io6 Feeding the Hen. 



large as they can conveniently swallow. I also begin with 

 cracked wheat, but in less than ten days from hatching chicks 

 will eat whole wheat, and will do well on that alone. Food of 

 this kind does not spoil, and is kept before them at all times. 

 Small quantities of boiled potatoes, or beans and ground meat 

 are occasionally given. The land in the vicinity of my poul- 

 try-houses is being set to fruit-trees. Red raspberry and 

 blackberry bushes will occupy the ground while the trees are 

 growing. These furnish a shaded runway for the hens ; they 

 seldom touch the fruit. As garden or field-crops could not be 

 raised on this ground, we can in this way get extra returns 

 enough largely to pay the feed-bill. The bushes make a strong 

 growth, being fertilized by the hens. 



FEEDING SPECIAL FOODS AND WASTES. 



There is no kind of food, animal or vegetable, that is not 

 acceptable to the hep. She will pick up the hardest, flinty 

 substances, seize all kinds of insects, regale herself on seeds 

 of every description, and finds a variety in the leaves of the 

 grasses and weeds. All kinds of refuse and waste material 

 from every source, as well as the droppings of cattle, afford 

 her luxuries that would possess but little attraction for larger 

 stock. It is this propensity on her part to accept foods that 

 could not be otherwise utilized that renders her a valuable ad- 

 junct to the farm, and permits her to convert into eggs many 

 substances that would be of no value without her assistance. 

 She is as perfect a scavenger of weeds as the sheep, is not 

 even as fastidious as the hog, and is a greater producer, pro- 

 portionately, than the cow, thriving in winter on dry food, or 

 foraging in summer over luxuriant pastures. 



Special foods in the summer season are unnecessary, as the 

 hen is capable of selecting and securing a sufficiency of all 

 that is required for supplying her needs ; but there are periods 

 when it becomes necessary to assist her, as the production of 

 substances that are to be deposited separately from the body 



