Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-05-21
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POULTRY YARD NOTES.

ARD NOTES.
decrease the cost of grain. The first
green food for the little chicks may
consist OF mangels, potatoes or other
| vegetables cut up fine at first untii
the chicks learn to like them, and later
| high enough for the chick to reach.
Lawn clippings or lettuce may be fed
with good results. Free range gives
the best green food supply for the
growing chick. but that is not always
possible. A small yard may be greatly
| improved by dividing it in the middle
and sowing each half alternately to
oats.
Spade them in and allow the chicks
to scratch them out as they begin to
swell and sprout. A few boards laid
on the surface will allow the oats to
get start. When the boards are re-
moved the chicks will have the time
| of their lives and are not satisfied
until roots and all are consumed
! Where it is too dry or for other rea
sons impossible to get a good growth
of green food in the yards it should
Je supplied from outside. Dwarf Es-
sex rape and Swiss chard may be pro-
duced abundantly with little la Dor, and
| make excellent summer green food
Rape may be sown either in drill or
| broadcast as early as the ground can
be worked in the spring and will be
! ready to cut in about six or eight
weeks. 1t is apt to be somewhat at
| fected by hot. dry weather and will
not last the entire season. Swiss chard
should be planted in drills after the
| soil becomes thoroughly warm. 1t will
be ready for cutting in eight ten
weeks.
| Chard stands drought well and will
last until late in the fall. Either rape
or chard must be cut above the central
| leaf bud if continued cuttings are de-
| sired. Where hens are not accustomed
to green food in this form. some little
difficulty may be experienced in teach
ing them to eat it. This, however,
may be overcome by starting with
| small feeds each day. During the hot
weather green food should be given
the dew is still on. The winter supply
of green food should also be kept in
| mind. Every poultry plant should have
a plot of mangels large enough to carry
the mature stock through the winter
and start the chicks in the spring. II
they are not already pushing their
way up through the soil by all means
get them in at once. Mangels require
a we'll prepared seed bed and good cul-
tivation for the best results.
After the mangels are well matureo
the leaves may be broken off and used
at once while the roots are stored for
winter. The great advantage in grow
ing mangels is the fact that they keep
we'll in any reasonable storage ana
are easy to feed. A crop of late cab
bage may be grown to advantage after
some other crop has been removed. The
immature heads may be used for fall
feeding and the best stored for winter.
Although cabbages make a very good
green food they are not as popular
with the poultrymen as mangels on &C
count of the difficulty in storing.
Glover and alfalfa may always be fed
to advantage either dry or green. Beet
pulp has also proved to be very valu
able where fresh green food cannot be
obtained
In the construction of nest boxes
plan on convenience for collecting the
eggs. Place them in the darkest part
of the poultry house.
Now is the time to start fighting lice
and mites.
Under natural conditions eggs not
promptly incubated are warmed daily
by contact with the body of the hen.
In order to determine whether or not
this preliminary warming has any eff
feet on the vigor of the embryo, two
tests were made recently by the Penn
chicks. In the first test the percentage
of chicks Matched from all the eggs
were follows: Not warmed, 80 per
cent warmed one hour daily, 63.4 per
cent: warmed two hours daily, 47.2 per
cent. In the second test the results
were as follows: Not warmed, 20 per
cent: warmed thirty minutes daily. 20.4
per cent; warmed sixty minutes daily.
2s.s per cent. From these results it
is thought that there is some advan-
tage to be gained from warming eggs
which are to be held for periods longer
than ten or twelve days before the
regular period of incubation begins.
Have supply Of fne charcoal before
the chicks at all times. The best for
this purpose is the kind commonly
called pinhead.
A Pennsylvania paper has this to
say on the germless egg: The feeling
generally prevails that one egg is as
wholesome and clean as another
We may fret and worry about the pos
sibIe germs that come to us in the Ice
We properly take no end of precaution
In favor of a pure milk supply. We
insist on wrapped bread and germless
oysters and dozen other kinds Of pure
food. But we trust the hen. Few Of
us ever realize that any germ or un-
cleanness can penetrate the smooth
surface of the egg shells. But that
opinion shows that we do not know II
all when it comes to pure food. The
very fact that eggs grow stale is
proof enough that trouble does pene-
trate the shell. For this staleness is
produced by the presence of micro or
ganisms. which in growing produce
poisons productive Of ptomaine poison
ing So. too. eggs laid by hens not
hygienically cared for may be carriers
of uncleanIiness"
Don't try to help the chicks out of
the shells Nature will do that Chicks
that are helped out of the shells Will
never amount to much. more often
they die.
Sunhowers sowed close together will
PROVIDE shade for the growing chicks
later on.
One can't expect the best results
from an incubator unless II sits per
fectly level. pc
Do not neglect hlling the lamps on
the orooders every day, and trim the
wicks little carelessness in this d.
rection Will some day bring disanpoint-
ment. One nights chilling will either
XIII the chicks or retard them in their
growth. 1870
SLOPPY feeds should always be avoid
ca, win both old and young stock
Common Sense in Club Work.
farmer boy works ten hours a day
plows and cultivates the earth. feels
no sense of ownership. has neither
heart nor head interest in his work