El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-03-01
POULTRY DEPARTMENT
Bantams Are the Poetry of Chicken Raising.
By J. G. KEENAN,

N POULTRY stand for utility. be-
ieve in the hen that passes the
200 mark in her egg-Iaying effort
for one year. believe N the breed
thaI produces big. plump luscious fry
erS In eight or 10 weeks. love to see
plymouth Rocks when both hens and
cocks are disqualified in a showroom
1oE overweight. As a matter of fact.
UNITY IN every way appeals to me-
As a shade tree, / like the pecan or a
bearing mulberry and the objection that
the latter stains the pavements of the
cues Is overcome by the pleasure at
AOrded normal person by the sight of
an army Of youngsters feastfne- on
those which have fallen, and a few
hundred times in FL PasO have stopDed
ana given tree Jar that the bunch
OF sun-tanned urChins might feast on
those fresh from the tree
4es. L prize utility in everything
quite as much as any other man and
yet 1 love bantam chickens and love
to raise them. The fact that a rna1
loves to read history and study science
and politics is no argument that he
could not enjoy reading a little poetry
ana what poetry is to literature ban
Jams are 70 poultrydom, and most Ger
talnly, If man has child, he should
nave a few bantams to engage his at
tenIlOn- Nothing can so fascinate a
boy as few of these pets, and 1 think
nothing can tie him so close to home
make MIN q brighter and q better and
happier boy.
Makes the Child Happy.
At our home, when our boy was a
little fellow. while I raised a couple of
the larger breeds he had his bantfes
and my pleasure in my flocks was NOT
TO be compared to his, derived from his
diminutive pets, and he looked after his
little Hook even more closely than most
poultrymen do after theirs and was as
rrefHaa rr- II =. q
a blue ribbon winning Shamrock and
1 was proud Of them too, and they
were proud Of themselves, for it seems
TO me right now that the proudest and
among the prettiest things in the world
were the Duckwing game ROSTERS Dan
used to have. However. all bantams
are proud Even Cochin bantams, the
diminutive Of the LATEST and most SLOW
emily Of breeds, steps around like he
owns the place and flies on elevations
to crow like a pet game cock.
Many OF the larger breeds have their
representatives in the bantam king
dom, though we have a few bantams-
Japanese varieties, for instance-which
have no cOunterparts among the larger
breeds.
Little Yard Space Needed.
In raising bantams but little yard
space is required. as also small quar-
ters for housing. Every breed of them
is full of life and vitality and yet are
natural pets and stand confinement and
crowding better than their larger cous-
ms. A piano box is abundant rOOsting
room for a pen of six or eight hens and
cocks and a run 10 feet square is an
extensive range for them, though if
given their liberty, they viii cover
about as much territory as a LeghOrn.
For Matching the eggs and raising
the chicks. nothing equals the bantam
hen herself and as the chicks are not
often raised in great numbers. there is
no particular occasion to resort to in
naturally are exceedingly small and re-
Quire very close attention. though are
no more difficult to raise than other
breeds. tt is absolutely necessary TO
have the little chicks where large
fowls can not tread on them. for if an
eight-pouud hen should step on one. il
would probably be all off with him For
that reason, the eggs should not be in
Cuhated by any but very small hens. IL
the bantam herself is not used and but
few eggs should be placed under hen.