The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-02-16

POULTRY IN FEBRUARY.

GOO| AN E & NOaCXS
February is the month of prepare,
tion. 1t is the time to begin to study
over the operations for the coming
year. In February the poultry keeper
should begin to pick out his breeding
stock for the coming season. He will
have had time during the winter to
watch his flock and determine which
birds come nearest his ideal of the style
that suits him best. Nest boxes can be
overhauled and fixed up for the com
ing need Of them, and plans for hatch
ing perfected. Our readers are advised
to send for the catalogues Cff9red by
the makers Of iE cubators and broOders.
These machines are now so far per-
fected that they are very reliable, and
any one who expects to hatch more
than one hundred chicks should have
brooder, even if the Matching is to
be done with hens. II is a question
whether it pays to buy an incubator
unless 200 or more chicks are to be
Matched. It very early chicks are de-
sired incubators must be used, as it is
impossible to get hens to sit before some
time IN March, except in rare cases.
We used brooders bafore we did in
cuoators, and after the first seasons ex-
perience concluded never to raise any
more fowls with hen mother, as the
brooder makes it as easy to take care
of 100 chicks as it is to watch one old
hen with a dozen chicks, says the
Farmers Voice.
Those who keep purebred fowls-and
every breeder ought to do so-should
separate their breeding hens from the
main fcck the latter part of this month,
and place with them the male he de
sires to breed from, in order to have
the eggs Of pure blood and known
parentage.
Breeding pens should be mated up
st least a month before any eggs are
saved for Matching in order to be per-
fectly SUE of the eggs being all right,
though in pinch and when the hens
are laying freely, half this time will do.
If the poultry house is thoroughly
purified and cleansed during February
half the battle against lice and mites
is fought. During some warm day all
the nest boxes and perches should be
taken out of the house and scalded by
pouring boiling water on them freely.
Then the inside of the house should be
white washed, put ing on aliberal coat of
thick, hot white wash with an old broom.
Replace the peTches and nest boxes and
give them a coat of keros enc and the
| lice and mites will have been killed,
and all the eggs in the cracks about the
house destroyed. It will be but little
trouble after this to keep all such pests
under subjection.
Itshould be remembered that it takes
but moderately cold day to chill eggs
enough to kill the germ in them, and
eggs that are to be used in Matching
early chickens should be gathered fre
quently and kept in a warm place.
If hens are to be used for Matching,
prepare a place where a dozen may be
set at the same time. If this is done
the chicks may all be put in one brooder
or the hatch may be doubled up and
given to half the hens, while the other
hens are set again or turned out to get
ready to begin business in the way of
producing eggs. frequently, in early
matches, two or three hens will hatch
only as many chickens as one can care
for and it is a waste of time to allow
all of them to run with lot of chicks
that one of them could care for.
March is a wet and sloppy month
usually, and the good poultry keeper
will prepare to keep his poultry yards
as dry as possible in order to make his
fowls comfortable for no uncomfort
able fowl will do any good in any way.