666 Rural School Leaflet. 



POULTRY IX OCTOBER. 

 By James E. Rice. 



October should be one of the busiest months of the year for the boy or 

 girl who is taking care of poultry. It is one of the most pleasant months 

 for working out-of-doors. We of the North seem to feel the hibernating 

 instinct of a squirrel when fall comes. We enjoy "snugging up" when 

 the days get shorter and the frosts remind us that winter is coming. We 

 know from experience how good it feels to be snug and comfortable. The 

 hens feel the same way. Notice how they seek the shelter of the bushes, 

 fences, and buildings. They know full well that this is no time to lay 

 eggs or to rear a brood of chickens. Therefore, they do what is per- 

 fectly natural and excusable, from the hen's view point, — they stop lay- 

 ing. Hens everywhere do the same; that is why eggs are always high- 

 priced in October, November, and December. 



Did it ever occur to you that hens begin to lay less about the last of 

 June each year, when the days begin to get shorter, and that they 

 naturally begin to lay again about the first of January, when the 

 days commence to get longer? They do this because they know by the 

 amount of daylight and sunshine when a more favorable or less favor- 

 able season is approaching. Hens lay well only when they are com- 

 fortable and happy. The happy, singing hen is the laying hen. That is 

 why great care is necessary in the fall to get fowls into winter quarters 

 early. There are many ways of doing this. One is to provide them with 

 a nice, cheerful, cosy, clean house where they can be sheltered from the 

 wind, where they can live in fresh air and have plenty of sunshine. 



There are many things to be considered in making a home for hens. 

 I say "home" instead of "house" because many expensive hen houses 

 are not hen homes; they may look all right but they are too high or too 

 dark or too damp or too dirty. A hen home should be low and dry and 

 bright and clean, and have neat nests where the birds can hide their 

 eggs. In fact, there are so many things to say on the subject of hen 

 homes that it would take a wliole book to describe them. You would 

 better ask the G^llege of Agriculture at Cornell University to send you 

 Reading-Course Bulletin 33, which describes one way to build a hen 

 home. Read it thoroughly and see whether you can make over your hen 

 house into a hen home, if it is not one already. Do it now. 



