78 The Business Hen. 



STARTING THE HENS.— These birds came out by express, and the 

 boy was all ready for them. He had bought a package of "chicken powder" 

 which looked like a mixture of fine tobacco and sulphur. He took one 

 hen at a time, held lier up gently by the legs and dusted the powder into 

 her feathers, taking care to work plenty of it under the wings and around 

 and under the tail feathers, and along the neck and shoulders, as these 

 are the hardest places for the hen to reach. The boy learned from the 

 poultry dealer not to run or shout at a hen if she gets away, or to pull and 

 shake her if she flutters in your hand. You must be as gentle as possible 

 with your hens if you expect them to lay. The laying hen is active, lively 

 and nervous, but she does not want you to string up her nerves. The boy 

 expected that when his 11 hens were put together in the house they would 

 act like sisters, and have only one ambition — that of laying eggs ! Instead 

 of that the three original hens singled out the Light Brahma and attacked 

 her vigorously. Hens often show these strange dislikes, and when taken 

 to a new place they always "dry up" for a time and will not lay until they 

 feel at home. The Brown Leghorns were first to call their new place home 

 and begin to lay. The White Wyandottes followed, but the Light Brahma 

 was very slow.. 



FEEDING A SMALL FLOCK.— The table scraps and wastes and 

 parings from vegetables and fruits gave these hens more than half the food 

 they required. In order to provide the remainder the boy mixed the fol- 

 lowing: Two parts by weight of wheat bran, one part cornmeal, one part 

 of wheat middlings and one-half part animal meal. This was fed in the 

 form of a dry crumbly mash in the morning, with a good handful of clover 

 heads and leaves mixed with it. The hot water used for rinsing off the 

 breakfast plates was good to dampen this grain. Wheat bran is one of 

 the best grains for hens, but they do not like it when fed alone. Of al! 

 grains corn in some form is best relished by poultry, and cornmeal or 

 cracked corn should go in the mash. There are only two good reasons 

 why a mash should be fed — it gives a good chance to provide warm food 

 and enables us to feed meat in the right proportion. I am quite sure that 

 the mixture of grain and meat baked into a cake and crumbled up for 

 feeding would pay better than a soft mash. The boy fed whole corn at 

 night, and made the common mistake of most beginners of overfeeding his 

 hens. He kept too much food before them. Some of it soured. The hens 

 lost their ambition to work and hunt for food. The Brown Leghorns 

 held their ambition longest, because it was part of their breeding, but 

 what hens or men ever do their best when they know the good things of 

 life are being wasted on them? It took the boy some time to learn what 

 every feeder must know, that the hens must be made to scratch for most of 

 their food. Maybe the boy learned something about his own habits of 

 industry by watching these hens. Some things at least he did well. He 



