French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1916-1919, 1917-03-08
A TOUR OF INVESTIGATION.

0 We DAO POo@
try and read nearly all the articles on
poultry in the poultry departments of
five papers. I do not remember ever
seeing so many complaints Of hens not
laying as are in the papers this win
ter. Many are complaining in our
neighborhood. One says, 81 haven't
sold a dozen eggs since last Novem-
Der" Another, "Pye bought all the
! eggs I've used this winter" Another,
II am on the lookout for every eggless
cake. cookie n doughnut recipe I
can find, our hens are on q strike"
and 10 on. down o long list. While in
a grocery s. short time bfore Christ
mas l saw a lady buy eggs for her.
self and two of her neighbors to do
their Christmas baking with, These
Ladies all kept hens but the hens were
resting. The grover said he had new
er had so many farm folks buying
eggs from him as there had been this
year. Then l began to look, to listen
and to question to see if 1 could learn
where the trouble lay. | did not Won
der people were. not getting eggs,
neither did / blame the hens for not
laying. Poultry accommodations on
farm number 1: Hen house 10x14, 60
fowls kept here, one small window,
door kept closed in winter, not straw
enough in the whole building for one
nest. owner didn't know when it had
been cleaned, going to get around to
it one of these days. A ~two-quart
basin for water was filled each morn
ing no mash fed, fed a little corn
night and morning, didn't feed much,
| oft don't now hans uyonIR 1oxy ~ rvSoHon
any way" Didn't know how old some
of the hens were, "old enough" they
guessed.
Next farm: Same sized building, so
hens kept, some of them were we'll
bred and well-grown pullets. The
building was clean and well cared for,
plenty of litter that was changed FREE
Quently, clean water before the hens
all the time, plenty of grain fed. Got
a few eggs, just about what they want
ed to use. Never sold eggs in Janu-
airy till last year. each of these
focks gets oyster shells Sometimes
Another flock has a nice light,
warm, clean and roomy building, fed
fed just corn and parings and scraps
from the house." The man depends
on the women to water3them and they
are watered about every day, cit does
not matter much as they would drink
but little in cold weather anyhow"
Got a few eggs, though maybe the
hens needed some shell or grit.
Another flock (~pure-bred) of a good
laying strain of Reds, a splendid
building well kept, good ration and
care, but most of the hens were from
three to five years old. Got lots OF
eggs three and -. years ago, but
few now" Owner wonders if they
had better sell the old hens and start
with pullets again. Another flock
was surely good to look at, young
we'll bred, in a clean building. cut cold
oh my! Owner thought they would
lay more if he fed a little more. If 1
owned that flock of young hens I'll bet
/ would try a little more" feed.
These are a few of the didn't
pays" 1 found some thai did pay and
l am convinced that a statement we
often hear at our farmers institutes
is a mistake. They often tell us that
to feed fowls or animals successfully
depends One-third on breed, one-third
ION feed and one-third on care. If /
were doing that dividing business 1
should divide it into fifths, thus; one
fifth breed, twO-ffths feed and two
ffths care. For in two of the sue
cessful focks 1 visited, the fowls were
of the same ages as in two of the fail
ures. The difference between. success
and failure were in the care and feed.
The 1ocks 1 found that were paying
their way had well-lighted and warm
roomy buildings, four feet and some
times more of floor snace for each
hen, clean drinking water, plenty of
it.. hoppers with grit and oyster shells,
hoppers of mash made up from form
u1as sent out by the experiment sta
ton. and good sound corn fed on. the
ear, plenty of green feed. And the
ones that were doing best by the egg
basket had some milk, plenty Of straw
on the floors and some had the shat
terings from the hay thrown in the
straw. These hens were laying eggs
at so cents per Dozen. But why
shouldn't they They were mostly pull
lets, weIl-fed, well cared for and they
were paying their way.
One lady told me of her flock with
pride, she had been trying for three
years to-get her flock On q paying
basis. had seen her flock often,
pure-bred, we'll fed and cared for, but
crowded always. This year she is
wintering but one-third the usual
number and is getting twice Is many
eggs as she ever did before. ct took
me a long time to learn where the
trouble lay" said she, "but l think I
have everything all right now" and I
think she has.-Mrs. M. G., in Nation