Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-05-07

less methods. One cannot give this
business too close attention. This is
particularly so in the matter of feed
ing. Beginners are apt to be irregular
in this. They do not have any set
hour. 1t is important. The stock will
soon learn to know when their feeding
hour arrives and will be in a more or
less anxious state until they are fed.
Appetites must be studied. Fowls
differ in this as much as do human be-
ings. A feast to-day and famine to-
morrow is also likely to upset an APP
petite. Give each day what is actually
needed-no more nor no less.
Have bill of fare and stick to it.
See that that bill of fare is composed
of variety To endeavor to keep a flock
on a single grain diet will soon breed
all sorts Of trouble. When you have
satisfactory bill of fare do not change
it because you have read that So-and-
So has made egg machines out of his
hens by his method of feeding Yours
is just as good if it is enjoyed by the
fowls and gives good results. Con-
stantly changing is pretty sure to spoil
good appetite.
Carelessness is also shown in clean
illness. The manure is allowed to col
ieSl III 'lllc HOUSES LOT WEEKS II ID LII
possible to have healthy stock under
such conditions. Clean up daily. If
veterans in the business find that it
pays them to do so it certainly is prof
liable for the beginner.
Many mistakes are made in market
ing. Eggs are sold in dirty condi
ton and are not graded according to
size, shape and color; dressed poultry
is sent to market full of pin feathers
and the skin torn by careless dressing.
Is it wonder that the beginner does
not get the cream of prices given to
the expert?
Then come incubators and brooders
Of course they must be secured.
The writer is a firm believer in arti-
fetal methods, we'll knowing that the
poultry business would not have the
standing that it has to-day were it
not for incubators and breeders. But
before a man or woman tries to run
an incubator he or she should know
how to set a hen.
Before one attempts to raise chicks
| in a brooder he should take lessons
from the mother hen. True, books
have been written on the subject and
directions accompany the machines, but
unless one has some knowledge of the
work all he reads will be Latin.
! The beginner should spend a year
| or more in the care of poultry before
he attempts artificial methods. This is
a business that cannot be hastily
learned. One must go slow and study
hard.
We have known beginners to buy
eggs at $40 per 100 to experiment with
when eggs at 81 or So would have
taught them just as much and not beer
so costly a lesson.
We have known beginners to ignore
the manufacturers directions, pay ne
attention to the advice of experts, anG
try their own ideas before they knew
even the rudiments of artificial in.
, cubation.
With the same amout of knowledge
, we have known them to rush chicks
into brooder before the machine was
properly heated and before they knew
how to regulate the temperature
We have known them to crowd 1O(
chicks into a brooder when no hocl
should contain over so.
We could fill page with mistakes
like the above, but it is sufficient te
show that the beginner must use 6
different method than that generally
employed. He must begin at the bot.
tom of the ladder and gradually climt
to the top
The poultry business cannot be
learned in day. 1t requires years
The writer has been nearly thirty year.
actively engaged in poultry culture ant
he finds there is still great deal tt
learn.