Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-10-27
Some Answers to Enauirers

Dear Mrs. Thomas: Won't you
please put an article in the Tri-
Weekly Journal on feeding chick
ems from the time they are Matched
unSai maturity? A1se a laying ra-
tiQn for hens. I know that you
have covered the ground a great
many times, but not consecutively,
and we who depend on you for our
knowledge along these lines will cut
it out and profit by it. l thank
you for the helpful spirit you have
shown.
Very sincerely,
~ Mrs. J. H.
This IS a big undertaking, and in
a way one that has to be adapted
to the flock and the climate. There
are a good many rules laid down for
poultry keeping that have been
tried and condemned on the average
farm, and especially in the south.
Unless 1 am mistaken, and If L am
I will be- pleased to be corrected,
there is no great experiment sta
ton for poultry located farther
south than Beltsville, Md, and the
two states that really have worth
while state poultry farms are Mis-
souri, and North Carolina. They do
not send out much help to any ex-
cept their own constituents to help
the poultry raisers of their own
states, that is why they were estab-
lished. Though both have been
prompt to let me have any bulletins
that I have asked for. The point is
this, conditions at both places have
been very different from what the
rrIa 70 al
me about, and are up against.
T, Tennessee is a state that ships a
tremendous amount OF poultry and
eggs, to New York. They have
worked UP the marketing side OF
the business to the nth degree. But
that is not what we want yet. we
have not enough farms that can all
the year around sell eggs to the
cities of Georgia. In recent status
ties 1 see that Georgia sent 2,S91
cases Of eggs to help furnish the
city Of New York in 1922. Alabama
sent 1888 cases. Though these are
states that could furnish outdoor
ranges almost all the winter, and
the green stuff is half the battle
they let Illinois and the neighbor'
ing states reap the harvest.
The mail has just come and IN II
there is the following letter:
Dear Mrs. Thomas: I'VE had a
specialist lecturing on culllng chick
ems. 1 understood him to say that
July and August were the months
to Gull laying hens, the ones that
moufted then were to be sold, or
killed. Now, in my observation, ana
trapnesting, I found it just the re-
verse, 1 find that the hens that
moult in those months are ready to
Law about the first of November
when eggs are beginning to be
good price, and, with attention they
keep on until spring.
""But the hens that started to
moult in the fall never laid an egg
until the first of March when eggs
were down in prices. I have a good
many laying now that moulted
early in summer. Please tell us
through The Journal how to use
charcoal, and the best laying ration
for winter, in Florida, also the best
time to hatch. I, too, have the
Rhode Island Reds"
Sincerely.
Mrs. M.
The bulk of my poultry feed is
bought ready mixed. I get the 'ay-
ing mash and scratch and l supple
ment both with whatever / can get
on the farm. There is nothing bet
ter than field peas, not shelled, to
make them lay. L mean that
throw them to the hens and they
get the peas out for themselves. Al
least once a week I like to give
oftener if I can get them. Then
often. on cold moons, give them a
hot meal Of oats soaked an hour or
two and made into a stiff masn
with wheatbran. [ buy all th9
sorghum seed in the heads tnat
can get, and throw a lot out Ior
them. to get the seed for the evening
meal. None of these do for a regu'
lar ration. Bitter cold weather, OF
when it is rainy and cold, L throw
corn on the cob over to them.
break. or cut the cobs so that they
can manage them. With any ol
these supplements [ feed mash anu
scratch.
Right now the hens need a rich
food. not to get fat, for the exercise
given by scratching for the gram
and getting the corn off the GODS,
will prevent that, but it takes all
sorts of elements to make the eggs
A prominent breeder answers the
question about the mouit. rms
breeder lives in one of the northern
states, and when asked the question,
"Why don't northern breeders nave
eggs to sell in October and NoVem"
ber?" replies that old stock is IN
the moult and that very few pullets
are mature enough 10 use their eggs
for setting. This breeder goes on to
say that eggs are shipped nine and
cne-haIf months in the year, but
cannot handle orders in October and
November.
I do not advocate Matching chick
ems in late October, nor November,