Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1899-03-02
NUMBER ,.
Poultry Points.


Hens to be profitable in the winter
season should be kept laying all win.
ter. The first consideration is good
well developed pullet of any of the
better breeds. A well developed hen
should begin laying by the first of
November and if they are kept in
proper condition, furnished with prop
er egg-food, plenty of water, sunlight.
and warmth she will lay all winter.
Some people think it to expensive to
build warm quarters for the hens.
which is a mistaken idea. III they
would give half as much attention to
housing their hens as they do to hous-
ing their hogs, cattle and horses they
would find their frofits much better.
| never advocated an expensive house.
a building feet high on the south and
five feet high on the north, boards
nailed up and down, the cracks well
battoned and the whole lined inside
with tar felt paper and it will be
warm enough for laying hens. The
roosts should be placed near the roof
On the north side so that their breath
will help to keep them warm, for in
stance suppose the roof was six feet
above where they roost, they never
could warm that space with their
breath when the mercury is down
towards sc degrees below zero. Let
your henhouse run east and west
with partition every 10 feet, thus
making your rooms OHIO These
rooms VIII accommodate Is hens very
well IN winter. Keep the pens clean.
put in fresh straw six inches deem ev-
cry week. A hungry hen is always a
healthy hen, therefore let them scratch
in that straw for every kernelof grain
you feed them. Scraps from the table
make the best egg food there is. Sell
the worthless old cur dog and feed the
scraps to the hens. Remember there
is no eggs in corn but suppose it is
necessary to give the hens full feed
of corn most of these cold evenings
as 1t IS very heating and will keep their
gizzards busy for the long night.
Shrunk wheat, Buckwheat and wheat
bran is perhaps the hest feed there Is
for hens which are expected to Law
eggs. VI course you must provide
shell material and grit; the first you
can buy very cheap, / buy it down on
the coast at 65 cts per hundred lbs.
the second you can buy or do as / do
break up old crockery which is lust
as good as any you can buy. Where
hens are confined in the pens for a
long time as they necessarily are In
winter, great care must be taken les,
they get very bad habits of eating
eggs and feather pulling both Of which
are miserable vices. For the first
make what we call hidden nests. that
is place all the nest boxes or places
where they lay in such shape that
they must 60 into the dark. Hens
like to lay where it is dark but will
not go where it is dark to hunt eggs
to eat. have tackled up old sacking
In such manner that it hung down
directly in front of the nest which did
very well. The feather pulling was
much harder To break up, the only
way ever found was to watch care
fui for the culprit, (thev are sly) and
when you have found her, no matter
how good she is, use the Ratchet.
However with plenty of straw in the
pens and some small grain thrown in
after keeps them busy and obviates
both Of these vices With good warm
rooms, proper food, water and care,
you should never be satisfied if you are
not getting half as many eggs as you
have hens each day in the winter
season. In the winter they seldom
lay an egg only every other day,
therefore if you are getting n eggs
from ~ hens you are doing reasonably
well. As spring approaches, hens be-
come broody, insects make their ap.
pearance and as we begin to think Of
setting hens, little chicks. lice and
kindred ailments | will try to give
some more pointers if the editor don't
object.