Norwich bulletin., 1919-01-03
PLAIN HENS MAKE FANCY RETURNS

twelve years. Some Of them are two
years old, some three, some four, and,
to the best of my knowledge and be-
lief, some are eight or ten. let them
live their hen-liVeS out urdisturoed
aud bury them in the garden when old
age claims Them. When winter sets
in they are given in their house box
of ground limestone to wallow In or
do what they please with. For GER
tainly two if not three years they
haven't had bit OF grit given them
nor spoonful of shells. nor q taste
of meat scrap They probably get
some grit from the gravel of their
ward and some lime from the ground
limestone Also, during the garden
season. bushels of weeds and waste
are thrown over to them.
They have enough to eat-Such as it
is. enough 10 drink and shelter when
ever they seek il. But I'll leave it to
any professional hen man if there is
| any one least little thing right about
! the rest of It!
| And yet these twenty I1sreticaliy
| nistreated, unlovcd and Iipampered
| Leghorns turned out twelve dozen
! eggs the last two week; Of Deem
| bert
! According to the last weekly record
! At my hands of the Storrs egg-Iaying
| contest, fifty pens of White Leghorns
! produced eggs varying from 40 per
week. per pen. down to zero. The fif-
! ~ pens averaged q little less, per pen
! of ten pullets, than 70 eggs .. week.
, That would have been about 81 nsgs
/ Tor twenty hens-1ny number of birds.
Yet my twenty, for two cold December
weeks, averaged " per week, or at the
rate of &c for ten hens almost three
times as many as the selected Storrs
pens averaged In fact. only two OF
those correctly managed pens did as
well as mine. while So did poorer.
The birds sent to this contest are
It may reasonably be presumed Sc
lected stock. They are scientifically
bred and OF fancy strain. They are
properly cared for from A 10 2. The5
are fed sEch rations. as are supposed
70 be most productive Of eggs For
may be sure they get grit and lime
! and meat and bone. Mine get ''suthn
20 eat" Of whatever / happen 20 nave
| and needn't buy. and that's about al
! that can be said for them.
Now what's the moral OF all this
Docs it mean thac people, as n rule
would DO better to pay no attention t,
their hens? Does it mean that q hi
or miss" policy is the true one for egg
production? Does il mean that neg
; / Iect is better than care?
:, I don't think so. In plain words
don't know what it me9 Ms, unless 1t j
another illustration of the old sayin
that the Lord looks out for children
and fools, Unquestionably profes
a sional poultry men will agree that s
: far as hens 3rA concerned. / beiong i
: TIE latter category.
r My vary next door neighbor is
! confirmed hen man. He has NOR
7 than two hundred pullets, beside a fey
: two year Odds. Nothing older tina
| that. He attends to them as Re
: / Cross nurses attend TO hospital ward
| Their ralions are scientifically com
i, pounded and he actually Knows ever
i separate hen in the ftock-can tell
= from any other. Yet. the last fortnigf
= he got from over two hundred puIlet
g, only one dozen moro eggs than | iii
G from twenty Old time SCARED veteran
: If inQeterninate age.
4 For some reason. my fowls moUlte
y unusually early this year They vel
= It it during -Septembar and Octobe
: There was I'D interval Of some 81
II weeks that l never got q single eg
-. In November they began laying an
- have Kept it up pretty we'll. over sine
I Ny neighbours pullets, on the otht
4 hand, didn't get through mCulting ii
e the very last OF November. All
n which may have something to do wit
h he difference.
q have usually. for the past twent
years had some winter eggs. RI
q ! this past Decenlber's record is Il
! biggest, proportional to the numb,
# of fowls. OF anything I've ever ha
Z | The terry poorest output in the who
~ twenty wears was one of the winter
along at the beginning. when I COZ
- Scientiousl ytrled to do my duty |
them; had AL pullets. gave the
scratching pens and laying-pcns, fl
hem approved rations, kept them SUI
tlied with grit and shells and c.
ncne, etc. The very best output
Ibis winter. when they are just fur
enough to eat and drink ard let :
AZ that
OF course, there must be a right ";
as we'll as numerous wrong ways
q treat hons I am not going to insi
e uate nor permit anyone else to sugge
d hat I think mine is the right way.
It's working vne this winter. E
.e II hasn't produced anything to ia
IA abaut other winters. Why the diffe
Q cnce 7 don't know and don't belle
- anybody else does-eXcept the her
y and they can't explain. All know
IL shat they spend most OF the day tir
II. Hincing in their way, and that tn
IS, arc Smelling out the eggs. So we
&c both happy, and I'm going to call
p square.
!. With just one other suggestic
=. Which is that hens are a mystery, a
SS We don't any of us know all the d
tails OF meta bolism and diabolism a
IT, yArous other isms that are going
re III their insdes. The more | have
All 0 with EN-, the more l am inclin
nd - tnihk tnat mems nave 10 be treat
gosh Whereby a fellow'll hit