MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 



205 



feather must be made soaking wet, else 

 you will not make a clean job of it. In 

 dipping all fowls having heavy plum- 

 age, like the Brahmas and Cochins, the 

 feathers must be raised with the hand 

 and the water allowed to thoroughly wet 

 the bird to the skin. This takes from 

 one to two 'minutes for large, well- 

 feathered fowls. If a dry feather is left 

 there will be lice upon it. Do not dip 

 the head under, but when the fowl is 

 quiet, dip the head until all is under up 

 to the eyes. When they will not hold 

 still, use a small sponge and wet the top 

 of their heads. No one who has fowls 

 troubled with lice need fear to try this. 

 It is very effective. 



You must thoroughly clean the houses 

 to get rid of the lice, and paint the 

 perches with a good lice paint or liquid 

 lice killer. 



Give the hens a nice freshly dug up 

 dust bath and they will keep themselves 

 clean of lice. You can add one of the 

 good lice powders to the dust bath if 

 you wish. 



FORMULA FOR CHICK FEED The for- 

 mula for chick feed that you want is as 

 follows : 



Chick feed for little chicks from the 

 time they are hatched: 30 Ibs. cracked 

 wheat, 30 Ibs. rolled or steel-cut oats, 

 15 Ibs. finely cracked corn, 10 Ibs. each 

 of rich, millet, pearl barley, mustard or 

 rape seed, granulated or ground bone, 

 dried blood or granulated milk, chick 

 grit, 5 Ibs. granulated charcoal. 



Mix and keep always before the 

 chicks. Also clean water and skim milk 

 if you have it. Note in the chick feed 

 that wheat, oats and cracked corn are 

 the chief ingredients. The others are 

 to give a variety, and if you cannot get 

 them, you just will have to leave them 

 out. The bone and the dried blood are 

 the animal part of the ration and can be 

 substituted by fresh meat or milk or 

 clabber or cottage cheese. 



A formula for laying hens which I 

 have used for years is: Two measures 

 of bran, one measure of alfalfa meal, 

 one measure of beef scraps, and in the 

 breeding season one measure of oatmeal 

 or rolled oats. This mixture can be 

 used as a dry mash or mixed with wa- 

 ter as a moist (but not sloppy) mash. 

 I add a little pepper and salt to it to 

 season it. 



At moulting time I also add a quar- 

 ter of a measure of linseed meal, or, if 

 I cannot get that, half a measure of cot- 

 tonseed meal, and sometimes a little 



tonic to help on the moult. The linseed 

 meal gives a gloss to the new feathers 

 that nothing else will give. The hens 

 should have before them all the time 

 good, sharp grit and oyster shells 

 crushed. The oyster shells are to sup- 

 ply the lime to make the egg shell. 



BROKEN DOWN HEN There are two 

 things I am anxious to know and I think 

 you can help me from your experience. 

 I have a hen whose hind part has been 

 gradually swelling until now it nearly 

 touches the ground. The feathers have 

 all dropped out of her head. I think an 

 egg may have been broken inside, but 

 she seems so healthy that hardly seems 

 possible. Please state cure, if any. 

 G. F. M. 



Answer Your hen has what we call 

 a "break down." This is the result of 

 a too fattening diet or too much corn, 

 and too little of the muscle, bone-form- 

 ing and egg elements. There is a large 

 fat deposit in the abdomen, bulging and 

 dragging down the skin and muscles, 

 giving an ungainly appearance to the 

 bird. It is a question whether to diet 

 her or to eat her. I would advise the 

 latter, as she will not prove a very good 

 layer after this. The bareness of head 

 also indicates an unbalanced ration and 

 an insufficiency of "protein," the feather 

 making element. A little carbolated 

 vaseline rubbed in twice a week and 

 more green food and more animal food 

 in the ration will recify this. 



FOR LAYERS Will you please answer 

 the following questions: Will hens lay 

 as well without the male bird? 



Which would you advise me to keep 

 for breeders, pullets, hatched last spring, 

 which are laying now, or the one-year- 

 old hens? 



Which, is the best feed for them to 

 produce eggs, the warm mash in the 

 morning and corn at night or the dry 

 feed Mrs. O. G. L. 



Answer 1. Yes, and the eggs will 

 keep better. 



2. Keep hens for mothers and pul- 

 lets for your winter layers is the best 

 rule. ! ! , i ->H| 



3. I prefer to give the mash, if I 

 give any, at night; then I can use up 

 the table scraps, mixing them with bran, 

 corn meal and alfalfa meal, giving the 

 fowls either dry mash in hoppers or 

 grain in their scratching pen, to induce 

 them to exercise for their day meal. In 

 this way I get more eggs. 



