148 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



replaced the old ones and increased stock by 

 100, selling the balance. Early in the year 

 cockerels are sold alive ; later on the birds are 

 dressed and sold to private customers ; a few 

 are sold at 4s. to lOs. for stock birds to neigh- 

 bours. He feeds once a day only, unless snow 

 is on the ground, when a second feed is given ; 

 averaging about 3 ozs. of grain per bird per day, 

 less in summer and more in winter ; using in 

 winter one-third each of wheat, peas, and maize 

 (ratio about i :4J2). and in summer two-thirds 

 of wheat and one of peas (ratio i :4>-^). An 

 iron corn-bin is kept near and for the use of 

 five houses, and replenished fortnightly, and he 

 feeds when walking round the farm in the 

 morning. It takes him one and a half to two 

 hours daily, and his children collect the eggs. 

 Extra labour for the chickens is charged, but 

 he considers the manure more than pays for 

 the labour, an opinion which we have seen is 

 very general. He reckons that the fowls pay 

 a profit of 5s. to 5s. 6d. per bird, besides eggs 

 and poultry for the house, which is a consider- 

 able item. The houses are gas-tarred every 

 year, which he states keeps away the foxes, 

 and he puts in each house about 9 inches deep 

 of sawdust on the bare earth floor. This is 

 turned and sprinkled with carbolic powder 

 weekly, and renewed every six months, each 

 house being also tarred inside whenever vacated 

 for a few weeks by the inmates being dis- 

 carded. 



Mr. James Fuller, of Framlingham, Suffolk, 

 has been engaged in poultry-farming for over 

 twenty years, and for several years his accounts 

 were published in the local papers. The prin- 

 cipal figures during 1897-8-9 were as follow : In 

 1897 he sold 538 birds for £\-j 8s. sd. (about 

 IS. gd. each), 48,055 eggs for £\},Z os. 4d. at 

 market prices, and £l^, lOs. 3d. for extra 

 prices; total receipts ^194 19s. Food and ex- 

 penses were ;^74 3s. lOj^d., gross cash profit 

 ;£'i20 15s. \Qyi6.., nothing being charged for 

 rent or labour. In 1 898 he sold 5 1 ,279 eggs for 

 ^^171 8s.,, 439 birds for ;^53 is. 7d., and had 

 114 more fowls in stock value (2s. 6d.), say 

 £\i^ 5s. ; total, ^£'238 14s. 7d. The food was 

 ;^89 i6s. 8d., and other expenses ;^ 1 3 igs. 4d., 

 leaving gross cash balance of ;£'i34 i8s. 7d. In 

 1899 he sold 51,453 eggs for £7.00 i6s. 2d. (get- 

 ting rather better prices) and 625 birds for 

 £"10 2s. ; total cash, ;£'270 iSs. 2d. ; while food 

 cost £^107 i6s. id., and other expenses 

 £19 4s. 8d. ; cash balance, ;£'i43 17s. 5d. This 

 left him with 675 birds to begin operations in 

 1900, almost exactly the same as the year before. 

 The birds are kept on about twelve acres of 

 pasture, and are taken off a part of this for six 



weeks or so, to grow hay ; the fine stack of this, 

 and the feed at other times for horses and sheep, 

 more than pays any fair rent. As regards 

 labour, Mr. Fuller himself has a coal business, 

 and the fowls take all his own spare time a 

 great part of the year ; the rest a sharp lad 

 does the work ; of course, this ought to be 

 charged, but on the other hand nothing is 

 credited for the large quantity of valuable 

 manure. All the birds are hatched and reared 

 naturally, and eggs for market made the leading 

 consideration, the cockerels being sold young, 

 and the hens at two years, unless unusually 

 good birds. The laying stock is fed about 

 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on grain only, the eggs being 

 all gathered at 3 p.m. after the last feed. He 

 prefers Houdan-Minorcas, Houdan-Leghorns, 

 and Houdan-Orpingtons, as making splendid 

 layers and fair table fowls, the last cross being 

 specially good as winter layers, as shown by 

 the fact that 3,600 of his eggs were laid during 

 the last three months of the year. He con- 

 siders that these crosses can with care be 

 brought up to nearly 200 eggs per annum each ; 

 and his own rough-and-ready test for the poor 

 layers to be discarded is, those "the last down 

 from roost in the morning." 



The farms previously mentioned, with some 

 others, appeared in our last edition, and we 

 learn from Mr. Palmer that the particulars 

 given still hold good. Those which now 

 follow are the result of further investigations 

 by Mr. Palmer, and convey the same useful 

 teaching. 



Mr. George Waldron, Cladswell Farm, 

 Alcester, Warwickshire, keeps about 400 laying 

 hens. His birds are a few White Leghorns, and 

 a fair number of White Plymouth Rocks to do 

 the sitting, and the bulk of the working stock 

 Houdan-Leghorn first cross. He keeps the 

 fowls at field houses, and some at the farm 

 buildings ; but owing to trouble by foxes he has 

 wired in with six feet netting a field of about 

 four acres. As this gets stale he will move the 

 netting to another field. His birds cost ijid. 

 per head per week the year round. He feeds 

 four mornings a v;eek with soft food — pigmeal 

 (a mixture from one of the large firms) one part, 

 sharps one part, and a dash of malt-culms. 

 For grain the birds get oats, wheat and maize, 

 sometimes mixed and sometimes separately. 

 Less maize is used in summer than in winter. 

 The fowls have all they will pick up. He says 

 that they pay better than any other branch of 

 his farm, and that he can clear the rent of lOO 

 acres out of the laying hens. He markets the 

 cockerels as soon as fit, and rarely works a hen- 

 more than two seasons. 



