Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1920-02-13
JUST ABOUT POULTRY

We had sunshine Sunday, and it
was the first in more than a week.
February has not improved this
years weather record, I put some
baby chicks in a coop in the yard
to let them scratch and bask in the
warmth of the sunshine. They hatch
ed in January and that was their
first experience out of a box. Today
they are back in their box, a glimpse
of the sun is ours occasionally, but
it won't do for baby chicks.
Friday was not especially cold so
The Farmer and I spent most of
the day in the hen houses. It would
| astonish the people who fail to take
care Of that sort of fertilizer, to see
how much can be stored through the
winter. We have a big box and a
barrel and a big galvanized tub that
| is filled up to Christmas and then
at the January cleaning there is just
as much. We broadcast it over the
garden and it makes things grow,
and there Is lots of satisfaction in
both the clean poultry house and a
| good garden.
| There is universal complaint about
the hens not laying. 1 have had
so many letters from women who
are almost ready to give up the
game, they seem to thing that their
| hens are slackers. In some cases
they may be, but many of us are
playing the part the Egyptians
played in dealing with the Israelites.
We are demanding eggs and not CIV
ing them the material needed to
make eggs. You remember that the
Israelites were required to" make
bricks without having the straw that
was needed to hold them together.
The flocks that have had rye or some
other green food all winter are lay
ing eggs. One lady said that she
got desperate, she has a large flock
of hens, and a big family, and the
hens had always made a record in
January. Last September and Octo-
Der was the time to plant rye, she
could not get hers planter and act
ually bought her Christmas eggs.
| SO she went to the barn and picked
off peas that were in the hay and
now her hens are paying her for the
| trouble.
Just as soon as you dare, 1t will
pay you to plant some rape. [ be-
| gin to thin it out as soon as the sec
! ond leaves appear. Later I gather
| it by the basket full for poultry and
pigs. When I lived in town 1 made
an arrangement with market gar
dener to get his under cabbage
leaves. AS he brought cabbages to
market twice a week he filled big
baskets with the under leaves that
| had to be taken off, and I paid him
| for them. There would be enough
| to last from one time to the next.
1 had rye and rape planted, but this
| enabled me to raise at lease two
| hundred more young chickens in the
| rye.
Right now is the time to thor
oughly clean your poultry houses,
| especially nests, for hens will not
| hatch we'll that are lousy or have
| ests that are infested with mites
| I often hear people say that there
| ere no mites on their hens, but they
| are not looking right. Mites must
| be as numerous as the sands of the
sea to be on the hens. They hide IN
| creVices or under the nests anG
! roots. I line the nests with a news
| PAPER. That serves two purposes. I
put the straw in and if an egg is
broken or the nests gets foul, I can
easily pick up the paper and not
have to wash the bottom Of the nesG.
[ almost always lift out the nest
and burn the whole affair a week
before Matching time, then there is
no chance of vermin. Of course.
| look under the nest and often put
i blaze all over and under the nests
| then refine, fix new material, and
| put back the eggs. My hens are 50
gentle that I can put the eggs in
| basket and put the hen on chem
while fixing the new nest. But one
| ran usually do all that while the
hen is getting her feed and exercise.