Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 October 1890 — THE POULTRY-YARD. [ARTICLE]

THE POULTRY-YARD.

The Case of I.ay Inn Hens. If you want your hens to lay give them food best calculated to furnish egg-form-ing material and gently stimulate, material to furnish lime for the shell and meat to make blood. Remember that there is a continual drain on the resources of the regular laying hen. In summer on extended runs hens will almost or entirely find their own oggnmklng material. But in winter and in confinement these must be supplied regularly. One simple rule with adult fowls is to givo them as much food as they will eat eagerly and no more. When practicable make laying hens scratch and work for their feed. Exercise conduces to prolificacy, while moping about and over-feeding results in too much fat to allow the production of a full quota of eggs. Food for laying fowls is one of the subjects considered in the poultry report of the experiment farm at Ottawa, Canada. Following are some of the directions given: In the cold weather of winter a warm mea l in tiie morning Is necessary to start and keep up a steady supply of eggs. A good plan is to throw all the waste of the kitchen, in the shape of scraps, pieces of bread, uneaten vegetables, &e., into a pot, heat up in the morning until nearly boil in a, and then mix bran, provender, shorts or whatever is most abundant or cheap on the farm into a hot mess, dusting in a small quantity of red pepper before mixing. Let the mixtun! stand for a few minutes until the meal is nearly cooked; then feed in a clean trough, with laths over it, to keep the hens from jumping in and fouling or wasting the feed in their eager anxiety. Feed only enough of tills soft stuff to barely satisfy, never enough to gorge, when a hen has had so much food that she will go into a corner and mope she has had too much, and if the over-feed-ing is continued will soon cease to lay. The laying hens are the active ones. If food is given at noon it should be oats, and scattered among the litter on the floor. This meal should be light. The last feed in the afternoon should be generous. Each hen should be sent to roost witli a full crop to carry her over the long night. Green food, in the shape of vegetables usually grows on every farm, will be relished by the layers. Cabbages, turnips or carrots are generally the most convenient. Small potatoes boiled and mixed with provender or bran is a good change for the evening meal. Some of the above named vegetables should always oe in the pens of the layers. Red clover hay, steamed, chopped and mixed with bran, and given while hot is one of the healthiest foods for the morning meal. Meat in some shape must be given at least twice a week, to furnish blood-making material. Hens fed on meat lay well. If given no meat the hens will eat their eggs and pick feathers from one another. As cold weather approaches provision must be made for keeping laying hens warm, especially at night. Hens will bear a great deal of cold in the sunshine, and will not stop laying if they roost warm. The importance of warm quarters, with good ventilation, can hardly be over-estimated. A very good arrangement for a hen house for winter, suggested by one authority in such matters, consists in making the ceiling of rails about six feet above the floor. These rails are covered with soft hay or coarse swamp hay of any kind. The roosts are placed about three feet high above the floor. —New York World.