The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-06-24
No. 20

| also De Dul1G SO IQaC 1t can be easily
cleaned out. Cleanliness is essential
to success in the poultry business. Yer
min and disease always lurk in foul,
Ill smelling hen-house. In construct
ing our hen-house, we should not i'm
agine that we get them too warm. /
have never yet seen one that was too
warm; if enough air should not enter
the poultry house during warm wealth
er, some of the windows can be opened.
The walls of the house should be doub-
led, with building paper between the
two thicknesses of plank, or better yet,
studding may be used, leaving dead
air space in the walls, making the
house cooler in summer and warmer in
winter; sonte people ELL this space with
sawdust. believe that this is a good
idea and mean to try it next winter.
The roosts should be so arranged
that they can be removed when clean
ing the house out it would be well also
to have the nests so that they can be
frequently taken out and cleaned. A
filthy nest is one of the best harbors
for lice.
After you have decided how many
you can accommodate, sort out your
flock, using great care in the selection
of the individual birds that make up
your bunch of winter layers. Select
the most vigorous and best developed
pullets, rejecting undersized and un-
developed ones. The flock of winter
layers should, as far as possible, be
made up of early Matched pullets. Next
after these I would select yearlings;
all over this age would dispose of, as
an old hen, except in rare cases, will
not pay for her feed through the
winter.
The pullets, if of the Mediterranean
stock, should be Matched in April, or
early May to make good winter layers;
if heavier breed is used, they may be
cared for, will begin to lay in the fall
when the price of eggs is advancing.
It should be the aim of every farmer
to have his hens in good shape for lay
ing when the prices paid for eggs are
highest.
The moulting process usually occu-
pies about three months, and this pc
riod will be prolonged into the winter,
if the hens are not properly cared for.
A hen that does not shed her feathers
until November or December will not
pay for her feed through the winter.
| In order to encourage early moulting
the hens should be fed rather heavily
of feather producing food; meat-meal
and little sulphur twice week will
be beneficial. ,Sunfower seed is an
excellent feed for moulting hens. Corn
should be fed rather sparingly through
the warmer months, although small
quantity each day will do no harm, and
in the fall it will be of great benefit.
A bran mash is greatly enjoyed by the
hens at any time of year. All table
| scraps should go to the hens, while a
great many other things that would be
otherwise wasted, such as offal at
butchering time, wheat screenings,
sorghum tops, and various other by
products, if given to the hens are
quickly converted into cash-bringing
commodity in the shape of eggs.
One of the greatest mistakes made
by farmers is in not giving their hens
sufficient quantity of feed; another
is in not providing proper shelter,
while there is a limited number who
recognize the Importance of providing
grit for the poultry. Without grit the
poultry will have poor digestion, and
flock of hens with poor digestion is
usually an improbable flock. When a
flock is confined for few days during
a cold snap the first few feeds of grain :
that are given are readily eaten. Then
they will eat but very little. Some may
imagine that they have been overfed,
but this is rarely the case; it is US
uaIly because they have not been pro-
vided with grit enough to digest their
food, and the poultry are starving,
while we are comforting ourselves
with the belief that they are well fed. i.
We are shocked when young man
dissipates, in rioutous living, a for