FIRST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 137 



Litter. It leaves are to be used for litter, they should be stored as soon as possible. The 

 quicker they are collected and put away after they fall, the tougher they are, and the longer 

 they last on the scratching floor. If allowed to lie exposed to the weather for some time, they 

 become much more brittle, and are quickly pulverized by the fowls. 



Farmers who have their own straw, of course have it stacked, and do not need to specially 

 consider the supply for the hens. 



Those who cannot get leaves, and have to buy other scratching material, are likely to find 

 this the most favorable time to get their supply, and the poultryman who has provided a place 

 for the storage of such supply, finds now what a convenience it is. 



While I consider leaves the most satisfactory scratching material for those who can get a 

 good supply with little trouble and expense, they are practically available only for those who 

 can get them nearby. Those who buy stuff for scratching litter will find oat straw and corn 

 stalks the most satisfactory the straw to be used without cutting, the stalks to be cut into 

 about six inch lengths. Most kinds of hay make less satisfactory litter; tine hay packs too 

 close, while coarse long hay is tough, and mats and tangles. 



Green Foods and Roots. Cabbage is the best of winter green foods, and the most con- 

 venient to feed. A poultryman who does not grow his own cabbage should lay in a supply 

 before winter, otherwise he is likely to have to pay too much for what he uses. Failing a 

 supply of cabbage, good clover or alfalfa makes a substitute that insures the fowls will not 

 suffer for lack of green food. 



Of root crops, beets are the best for poultry, and large mangel or sugar beets the most satis- 

 factory. These are seldom grown for sale in the localities where they would be most in 

 demand for poultry, and unless the poultryman grows them himself his supply is likely to be 

 uncertain. 



Exhibition Fowls. 



For most exhibitors the show season is still several months away, yet it is not too early to 

 begin to prepare birds for show if one intends to show. Indeed, if there is even a remote pos- 

 sibility that one may want to show, or if he thinks it at all possible that there is in his stock a 

 bird anyone else would buy to show, he should begin now to consider the matter, to provide 

 against anything occurring to spoil an otherwise useful exhibition specimen, and by every 

 means in his power to put such birds in good condition and keep them so. 



The almost universal fault of novices in exhibiting fowls is to put off the preparation of the 

 specimen to be exhibited until the show at which it is to be exhibited Is close at hand. Then 

 they find all sorts of things wrong. Birds so short in weight that it is hopeless to think of 

 getting them up to weight; birds with scaly legs, with broken feathers, etc., and in many 

 cases the owner has little idea how to remedy the trouble, and loses still more time in finding 

 out. 



Now many of the most common faults discovered by the novice when trying to select birds to 

 show are faults that in a specimen of any value should be remedied whether the specimen is to 

 be exhibited or not. Scaly legs should not be tolerated in a yard, nor should such lack of condi- 

 tion as exists when a fowl with a frame that should easily carry the weight required by the 

 Standard is a pound or two short of that weight. 



By taking the possible exhibition birds in hand now, they may as a rule be quite easily fitted 

 and well fitted. With two or three months to make weight they will come on fast enough on 

 ordinary good feeding; scaly legs may be cleaned up gradually and be in fine condition long 

 before the show; broken or clipped feathers may be removed, and new ones have ample time to 

 grow in their place. Besides this, special precautions may now be begun to avoid accidents to 

 specimens that may be wanted to show. This is most necessary with the young males. They 

 must not only be kept from injury by fighting, but a good specimen must not be kept where he 

 will be bossed and cowed by another male even if the other is so much the boss that no special 

 damage is done to comb or plumage. A male to show to advantage must show spirit, and 

 though most of them have spirit enough when given a chance to develop and display it, a male 

 that has been knocked about for months takes more than a few days or weeks to come out and 

 show all that is in him. 



