December, 1905^ 



POULTRY DEPT. 



Conducted by S. Short, Ottawa 



Frequently the question arises as to 

 which are the best females to keep for win- 

 ter laying. In weeding out sometimes it is 

 either the hens or pullets that have to go 

 for lack of room. Experience has taught 

 the writer that the best winter layers are 

 yearling hens that have moulted early and 

 that were late-hatched pullets the pre- 

 ceding season. Next comes early-hatched 

 pullets. As a rule the yearling hens will 

 lay larger eggs. The late-hatched pullets 

 rarely lay before the middle of winter. In 

 any event, if yearling hens and pullets 

 are available, they are likely to be more 

 profitable than older hens. This applies 

 to the heavy utility breeds such as Brahmas. 

 Cochins, Plymouth Rocks, Orpingtons and 

 Wyandottes. Hens two and three years 

 old sometimes prove exceedingly profitable 

 of such breeds as the Minorcas, Leghorns 

 and Andalusians. 



Care should be exercised not to overfeed 

 the laying stock when they are first shut in 

 their winter quarters or in fact at any time. 

 Enclosed fowl will not get the exercise 

 they have been enjoying when running at 

 large and are more susceptible to crop bind- 

 ing and going off their food. Keep them 

 fairly hungry for the first week and then 

 increase allowances. By feeling their crops 

 at night, a good idea may be obtained as to 

 whether or not they are getting enough 

 or too much. When feeding in the morn- 

 ing, a general inspection of the fowl may 

 be made and any birds that appear mopish 

 and indifferent about eating should be 



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caught and the crops felt to see if they 

 have indigestion. If so, they should be put 

 in hospital for a day without food and 

 plenty of water. If no change has taken 

 place, the bird should be treated by feeding 

 with lukewarm water from a spoon and the 

 crop kneaded until the contents are soft 

 and the fowl returned to the hospital for 

 another day. Usually one treatment of this 

 kind will effect a cure. 



Government authorities and others ad- 

 vocate the curtain front house as being the 

 best adapted for this climate, descriptions 

 and plans tell us they are easily and cheaply 

 built and results from fowl so kept are bet- 

 ter than any other method. They are made 

 with one thickness of boards so do not cost 

 much. The curtain front is cheaper than 

 glass and the fowls are better housed and 

 appear healthy and lay better because the 

 air is fresher. These statements bear some 

 explanation. Any curtain front houses I 

 have inspected and I have seen a good many 

 have especially constructed sleeping rooms, 

 double-walled and double ceiling, either 

 sealed under the rafters or else a small loft 

 made of slatted wood and the space between 

 the slats and the roof stuffed with six or 

 eight inches of dry hay or straw. The 

 fowl, therefore, sleep in a warm and most 

 comfortable sleeping apartment which I 

 think is absolutely necessary for laying fowl. 

 The curtain front is on the scratching pen 

 adjoining which is sometimes very small and 

 made of one thickness of first-class matched 

 lumber so that there are no cracks or cre- 

 aces for the cold wind to get through. The 

 fowl go out into these whenever they are 

 disposed to scratch and dust themselves. On 

 the whole the arrangements are good and 

 very comfortable and better than some of 

 the old time double boarded houses almost 

 hermetically sealed and which admit no 

 fresh air and are damp and deadly. These 

 curtain houses seem specially suited to small 

 combed fowl. I have not seen Minorcas or 

 Leghorns kept under these conditions nor 

 do I think the scratching room would be 

 warm enough for them in zero weather for 

 their large combs easily freeze and frost 

 bites will stop hens from laying. 



2S3 



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