SEVEKTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART III. 93 



credit them with tlie income received, he would furnish them with an 

 object lesson more conducive to increased egg yield than half a dozen 

 experts analyzing and compounding rations, and the increased egg yield 

 would be assured. 



I need not plead the cause of pure-breds against scrubs; more farmers 

 than is generally believed keep pure-bred poultry. The quality of poultry 

 at Farmers' Institutes is surprising. Where the farmer makes his mistake 

 is not so much in the quality of poultry he keeps as In his lack of method. 

 Too often he has no object in view but to keep hens. Whether we breed 

 for eggs, flesh or fancy feathers, we must have an object, and work toward 

 that for best results. If we want flesh we will feed for it, as will we also 

 for eggs and fancy feathers, but feeding poultry is not merely filling their 

 crops. We can fill them up on corn, but that is about as bad a thing as 

 we can do. Corn is a good feed, but the hens fill their crops too quickly 

 with the whole grains, and for best results It should be coarsely cracked, 

 and fed as other grains, in deep litter, first sifting it to save the fine meal. 

 Economy demands that we feed our farm grains as far as possible. Hens 

 need a variety of grains, the farmer can grow them; they need exercise, 

 if made to scratch for a living they will get it even in cold weather; they 

 need green food, the clover hay mow, roots and cabbage is good enough 

 for that; they need animal food, and they will not do their best unless sup- 

 plied with it, this the farmer may have to buy, but the hens will pay the 

 bills in the increased egg yield. One load of gravel will furnish grit for 

 the winter on the average farm, and fifty cents' worth of time will prepare 

 a good "supply of charcoal. Hens will live through the winter on a grain 

 diet, but diet restricted to grains is the most expensive which can be fed 

 in its first cost, and is invariably followed in the spring by sudden deaths 

 in the flock. Hens should have animal food in the shape of milk, green 

 cut bone, or meat scraps, frequently, and a feed of green food each day 

 for best results. The bulk which green food gives is as necessary for 

 poultry as for stock. 



But feed alone will not produce eggs; the hens must work. The same 

 ration which with exercise would be a good laying ration, without exercise 

 will fatten the hens beyond the laying point. For good, strong, hatchable 

 eggs, feed all grain in deep litter, give grain, green and animal food, grit, 

 charcoal and pure water. 



The A B C of successful egg production is, abundance of food of the 

 right kind, and work on the part of the hens to get it. When you have 

 a good system, make no change in it. 



I have placed the feed before the housing because the feed is always 

 under the control of the owner, while the house often is not. There is no 

 need of dwelling on the perfect house, the only essentials are freedom 

 from draughts, plenty of light, and good ventilation. The best floor is an 

 earth one, with from six to eight inches of sand, and on top of this from 

 six to eight inches of litter, making a warm scratching place. 



I think one of the greatest mistakes made by farmers is over-crowding. 

 Roosting room only is all some people give their hens. Tell some farmers 

 that for best results hens in flocks of from ten to twenty should have ten 

 square feet of floor space, and in larger flocks six, and they laugh at 



