The progressive farmer., 1900-12-18
The Poultry Yard.
GREEN CUT BONE, SHELLS AND GRAVEL

some food and a variety sufficient to
keep the poultry in good condition
are needed for winter feeding. Green
cut bones, powdered shells and gravel
are of special value for winter feed
ing because they supply to the chick
ems mineral elements that they do
not ordinarily get. In the summer
season they pick up such variety
of food that their systems manage to
secure nourishment enough both of
fatty nature of minerals. When
the chickens are laying eggs through
winter, they require plenty of food
that contains lime and similar mate
rial. This is noticed in the eager
way in which they will eat anything
of this nature. Grind the bones and
see how quickly they will devOur
them. Pound to a fine powder Oys-
ter, clam or other shells, and see
how quickly the laying hens will go
around and pick up choice bits.
Even the egg shells that have been
used in the coffee or those left from
the breakfast table, if broken up in
fine pieces the poultry will eat them
as if they relished them. Good gravel
mixed with little rock salt is an
other essential winter food, or rather
it is not food but something to help
5;Croe% &bo I,o. 1y;oy. foods
1t takes time and labor to grind
green bones or even to pound shells
up for the poultry, and a great many
who start in noblY soon give ont.
Probably they look at it in this way /:
the time and labor spent in grinding
the bones, if paid for at regular rates,
would represent much more than the
actual profits of the eggs. 1t is
hardly economy, therefore, or good
sense to do work that is irksome
and not very profitable. But how
else will you spend your time to
make up for the difference? There
is no other way on the farm in win
ter to put the idle moments to actual
profitab BILE use. Consequently it will
more than pay to grind the bones or
pound the shells as religiously as you
feed your chickens every night.
1t is undoubtedly true that grind
ing green bones for the laying hens
adds many dollars of profit to the
business every year. l have some
times thought I would keep track of
two colonies of birds just to see what
the actual profit was; but there Is
one Objection-the work of grinding
the bones is too hard for woman,
and therefore it is problem that
many cannot face without some
fears of Il mistake. A man can
operate the bone cutter all right, but
woman cannot. 1t is this differ
ence which must be taken into con-
sideratiOn before undertaking the
work. Yet there are usually many
on the farm to do this work, and
where such help can be obtained it
is a great mistake not to have an
abundant supply of green cut bones
for the laying hens right through
through the long winter months.
NOT TOO MUCH PETTING.
Poultry for winter laying must not
be petted and coddled too much if
we would have them do their best.
A good deal of the advice given in
regard to winter poultry would, if
followed, make such delicate crea-
lures out of our birds that they
would never be able to do anything
except stay around the house and
keep warm. We need strong, vigor-
Gus birds for winter use, and any
thing that weakens them will re-
duce the egg supply. Now one dis
tinct way to do this is to keep them
too warm and cosy, and that is what
many are doing today.
Of course we want good hen houses,
sweet and clean, and warm enough
to keep the birds from suffering. But
we do not want them artiticiaIly
heated. If they are built so the cold
air is kept out and wind and rains
| excluded, they will have tempera-
ture better suited to the health of
the chickens than if artifcally
heated. When we begin to heat the
winter quarters we lay the founda-
ton for trouble. You cannot heat
the house without weakening the
powers of the chickens, and before
zrinte1. is nua1. thau will l e too ten