Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1917-10-24

well as mucn Oh the TOuBHdSe IHey
also will pick up.
One fact that acts against the keep
ing of larger fiocks, is the very high
price of all grains, bringing up the old
claim that the layers "eat their beads
off," There is no doubt where good
clean grain is fed exclusively, at the
presnt high prices, that this may &C.
cur. So we must try and find as much
cheaper feed as possible.
A flock of hens running about the
farm do but little DANCE, in fact,
they do more good in consuming
large number of bugs than any harm
they do in the little they may dig up
Of crops.
Among the cheap foods / include
the sunfower. | have had very salts
factory results from planting the
mammoth varieties along the fences
and out-of- the-way corners. They
have cost practically nothing to raise,
occupied no valuable land to speak of,
and have furnished a whole lot of
feed, both as they ripen and drop for
the hens to pick up themselves, and
also the later crop can be harvested
and threshed like any other grain
crop, and kept for winter feed. as
sure you the layers will not let any
sunfower seed go to waste when it
is thrown to them.
1t is surprising what a big yield
can be secured from a small patch of
sunfiowers, and they are the easiest
things in the world to handle for the
winter feed. They should not be
sown until early in June, or even lat
er. Care should be taken to harvest
them before they get too ripe as they
Il ~ Ls1xv
lots of store room which is dry, it is
not necessary to thresh them at all,
just cut off the flower heads, and
store. then all you have to do is to
feed them just as they are to the flock.
Some complain that their hens will
not eat them. Of course, they do not
make complete food and where hens
are fully fed, or over-fed, they will
not eat them readily. / wish to say
right here that / consider any flock
that refuses to eat sunfiower seeds
as being over-fed and not profitably
fed at that. That is one Of the great
est faults of many farmers, they
throw out corn until the hens refuse
to clean it up, that being about their
only guage as to the requirement of
their flock.
Now wish to make this as a posi-
tive statement, that hens will eat
from twice to four times as much, as
it is profitable to feed them, or that
they require, for anything but fat
| tening purposes.
An ordinary handful of grain is
enough for a ration, and two rations
per day are sufficient. If you want to
know what your flock can get along
very nicely with, throw as many
handful of dry grain into a measure
as you have hens and you will have
good and sufficient feed for your
| flock. This overlooking has been
largely the cause of the understood
| fiocks kept, and is caused by common
! ignorance of sufficient ration. If
you doubt this, try it out yourself on
a few Of your hens and see if you cam
not put your flock on different basis
of profit and loss.
Another very great source Of food
supply for the flock is clover, both in
summer and winter. If you can have
patch of clover not too far from the
farm buildings, the hens will pasture
on this clover to a surprising extent,
1t makes one of the best green feeds
known to layers, there being a large
proportion of heterogeneous matter in
There is hardly any grain crop har-
vested that does not contain i'm the
straw and chaff an ocean of material
for the hens consumption, and we
lose whole lot when we do not make
provision for utilizing it. Not only
is the benefit secured in lessening
the expense of feeding the hens. but
it is keeping our farms free from
| xrvaodc for ovorv vvood coad r,ickad nm
by the hen is one weed less to go out
in manure, and grow into another
weed to seed again.
Another great source Of food sup
ply for the flock running at large, is
! the animal food they pick up, such as
bugs, grasshoppers, mice, and other
| insects and small animals. do not
| think we always realize the amount
of such things the chicken consumes,
or the amount Of good she does in do
/ fuU un