The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1906-02-15
Sixty Hens and Only One Egg Day.
II. L. Blanchard.

Oh us correspondents Iue lOllOWlHS
communication, which Mr.. F. Walden,
our associate editor, has kindly passed
over to the writer with the statement
that she can eat chicken with the best
of his profession but don't know very
much about making hens lay:
"Mr. Editor:-In your last paper
you take rather roseate view Of the
chicken business, and fearing that you
may be tempted by the high price Of
eggs to neglect the duties of your
"sanctum" and go to specializing in
hens, l wish to drop a word of warn
ing. l want to tell you that the hen
business to town chap is delusion
and a snare. I have had little ex-
perience. l have now about 60 hens
of the best laying breed, Brown Leg
horns, and they consume about six
bits worth of feed per week and give
me in return one egg, on an average,
per day. I have built them a good
warm house, feed them wheat, barley,
bone, shell, table scraps, besides as an
extra inducement for them to lay, have
had an elaborate and enticing patent
nest built, and furnish them with
every known egg food, and in the face
of all, they give me one egg a day.
The fact is, hens go on a strike about
this time of the year when eggs are
worth 35 cents dozen, and all the
stuffing and examining and moral sua
sion or physical force that can be used
is of little avail. When eggs get to
be worth Is cents per dozen the hen
will get down to business-and not
before"
Such is the dilemma in which many
who are trying to realize something
from their poultry find themselves, not
only the town-lot poultry man but
those on the farms as well. Now, the
remedy to be applied in cases of this
kind is more simple than these people
think. The first thing the writer
would prescribe for the ''malady' with
which this correspondent is afflicted
would be little common sense, with
little henology. There are few lead
ing principles that the poultry man
must understand and act upon, or go
without eggs. Any flock of old hens
is not going to lay simply because they
happen to be pure bred and belong to
breed of prolific layers. Something
more than this is required. They must
posses stamina and vigor that cannot
be secured by Indifferent breeding, al
though combined with the best of feed
ing. In the last Ranch We explained
that question, and how to maintain,
and secure as well, the necessary vigor.
Another indispensable to these quail
ities-stamina and vigor-is exercise.
Strolling about over town lot, nor,
for that matter, forty acre lot, is
not what we mean by exercise. There
is only one way in which hen can
exercise viz, by scratching for hidden
seeds or food of some kind. 1t is not
enough that she scratch and pick aim
lessly in the air. She must search
and scratch, thereby bringing into
healthy action her brain and vision
| ical powers used in scratching. Like
| her food, which should be balanced
| ration, with the component parts of
the egg for a guide-the hens bodily
and mental activity must correspond
| ingly balance. Hence the life prin-
ciple becomes fully developed, stamina
and vigor prevail, the work of nature
| goes on without obstruction, and the
natural result follows, viz, eggs.
These two simple rules, which are
absolutely indispensable to success
with laying hens at the season of the
year when eggs are high in price, are
altogether too generally ignored. Their
Importance, evidently, is not realized.
Too much attention is given to the
question of feed to their expense.
Proper feed is necessary, but it should
be fed right. A few wagon loads of
coarse gravel spread about six inches
in depth in dry location makes an
ideal scratching ground. Scatter the
grain on this gravel. A simple and
efficient plan.