Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1913-07-15
Poultry Notes.

Cement floors should be we'll covered
with straw. The bare floor 10 too hard
and too cold.
! Keep the grit, shell and charcoal boxei
filled, also fill the water fountains twice
day in winter, says The Fruitman and
Gardener.
A cabbage hung where biddy can peck
at it will not only balance her ration,
but furnish entertainment for her al
we'll.
Roosts so narrow that birds must be
continually straining to keep their bal
ance will cause them to lay soft shelied
eggs.
Roosts should be made low or near the
ground. Heavy fowls can not fly high,
and light fowls injure their feet in jump.
ing from high perch.
Allow every hen from four to six feet
of floor space; better six. Ten inches
each OF roosting space is not too much.
The roosts should be placed at least
eighteen inches apart.
One poultryman reports excellent re-
suits in egg laying from feeding oats.
The oats are cooked about half hour al
night till thoroughly boiling, then placed
and hot for her breakfast.
There are various methods used for
ventilatiug poultry houses, but the best
and simplest is to allow the fresh air to
come in unobstructed except by q mus
lin screen. Remove the window sash
and tack on muslin in its place. Enough
air will enter to keep the house dry and
sanitary, but there will be no breeze even
in very stormy weather.
When fowls produce deformed or soft
shelled eggs they should have all stimu-
lating food withheld from them for a
time. Hard grain should take the place
of soft food and some EPSON salts, about
a teaspoon, added to every pint of drink
ing water supplied until a cure is effect
ed. II narrow perches are used, replace
them with wider ones.
In breeding for eggs, the main require
ment is first-clsss, healthy, vigorous
stock. Such fowls we'll managed and
properly fed cannot help but produce
eggs. We must have vitality and con-
stitutional vigor in fowls that are to be
any good as egg machines or as breeders.
Only first.class stock should be kept for
such purposes.
Food has great deal to do with the
production of eggs. A hen is only ma
chine for turning various kinds OF food
into eggs and unless We furnish this ma
terial we need not expect to get many
eggs, for il is from this that eggs are
manufactured.
Hens should be allowed to run out Of
doors freely during the winter except at
such times as they might be ir danger OF
freezing their combs. They may be
kept confined with perfect safety during
any period of severe weather it they are
kept busy scratching in straw TO give
them exercise.
Charcoal is a health promoter for the
fowls. II you will put some ears of corn
in hot oven aud let them burn quite
black and feed when the grain gets cold
enough you will perhaps be astonished
to see how greedily the poultry will par
take of the charred corn. Give such
feed every two weeks. We do not mean
that the fowls should have to depend on
the charred grain for the meal, but an
opportunity to eat what they wish from
the cob.
To burn sulphur in poultry house
first remove all combustible matter.
Then put an old iron kettle into dish
pan and place on four brick in the mid
die of the house. In the kettle put
some cobs which have been soaked in a
solution of one part of pine tar to four
parts of kerosene, sprinkle the sulphur
over the cobs and set on fire. Be sure
to have everything arranged 80 as to beat
a basty retreat from the room and close
the door quickly, as the sulphur fumes
are suffocsting. Sulphur burned in this
manner will penetrate every crevice as
we'll as covering the surface and aids
wonderfully in purifying the building
and in destroying poultry vermin. One
pint of turpentine may be added to the
hali gallon of kerosene as well as the
pine tar with beneficial results. Once a
month is none too often to burn sulphur
in every poultry house.