224 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



On hand October 1, 1868 :— 

 18 old fowls, at 50 cents, . . . 

 11 Brahma pullets, average five lbs., 20 cts., 

 50 chickens, average 2-|- lbs., at at 29 cts., . 

 48 chickens, average 1^ lbs., at 20 cts., 

 5 turkeys, average 21 lbs., at 25 cts., 



Net profit in five months, ..... $B1 80 



I kept through last winter fowls mostly of Black Spanish or 

 Leghorn breeds, or a cross between the two ; consequently I 

 bought eggs for early chickens, and set the eggs of my own 

 fowls for store chicks. I had very bad luck with my early 

 chicks by eggs not hatching well. Later ones did better, but 

 not much, and I did not get half as many chicks as I set eggs ; 

 then cats, hawks, &c., thinned tliem out severely. One litter 

 of turkeys died young, and foxes took off two more after they 

 would weigh five pounds each. Then two old hens stole their 

 nests and began sitting, and I never found the nest or the hens. 

 Foxes probably ate them. Two other hens died of disease. 



I usually keep food by them all the time, occasionally 

 changing from corn to dough, oats or barley, if I can get it. 

 Keep fresh water by them all the time in summer ; in winter 

 give it to them two or three times a day, warming it very little 

 in very cold weather. Feed with sour milk whenever I have 

 it ; in winter give meat scraps, boiled potatoes, cabbage leaves, 

 &c., as often as I can. Keep shells by them all the time. 

 When my hens, or most of them, stop laying at once, I allow- 

 ance them to one quart of grain, or its amount per day, for 

 ten or twelve hens, to keep them from taking on too much fat. 

 Laying hens will not fat much if laying well. I always keep 

 good ashes where they can dust in them, and give clean nests 

 occasionally. The hen-house should be kept clean. The best 

 way .is to keep loam under the roosts, and turn it over, or put 

 in new every week or two ; it is well to whitewash the hen-house 

 two or three times a year. Don't keep hens over four years 

 old. Don't sell a laying hen, but wait till she lays her litter 

 out and is ready to sit ; then she is the fattest, and the eggs 



