The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1907-04-24
A LITTLE HEN TALK.
Suggestions to Those Who Want Good
Poultry and Plenty Hen Fruit.

Happy hens, says J. w. Bailey,
food and dairy commissioner in the
Oregonian, are the only kind that
make the world better by living in
it. He adds that hens can be made
happy only by being kept at work:
they should scratch for every beak-
full of food that goes into their giz-
yards.
In such strain spake Mr.. Bailey
and drew several terse morals. He
remarked that no wet hen was ever
happy hen; therefore, that her
henship should be kept in the dry
and in the warm; also, in hot sum-
mer she should be afforded dwell
ing in the shade and in the cool.
Quoth he:
Hens are like people; they must
be put to work in order to be kept
happy and out of mischief. A person
who never works is the unhappiest
of mortals; just so, the hen that new
er works is the unhappiest of fowls.
"a hen that fills herself up
on food thrown down before her,
goes off and hates herself. She
ought to be compelled to scratch for
every morsel. Scratching is work,
Hens are made for that kind of work
Their legs are built for it. 1t makes
them contented. They don't have
time to think of sulks. They don't
set too fat. They lay eggs.
when person fills his outlet
without effort, he goes off and hates
himself, too. A fellow has got to
work and scratch for his living If he
is to be spry and see the sunshine
Just SO with the hen. Work makes
sunshine. In the winter she need;
sunshine. She makes sunshine by
scratching. Helps her husband, the
rooster, to be happy, too. That makes
him feel like fighting cock. They
raise big family and help the far
mer pay his bills at the store. The
singing hen and the. growing rooste.
are the kind that scratch for a liv-
ing.
"a happy hen is a dry hen. Ev-
erybody knows that wet makes hen
mad. But not everybody realizes
that wet also makes a hen sad. A
sad hen lays few or no eggs. She's
| too miserable. A man or a woman
who didn't have a dry roof would be
miserable, too. When a lot of hens
get wet and gather in a corner un-
der the barn to keep warm, they're
sad. They're in a draft. Often they
catch what men and women call
pneumonia and die. That makes the
farmer sad. But all the while he is
toasting his shins before a warns
stove under dry roof.
Hens need a roof over their
heads, too In shivering weather they
need a little fire. There's lots OF
wood on the hillside to keep them
warm. But it doesn't take much
wood. Happy hens are not stub.
born. They are quite willing to lay
eggs when the price is high in De-
cember and January. A wet farmel
is even more stubborn than a wet
hen. She is easier to deal with. And
she is not so hard to please.
"Out toward Esracada many hens
have happy homes. Farmers out there
are keeping them dry and warm
They are making great poultry dis.
trict. This whole country is grand
for poultry. The fellows who went
into poultry raising on a large scale
and came out broke, didn't do the
business right. They didn't keel
their hens happy nor make them
work.
"Chicks Matched in February and
March will lay eggs when next win
ter's prices are high. That's the
way to make monev. Incubators