139 

 try," but owing to sickness could not be present, and Mr. 

 Thomas C. Durkee of West Peabody, was unexpectedly 

 called upon to take his place, and filled it very well consid- 

 ering he had made no preparation, speaking from an actual 

 and extended experience. 



Mr. Durkee stated that he had been in the poultry busi- 

 ness about twenty years, and had always kept the light 

 Brahmas, because they are tough, can winter well, stand 

 more ventilation having no comb to freeze; he thought they 

 did not eat any more than Leghorns, especially if they can 

 get plenty of grass. He hatched chickens as early as March 

 and the cockerels are ready for the market early when they 

 bring a good price, he having got as high as thirty-five cents 

 a pound for them. He kept three hundred laying hens 

 and about one hundred chickens through the winter. 



This breed averages about eight pounds each when full- 

 grown and he got from three to five cents a dozen more for 

 his eggs than smaller eggs sold for ; he thought eggs should 

 be sold by the pound. The speaker did not believe in long 

 coops but thought it better to build them about thirteen feet 

 long, and keep twenty-five hens and two cockerels in a coop; 

 by so doing if disease gets into a flock, they can be isolated 

 and kept under control. 



For feed he would give mostly shorts and vegetables in 

 the morning, and corn and oats at night. For chickens he 

 fed rather more meal mixing it into a stiff dough, and be- 

 lieved there were more chickens died by pampering with them 

 than from any other cause. Mr. Perkins of Danvers, spoke 

 in favor of boiled clover for feed, and claimed that for geese 

 if they can have plenty of clover, grass and waste products 

 of the field and garden with a little corn they will thrive and 

 bring two dollars apieee at Christmas. 



President Ware, T. C. Thurlow, and others spoke of the 

 effect of turning a flock of hens into an orchard from their 

 own experience and others that they knew, saying that the 

 insects they devoured and the fertilizing of the ground pro- 

 duced astonishing results. 



