104 



cient, the question is not how much they will eat, but how 

 much they need. Farmers are really most wasteful be- 

 cause as a rule they feed too liberally, the speaker then 

 described the component parts and elements of an egg, 

 and demonstrated that the hen will perform her duty in 

 such structure if you but give her the proper food to sup- 

 ply them. If you want good eggs you must give healthy 

 food ; stimulating foods, such as some of the advertised 

 ones, are bad and produce unnatural eggs, and in the end 

 defeat the object sought. Very cold nights it is bad to 

 give an extra supply of corn as it is slower to digest, and 

 in this connection do not let your hens out in the winter, 

 except an hour in the middle of a pleasant da}^ as the 

 chill seriously affects their laying ; pure air, pure water, 

 and pure ventilation, with cleanliness, is most essential 

 for profit. It followed on these lines, a profit of -$2 can be 

 realized on a flock of 25 to 50, $i.50 on flocks from 100 

 to 500, and $1 apiece for over that. This has been 

 proved by repeated experiments. The best food for 

 chickens is 30 parts corn, 30 of bran, 5 of ground oats, 5 

 of meat scraps, 5 of linseed mixed with skim milk, and 

 bake hard, pound up and feed in small quantities eight 

 times a day. It has been proved that incubators are not 

 profitable unless you are going to raise from 300 to 1,000 

 chickens. The speaker then said it was no place for hens 

 on your front door steps, but they want a good run where 

 they can have plenty of work to do, they want to work to 

 thrive, and they want plenty of shade, do not expose them 

 to the broiling sun. A fat hen or a poro one cannot lay 

 well, but a good healthy hen will lay. Just as soon as you 

 can detect the sex of your chickens, separate them, and 

 give the pullets the widest range, and feed the cockerels 

 for the market. 



The speaker was interrupted with questions all through 

 his remarks and answered them fully and satisfactorily. 



