Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-05
Poultry Yard Notes.

There is money in fall-hatched chicks
for Christmas broilers. provided the
chicks are kept growing right along
and are not permitted to suffer any
setbacks. They must be we'll along be-
fore actual cold weather comes. or they
will not be able to make the growth
required.
Fall-hatched chicks should be placed
on new ground-that is, ground that
has not been utilized by poultry earlier
in the season. They will not require a
heated hover except at night. as the
days-unless the weather should be un-
seasonably cool or rainy-are warm
enough.
Keep plenty of fine, dry litter under
the hover. Do not try to use whole
straw, dry grass. or similar material.
as such stun gathers dampness. packs
It is often possible to obtain at stores
where crockeIy and china are sold
quantities Of straw that has been cut
is used in packing china, etc, for ship
ment, and dealers are often glad to
give it away for the sake of having 1t
removed. Such straw makes ideal litter
for the use OF young chicks.
Even at night at this season Of the
year it will not be necessary to main
taaA higher temperature under the
hover than about so to IS degrees. The
chicks themselves will keep the heat
about right.
Be sure the brooder Is kept dry and
that ventilation is ample without per-
hitting cold air to chill the chicks
49,
dry sand covering the entire floor helps
greatly to keep the brooder dry and
clean. At the same time 1t gives the
baby chicks plenty of gritty material
to fill up on.
The season itself solves the problem
of supply of green feed for the chicks
Finely chopped lawn clippings, clover
etc, are to be had in abundance. 1t is
also well to spade up plot of ground
day for three or four days and the oats
will speedily terminate and cover the
ground with a thick growth of tender
green shoots, than which the chicks
like nothing better
Keep a dry mash made Of equal parts
of bran, middlings, corn meal and
| mealed alfalfa before the chicks all
the time; also a hopper Of coarse wheat
bran. Give them a little finely cut
green bone two or three times week
and keep them constantly supplied
with clean fresh water. colored a rose
pink with permanganate of potash See
that shade is provided for their shell
ter during the hottest part of the day.
Chicks so fed and handled should
make broilers Weighing one and one
half pounds by Thanksgiving. or fryers
up to two pounds or two and one-half
pounds by Christmas. when they should
bring from IS to 40 cents pound.
The layers are probably coming out
of the molt by this time and should be
fed up" on a more heterogeneous ration.
in order to bring them to laying as
soon as possible. Oats. wheat. alfalfa
what they need now, with plenty of
green stuff to keep them toned up.
Corn, either whole, cracked or in the
form of meal, should not be made a
large part of the ration until advancing
autumn puts more frost into the air.
Get the surplus males and the hens
that have outlived their prof1tableness
into condition as soon as possible. and
send them to market. No use keeping
such fowls any longer than it takes to
get them into marketable condition. A
drone or an Improbable fowl eats just
as much as one that is on the job.
High prices for eggs next winter are
indicated, as farmers generally have
reduced their f1ocks almost to the van
shing point. while many poultrymen
have gone out of business altogether
because of high prices of all kinds of
feed. So much the better for those who
stuck, in spite of the discouraging con-
ditions that have prevailed for the
last year or more. Indications are that
they will reap the benefits of their per-
severance during the coming winter
and spring.