Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 February 1877 — Eggs in Winter. [ARTICLE]

Eggs in Winter.

Fbw things are more essential to the comforts of the table in winter than fresh ,eggs and a plenty of them. The opinion is very common that hens must needs suspend payment when the weather becomes severe, but this is not at all a matter of necessity. They will lay as readily from the Ist of January onward as at any time in the year, provided they are properly cared for. The eggs are in them in etnbryo, and all that is needed to secure their constant deposit in the nest is to pay suitable attention to the hens that have the supply. 1. The first essential is a-warm shelter. If hens are left to spend their days in the snow and to roost at night on the trees or in any exposed situation, it will be the next thing to a miracle if they lay eggs. All their resources will be exhausted in <esisting the cold; they will have none left to expend in producing eggs. A good hen-house should bp provided, with a warm southern exposure and sheltered frbin the wintr/blasts. A glazed window facing the south, or more' than one, should be given them, to let in light in days that may be dark and stormy, or when it is too cold for them to venture out. They should not be confined to the hen-house during the day,- but will be much better off with air and exercise outside of their night quarters. 2. Cleanliness is another requisite. Their quarters should be kept free from the vermin that annoy fowls, and this can be done only by the exercise of care and labor. The hen-house should be thoroughly whitewashed internally with lime, as one of the best preventives to th aonroach of insects. The hens should hive access to a bed of dry juhesor earth, or a mixture of the two' is still better. This is not opposed to cleanliness, for pure earth and ashes are clean in the eyes of the feathered tribe, and are a protection against what to them is real dirt. They should not be allowed to scratch or wallow in their own droppings. J, »ft?"S most any kind of gtyiu, corn, a. -xjs year out. But something more than the best Of grain is needed for the manufacture of eggs. Hens will not lay without some form of animal food. If they could have access to the grasshoppers, as in summer, they would reouire nothing else, but in winter they require some kind of meat, or the scraps from the table —almost any animal food—should be given to them in liberal quantities every day or eggs will be scarce and without flavor. It is an erroneous idea that there is no difference in the quality of eggs, even from the same fowls. The quality and flavor are affected by the food as wgll as by the breedHof fowl! For this reason we w6uld notfud hens on fish, in the.£Par, at least, that she eggs, like the flesh of fowls, might become flshy. Hens should also have some green vegetable food. Cabbageleaves may be thrown to them, whole or chopped up. Hot roast potatoes will be eaten with avidity, and will bestimulat-

ing by the heat they impart. Fowls are much better in Verv cold weather foraome -hot feed.V Hot buckwheat cakea are capital food for hens when the object is to fatten them, but not so good for eggs. Give the hens soft -food in the morning, and at night aTeed of grain of some kind, which they may grind up at their leisure in the night. They should have a fresh supply of clean, tepid water in the mornin® and Should never be left • single day 4. Material for shells. They must have access to lime in aomaform aa the material for shells to their eggs. It is a bad plan to feed out the broken shells of eggs that they have access.to open ground tnqy will pick up lime for their own use in manufacturing the Oggs; But otherwise they should be supplied with broken bones, oyster shells, or lime in some other form. By attention to these particulars, any family, with a score of good hens may look for a large supply of fresh eggs through the winter months as confidently as at any other time of the year.— N. Y Observer.