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GET RID OF OLD STOCK AND COCKERELS. 



It is more profitable to sell hens at the end of the second period of 

 laying for what they will fetch than to keep them another season, during 

 which the eggs obtained will seldom pay for the food consumed. 



See the instructions under the heading of " Fattening Fowls," and 

 act accordingly. 



Cockerels should not be kept longer than five months; if properly 

 fed they are at their best at that age, and to keep them till they are ten 

 or twelve months old spells loss. 



Remember, it costs Id. per week per head to feed fowls, and the only 

 way to make a profit out of the birds sold for table use is to market them 

 at the age advised. 



Send the birds to the consumers in good condition, and there will be 

 no lack of demand. The public will not object to pay a good price for a 

 good article, but they resent paying a high price for a " scrag/' 



EGG-EATERS. 



Should you have any egg-eaters among your flock, carry with you a 

 china egg, and every time you go near the birds throw the dummy egg 

 to the ground. The culprits will rush at and try to break the egg; 

 after making several attempts, and failing, they will generally give up 

 the practice. 



The editor of an American poultry journal states that the best remedy 

 for egg-eating is to give a free supply of eggs or egg-shells for a few 

 days. This remedy, he says, never fails. Obtain a basket of fresh egg- 

 shells from your baker and throw them to the fowls whole; give them all 

 they can eat and keep a supply before them for some days, and the trouble 

 will cease. There is a pile of testimony, he says, to the success of this 

 cure. 



As, however, prevention is better than cure, have always a plentiful 

 supply of lime for your hens. It is the want of lime to form the egg- 

 shell that induces the pernicious habit, as the hens lay soft-shelled eggs, 

 which get easily broken. Once the hens taste an egg, they soon learn to 

 break and eat a hard-shelled one. Scatter grain among hay, straw, 

 leaves, pine-needles, &c. ; compel the birds to exercise, and provide plenty 

 of nest-boxes, darkened, and half-filled with straw-chaff. It is a good 

 plan to have a few nest-eggs lying around the runs also. All these help 

 to prevent the bad habit. 



The use of a safety nest, as figured, will secure the eggs from injury 

 by egg-eating hens. 



SAFETY /VST 



Figure A is an inclined board, and should be covered with carpet or similar 

 material; matting would be better, and tarred felt best of all. The egg, as in 

 Figure C, is a china one, cemented half-way through the board. B is the egg 

 rolling down to the straw on the bottom. 



