Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 August 1912 — POULTRY NOTES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POULTRY NOTES

. Feed lime and charcoal liberally. Do not breed from fowls that are too old. Millet seed is an excellent egg producing grain. Many poultrymen raise lettuce just for hen feed. An incubator will not trample on and break ttte eggs. A few undesirable eggs will lower the price of a whole crate. Cut clover hay has helped revolutionize the poultry business. Feeds rich in protein should make up a large part of the ration. A maje bird is past his best stage after he has Seen two breeding sea’sons. A lousy hen never thrives and daily ate'htiori should be given to keep lice and mites down. Alfalfa, green or the dry leaves, produces an ideal color in the yolk when the hens have an abundance of it. All eggs used for eating should be from hens that have no male birds running with them. Such eggs are infertile. It wljl pay the poultry grower to make a careful study of the color and quality of yolk that is demanded by the high-class trade, and then learn how to produce it. The poultryman should endeavor to feed all that the hens will consume and return a profit for it, and skill and experience are necessary to determine this amount. Eggs are bought by the dozen, but the poultryman who always markets large, heavy eggs soon gets a premium of 5 cents or more a dozen above the price for ordinary eggs. The wisdom of giving the fowls a well balanced ration may not appeal to many, but a practical demonstration of what the well balanced ration will do will convince the most skeptical.