Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 January 1892 — THE POULTRY-YARD. [ARTICLE]

THE POULTRY-YARD.

Feeding Hens on the Farm. It costs the farmer less to producq eggs than it does one living on the suburbs of a town or village, as the hen on the farm can pick up about one-third of her food. A bushel of wheat or corn for a hen one year should be sufficient, proviaed she has opportunities for securing grass, seeds, etc. She will lay, under fair conditions, ten dozen eggs a year. As to* how much profit to expect, says Farm and Fireside, it will depend on the cost of the wheat and the price of the eggs. The bushel of wheat will cost the Eastern farmer about sl, but in some portions* of the West the cost may not be over 50 cents. At the same prices for eggs the Western farmer has the advantage of cheaper cost, hut as the Eastern farmer has the advantage of prices, his opportunities are better. Each section possesses advantages and 'disadvantages, and when the fatmer sells his eggs he should be prepared to know exactly how much expense was incurred. If eggs sell for only 10 cents a dozen, when wheat is 50 cents a bushel, he secures a higher price for his wheat by converting the wheat into eggs through the agency of the hens. Eggs have the advantage of calling for cash in the markets, and they can be produced in the winter season, giving immediate returns, which is very different from being compelled to wait from one season to the next. Feeding the hens on the farm is to take possession of the waste places with the hens. There is food to be secured that is not in the grain-bin. Every clod turned over by the plow affords a little, and the young grass and weeds, the seeds of grass, the rakings of the farm, the scattered grain of the barn-yard, the stubble in the fields, the scraps from the table, and the manure heap, all afford the hens privileges, and the eggs laid by them during the summer season cost the farmer little or nothing. The low cost of summer should be considered and the average made.

Poultry Motes. Get several boxes and barrels and put them near the poultry coop in a dry place, where the droppings can he stored for use. They are worth $1 a barrel to a gardener. Hens like coarsely ground oats mixed with bran or middlings as a soft feed in the morning. It should always be scalded and fed comorft-

ably warm, but not hot Nothing 1| more nutritious. Geese feathers sell as high as 50 cents per pound when clean and sorted. If more would keep geese they would soon realize the profits actually to be had from a fioek. Fall is a good time to buy them cheap. Gravel or sand can be placed in barrels for use in winter When grit is hard to find and dig. Place it in a suitable receptacle where the chickens may obtain enough to keep them in good condition. The moment, you attempt to crass a lloudan and a Polish to improve the former you miss the mark. Iloudans are one of the oldest and most accurately bred fowls and require no crossing from outside blood. Cochins, notwithstanding their excessive size, are good layers. With a comfortable coop they may be depended on for eggs during cold weather. They are hardy and less subject to severe sickness than many other breeds. . Grain foods are more or less lacking in lime and mineral matter. On the other hand, nitrogen, carbon and mineral matter are abundant in bran. There is no better food than bran in a mixture, ground with oats. It makes hens lay.