Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-09-22
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
POULTRY AN IMPORTANT
FEATURE OF THE FARM.
How to Make It Pay-Clean Grain
Protect Hands and Face In Handling
Bees-kmall Fruit-Sheep shearing
aud Household Helps.
Poultry as a Farm Speciality.

Fowls will pay we'll on the farm il
you will care for them and give them
the little attention they require. In
the first place you need a person TO
attend to them, one who will not
allow dumb animals under his care to
suffer. and who Is willing to be tied
down little, for the fowls need to
be fed regularly. Select some mem
br of the family who is in sympathy
with the poultry, and will take pride
in seeing them thrive under his or
her care. Next you want place to
keep them in; for this / would
recommend a building separate from
the regular farm buildings, placed in
a sheltered, sunny spot, we'll drained,
in a corner of the orchard, if not too
far from the house. The size must
vary according to the number of
fowls to be kept, and the space or
funds available, but no matter how
you build, You must keep certain
things in view from the beginning.
You want warmth, dryness, ample
space, good ventilation and simplicity
of the inside arrangements, tina they
may be easily cleaned and kept free
from lice, says the Fanclers' Review.
In my own experience | have found
that the hens will lay more eggs If
they are divided into pens of not
more than ten or twelve, and in
building would make the house six
teen feet wide and twelve feet long
for each twelve hens to be housed;
this allows for a four-foot alley on
the north side of the building. /
Eaye found that house made with
good solid balloon frame with matched
or novelty siding on We outside. with
tarred paper between he boards and
studs and on the inside another
thickness of tarred paper. this COW
cred with matched ceiling, is the
cheaper in the end. For the roof /
use what is known as clear butt
shingles, and for the inside partitions
plaued hemlock boards for the first
three feet from the floor and two
inch mesh wire netting from that up
to the roof. In the south side put a
twelve light window for each eight
feet in length. Many people make a
great mistake by putting too much
glass in their poultry houses, forget
ting that it is as good a conductor of
cold as Of heat. Make the poles six
feet high so there will be no bump
ing Of heads in passing about inside
| would make the nests and roosts
movable, so that in cleaning they can
be taken outside of the house if
wished. Provisions should be made
for saving the droppings, as they are
worth about onethird as much per
ton as the average commercial fer
tiliZer.
One must be governed by his mar
kets; if his markets call for eggs,
grow eggs. If your customers want
brown shells give them brown shells;
and if they have the idea that the
white shelled are the richer, give
them white shells; it's just as easy
TO grow one as the other. II they
want broilers, procure some of the
larger, understanding birds and
give them broiler5.
Do not go in too heavily. Start
with fowls you now have on the farm,
keep an account with them; ten to
one they are paying now, and will
pay better the coming year. When
you have learned to make these pay,
KEEP more pullets over. and so let
the business grow. If you find they
are not paying reduce the flock and
study to see what the trouble is.
Many who keep 100 fowls cannot
make them pa5 as much per head as
they could If they only kept fifty.
Don't put too many in too small a
place, feed properly, water often,
house warmly. cater Go your local
markets and poultry will be profit
able.