Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1892-07-21
POULTRY NOTES.

AL CAttiiGuI autilttpu 10 iiit ISAu1Al
feed, especially for cold weather, may
be had by buying scrap meat and
bones from the butcher. Pound up
the bones after the meat is off.
Eternal vigilance is the price of
poultry, and though you may get rid
of all lice. they won't stay away unless
you make them. Dirt and filth are di-
rect inducements to come back. Keep
every nook and corner clean.
Hot feed, especially at night and
morning in cold weather, will prove OF
great benefit'to young growing stock,
and will somewhat increase the pro
ductiveneSs of laying hens. A mixed
feed of chopped boiled vegetables and
screenings is good.
To kill the lice when they have fast
ened on the fowls, we know nothing as
good as to rub thoroughly with kero-
sene oil. Put plenty under the wings
especially. To remove them from the
coops, close up everything light and
fumigate with sulphur. Then white
wash inside and out, nest-boxes, perch
es and all.
We know a poultryman who washes
every egg in lukewarm water as soon
as it is brought in, thus removing eT-
cry suggestion of dirt. Then he puts
them in small clean baskets and goes
to market. He never has any trouble
to dispose of his whole stock, and he
always asks (and gets) a little more
than the market price.
A good disinfectant should be on
hand, and literally used all through
the spring aud summer. An inexpen-
sive preparation may be made by dis
solving three pounds of cOpPeras in
five gallons of water, and adding one
pint of crude carbolic acid. This may
be sprinkled about the house and
Yards with a common watering pot.
The pullets and old laying hens
should be fed separately if possible.
The former need considerable fatten.
ing and stimulating food to force
them along, but the same ration would
be apt to make the hens too fat to lay.
The Spanish are an exception to this
rule, however, for they will turn al,
most anything that is given into eggs
Breeders of Leghorns and Spanish
fowls claim that they are good for an
average production of 25Q eggs pei
year. They may do this under except,
Ional circumstances, but we don't be,
Aieve they will under the ordinary con
ditions of the farm. But with a very
much smaller production they could
prove conclusiyely that they are profit
able stock to keep.
The common error in caring fOi
poultry on the farm is to feed them toe
heavily. Corn is always handy and is
apt to be given too freely, we have
even seen farms where the fowls had
the free run of the corn crib. The bad
effects Of such examining are seen in
the lack of eggs. Cut off half the sup
ply of corn and the production and
profit will increase.
Both size and quality should have
some effect upon the selling price Of
eggs. Unfortunately the latter cannot
be determined while in the shell, but
YOUR customers who use them viii
soon determine whether they are a;
good as they should be. The food, the
healthfulness of the fowl and the
cleanliness of the quarters will affect
the quality of the product.
To fatten fowls with the creates
economy they must be confined where
there will not be much room for ex
ercise. Small feeding coops for thi.
purpose should always be ready. Stiff
corn meal mush with a little boileC
rice added will produce fat about a
fast as anything. Mashed boiled pc
tatoes, milk mixed with the soft feed
and whole corn at night may be useC
TO give variety.
Skim milk and the whites of egg
are found by ANALYSIS to be very mucl
alike in their constituents. This shows
very conclusively that the white o.
eggs may be made cheaply by using
skim milk for feeding. Then supply
an equally good food for forming tht
yolk and you will have a perfect egg
ration. We do not value skim mill
as we ought, nor use it always to thu
best advantage.
Where the fowls run at large, troubl,
is sometimes experienced in getting
them to their proper quarter at night
and if they get in the habit of roostins
out, they are apt to become wild ant
unmanageable. This tendency can b,
entirely and easily overcome by feed
ing literally right at the coop ever,
evening. 1t pays TO do this even i
you think they do not need the extr;
feed, for fowls that range at large anC
stay out o'nights r very apt to hid
their nests.
The manure from the poultry house
if it is properly handled; should pa.
one-fourth the entire cost of feeding
that is about 25 cents per head. /
has this direct value for f%ertiliZing
If pains were taken TO save and com
post it with equal parts of muck W,
would have manure worth pound 70,
pound as much as the best gnano
The hen manure should never, how
ever, be applied direct to the lane
in its raw, crude state. 1t is almos
always lumpy, so that it does not mil
we'll with the soil, and is so stron!
that it will burn and kill the young
plants.
Lice are the most general and per
sistent enemy hat we have TO combat
The trouble with some poultry keep
ers is that they think there are non'
around unless they can see then
swarming on the nests and walls. Re
member that they first fasten onto thu
fowls and are not visible t. th'
eye unless you search for them. A:
soon as warm weather comes some o
them are pretty sure to be about. l
the chickens are listless and mopy,an I'M
90 about with trailing wings. a clos,
examination will be likely to reveal th'
vermin. Let them alone and you vii
soon have a lot of dead fowls, anC
plenty of visible evidence of the lie,
without putting on your glasses t
look.
There is nc reason, says the DdkOtt
Farmer, why the farmers wives VIII
take nice fresh eggs to private custom
ers should be governed by store
prices. In buying at y store q house
keeper is always served from a mis-
cellaneous collection, and the chance:
are very much against their being al
ways fresh. Eggs that come direct
from the farm to the consumers are
worth more and should bring more
than grocery" eggs, and the majority
of town and city housekeepers would
be willing to pay more. Five cent:
per dozen woald be none too much tC
add to the price for delivering a:
wanted and guaranteeing to be fresh.
When freely used in the poultry
yard, charcoal is of great value. i
ground or pounded fine and fed tc
the fowls in their soft food, says one
who has had experience, it materially
aids digestion and cleanses the system
of impurities. As it acts upon the
blood, it acts upon the life of the fowl.
When the blood is thick and clotty, q
dull, sick chicken will soon follow.
Thin blood alurorr p,aon -