134 . FIJiST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 



neglected until the failure of the pullets to begin laying early in winter plainly indicates the 

 need of forcing. Then the keeper is often disappointed in results, the pullets not seeming to 

 respond as they should to the extra food and special care given them. 



It is of greatest importance that through the fall the fowls should be well fed. The need of 

 good feeding at this, and at all times, would appear to be so self-evident as not to need to be, 

 thus specially emphasized, but for many years, and in the experiences of a very great number 

 of poultry keepers, I have noticed a tendency to skimp the feeding at this period. 



The most common cause of such efforts to economize is that the poultry keeper is carrying 

 a stock of growing fowls too large for his finances, and in his efforts to go into the winter with 

 a certain number of possible layers, he not only keeps many pullets which ought to be sold for 

 poultry, but, in order to go no deeper in debt than is unavoidable, he gives his stock a mere 

 maintenance ration, which, in the case of the pullets, means delayed development, and in the 

 case of the old hens, slow molting and retarded resumption of laying. The policy of short 

 feeding is often pursued until the lack of results at the expected time points to something 

 wrong, and then the poultry keeper expects in a few days of special feeding to make up for 

 weeks or months of insufficient rations. 



It may h'appen occasionally that it is advisable to feed short with early pullets that would 

 otherwise begin to lay sooner than was advisable, (with the risk of a molt early in the winter), 

 but such cases are comparatively rare. Most poultry keepers with most of their stock need to 

 feed all the stock can stand. 



The Best Way to Economize in Feeding. 



The expense of feeding a stock of growing, and, as yet, unproductive pullets, is nearly 

 always a heavy burden on the poultryman working up a stock, because the proportion of 

 unproductive to productive stock is usually much greater than in a flock established for some 

 time upon a given basis. To make tbe burden as light as possible, the poultry keeper should 

 cull his pullets closely, retaining only those that are vigorous, strong, and well developed for 

 their age. If, after such culling, he still has more than he can give proper care, let him sell 

 a part of the remainder, and bring the stock down to what he can " swing.'' 



Many poultrymen are reluctant to do this because they feel that in thus reducing their stock 

 In advance of the season of its productiveness they are deliberately cutting off a large part of 

 tbe most promising source of income. That would be the case if the pullets were all good, and 

 if the whole number could be carried to maturity in a proper manner. I am not, however, 

 talking now to those who are able to keep the pullets growing, but to that large class who try to 

 economize in feeding at this season, and then wonder why they do not get results a little later. 

 The most profitable course for them is to reduce the stock to what they can give liberal 

 rations. It is a great deal better for one who is sailing close to the wind in his poultry business 

 to go into the winter with 100 pullets ready to lay in November than with 300 that will not lay 

 until February. For the 100 will give a profit all winter, while the 300 will not begin to pay 

 for their keep by their winter laying. In sections where eggs command high prices through 

 the most of the year, one may make perhaps as much on a flock of late pullets beginning to lay 

 in February, and laying late the next year, as on earlier pullets that began to lay at the same 

 age; but if he needs the income from the hens to pay his feed bills, and has to go into debt if 

 eggs are not forthcoming, he should strain every nerve to get eggs early, and keep no more 

 pullets than he can carry without seriously handicapping next year's work if eggs come slowly 

 this winter. If one has room for them, and is able to handle them, late pullets may be very 

 profitable. Not so the early pullet that lays late. 



Keeping the stock down, or cutting it down at this stage, is one of the essential features of 

 building a poultry stock or business up slowly. Just as many readers in mid-summer found 

 that it had been easy to get out chickens enough to overcrowd their accommodations before the 

 chicks were half grown, so about this season many are made to realize that they have been 

 able to rear to present stage of development, and have accommodations for more chickens than 

 they are financially able to take care of until they begin to produce eggs. The common practice 

 is to go in debt for feed, and even then feed short. Tbe better way is to reduce the stock. 



