St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-16
POULTRY PICKS
That Seem of Va ue to q Writer in
the Kansas Farmer.

If you have any young stock to sell
you had better sort them out and mar
ket them before cold weather.
During cold weather a feed of hot
mashed potatoes and corn meal once a
day is good. Give variety of food and
plenty of it. and your fowls will keep
healthy.
For beauty, symmetry and noble
bearing there is no breed that can COM
pare with the game fowl. Fol utility
they will compare favorably with the
other breeds. and as table fowl their
meat is indispensable.
Poultry on the farm pays; in fact,
pays better than any other stock for the
capital invested. But large tlOcks that
are beyond the reach of reasonable at
tention and care, instead of profit will
furnish loss. No farmer who has
other stock to handle should attempt to
handle more than 200 or 300 fowls; in
fact, 100. well taken care of, will often
return larger profit than 800 or 500.
Ii farmers and poultrymen generally
would create retail marketS-Sell direct
to the cOnsumer-they would not only
secure good prices. but would give more
genel al satisfaction. The home market
is crying for fresh eggs" The farmer
generally lets his hens run at large.
They lay wherever they please, and of
course he does not know how fresh they
are. Market what you can affidavit to
as being fresh eggs and see what the re-
suit will be.
The question of 'when is the best
time to buy pOultry?" often comes up.
Many think there is not much profit in
the winter. and they will wait until
spring, but in this they make mistake,
for in the spring it is hard to get chick
ems at any price. Eggs are plenty, but
laying stock is not, nSeouently the
cost is above what would nave been the
price in the winter or late fall. Buy in
the fall, keep them comfortable through
out the winter. and with any kind of
care Ia the management you will be re-
paid.
The supposition that fowls must be
continually receiving egg foods, red
pepper or stimulants, has led to many
errors in poultry keeping. The most
important requirements are warmth,
dry shelter and variety of food. If
the fowls are not fed exclusively on
corn, or any one kind of grain, they
will need no medicine. The object will
be 10 have them in such condition that
they will always be willing to hunt and
scratch for their food, which indicates
nealtn. Forcing with StimulantS may
be beneficial for awhile, but there will
some time come reaction.
One drawback to poultry is disease,
and the breed that is hardy and seems
to endure the climate we'll is the one
that will lay the greater number of
eggs and yield the larger profit. The
conditions, of course, vary according
to the location. A breed may be hardy
i'll one climate and not in another. 1t
may stand close confinement under
certain conditions and he sickly in an
other. So many factors enter into tile
keeping of poultry. and ale to be con-
Sldered, and that no two sections are
alike. Hardness is essentially one of
the important points in the selection of
breed. A delicate chicken should
not be bred from at all, for poor success
will eventually follow, and diSsatisfac-
ton and disgust face the breed.