Back Yard Poultry Keeping in California 



well. That means that previous care and feed have brought her to the time of 

 changing her coat of feathers in prime condition, full of vigor and ready to lay 

 as soon as the new dress is on. Moulting makes a draft upon vitality that must 

 be met by extra feeding and special feeding. Take extra care of moulting hens, 

 and help them to get ready for the season of high-priced eggs. They must come 

 into the season of rain and chilly winds in first rate condition. Experts doubt the 

 wisdom of "forcing a moult." It is best when hens want to lay to let them lay. 

 3. Provide for their comfort; secure all the sunshine possible; protect from 

 winds and the chilliness which comes with rain outside ; allow no more dampness 

 inside than is in the air; see that dry straw or chaff is in the scratching shed and 

 that exercise is possible without the feet getting "stuck up" with mud. A hen 

 will not lay with cold or muddy feet. She will not mind cold weather, but will 

 seek shelter from winds; see that they do not blow into the scratching shed. 



The thing to do is to make Biddy comfortable. Is it spring greens, spring 

 sunshine, spring temperatures, that fill the nests? Provide these conditions as 

 nearly as may be and the hens will anticipate the spring months. 



It is not easy, we admit, to induce a well-regulated lot of hens to produce 

 winter eggs freely, but it can be done and will be done more commonly when we 

 learn to make right conditions for a winter crop of eggs. And among these 

 conditions the chief one is comfort. Perhaps the other factor in the problem is 

 just greens, grass, roots, vegetables. 



Possible Profits 



How much can be made by raising fowls for the table and for eggs, depends 

 of course upon conditions the size of the flock, the cost of food, the egg output 

 of the flock, the brevity of the moulting season, the number of winter eggs" success 

 in hatching and breeding and distance and conditions to and of the market. But 

 the inquiry here involves rather a basis for estimating profits, than the per cent 

 of profit. 



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