Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1890-10-31
farm Copies.
CARE AND FOOD FOR POULTRY.

SAhC ANU TOOO ToH FOOL " ' =
John Wallace writes as follows in the
National Stockman:
Care and food are two very important
questions to consider in their relation to
poultry culture. Unhappily we find
many novices too apt to think that any
Kind of care or food will do in raising
poultry, and when the season demands
good shelter and nutritious food in vari-
ETY. they shamefully neglect their birds,
forgetful or ignorant of the fact that
proper care and food bestowed on poultry
are not lost. Fowls appreciate kindness,
though they do not express it in words,
but rather in deeds, by returning favors
in the shape of nice fresh eggs, tender
broilers and well favored and succulent
roasters. The question of proper care
and food is settled and its necessity in
poultry culture established, though diff
ferent ways may be practced to attain
the one, and different methods used in
the preparation and different kinds in
the composition of the other. still in the
broad sense of the term proper care and
food does not imply nursing, pampering
and everlastingly brushing, scraping and
fussing with the fowls and their houses,
as if they were house plants or song
birds. All breeders cannot readily OBJ
tain the same kind of food, nor give the
same kind Of care, but each one can pro-
cure variety of food and give good care.
The better the care and the more varied
the food the better the results,
Good management has much to do with
the success of any business. Poultry
raising needs as much management as
any home industrial pursuit. The care
less breeder or farmer never makes any
progress. If little extra attention will
cause a few dozen hens to lay early, it
would be poor management to retard de-
Velopment of the eggs by subjecting
them to cold and poor food. 1t is a no.
ticcable fact that "A snowstorm or cold
spell will stop hens laying, though the
same quantity and quality of food may be
given during the time. This has often
puzzled the beginner; he cannot see the
philosophy of hen suddenly quitting
the "shelling OUT process merely for
few cold days between times. The solu
ton of the egg problem is as plain as the
growth of plants. \ few cold days will
retard the growth of plants Cr destroy
the germ altogether, especially plants
which depend ON heat and moisture for
quick growth end full development. 1t
is the same with g-production; the pro-
ducton ceases when the temperature of
the body is lowered. In plain words,
the secretions of the egg pass through
the tissues like sap, and cold checks the
secretions like it does the sap in the tree
or field plant.
Heating food so as to keep up the ami
nal heat of the body will go Il good way
in preventing a check when cold spells
come on suddenly. but it is not equal to
bringing heat of the fowl house up to the
laying point. Fifty to sixty degrees
Fahrenheit is the most desirable for egg
production At forty degrees eggs will
be produced by proper food and sufficient
feeding. At freezing point there is a
check in the secretions like as with sap.
Moderation of temperature relaXes the
check and the secretions flow to the
formation of eggs. The novice or farmer
by this plain reasoning can learn the
necessity of warm quarters in cold
weather for all his producing stock. The
horse eXpends his force by muscular
action, the COW and hen their force in
milk and egg production. Milk of itself
will support and nourish life, while the
egg contains all the elements of life be-
sides bone, flesh and feathers. To have
hens lay in cold weather their house must
be comfortable, and they otherwise
should be properly attended to in order
to obtain laying temperature. Heat is
the solution of the egg problem.