Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-10-16
COPYRIGHT, 1915.

Many schoolboys are making spend
ing money by keeping poultry, and al
most any student can add to his in-
come in this way. In this article Pro-
fesSor Lewis tells the actual expert
enccs of two boys who in one year got
S95.O3 for the eggs produced by Is
pullets.
a SHER ALLISON and his brother
- Henry wanted to earn money OF
their own, so last year they pro-
posed to their father that he help
them to start keeping poultry. He
agreed and the boys, one Is and the
other II years old, went to work with
a will and under the guidance of their
father and with the help of many cir
culars and bulletins which they re-
ceived from the New Jersey Expert
ment Stations, they made their work
marked success. The following facts
pertaining to their management and
results may be helpful to others who
are about to start keeping poultry.
1t was about the middle of July.
1914, that Asher made small plan of
the poultryhouse which he wanted to
build and sent it to the Experiment
Station for suggestions. The plan
was looked over and list of the ma
terial needed in building it was for
warded, together with a few minor
criticisms.
The lumber was bought from local
lumber dealer at cost of S14 and the
boys built a small shed roof house
eight feet wide by ten feet deep. They
put large muslin curtain in the CEN
ter and a glass sash in the west end
OF the house. to let in sunlight and TO
give plenty of fresh air. The house was
built on posts. the floor being two feet
above the ground. small yard ten
by twenty feet was built of ordinary
poultry netting at small cost The area
inclosed was q fine green grass sward,
which gave the birds lots of gree
food.
Upon the completion of the house
the boys visited a farmer, about a mile
from the small city where they lived.
and after explaining their plan, bought
from him eighteen Barred Plymouth
Rock pullets, which were nearly ma
ture, at cost of 10 cents each. These
were placed in the house on July 25,
and on August l the boys began to
keep an accurate record of what they
fed to the birds and the eggs laid.
Method of Feeding
The feeding practice which the boys
used consisted of keeping before the
birds at all times dry mash and Civ
ing in addition small amount of
grain in litter every morning and
night. A commercial dry mash hop
tanning equal parts of wheat bran
wheat middlings, ground oats, corn
meal and gluten meal, together with
10 per cent. of meat scrap, was placed
In the hopper. This ration the boys
bought ready mixed from a local grain
dealer.
In the morning about o'clock the
birds were given about p pounds of
wheat, and usually about 4 o'clock as
soon as school was over, 2 to 8 pounds
of mixture of half wheat and half
corn was scattered in the litter of
straw and leaves, which was always
kept thick and coarse over the entire
floor.
Plenty of clean water was kept be-
fore the birds and they were fed all
the green grass and sprouted oats that
they would clean up quickly. Scraps
from the table were fed also, and
made it possible to cut down at times
on the grains.
Asher kept the records and handled
the accounts, while Henry collected the
eggs and made most of the deliveries
to customers. Both boys attended to
the feeding and the care of the yard
and house. All of the eggs which were
used by the family were paid for at
regular store prices. Considerable
trade was built up in the immediate
neighborhood, as the community knew
of the boys project and was eager to
get first class eggs, strictly fresh, at a
most reasonable price.
Record of Years Egg Yield
The pullets were well-bred birds
strong and vigorous so that they re-
sponded well to the good care and at
tention which were always given
them. The daily record was kept
carefully together with the selling
price and the cost of all material pur-
chased. The following is the monthly
egg record as sent to me by these
amateur chicken men: