The Republican journal., 1903-12-24
To Get Eggs IN Winter.

A$@AN >e>~
ENCES RELATED.-LICE MUST BE
KEPT OFF.
Eggs are always in demand at this
season of the year and bring high prices,
but they are higher this year than usu-
al, due, in part at least, to the severe
weather last spring at the time young
chickens ought to have been growing
thriftily instead of dying of cold as
great many of them did. Many mex
perienced persons seem to think that
hens ought to lay all the time if they
are only fed well and given comfortable
quarters, but they soon learn their
mistake after making the trial. A
pullet cannot lay till she arrives at the
laying age, and old hens cannot lay
many eggs when the system is growing
a new covering of feathers. There
is always limit to the vital pow
ers of all living things. A fruit tree
that produces a heavy yield OF fruit
cannot at the same time be making
strong fruit buds for another crop.
Ever-bearing trees are usually either
light producers or they mature their
fruit so early that there is time for
growing fruit buds later in the season.
Hens that lay sparlngly during warm
weather may grow new feathers ana
continue to produce some eggs during
the usual moulting period, but II they
have been fed for full production
through the summer they will be pretty
sure to take about three months vaca-
ton after the advent OF cold weather
in November.
One of my neighbors who raises his
own chickens says that he does not
care to hatch them out very early in
order to get winter layers, as hens lay
so much better in warm weather than
in winter that the profit is greater,
even though the price of eggs is less.
| presume he has not the cOnvenienceS
for raising early chickens with profit,
nor for giving his hens summer tenn
perature in cold weather. l find
great deal of satisfaction in having
eggs to sell when they are in greatest
demand and buyers do not grumble
about prices. For similar reasons l
have always aimed to have my heaviest
sales of dairy products in winter when
MANY farmers believe they cannot at
ford to bother with milking. If ami
mails are kept comfortable it requires
little more food to make an egg or
quart of milk in winter than in sum-
mer. and the prices thus far have al
ways been higher in cold weather. My
poultry in summer occupy open sheds
where there is plenty of air, but
when the nights begin to be cold the
hens are moved into winter quarters
I took them in this year the first of
October and / know that the egg yield
has been much better than if the hens
had remained out during the frosty
nights of the past few weeks. Cold is
as bad for cows and hens as is scant
allowance of food
For getting winter eggs l want my
house so warm that water will never
freeze in the daytime nor much at
night. 1t must also be on land so dry
or we'll drained that an earth floor will
be dry enough at ali times so that the
fowls will find conveniences for walloW
ing without being provided with special
arrangements for a dust bath. L eX-
pect the surface soil will be scratched
over and over during the winter and
we'll mixed with the day droppings.
This keeps the air of the room III health
ful condition. | also use great many
lrv leaves in winter Oh the earth f1oor,
anG all whole grain is thrown upon the
leaves, This compels the hens to DO
great deal of scratching which |
think Is highly necessary Tor good
health. 1t is always the active hen
that laws the eggs. whether it be in
summer or in winter. There is little
danger of hens becoming over fat when
thev are made to do good deal of
scratching for their food.
Hens iii summer get a great variety OF
foodwhen roaming at large and theyneed
a variety in order to retain good appe-
tite and good health. | feed some kind
of animal food as regularly as | do the
grain. The animal meal from the butch
ering establishments seems AS conyen-
lent as ANYTHING | know of. 1t contains
considerable bone that is quite dlgeS-
table and is needed for producing good
shells on the eggs. For vegetable food |
find nothing more convenient and salts
factory than good sweet beets of a size
large enough to lie still while the hens
pick them to pieces. These are the only
roots my hens seem to like in the raw
state. Poultry men differ AS to the
best time for feeding the grain mash
/ always feed in the morning for | then
ALWAYS have hot water for scalding it
and do not at other times. | feed
wheat bran freely with the corn meal
and much prefer to have 1t scalded and
given warm but never hot.
Hens confined must be provided with
grit of some kind. Pounded oyster
Shells afford grit and also furnish lime
for making the shell of the egg, but
hens will also eat bits of hard gravel
when they can find it. OF late broken
limestone of suitable sizes for both old
and young birds is kept by dealers in
poultry supplies. In cold weather corn
may we'll furnish a part of the laying
hens ration, but prefer to feed whole
wheat largely at all seasons, as it is
richer in the elements required for egg
and feather making.
1t ought not to be necessary to re-
mind poultry keepers that hens need
water as we'll as food. and that reason
able cleanliness is Indispensable to good
health. Neither lice nor mites must be
allowed OF the premises. With plenty
of dry earth to wallow in, lice will do
little harm in healthy flock, and fire.
quent applications of kerosine to the
roosts will destroy the mites. These
are usually upon the birds only during
the night but remain in crevices in the
roosts and walls of the building during
the day. If dry coal ashes are freely
used about the roosts, especially where
they rest on supports, there will be lit
tie chance for mites to get@on to the