236 POULTRY MAN'S CALENDAR 



MARCH 



March is the most uncertain month of the year. 

 Weather conditions cannot be depended on. March 

 winds are the most piercing of the year, and the fowls 

 must be protected from the elements. 



Little chicks should be kept under hovers that are 

 inside of a building that is tight enough to protect them 

 from the elements. March chicks make Nov. layers. 



Incubators should now be in action. Nests made for 

 sitting hens should be deep so as to provide a comfort- 

 able nest for the hen. Always dust the body of a sitting 

 hen with insect powder. Persian insect powder is the 

 best. Dust it down well into the feathers and close to 

 the skin of the fowl. This dusting should be renewed 

 every 3 or 4 da. for 1 wk. or 10 da. 



A soap box 18 in. or 2 ft. square with some sand or 

 earth in the bottom and dry hay or straw packed well 

 down on top of this, provides an excellent nest for a 

 sitting hen. 



The nest for a sitting hen should always be placed 

 where she will have plenty of room, light, and shelter 

 from the elements, yet be confined where she cannot 

 run away from the eggs. She should be watched and 

 put back on the eggs if she seems to neglect them. 

 APRIL 



April is usually the most favorable month of the year 

 for hatching chicks; at this time the grass and all 

 vegetables are sending up new growth, and there is plenty 

 of natural food for the little chicks. 



April is the month when all incubators should be 

 filled with eggs for hatching, and all broody hens should 

 have a clutch of eggs. 



See to it that the brooding hens are well fed while 

 doing their family duty. Laying hens should have more 

 green food at this time than before. Corn bread is 

 good food for the mother hen and little chicks. To make 

 such corn bread mix 1 teaspoonful of baking powder 

 into a mixture composed of 1 pt. of corn meal, l /2 pt. 

 of wheat bran, 4 oz. of good meat scrap, and a little 



