The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1894-06-21
Breeds of Fowls.
Correspondence Home and Farm

Correspondence Home and Farm
There seems to be great fancy
nowadays FOR having a uniform breed
of fowls, some housekeepers having
selected Langshan chickens, some
Brahmas, Others Plymouth Rock, etc.
This plan may be an advantageous one
on the whole, but it is attended with
some Inconvenience. It is very worry
ing and perplexing to have a poultry
yard full Of hens so resembling each
other that they can not be distinguished
apart. I have known scenes of comic
worry take place in consequence of this
close similarity between the hens. For
instance, lady of my acquaintance
who has about forty Langshan hens
land no other kinD gets her poultry
affairs into intricable confusion some
times by being unable to distinguish
between the hens which are setting,
those which are laying and those which
are carrying young broods. When they
are all out in the hen yard feeding or
taking dust baths she some times gets
them all mis-matched, giving to one
hen the brood belonging to another,
and causing the helpless brood to be
pecked to death in consequence, or
putting setting hens back on the wrong
nests, thereby causing some to set a
much longer time than others. For
instance, she will I ut hen that has
been setting few days on the nest of
one that is ready to hatch out the next
day, and by exchanging the nests of
these two hens one will be forced to
set nearly six weeks, whilst the other
will bring out fine young brood at
the end of few days. No wonder
that the former hen should become
cynical under these circumstances and
feel the injustice Of life. One might
suppose that such mistakes might be
prevented by each hen returning to her
proper nest after taking a little run or
dust bath, but, unfortunately, their
love for changing nests Is so great that
they are not reliable in this matter.
When they are all exactly similar
in appearance, their owner is unable
to set them right when they swap
| nests.
1 remember on one occasion seeing
beautiful little brood Of Pekin ducks
sacrificed by the owner being unable
to distinguish the hen that Matched
them out from number of others ex-
| actly similar in appearance. The lady
became bewildered and mistook the
identity of the hen mother, in oonse-
quence of which the boord of ducks all
lay stretched dead in less than an hour.
Perhaps in such cases the use of differ
ent colored strings around the leg might
be of some help in identifying certain
hens.
If housekeeper resolves to keep
only one variety of chickens 1 do not
believe she can find a better one, on
the whole, than the Langshan. These
chickens are very large, fine looking
and hardy, and the hens are good lay
ers. A well fedyoung Langshan rooster
of eight months is almost as large as
the common run of turkey hens. The
Leghorns are valuable, in some respects,
but their small size is a great draw
brack to them. The great question
with farmers wives is how to make
their hens lay. The universal expert
ence Seems to be that hot food is neces-
sary to produce that result at this sea-
son, and scraps Of meat interspread
with bread and bits Of meat are also
very beneficial. 1t is good plan to
boil daily large pot of food for your
chickens, in December and January if
no longer. Put potato and turnip
peelings and the outer leaves Of cab
bage in this pot, adding any inferior
meat not desirable for your table; for
instance, the lights of the hog or the
liver, if your family do not like the
latter. Indeed, there are many little
odds and ends which might be utilized
in this way during hog killing season.
1t is good way to use the cracklings.
Have them baked in unsifted meal and
they will form stimulating diet for
your hens. Red pepper, too, helps to
produce eggs. Make a pot Of led
pepper tea and use it to make up dough
| to be baked in cakes for your hens,
and you will find it increases their lay
ing capacity. A city lady of my &C
quaintance who obtains an extraordi-
nary yield of eggs from dozen hens,
kept in the back lot, feeds them daily,
in cold weather, On scraps of refuse
meat, which she gets at market from
the butchers who charge her only
| few cents, and, indeed, frequently give
away inferior little odds and ends so
as to clear their stall of them.
NJ. W. EARLY.
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