use of petroleum.
The perches should be drenched with