The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1910-07-01

earned my pin money out or
chickens. My hens give me
profit of more than five dol
lars head. You think that an
enormous yield for chickens? So do
/, for | had been raising few chick
ems ever since | was a small girl;
but have my account book and SO
know just what l spend and what l
take in.
My chickens are Rhode Island Reds
and bred from the best layers. have
found that there is more In the strain
than in the breed of chickens. | car
ried my chickens with me when
went TO Florida, so | know all about.
them for generations.
Years ago / sold all my other
breeds, keeping only the Plymouth
Rocks and Rhode Island Reds, because
! had proved to my satisfaction that
these two breeds gave most eggs In the
winter when eggs are scarce and fetch
the highest prices. finally discard
ed the Plymouth Rocks because |
found the Rhode islanders harder and
lighter feeders, or perhaps ! should
say better foragers.
This characteristic of their being
good foragers has had a good deal to
do with my large profits in Florida.
never have given my flock meat. They
find insects enough for their own
meat supply. Since the first season
down there / have never given them
a bit of meat except the few morsels
that are mixed In the table scraps
which they have regularly every day
In Florida have not raised my own
feed but have bought it in small guam
titles at the regular retail prices. I
have been forced to hire all labor
done, such as building and repairing
the houses, coops and fences. At my
home in Massachusetts, being then
a comparatively strong woman, was
able to do all such things myself. and
yet my chickens never netted me more
than $3.50 head all the years that
struggled with them.
There in the winter the birds had
to be housed and supplied with green
and meat food besides their regular
rations of grain. In Florida they run
in the yards all the year long and
get their green food from the small
patch of grain which keep for them
at the back of their yard and their
own meat by catching insects.
Northern friends who have come to
visit me ask If there is not a differ
ence in the prices which I now re-
celvo for my chickens and those
sold while In Massachusetts,. | am
forced to reply that l formerly re-
ceived somewhat higher prices than
are paid In Florida. Most of my
eggs and dressed fowls are bought by
the largest hotel and though It is run
by a northern manager, he expects
and gets southern prices. All that
the hotel does not take is readily
sold to private families, so never
have the expense of shipping.
do not think any other breed
would do as well as my Rhode Island
Reds. let my hens sit on their own
eggs. have found this best in a
small flock. A hen must have some
time for rest from laying. / never
allow a hen to sit more than once
in each year, because II is not neces-
sary where all are equally good moth
ers and where there Is a good demand
for fresh eggs.
Before the chickens are a month old
the mother invariably has begun to
lay again. have four hens that
give me 200 eggs each year. They are
mother and three daughters. AS the
mother Is now four years Old am
looking forward to the ,one when her
yield of eggs will drop off, but even
then | think II will pay me to keep
her, not only because of the strain,
but also because che is an excellent
brooder and mother. The ordinary
hen I do not think It pays to keep
after ii is two ears old.
have found that In Florida the
houses have TO be much more care
fully attended to than in Massachu-
sets because of the extreme difficulty
IN keeping down vermin. My houses
are all of wood built for ventilation
more than warmth. For the first four
feet the boards are put on solid to
prevent the depredations OF what the
negroes down here call varmints, that
is, minks, 'coons, foxes and stray
dogs and cats that may slip through
your fence Above this solid line
space of two inches is allowed be.
tween the boards until on a line with
the roosts. There again is a solid
belt to prevent the chickens from
roosting ina draft.
Besides the usual enemies here a
chicken raiser has to fight snakes.
They slip into the nests and not only
swallow the eggs, but often devour
young chicks. To fight them Flor
ida friend told me to get pig and
give her the run Of the yard, but to