122 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



sue if I were to start over again. I am practicing whatever 

 I am preaching. Most certainly, I am using the method that 

 I am speaking of. 



Question. I would like to ask the gentleman this ques- 

 tion. He says he has four brooding houses on an acre. How 

 does he keep those hens properly divided up? Do you have a 

 wire fence between the houses? 



Mr. TiLLiNGHAST. We have no fence except the fence 

 around the whole place to protect the stock from dogs. Dogs 

 sometimes get in, and we have lost at times a good many hens. 

 We have no division fences except between the breeding and 

 laying stock. The stock on our fifty acres is our laying stock. 

 We do not keep any cockerels there, but we are keeping that 

 stock entirely for the purpose of raising market eggs. We have 

 those houses scattered about, and there is no difficulty in get- 

 ting the hens to divide themselves up properly among the 

 houses. If you have ever noticed, where there has been a brood 

 of chickens, and you try to get those chickens into the hennery 

 and notice how tenacious they are to get back to the house. 

 It is the same way when they grow up. It is an old saying 

 that a hen will cfcme home to roost every time. 



Question. I understood the gentleman to say that he only 

 fed his chickens once a week, and then later on he said some- 

 thing about feeding them every night. I would like to under- 

 stand how he does, if he only feeds them once a week. 



Mr. TiLLiNGHAST. We feed just once a week. That is, 

 the hoppers are filled once a week. Of course, in the summer, 

 we do away with the cracked corn. We feed cracked corn 

 more to give color to the yolks. In the winter if you feed a 

 hen on wheat screenings altogether, the yolk is not so desirable. 

 If you want to make a bright golden yolk, the corn is better. 

 We supplement the other food in the winter with cracked corn 

 because I want the hen to eat all she can, and corn does no 

 harm, even if she does eat all she can of wheat screenings. 

 If this is given at night, the hens have a long time to grind it 

 up through the night. 



