Rhode Island Red Hen, California 



fowls may be allowed to roam together, or be yarded in perfect health without 

 fear of disease. In many parts of the world this would mean disaster. 



If it be thought that parasites abound in such a climate, it is true but not 

 markedly so. That is to say, it does not require more effort to keep lice and mites 

 in check here than elsewhere. No poultry man depends on cold weather to rid 

 his roosts of vermin. Insect pests must be fought everywhere, and cleanliness 

 will banish parasites as readily in California as in the colder States. 



Growing Poultry Food 



Domestic poultry are not only omnivorous but voracious. They not only 

 eat freely and naturally of grains, grass, green forage of various kinds and meat 

 foods, but in health seem always ready to eat. They are primarily grain eaters, 

 but insects of many kinds and raw or cooked vegetables, grass and green stuff 

 in great variety enter into their dietary. The quantity consumed daily is so 

 considerable that the question of food supplies is always a serious one. 



A first conclusion should be not to keep a boarding-house for hens where 

 everything is bought, but a farm home, w r here much of the food is produced. It 

 is economy to feed the flock at first hand. Have something always coming on 

 for the birds that are laying eggs, and are always wanting material out of which 

 to construct them. 



Why should the poultry man buy all his supplies any more than the grower 

 of swine or any other live stock? If the flock is kept on a city lot, part of the area 

 may profitably furnish green feed. A poultry farm where no poultry food is 

 grown is a misnomer. "Before you have a single chicken on that dream ranch," 

 one California grower well says, "be sure to have the green feed well along," and 

 as a means of securing the continuous growth of supplies a primal need here is 

 water; green feed for poultry in California means water for irrigation. 



