The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-11-09

cures these facts from his daily work
with his birds In the accompanying arti-
Gle he deals with the home flock of poul-
try, giving Instructions regarding its es-
tablishment and management.
Additional articles from DIR. Sanborn
will appear In this series from time to
time.
Copyrighted, 1918, Geo. A. McDevitt Coz
ny DIR. N. w. sANBORN
TwENTY- THREE years ago owned
Just six hens and male bird. my
introduction to poultry keeping.
Today 1 am no longer at the beck and call
OF the sick person, answering calls at
any hour Of the day and night. seven
days week. Instead, I am doing much
of the work on my little hen plant,
part of my farm of seventy-acres. The
best paying part of my farm is that de-
voted to hens and chicks. Next comes
the fruit, then market garden crops, and
the loss is from the cows. l look back
with pleasure to those early years with
others to share 1t, too.
few hens pay better per bird tnan
larger numbers 1t is well to keep THIS
IN mind when figuring the profits IN
poultry keeping. It Is not hard to nave a
few hens earn 50 each profit from the
sale of table eggs, but 1t IS announcer
problem to get the same average proii'
from a thousand hens! There Is prorit
In the largest number of layers any one
can attend TO, but not so much as some
think who figure without the exact
Knowledge secured from actual practice.
The few hens in the back yard need not
occupy space that Is not also proouche
another crop. I remember visiting sucn
. hacL ward In a closely settled section
of New York city. where the hens were
kept in the space that was given 10
grapes The grapes were trained nlsn,
had been for years. and the coop anu
yard were right under the treihs ina.
held up the grape vines. Another goou
plan is to have the little hen plant unaer
the shade of some large fruit tree. This
,rorus well for both hens and fruit.
The earth is usually bare of grass any
way. the hens keep the earth rertiiized
and cultivated, and the tree Will increase
in the amount OF bearing wood ana size
of crop. III,
Under the tree the laying stock VIII
find shade and shelter. fallen iruit anu
hugs. and will thrive. The person VINO
IA
find a place for them, usually TO the
advantages of some other crop.
There will be needed, to protect the
,sying stock. a house and yard. You can
keep hens with no yards, but DO not no
il II you can see any way to nave the
outside run. The yard should De as iarse
as the available space will permit, from
fen to fifty square feet per bird. IL con-
ditions present nothing better, you can
get earth space under the house py set
ting the latter up two to three leet on
posts thus securing a floor OF eareh on
one of boards These low hen spaces are
not TO be recommended II you can pos
sibly find outside runs, but they are pet-
Ter than nothing. No material is cheaper
and bettar to inclose the yard than COM
mon. two-inch wire netting. Four-ieet
netting will keep in Wyandottes and Fly
mouth Rocks, while Leghorns may need
six feet of wire netting
The house for our dozen layers neeos
IN he a shelter from the heat of summer
ana the cold of winter, so planned as
TO give air and sunshine abundantly
enough to maintain vigor and health Ine
house can be as cheaply or as expenslveiy
constructed as you desire. but the mems
will do lust as we'll In one as In the other,
nroyided construction is right and you do
YOUR part with food and care
think most folks like house tnat
will, match the neighborhood buildings
Paint and building paper are not costly,
and will go a long way toward improving
appearances. The house can be bought all
ready to put together, or may be buiit on
the spot by any one handy with tools,
twenty-five or thirty dollars will buy
house. or less money will secure all the
material TO make one Of
A simple, plain house suits most OF US.
Two by three-inch material to nail the
boards to- seven-eighth boards for cover
ing and a good one-ply roofing for cov-
ering roof and rear wall.
The dozen layers need at least hfty
square feet of floor space in the house,
10 give them exercising room, and they
can use twice that amount to advantage.
I would be willing to make my house
eight by eight feet, thus giving sixty-four
sa,,are feet of floor The smaller the floor
space the deeper should be the litter In
which the hens get their grain food.
III the house Is the size advise the
shed roof plan will be found desirable,
roof that is high at the front and low at
the back With front that is N feet
high, a back that Is ~ feet high, with
the single pitch from front to back, the
average man or woman can attend to the
needs Of the hens without humping heads
on the rafters. ~
Across the rear of the house. two and
n half feet from the floor. will be needed
a nIatform to catch the droppings of the
birds when ON the roost and to prevent
drafts from too free ventilation The
platform, known as the droppings board.
will be two feet wide and the length of
the back OF the house. Eight inches above
II is needed roost of two by three inch
lumber cut to fill in the width of the
house. This roost Will give space for the
dozen layers.
The furnishings need to be few and SIM
pie. Two orange boxes, turned on the
side and strip nailed on to hold In nest
litter, will give four nests. Put them un-
do ne droppings board, with the open
sid +, the rear, giving partly dark
ent lest Egg eating by the hens is not
llks to occur in such a nest placed as !
have suggested. box or hopper to hold
Sac ground grain and meat, a water dish
to supply the needed drink, put up on
shelf a foot above the floor, Will fit out
the house ready for the stock. sG
The kitchen waste is the center of the
feeding.of our home flock of dozen hens
or pullets. You viii give more or less
rrain and mash. according to the guam
lty and quality of the table scraps
>'he dry mash, in the hopper box, should
he one that will balance up the average
table waste, and ought not to be too at
tractive to the stock. A good formula