The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1913-02-10
BY |. l., TOTEM.

"One hundred and nine eggs in thir-
teen days from twelve hens in winter
weather. Isn't so bad is it,"
A drug clerk, friend of mine, smiled
proudly as he asked me this question,
and l promptly replied that it was not
bad at all, but exceptionally good.
well, that's the number of eggs
my twelve hens laid from January 20
to February End, and they are still
keeping up the pace in this zero
weather" said he.
Knowing that the readers of the Pal
ladium who raise poultry are always
interested in subjects of this kind, /
had the drug clerk tell me of his ex-
perience so that | could disseminate.
Last fall about Thanksgiving time
he contracted the chicken fever" and
bought a poultry house of a neighbor
who had tired of the chicken business.
He moved the poultry house over to
his lot and remodeled it to suit his
own idea
The poultry house is not an expen-
sive one as it is made mostly of tar
paper. There is a good floor in it and
it is well rooted, but the sides are of
the tar paper tackled to the wood
frame, nevertheless it is a very COM
Portable place for the poultry. 1t is
twelve feet square, eight feet high in
front and five feet high at the rear.
The front of the house is made most
ly of muslin.
There is a poultry netting partition
in the house, and in one of the COM
partments he keeps the supplies. The
part where the hens are kept is only
six by twelve feet, but the floor space
in this part is entirely covered with
litter about a foot deep. The litter is
of hay, straw and leaves.
He bought twelve white Wyandottes
of farmer who lives near town and
placed them in their compartment of
the poultry house where they have
been since last November. They have
not been outside of their six by twelve
room since he put them there.
1t was over a month before the hens
began laying; but he gave them the
best of care and now they are paying
him well for the attention.
For their morning feed he gives
them a pint of scratch feed which he
buys already prepared. This feed con-
sists Of wheat, oats, barley, millet,
buckwheat and sun flower seed. He
heats this mixture before scattering
it in the litter. He sprouts oats and
suspends them from the ceiling so that
the hens jump up to get them.
For the noon feed he stirs up a
mash of bran, cowpea meal, alfalfa
meal, charcoal and table scraps. A
quart Of boiling water is poured over
the ingredients and the mash is mix
ed thoroughly.
The night feed is of cracked corn
which is heated and scattered in the
litter long enough before dark for the
hens to scratch for it in the straw be-
fore going to roost.
Fresh warm water is supplied three
times day, and the drinking fountain
is kept clean. Twice week he puts
a quarter of teaspoonful of perman-
ganate of potash in a gallon of water
and places this in the drinking foun-
tain.
He supplies plenty of gravel and
oyster shells which is scattered in the
litter the same as the scratch feed.
A box two feet wide, two feet long
and about a foot deep is kept filled
with sand for the hens to wallow in.
The litter is removed once a week
and fresh litter put in and the drop
ping board is cleaned often.
/ This looks like a lot of attention
to give few hens, but it seems to
pay. So many say that they don't have
the time to bother with chickens in
i! this way. The drug clerk works from
$50 in the morning till $50 at night
in the drug store, yet he finds time to
give the poultry the attention that 1
have just mentioned.
The farmer from whom he purchas-
ed the dozen hens has flock of
eighty or ninety and at the present