The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1894-06-21
Keeping Poultry in the City.
Home and Farm

About one-third of all the poultry
raised in this country are owned by
those who live in cities, towns and
villages, and, it may be added, the
town people nearly always keep pure
breeds, and know more about raising
poultry than the farmers. How to
keep poultry in cities is thus explained
by Mr.. Charles Graf, Of Scranton, Pa,
who says:
docs it pay to keep chickens in the city
where you can not let them rum is a
question you hear quite often, and can
say from experiment, eyes" In fact
think a small flock pays better in city
than in the country. [ have flock OF
TWENTY-FIVE chickens-eight hens and
fourteen pullets-of 1898, which raised
myself. keep them in a coop five by
nine which stands in yard eighteen by
twenty feet In the month of January
| got 257 eggs, and all the cost for food
during that period was sixty cents fOr
meal and corn, and will tell you how
| manage. All the scraps from the table
| are saved, even the water the vegetables
are boiled in. Then | boil enough OF
potato peelings, rutabaga and turnip
Feelings, cabbage leaves, ETC., to last me
| three or four days. With that, the
kitchen scraps and a handful OF meal, l
feed my chickens morning and night, but
| give it to them warm. But where the
city folks have the advantage over the
chicken raisers in the country is in the
feeding OF green bone, which they can get
at the butchers for the asking OF 1T. |
have a green bone cutter and would not
part with it for a good, round sum, if l
could not get another. OF course it costs
a great deal for q few chickens, but the
saving in food will pay for it in a year,
besides the gain in eggs.
The house is only 5x9 feet and the
yard l8x20 feet, both being rather
small for twenty hens, but Mr.. Graf
got 257 eggs in January, which is evil
dence that he manages them properly.
1t may be added that the size Of the
yard is not so important as to keep the
hens at work. They can be kept busy
on small plot just as we'll as in a
large epace, by giving them litter in
which to scratch. When feeding them
aim to give rather too little than too
much. Let them leave their food some
what hungry, and then scatter gill Of
millet seed in ths litter, which will in
duce them to scratch and work yigor.
ously. 1t is not wise to feed them
every time you have scraps. a ligh
meal in the morning and a full mea
at night is sufficient, especially in
summer, or they will become too ia,
and have bowel disease.
One reason why a small flock pay:
in the city is that there is no cost fol
labor: True, there is some labor re
quired, but it is so bestowed as to cos
nothing. Fowls in yards should be
fed at regular periods. If fed otter
they will not scratch, and will appear
to be always hungry, following the
attendant whenever he appears, which
induces the attendant to give more
feed. This is only habit which they
learn. They are not hungry at all but
too lazy to work.
The great secret of keeping hens in
small yards is to give plenty Of grit and
water, feed carefully, and keep the
hens at work. If they do not work
starve them down to it. No work nc
eggs. plenty of work means healthy
fowls, less expense, and full EGG
basket.