Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 February 1892 — THE POULTRY-YARD. [ARTICLE]

THE POULTRY-YARD.

Fariticailon. A time and labor saving way to purify the poultry-house is pacticed and praised by a writer in the Germantown Telegraph: I attach my spraying pump to a kerosene barrel, and shoot water into every part of the house—cracks, corners, roof and all—and then sweep it, after which I fill the barrel half full of lime-water and spray the inside of the house with It. I think it much better than whitewashing, and more quickly and

easily done. The lime gets into spots not possible to reach with a brush, and leaves the inside of the house in good shape. lllr* Fwioss to Vania The wire fence does not keep the winds out of the yards. When such a fence is made, the lower part should be of boards, and they should be put together so as to be close. A fence seven feet high, composed of three feet of boards and four feet ot wire, should be high enough to keep nearly all breeds of hens within bounds, and the boards will make the yards much warmer and more comfortable than when wire only Is used. It is an advantage for the -hens to be outside sometimes, for they will not be content to remain in on clear days; but to send them outside on a cold, windy day, with the yards enclosed only with wire, is to expose them to a very severe test. A yard should have wind-breaks of some kind if the hens arc to occupy them, and this can ne accomplished in several, ways; one by having boards at the bottom, and another by arranging corn stalks on the north and west sldee of the fence. Anything that will break the force of the wind will be found beneficial.—Farm and Fireside.

Point* on Poultry. Tame hens, like other tame and gentle stock, have the advantage of using all their food for business. Fright wastes food in the bird as in the cow, and also frequently causes broken eggs, broken windows in the hennery, and other losses. Corn is too fattening for fowls as a steady diet in mild weather, but for supper in cold weather nothing is better than a full crop of it heated slightly before it is fed. Apples decaying in tho cellar, and there are plenty of them this winter, will be used economically by the poultry. Ducks and geese have been wintered on them almost exclusively. A dish of dry bran,|standing constantly in the fowl house, will do the birds good, both in the exercise they will get picking the fine stuff, and in making them drink more. It will not fatten them, while they will improve upon it. The incubator has taken the place of the hen on many farms the past season, resulting in many cases in a larger percentage of healthy, vigorous chicks. It is the coming way of hatching.