Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1899-05-09
Making the Cochins Lay.

Eggs, is SO pititul that l cannot
forego telling him and your read.
ers little story.
/ bred the same variety-Light
Brahmas-and also have some
White Leghorns. Yet under my
system of feeding my Brahmas
lay better than my Leghorns,
and far better than my neigh
bors' no matter what variety. /
will bet that mans hens are
rolling in fat.
You would be surprised how
little feed it takes to make a
Brahma fat. Right here | want
to correct popular error, viz:
That Brahmas are big eaters.
How much they could be made
to eat am not sure Of, but l feed
more per fowl to my Leghorns
than to the Brahmas.
My experience with chickens
has been that Leghorn pullets
are the only fowls that can safely
be fed all they want to eat. l
have had Brahmas get fat on full
ly IS per cent less than was just
enough to keep Leghorn pullets
in good laying condition.
was asked every day this
winter by people whose hens
were not laying, what fed, and
why their hens did not lay, etc.
4nevery case where / could l
visited their yards and the con-
ditions were so universally the
same that will mention just one
case to illustrate.
One of my neighboring farm
ers told me one night that he had
just closed bargain with a
butcher to take all of his thor
, oughbred Buff Cochins at nine
cents a pound, as they did not
lay worth a cent" and he was
going to get Barred Plymouth
Rocks, etc. AS / wanted a few
sitting hens l though would buy
a few of his best ones, and after
setting them l could easily dis
pose Of them. So over l went
to pick out some of the best.
The fowls were at roost when |
got there, but the first thing that
caught my eyes was about pint
of corn lying in a heap on the
bare ground, being the balance
that the fowls were totally una
BILE to get into their crops. This, |
too, when they had only to pick
it up. / find that this means
about half again as much as if
they had to scratch for IT.
Well, took home several hens
and pullets and put them in with
the pen of Brahmas. Now, H
feed all grain in litter in winter,
and l noticed that the Cochins |
did not scratch for their meal, |
but stood around evidently eX-
pecting me to dump pile of |
grain at their feet, or possibly |
put in their mouths. $50 that's
it." thought l, and / just dumped
an extra bag of dried leaves in
that pen and made up my mind
that those birds would scratch or
starve; and would you believe it,
those birds did not get anything
to eat for from ten days to two
weeks. In the mornings the
Brahmas would have all the mash
eaten up while the Cochins were
looking at them, and in the eve
,nings they seemed to think that
such hustling after food was be-
meath their dignity. AT all
events, they stood aloof and
starved.
To make a long story short, in
about ten days | noticed one of
them so far forgetting herself as
to dig few grains of wheat out
of the litter before the others
ate it all up clean. And so they
fell into line one by one, until
now all save two are pretty good
busters and are all laying.
8 The butcher who bought the
rest of the flock told me that
there was great Jumps of fat in l
the birds. to such an extent that s