fAHMEES* INSTITUTES. 6Y3 



It Is best to feed the little chicks cooked feed for one month at least, 

 and feed in pans or boxes just what the chicks will clean up and no 

 more. It is best to water in iron vessels. 



After the chicks are one month old milk may be fed to good advantage. 



Chicks hatclied in the month of April and May are the least trouble, 

 and groAV better. 



They should be well fed and kept growing rapidly if there is to be any 

 profit in tliem. 



When the hens are setting it is best to keep a broom in the hen- 

 lionse, and sweep tlie house every morning. This will pi-event lice from 

 getting a start. 



Chif^kens will thrive on any good, wholesome food; but will not 

 thrive on tilth. 



The house and runs must be kept clean or poultry raising will be a 

 faihu-e. 



The sitting hen must be kept quiet if we want her to hatch well. 

 I always use boxes 14 inches scjuare and 8 inches deep for nests. 



It is best for the same person to tend the chickens all the time, This, 

 I think, is the wife's place. She ought to have something on the farm 

 that she can tend and feel is her own; she ought to do aU the work for 

 her chickens, except making the coops. This, I think, is the husband's 

 work. Slie should sell the chickens, collect the money and spend it as 

 she pleases. If this was done oftener our country homes would be 

 furnished much better. The wife would be a better manager, and we 

 would have more chickens. 



►Seventy-hve hens will raise from tive to seven hundred chickens a 

 year, wliich are usually about equally divided. The hens I sell for 

 Thanksgiving, thereby avoiding any of the l>ad weather; the capons I 

 keep until after the holidays. 



Some say an old hen Avill eat her head off. So will a cow if we 

 dou't try to make a profit off her. We will see what seventy-five hens 

 will do if they have proper care. We can sell four hundred chickens, 

 which will bring us two hundred dollars at the least; then we can sell 

 30U dozen eggs during the yenr. Not wishing to add any extra trouble, 

 I prefer selling them at tlie door. By so doing they will bring me about 

 12 cents per dozen, which will make ^M. Fifty bushels of corn will feed 

 the whole flock and fatten the capons— this, at 50 cents, is $25. .$200 for 

 cliickeus and $36 for eggs is $230. ^236 minus $25 equals $211 clear, and 

 you have your hens left. Has she eaten her head off? Have you made 

 a greater profit on anything on the farm for the amount invested? 



If I, a farmer's wife, can do this with all the cares of a home and 

 family, Avhat might anyone do who could devote all their time to it? 



43 — Agriculture. 



