Evening star., 1916-09-17
Points for Poultrymen.

Fresh eggs at 45 to so cents a dozen
at this time of year are sufficiently ex
pensive to make it an object to the
housekeeper to be absolutely certain
the eggs every one of them, are fresh.
The poultryman who has a select trade
in eggs is just as interested in the
freshness of his product IS the house
wife or he should be; because the in
clusion of a single stale or bad egg in
| a dozen supplied to family used to
really fresh eggs is often enough to
cause the loss of good customer
One can generally tell by the color of
an egg whether or not it is really fresh
and good. The shell of an egg not
more than two or three days old is
! clear. bright. with a slight bloom
| and altogether different i'll appearance
| from that of a stale egg. Nevertheless
this is not an infallible guide. Eggs
that have been preserved in water
glass for some time will remain at the
bottom when immersed in clear water
Eggs that have been kept III a room
with a temperature Of around - de
greeS for ten to fourteen days viii turn
on end and rise to the top when placed
in a pail or pan of water: the older the
egg the more rapidly ii will rise in the
water.
If eggs are kept in cool or cold
place they may be a month old, or even
older, before they will rise in water
When egg is stale or old an air
space will be seen at one end-the
large end-when the egg is held to the
light this air space Increasing in size
with the age Of the egg This is one
of the indication looked for in can
ding eggs. which is the surest way of
determining the freshness of ttlic cgg
If a stale or oldAegg is shaken violent
ly the contents WNI run together and
a sound can be heard. This IS is,, true
of eggs that have been frozen ana then
thawed. Eggs no more than day Old.
when hard boiled. will not peel
cIeanly; that is, the shell will adhere to
| the hard-boiled white of the egg and
will not come off smoothly. If "A hard
| boiled egg peels cleanly you may be
| sure 1t is more than d day two old
| Fowls throw off much of the waste of
| their systems through their lungs Just
| as human beings do Fowls however
! do not perspire, and therefore breathe
much more rapidly than is the case
! kept in good health ample ventilation
! must be provided for the houses. 50
! that plenty Of fresh air may he had
! light and day. In prcpuri ION to its size
! an average hen requires nearly seven
times the amount Of fresh air to keep
| it healthy as does a horse.
I Overfeeding makes young fowls slug
gish. causes them to hang around from
! one feeding time to the next and thus
| reduces the amount Of exercise that is
i necessary to build up strong constitu-
| tions. Between feelings the young
fowls should be ranging around,
| scratching for bugs and worms, hunt
ing for tender bits of green stuff and
| generally keeping active. If the young
| sters are not doing this cut down the
| frfnA "a c
| change.
| Continually cleaning up and keeping
clean always pays in the poultry bust
| ness.
| A great many poultrymen are buying
+! new stock in preparation for the win
! ter season. and many of these are max
| ing the mistake that is entirely too
| common among poultrymen-that of
lbuying culls from somebody elsc's
Hook. 1t may he taken as Il rule that
! the fowl that is not good enough to be
| kept by one poultryman is not good
| enough to be bought by another. A Gull
may be lacking in stamina or consti-
! tutional vigor: it may have been tried
las an egg producer or a breeder and
| found wanting; 1t may have had some
poultry disease from which it has ap-
| parently recovered. In either of these
cases the Gull Is good for the table. but
, not for the laying house or the breed
4
! Poultrymen will find 1t better to
| make personal selection of stock to be
| bought than to buy it by mail unless
! the purchase is made from thorough
lly reliable seller who breeds none but
| first class stuff. In many cases when
! the breeder is a regular exhibitor at
| poultry shows his culls are simply
| birds that do not come up TO show
| standards but are all right in every
| other respect. In such cases the culls
| NAV be equal to the best in the breed
! er's flock for all purposes for which
the market egg and fowl man wants
| them.
| A correspondent asks whether it is
better to cut down the feed of moult-
ling fowls or to feed more heavily, say
ling a nefghboring raiser Of poultry ad-
yises reducing the ration in order to
hasten the moult. In reply 1t may be
said the most successful poultry raisers
today strongly recommend feeding a
iration high in protein during the
moulting season.
| A recent publication by one OF the
governments poultry experts saws:
''The shedding of feathers is a heavy
drain on the constitution of the fowl
| because it makes necessary the manu-
facture of a new suit of plumage The
making Of new feathers is materially