Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1915-09-30
NEWS FROM SALMON RIVER COUNTRY

mites and lice they are nourishing with
their life blood.
Plenty of pure fresh air day and
night is necessity if you want your
hens to lay The old practice of shut
ting hens up in close, warm houses is
all wrong. Nature prepared hens to
stand almost any amount of dry cold.
You need not fear their freezing if you
keep them in dry house where air
currents, or rather drafts, do not sweep
over them.
The house with cracks you could
throw cat through is more healthful |
than the one you find steaming hot |
when you let the hens out, provided |
said cracks are all on one side. Hens
are hot blooded and are surrounded by |
heavy coat of one of the best non
conuctors of heat, feathers. These
feathers hold supply of still air among
them that further insulates the hen s
body. Hens do not perspire and the
feathers will not absorb moisture from
outside readily, so there is no cooling
| by evaporation, as in most animals.
You see the hen has her own ample pro
lection from cold and all she asks of
you is to keep her dry. If you have
ever slept in a close room and felt a
dull headache, bad taste in your
mouth, and an inclination to quit work,
you can sympathize with the hen shut
in close house and her sense of duty
not being well developed, she quits her
job right there. If you have slept on
comfortable bed in the open and felt
every nerve in your body responsive. to
you can understand why it is that the
hen in the open-front house cannot help
help. but lay, other conditions being
right.
Plenty Of scratching floor and dry
scratching material for the snowy days
of winter are other things needed to
make hens lay. Hens must have ex-
exercise to make them have good appeti-
ties for their food, for hen that does
not eat well will not lay well. Scatter
. ing grain in the straw makes them work
for it in the way nature provided they
| should get their food, and gives them
health Millet hay can form part of
the scratch material to good advan-
tage, for the heads of millet will form
constnat source of supply of seed SO
small they will work long time to get
enough to satisfy them. They like mil
let, too, and will work theoretically to
dig it out. The straw in the scratching
floor should be about foot deep
. Keep it dry as possible and if it gets
a mouldy remove and replace it.
One of the essential things that i
overlooked very often is the dust bath
A large shallow box filled with dus
q slightly moistened will be about III
. thing. If the lice are at all bad,
, liberal sprinkling of insect powder vii
!. get rid of them.
r Build plenty of self feeders to TAX
n care of oyster shell, cracked bone an
). mash. Some like to keep a grain o
% two in self feeders, but | think it
" better to feed all grain in the scratchin
: material The feed should contain
" complete ration, and the mash shoul
a have the proper percentage of mea
,s meal to make 8 to 10 per cent of tn
ar whole ration, grain and mash. Roc
ID crops supply succulent food that is goo
"a for the hens in winter, and sproute
q oats or alfalfa meal, separate or mike
Nv in the mash, will adj green. I like
- have the mash at least one third bra
Il L. II. c., in Successful Farming.
y |
i II 41.a...- e N 81