The Columbus journal., 1894-08-22

we have q fence > or q feet high made
with a base board a foot wide and
common plasterer's lath, and early in
the spring we clip n wing, and we
have no trouble witch them in our
yard or garden. Many poultry
growers have fed wheat to their
fowls since the price has been
so cents a bushcl. but this is
nearly SIT a ton, and after feeding
screenings exclusively for three years,
except that in cold weather we give
one feed of corn a day, l have found
that my hens lay well. and keep
healthy. and that the cost Of keeping
is reduced fully one-half. l have
never paid, when I bought a ton at a
time. owe $40, but did pay 60 cents a
hundred by the small quantity before
l got to buying by the ton. AS l live
near the roller mills, l can keep watch
and select when there is screenings
that has but little chess in it. but is
mostly broken and shrunken wheat.
We feed this to our young chickens
after they are ten days old, but US, al
ly give n feed a day of some other
food for variety. and furnish them
lettuce or some other green food.
SECURING IT EGGS.
have learned this year by a losing
experience that must not have too
many hens to q Geek. Last year l had
seventy hens and three cocks and
nearly every egg was fertile, and this
year l Started with 115 hens TO three
cocks and but 80 per cent of the eggs
were fertile. l conclude that from
twenty to twenty-five hens to each
vigorous cock is the best number. and
another year shall not make the
blunder l did this. l manage my sit.
ting hens better now than formerly. /
have rooms on purpose in which to
confne them, when ! wish to break
them from sitting, and shut up from
ten to twelve together and keep them
up for about foar days. I fccd and
water regularly but let them get hun
CRY the day l am to let them out, and
then open the door about sundown,
and they will forage until it begins to
get dark and then so on o the roost.
| have had as many as forty hens
wanting TO sit at cnce this season.
SETTING THE HENS.
/ formerly recommended setting the
hens in the poultry house in rows of
nests provided, and arranging to shut
them in and then have a regular time
to take them off and feed them, but
while the theory is good it will not
work in practice. and l lost hundreds
of eggs in finding it out. I have had
excellent success this season by re-
moving the hers to rooms prepared
for them. and setting . number at
once. Four hens may be set in q
room five feet square, one in each
corner, and l set six in a room SKIS. 1t
should be made with a door swinging
outward and a weight to keep it
closed, so that when you step inside
the hens can not get out. Let your
hens sit two or three days without
.ggs on their OWE nests. and remove
them TO the sitting after dark.
Keep fresh water and food, gravel,
and q dust bath in the room. and let
the hens take care Of themselves
TEST II EGGS.
One week after they are set test the
eggs and remove all un!ertile ones. A
very convenient and excellent tester
can be made by getting q box of thin
lumber and cutting an egg-shaped hole
at such a hight that it will come ex-
actly opposite the fame of a lamp.
Make the hole small enough that SO
that the egg will not go through. and
in q dark when you hold the egg