Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1899-03-07
Profitable Poultry Keeping,

about poultry keeping. There are
a good many old notions, and as
many or more new ones that cause
the hen good deal of suffering, as
well as the man who invested in
her. For years the national eX-
pertinent stations have been grind
ing out facts about cattle feeding,
hog feeding, pig feeding, and sheep
| feeding; but science has strangely
neglected the intricate feeding prob
lens of chickens. We have had
chickens since the dawn of history;
that is, some one has had them;
and though they may have been do
ing business at the old stand CEN
fury after century, don't know
that any one here can'producc any
proof or any hard facts. demonStra-
ted by actual scientific test, in re-
gard to the best methods of feeding
and earring for poultry. In these
days of progress, in these days of
investigation, in these days when
our very civilization depends upon
the honest application of the re.
suits of investigation, it is strange
that the hen is allowed to group
in the dark century after century.
The Utah experiment station is
one of the first to investigate the
hen, and it has already given us a
few valuable facts on the subject of
profitable poultry keeping, and it is
to be a discussion of these facts
that shall confine myself princi-
pally at this time.
The first thing, probably, in these
experiments that will attract the
attention of the farmer. is the fl
nancIal result. Is there money in
hens! 1t seems strange that after
centuries of honest, unremitting
work, this question should come up
every day of the year; stranger
still that four out of every five farm
ers will answer the question in the
negative. There is no money in
hens they say. OF course the
correct answer implies that the
hens receive the best possible treat
ment. The man who feeds his
hens on the dunghill and few ia
BILE scraps once a week, has no
right to say that there is no money
in hens. His neighbor who keeps
his hens till their teeth fall out, is
no more qualified to answer the
question. 1t is probable that there
is no money in the business as it is
conducted on the majority of farms.
In our experiments we had nine
separate pens, all under different
conditions. The financial results
for the year ranged from nothing to
200 per cent. profit on the cost of
feed. These nine pens were all fed
alike. They received the same
kind of food, though in different
Quantities, but they all had as
much as they would eat. They
were all housed the same-that is,
all in the same house. The pen
that gave no profit on the cost of
feed was of the same breed and re-
ceived the same kind of food as the
pen that made 200 per cent. The
difference was that the former was
composed of hens three or four
years old, and the latter of pullets.
There was another difference:
the old hens were fed in boxes,
while the pullets were fed their
grain food IN a litter of straw, max
ing them scratch for it. The form
er was pen No. l and the latter No.
4. The hens m pen produced o.
eggs during the year, worth at
market price So cents. Pen 1 pro-
duced l82 eggs during the year,
worth Sl.SS. Pen l consumed 81 3
cents worth of food, while pen
consumed % cents worth of food.
Pen 5 were old hens, same as pen
/, but they were fed their grain in
the straw, same as pen 4. This
pen consumed % cents worth of
food, laid 1877 eggs.each, worth 81,
a profit of 81 per cent. on the cost