USEFUL HINTS 279 



When you have found for a certainty that a hen is un- 

 profitable dispose of her at once. Some hens are never 

 good layers but they eat as much as the best of the flock. 



Some farmers demand upon the table — at least once a 

 week — a good old onion stew — to keep them healthy. 

 The chickens will be all the better for just the same every 

 week. 



Keep the poultry out of the barn. As well turn a pig 

 into the parlor. Many men allow fowls to find their own 

 quarters, and then they wonder why they are not a good 

 investment. 



The best work that can be done for fowls in winter is 

 to lay in a good supply of litter and dry dirt under shel- 

 ter. It is scratching in the winter that keeps them in 

 best laying condition. 



Don't confine ducks to one kind of feed. They like a 

 variety. Cornbread is good for young ducks, but it is 

 fattening, and the wisest thing is to mix it with oatmeal, 

 bread crumbs or potatoes. 



Perhaps you have heard an undue commotion among 

 the hens at roosting time. They were scrapping for the 

 higher places, so build them on a level, and never have 

 one placed over the other. 



If you have not found pork production profitable, buy 

 some woven wire fencing and make a hog pasture in your 

 alfalfa field where there will be shade and water, and no 

 longer say it don't pay to keep hogs. 



The hens need plenty of shade. Keeping them exposed 

 to the scorching rays of the sun is little short of cruelty. 



