Middletown transcript., 1918-06-08
SELL ALL EARLY
M0ULTING FOWLS
Requisites for Layers Are Shade,
Clean Water, Fresh Air and
Proper Food.
Utilize Gull VEGETABLES
Problem for Poultry Keeper IS to Get
Greatest Number Of Eggs Possible
-Unproductive Hens Should
Be Sent to Market.

Now that the Matching season is
pretty well over, the problem for the
poultry keeper, particularly for the
backyard poultry keeper, is to get the
greatest number of eggs possible from
the number Of hens kept during the
summer. Hens that are not good
layers should be marketed. Unless the
hens have already been carried through
one summer. which is perhaps not the
best practice for the backyard poultry
keepers, there is necessarily some diff
Guilty in determining which are the
good summer layers. The fact that
hen has been a good spring layer does
not prove that she will be a good
summer layer. OF course, no hen
should be sold while she continues to
lay, but a hen that has become broody
may, after a brief period, begin laying
again and continue through the sum-
mer. The condition of the comb will
indicate some time in advance whether
the hen will begin laying again. IT
she shows no indication Of preparing
to lay, it would be wise to sell or eat
her. The time of moulting is perhaps
the safest indication. Hens that moult
early are not good summer layers, and
it is good practice to sell all hens that
begin moulting in June or early July.
Summer House Problem.
The problem of summer housing is
not much less a serious one than that
Of winter housing. The principal re-
quirements are fresh air, access to both
shade and sunlight, dryness and room.
The matter of air properly comes first,
and free circulation Of air practically
insures dryness. Air and sunlight are
natures best disinfectants and GERM.
cides. But hens are very susceptible
to an excess of.heat and it is equally
necessary that they hsve plenty of
shade.
The problem of summer ration for
the backyard poultry keeper is much
easier of solution than that Of a win
ter ration. In most cases the neces-
sary green feed can be supplied with
out buying anything. Beet, carrot and
turnip tops, waste leaves from cabbage
and lettuce, onion tops, potato parings.
watermelon and cantalOupe rinds, to-
gether with the clippings Of grass from
the lawn, will supply in most cases
all the green feed required by the
backyard flock.
Dry Feed Requirement.
Bread and cake crumbs, particularly
If you can induce your neighbOr who
keeps no chickens to save hers for you,
will go a long way toward supplying
the dry-feed requirement. Meat scraps
from the kitchen may be sufficient to
meet the requirements for animal food,
particularly if the hens have even q
little range in which they can scratch
for bugs and worms. Such scraps are
best run through q meat grinder and
mixed with three parts cornmeal and
one part wheat bran. This should be
fed at noon or later. If any grain is
necessary. it should be fed in the
morning and should be scattered in
litter sufficient to make the hens work
for it. Not more than a pint to ten
hens should be fed in any case. Corn,
either whole or cracked, and oats will
be the most suitable grain feeds. If
hens show q tendency to get too fat, !
the grain ration should be reduced, as
excessively fat hens are never good
LAYERS, Some beef scrap should be fed
if enough meat scraps from tables can |
not be procured to meet the require
ments of the hens.
Hens should have constant access |
to grit or stones small enough to be |
swallowed and to crushed oyster or
clam shells.
A matter of first importance is that
the water supply be always plentiful