The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-11-10
YARD
L FOR PROFIT.

Convention at GAINESVILLE, Tenn M.
M. Kline, President OF the Tennessee
Poultry Association, read an excellent
paper on Poultry for Profit, in which
he referred to the annual Importation
Of millions of eggs by our people, and
stated the fact that there is less fl Ictue-
ton in the prices Of poultry and eggs
than in anything else grown or raised
on the farm.
Citing down to the practical part,
he ssid: There are three things nects
sary for the successful raising OF pull
try for profs;' nay, four.
FIRST, go slow until you know what
you are doing; second, ~cleanllnf So, not
only Of the sock, but Ct their quarters
as we'll; third proptr feeding, and
fourth, keep your stock busy. The
fret work you are to do is on the chick
en- house, II it isn't weather proof, we
will make it SO. Stop up every crack
and knot hole you can find, and let us
have it just as comfortable as it can be
made. Too much trouble? Well, that
depends. How would you like to gather
corn the next day if you had slept all
night with the wind blowing through
a go2d-sized crack on your head and
bare feet7 You would not need the
doctor to tell you you had the rheuma-
tism. Clean of the f9or-clean and
have it dry by all means. neglected
to tell you to put a window with glass
in it in the house.
Put up some new roCs5s and let
them be not over two feet high and not
less than four inches wide. Make plenty
of nests and have them inviting. Now
partition eff one corner Of the house,
say six feet sqlare, by placing a six
iCch board edgeWise on the floor Fill
this up to the top with good dry straw
or dry forest leaves. Over in another
corner, away from the roosts and rests,
| partition eff another little place two
and a half feet square with six inch
boards and fill it full of nice road dust.
You might mix a ehovelful Of wood
ashes and a handful Of powdered sui
phur with it. This little corner is the
hens bath room, and the sulphur will
help to keep away the lice. Now white
wash every part of it inside, and throw
some Stacked lime on the f>or, and
when your hens are in it, see that the
dIoppings are removed twice a week
eve are ready to put in the hens
now, and if your house is twenty feet
square you may put forty in it. I wist
you had some thoroughbred Plymouth
Rock hens, but you haven't, so we oil
just put in what you have and MAKE
| up the balance Of the forty by buying
a fe@7 Of the best from your neighbors
Never nina the rooster, we won't neeC
him this winter, and we won't have
him next summer, so just kill him of
if he is tough.
"Now the plant is arranged and the
eggmechines are ready to start to work.
for a hen is a machine, and under
proper conditions che is bound TO pro,
cuce eggs. This same machine worked
we'll last hummer when she could get
insects (m6at), grass seeds GRAIN and
grass. So let US give her the same treat
ment now and she will do az we'll, and
remember she wants variety, too. Sup
pose we arrange a bill Of fare about as
follows, varying it from day to day as
we can: For the morning meal, which
should always be fed in the house in
winter, let us take for tie forty
hens q quart Of bran, a quart Of coarse
meal, if it is handy, and make up the
balance Of a gallon from potatoes, tur
nips or any other vegetables that you
may have a surplus of, and boil all TO
gother in a mash and feed warm in
troughs as early in the morning as
possible. After they have eaten, take
the troughs aw8y and keep them clean.
Now you must scatter two or three
hapdfuls CT millet seed aud as much
wheat among the straw or leaves over
in the corner. You wi then soon see
what I meant by keep ng then busy.
Later in the day, just before they are
ready to rooat, give them a feed Of
grain, a quart to ten hens, no more;
corn, wheat, oats, Or rye, elternated
from day to day. Only on Geld nights
give them corn, as it helps to resist the
cold better than any other grains.
Generally speaking, feed corr sparirg
IL. It is too fattening, and fat hens
won't lay. OF course you are to keep