The midland journal., 1916-04-14
NINTH DISTRICT FARMERS
CLUB.
NINTH
CLUB.
Minutes OF April Meeting Held At
Home OF Edwin F. Kirk
Essay On Poultry.

The Ninth District Farmers Club
met with Mr.. and Mrs. Edwin F..
Kirk, April 5th. The meeting was
called to order by the president.
These members were present: Mr..
and Mrs. Jehu B. Churchman, Mr..
and Mrs. Harvey L. Kirk, Mr.. and
Mrs. Edwin F. Kirk, Mr.. and Mrs.
Chas. w. Mckinney, Mr.. and Mrs.
A. M. SPOTS, Mr.. and Mrs. s. G.
Smith, G. F. Marsh, Mr.. and MRS.
Howard R. Brown. Our visitors to-
day are Mrs. Helen w. Kirk, Mr..
B. M. Wells and Mr.. B. P. Kester,
Associate Editor of the Pennsylvania
Farmer.
Minutes of the meeting held at
the home of Mr.. and Mrs. H. L.
Kirk were read and approved.
County Agent Marsh wanted some
one to try different experiments, one
with different kinds of lime in the
same field, one to raise soy beans
and have them ground for feed and
compare the food value and price
with that of cotton seed meal; also
to plant three or four different kinds
Of corn to see which would produce
the most and best corn. He would
furnish the seed.
Mr.. Kirk responded with the fol-
lowing essay on poultry.
The Ninth District Farmers
Club: as host and hostess.
welcome you at our home, at this
the fifth meeting of our club.
AS we have one with US to-day
who is entirely capable Of occupying
much of the time, I will not detain
you long with what have to say,
but will endeavor to give you some
Of my experiences with poultry,
their breeding, care and egg produc-
ton.
First Of all we want good, strong
hearty chickens, and in order to do
80. we must be very careful in the
selection Of the male bird. Care
should be taken to have him large
and vigorous and above all have
him perfect; see that his breaat
bone is straight; obtain him from
an egg laying strain, and If you are
breeding purebred chickens, which
! think everybody ought to do, for
the beauty in purebred chickens
alone is worth all of trouble, we
should take care in studying out the
shapes and points of the kind of
chickens that we are breeding.
Select a breed Of chickens that you
like best and breed them up to the
standard. It is not in the variety
of chickens, but in the way that they
have been bred, and cared for. I
think the very best way for us to
keep good laying chickens, is to buy
our stock roosters of eggs from
people who use trap nests, and after
that in order to have eggs they
must have cleanliness and the right
kind Of feed and plenty of it.
Keep the hen house clean and light,
and well ventilated, with plenty of
clean straw in it for them to scratch
in, for they must have plenty of
exercise. You cannot keep the
light breeds Of chickens with the
heavy breeds of chickens and get
the best results, for the heavy breeds
are more fattening and should be
fed with more protein and less fat
such as obtained from corn. For
all breeds, the hoppers should
always be kept well filed with
good mixture Of dry mash. will
give you the following mixture
which has been very satisfactory:
200 lbs. of wheat bran, 100 lbs. of
-four middlings, $50 lbs. of ground
corn and oats, 100 lbs. of beef
scraps. rs lbs. of fine ground alfalfa 4
meal and 25 lbs. of fine ground
charcoal. Boiled oats fed once a
day are also very good to help with
the production of eggs, but should.
never be fed when warm for there
is danger of giving the chickens
roup or colds. Always have plenty
of fresh clean water where they
can get it, and always have oyster
oACAASB 0AA0 6AAS Va cOAAO hAuOt C6pO-
cially where you have large fiocks
and have them housed.
Experiments at the egg laying
contests have shown that there is
not SO much difference between the
light breeds and the heavy breeds in
the production Of eggs, but the light
breeds will not consume as much
feed as the heavy breeds and do not
require as much care. For this
reason we can realize larger profit
from the Leghorn or, light breeds
then we can from the Wyandotte or
heavy breeds.
After appointing A. M. SPOTS, H.
r. Brown and H. L. Kirk to inspect
the premises, we adjourned for
lunch. After lunch the committee
reported the following: Four
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