TO MAKE HENS LAY. 561 



TO MAKE HENS LAY. 



To one and a half gallons of boiling water add two ounces of 

 Jard, two teaspoonfuls or common salt and one of Cayenne-pepper. 

 Stir the mixture thoroughly; then, while boiling, stir in equal pro- 

 portions of corn and oatmeal until a thick mush is formed. It will 

 be well to taste the feed in order $0 see that you do not have an 

 overdose of pepper or salt in the preparation. This feed is not to 

 be given the fowls all the time; a change occasionally is necessary; 

 and on days when it is omitted, give them about one-half an ounce 

 apiece of fresh meat, chopped fine. At all times keep a good sup- 

 ply of gravel, lime and pure water convenient to them. It is said 

 that feeding them on red peppers, or mixing it with their feed and 

 giving it to them two or three times a week, increases the capacity 

 for laying very materially. 



ANOTHER Another mode that is highly recommended for 

 making hens lay, is to keep them separated from the rooster; give 

 each half an ounce a day of fresh meat, chopped up like sausage- 

 meat, from the time insects disappear in the fall until they appear 

 again in the spring, and never allow more than one egg to remain 

 in the nest as a nest-egg. 



The Laying" Capacity A hen is said to have the capacity 

 of laying about 600 eggs during her life, and no more. A few the 

 first year; about 300 to 350 the next three; the balance from the 

 fifth to the ninth year inclusive. Therefore, it is not profitable to 

 keep hens after their fourth year. By feeding proper and stimu- 

 lating food as above given, hens can be made to lay the quantity of 

 eggs with which they are endowed in much shorter time than if 

 left to " scratch for tnemselves. 5 ' 



In order to raise chickens successfully, the male birds should 

 be replaced with new blood once every two years. 



EGGS. 



To Test the Freshness oi Eggs When it is desired to test 

 good and fresh eggs, put them in water; if they float well out and 

 the large end turn up, they are not good. This is a reliable rule to 

 distinguish good from bad eggs. A fresh laid egg will sink in 

 water. 



How to Preserve Eggs Fannie Field, an authority on 

 fowls, says in Prairie farmer, on the subject of how to keep 

 eggs: 



" The best known way to keep eggs through hot weather, or any 

 other weather, save when one has the advantage of cold storage, is 

 to pack them, small end down, in salt. They may be packed in a 

 nail keg, or in anything else that is clean and handy, the only 

 requisites being that the eggs be perfectly fresh, clean, and do not 

 touch each other or the sides of the package. Keep them in the 



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