The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1910-11-24
Poultry In The Raising.

II is a commonly accepted saying
that the majority should rule,were
this so in all cases then would we
be compelled to take IL for granted
that in order to get our hens TO lay
we must give them exercise. For we
must admit that fully three-fourths
OF the poultry writer's will tell you
that il is absolutely necessary TO
| force her to exercise or no eggs. Now
the reason they say this, is because
they have read II themselves, not be-
cause they know IL by experience
You know lots of us are Democrats
or Republicans because our fathers
were Democrats or Republicans.
| Therefore a majority of poultry writ
ers say you must give your hens ex-
ercise to make them lay;not because
they know II is so, but because II Is
popular for them to say SO. There
| Is Just as much sense IN claiming
| that II Is necessary to place the
feed for your milk COW in places that
are hard TO get atand where IL VIII
require exercise between mouth
ruls. as she chases from one wisp
of hay to another as there Is m
claiming that the hen must get In
and dig for every bit she eats. do
not See how the advocates of this
forced exercise can explain how IT is
that q hen confined in close quarter
can make up her mind to lay nearly
every day. My hens that set ana
hatch out chicks Invariably go to lay
ing when the chicks are about three
weeks old. Now as they set for three
weeks there is not much exercise In
that. Then | take them off with
their chicks and put them In coop
two feet square with a board bot
tom. After being here for three
weeks and their only exercise is
eating and spreading their wings
over the chicks, they begin to lay
and during the next twenty-one days
they lay from eighteen to twenty
eggs In this close confinement. Per-
haps they are Christian Scientists
and let their minds exercise But
lie THAT be as IL may ! want to put
myself on record as claiming that IL
ia the food and not the exercise
that makes the hen lay. ] can put
half a dozen hens in Il pen three
feet by ten feet without litter for
scratching I'm and make them lay
more eggs In one month or sM
months or a year than others can
with the same number OF hens IN
pen fifty feet by one hundred feet.
provided with scratching sheds ana
all the other fixing calculated TO
make them exescise Don't take my
word for II and don't take the other
fellows word for 1t, but try II for
yourselves, and then you will know.
You must remember that with
great many poultry writers the only
poultry pen they ever kept was
fountain pen.
am asked when is fowl stan
dard-bred?" / can do no better than
to quote Mr.. l. X. Felch's answer 10
the same question. He says;
Some breeders take the ground
that no bird Is standard fowl un-
less 1t fills In very particular the
requirements of the Standard OF
Excellence In that sense there are
no standard birds, for none are per-
feet. But IL is unfair to take this
extreme view. The writer holds
the opinion that one has the right
to use the term Standard fowls II II
be true that the stock he offers will
score IS points or more; for the
standard placed the minimum mum
Der of points prize winner shall
score at that figure. There has
been through the facetiousness OF
a Judge one or more birds scored
close up to 100. yet II has never
been our lot to see one better than
SO points, unless the excess was the
result OF credited weight. SO long as
not one bird in 5000 scores 30
points we deem the term Standard