Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1899-11-30
Poultry Notes.

NOtoe.
Those unreasonable hens! Here
some philanthropist has been advising
to allow at least one foot per hen on
the perch. and the hens wont even use
the space when It Is given them. There
| seems to be an unaccountable desire
on the part OF hens to crowd together
In bunch and to roost closely. hen
seldom takes more than eight inches
Of space and no amount Of carpenter
work can make her take more. 1t
would be far more reasonable If the
hen would only decide to occupy
the middle of her allotted foot on the
roost. She would no. catch lice from
the other fowls at least. But our ex-
perience Is that we cannot get the
hens over to our way Of thinking. We
do not say give each hen at least
foot OF room on the roost, but give
them all they will occupy. More ia
useless.
A poultry writer asserts that 1t has
not been proved that lime, ground
bone and oyster shells help at all In
the formation OF egg shells. public
opinion to the contrary notwith-
standing. He may be right, but there
are some things that seem to indicate
that the material thus obtained Ia
utilized In some way to make egg
shells. Hens will run eagerly after An
egg shell unless they have all the
bone meal or ground bone they want.
They will even attack whole eggs to
satisfy their cravings in that direc-
ton. II none Of the material goes into
their system II ia hard to see why they
should have such cravings for the ma
terial mentioned. The cravings OF
fowls for some form of lime is paral-
lelled In the animal world by the crav-
ings OF even wild animals for salt. As
Is well known salt ticks In various
parts of the country were so called
from the custom Of wild animals COM
ing long distances to lick the salt that
oozed out with the water. We know
that salt is needed in the animal
economy and It is to be presumed that
forms Of lime are used In the special
functions Of the fowl-that Of laying
an egg with a shell composed Of lime.
We are not satisfied that the fowl does
not utilize this mineral matter. There
are powerful acids at WORK In the
bodies Of the fowls that are doubtless
able to make even mineral matter ser
viceable. At least we advise to keep
right on feeding lime in some form.
Some Of our agricultural colleges
and experiment stations make the mis-
take Of putting inexperienced men at
the head Of departments. believing
that they are smart fellows and will
soon learn enough rom others to
make up for lack of e ,er!ence. When
this is done the college or expert
ment station authorities should eau
ton the young men not to talk too
much. and especially not to run into
print. 1t Is almost as bad when boards
OF trade take up subjects they want
calculated and hire inexperienced men
to do the work. A report on the Poul-
try Industry of Colorado, issued by the
Denver Chamber OF Commerce is an
example of this The man that did
the work on 1t certainly knows moth
ing practically about the raising OF
poultry and production Of eggs. He
devotes a good deal of space to show
ing what a fortune may be made from
300-hen outfit. It Is easy. He fig
ures 1t out that the hens will lay
easily 144 eggs each, or 48.200 eggs.
He says that half are sure to hatch
and this makes 81 600 chicks. 70 per
cent of which are sure to grow to ma
turity even when cared for only by the
old hen. He thus gets 10000 chicks
to the age of IA weeks and sells them
all at 40 cents apiece. and has an in
come of $i,320. All expenses he puts
at 81 500, and leaves a net profit OF
$3.50, or $40 cents for each Of the
800 hens. But this Is not all He sug-
gests that by planting fruit trees In
the hen yards the entire cost Of care
and feed could be made from the
fruit, leaving the entire receipts for
the poultry clear profit, or $14.40 per
hen. The writer. B. l.. Winchel. then
asserts that this Is not fancy
sketch"
Profitable Chickens.-James Rankin
of South Easton, Mass. reports
an unusually good season for
spring chickens. He says, In Reliable
Poultry Journal, I'VE Matched about
IL, 900 birds and got them out some six
weeks earlier than any of the other
growers, and we had, as 1t were, the
control of the market during that time.
We commenced shipping March 1 and
marketed nearly 1000 birds at 35c per
h., and as these birds dressed IL lbs.
per pair and represented feed value
OF but 25c each. there was some profit
connected with it." (That Is pretty
good. Each bird sold for $1.92a and
represented feed cost OF but 25 cents.
That left an apparent profit Of $l.62h
or $1.625 for the first 1000 birds. OF
course, there were other expenses, but
probably none that would greatly re-
duce the profits.-Ed. f. RI
Daily inspect the poultry house for
red mites. 1t is better to get the start
OF them than to have them get the
start Of you.
Have the roost fixtures movable. %
the droppings will not always fall In
the same place The air can then dry
them out.