The Question Box. 181 



Question. — Can eggs be profitably produced at a cent each ? 



Mr. Rice. — It will depend on the hen and the management. 

 Egg production is the test. It will cost about 23 cents a day for 

 food to keep 100 hens. The droppings, if well preserved, will pay 

 for care. If a hen only lays 100 eggs in a year, they will cost 

 nearly a cent each if the hen is properly fed. She must lay a 

 greater number. If you get a profit at a cent each, you must have 

 egg producing hens, producing at least 160 eggs a year. 



Question. — ■ Can any one afford to sell eggs for hatching from 

 first prize winning stock, at $1 per setting? The above means prize 

 winners at large shows. 



Mr. Rice. — If he can't get any more for them, yes. It would be 

 better than to sell them for 15 cents per dozen. But, if a man has 

 prize winners he ought to get $2 to $3 per setting for the eggs 

 for breeding purposes. I know a man who gets $5. No man who 

 has such stock as he should breed from, can afford to sell eggs for 

 incubating purposes for any such price as $1 per setting. To 

 breed really good stock requires great care and skill. We select all 

 our breeding hens from the flock and put them by themselves. 

 Have just selected 350 out of a flock of 600. 



Question. — Will Mr. Chapman tell us how to cure a hen that 

 wants to " set? " 



Mr. Chapman. — Put her into another hen house, or shut her in 

 a coop and do not feed her anything for a day or two. This treat- 

 ment will cure a Leghorn, but not always a Plymouth Rock. 



Question. — Can you determine the age of a hen after she is a 

 year old? 



Mr. Van Wagenen. — An expert will tell nearly a hen's age by 

 her looks, but I think the larger poultrymen keep a record by 

 punching out a little piece in the foot, or elsewhere, when the hen 

 is a pullet. 



Question. — How shall we make hens lay in winter in Den- 

 mark (Lewis county) ? 



Mr. Chapman. — If a man comes along and tells you that he can 

 make yearling hens lay all winter and does it, he is smarter than 

 I am. But pullets may be made to lay all winter, even in Den- 

 mark. Have the chicks hatched early in spring, so that they will 

 begin laying at, say six months, or before cold weather begins; 

 with such pullets, properly housed and fed, eggs may be produced 

 all winter. But eggs are now worth 30 cents a dozen, which is 

 the best evidence that but very few hens are now laying eggs. 



