340 BUKKAU OK Faj:MKHs' liNSTlTUTES. 



cost me any more to keep eighty hens than it does to keep one cow. 

 If I can get $1 per hen, you see I am getting nearly three times as 

 much from the hens as from the cow. I have 150 White Leghorns, 

 the others are mixed, but the record for the entire flock is nearly 

 200 eggs each per year. 



What is the best yield of eggs from 50 hens? 



Mr. Cook. — For one I will say I do not know^ but I believe that 

 Mr. Wyckoff of Tompkins county, holds the record from 100 or 

 more. No one present could give a report from a flock of fifty. 



A Farmer. — I know a minister whose Plymouth Rocks pro- 

 duced 215 eggs each last year, and they are not ranked as special- 

 purpose fowls, either. 



Mr. Ward. — I mistrust there is something the matter with that 

 minister's bookkeeping. The best record I have ever heard of, 

 was 198 eggs per hen. I guess that some other hens must have 

 got in and laid in those nests. 



What is the cause of hens pulling feathers, and is there a cure for it? 



Mr. Chapman. — It is a habit with some hens. When one has it, 

 cut off her head. As a rule, however, it is caused by a want of 

 albuminoids in the food. Give them some oil meal, meat scraps 

 or other like foods; cut clover in winter is also a good food. 



What are the best methods of preserving eggs, and how long will they 

 keep? 



Mr. Ward. — We don't want to preserve eggs, but eat or sell 

 them as fast as they are laid. We have heard enough about cold- 

 storage eggs. One can hardly go into a hotel and get fresh eggs. 

 Keep and feed the hens so that they will lay right along. 



Mr. Chapman. — If it were not for cold storage, eggs could not 

 be given away in summer. But eggs may be preserved in lime 

 water, although the system is too expensive. 



A Farmer. — I have limed eggs, and they came out in such fine 

 condition as to defy inspection. I had no difficulty in selling them 

 for 22 cents per dozen. 



Mr. Ward. — Possibly, but I would rather have newly laid eggs, 

 and I believe that most customers prefer them to salted, limed or 

 cold-storage egge. As to the keeping qualities of preserved or cold- 



