Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 56, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 March 1916 — MAKING PREPARATIONS FOR SPRING WORK [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MAKING PREPARATIONS FOR SPRING WORK

Perhaps you have been raising poultry for many years but with indifferent success —Just fooling along with a few henß, of many different breeds, feeding any oldthing, in old, tumbledown houses, alive with mites and lice, and unclean. Maybe you wondered why you have not had the success that some of your neighbors had and perhaps are discouraged and ready to say there is nothing in the poultry business. This is true if you continue in the same old way, but if you will follow a few simple rules, which every successful poultry raiser must follow, you cannot nelp being successful in Just the degree of painstaking care with which you carry on tne work. •

In the first place you must have clean, well ventilated poultry houses. These do not cost much and on the average farm they can be constructed of old boards and by the labor of a handy man, in one or two days. The houses must be provided with clean nests. Build the houses whenever possible, facing the south, leaving the front open except the covering of small mesh wire to keep out predatory animals. If you intend to use incubators and brooders provide a comfortable brooder house which can be closed up to shut Out the cold, damp drafts of early spring. Set your incubator in a warm place—in the attic, the cellar, or in some room well protected. Next, we want to impress you with the fact that you cannot raise good chickens from poor eggs. If you are satisfied with the mixed breeds, good, bad and indifferent, there is'little advice to give you as to their management If you propose to raise good chickens, fowls that will lay the greatest number of eggs, or produce the greatest number of pounds of meat, select your breed, and then buy purebred eggs. You can only get these by buying from breeders whose integrity is jinquestioned. and who are ready, to guarantee that their eggs will produce birds true to type. Insist upon eggs from hens and not from young pullets. Eggs from a hen that is fully grown and

matured will naturally produce more birds and stronger birds than eggs from pullets who are still in a state of growth. * Sometimes it is true that pullet eggs hatch out well, but they do not produce birds with the vigor and stamina that come from mature eggs. And you will find that the chicks from pullet eggs will be more subject to disease and more will die. If you have a good breed and raise your own eggs, separate the best hens of your flock .and select the best" eggs from these. Never set an egg from a hen that is puny, or that has had a touch of disease at any time, or that is any way deformed, no matter how slightly. If you use an Incubator, you must watch it day and night, and after you have learned all that the manufacturer tells you in the directions on the machine, you must use your own common sense and comply with the varying Conditions of climate. When the youngsters come out of their shell they, too, must be watched every "day ,and be cared for in every detail all the time. Young chickens cannot be raised by any person who is frequently away from home for long intervals. One must be on the job all the time. The most important thing in starting young chicks is to refrain frofn feeding them a single atom for at least 36 hours. Nature has filled their little Btomachs before they left the shell and if they are stuffed as soon as they appear, many will die. Give them plenty of water and after thirty-six hours feed them lightly on fine rolled oats or coarse cornmeal. Then, just as soon as they show strength and vigor, let them run on the tender, short grass for a little while every day. Watch for lice from the start, and if any are found on the heads or under the wings, touch the spots lightly with lard or vaseline. Having* started right by following the above directions, your success depends upon the fidelity with which you manage the dock until they become fledged or are ready to be sent to the market.

An Excellent "String” of White Wyandotte.