Proceedings of the Farmers* Club. 531 



April 9, 1872. 



Nathan C. Ely, Esq., in the chair; Mr. John W. Chambers, Secretary. 



Poultry Raising. 



Mr. George T. Pratt, Homer, ~N. Y. — I have seventeen hens. 

 Between the middle of December last and March 15 1 sold forty-eight 

 dozen eggs. Many more were laid, some of which were frozen, 

 others used in the family, of which no account was kept. My hens 

 are a mixture of Poland, Black Spanish and Brahma. I consider 

 Polands the best layers, but the eggs and chickens are small for the 

 table. The Brahma cross makes them better size, and the Black 

 Spanish makes them more hardy and active. My hen-house is on 

 the south side, and opens into the barn, where the hens have the 

 range of a warm underground stable. The feed has been corn and 

 oats, with the scraps from the table. They have also eaten half a 

 bushel or more of old air-slaked lime, and what gravel they wanted, 

 once a week or oftener. I have chopped up old bones ; for these they 

 were very ravenous, flying at me as soon as I came in sight with 

 them, and trying to pull them out of my hands. The best way I have 

 found to cut and break them is with a hand-axe on the end of a block 

 of hard wood. I believe most people burn the bones for their hens, 

 but that spoils them for my hens. Something is burned out, so they 

 don't care much for the shell that is left. If any one can beat this 

 " lay " of the hens, let them report. 



Mr. J. Flomerfelt Peapack, N. J. — My hens began to hatch about 

 the middle of January. Having some coops eighteen inches square, 

 I placed them in the ground in quite a steep bank facing to the south, 

 and put a hen in each coop, with an egg or two to accustom them to 

 the change from the nest in which they had laid. After about one 

 day they will remain quiet upon the nest, and the eggs (one dozen) 

 can be put in, and thus I have succeeded in hatching eleven-twelfths 

 of all the eggs set. The first hen was set January 22, and we have 

 to-day, April 2, 206 chickens remaining at large, their mothers being 

 confined in coops similar to those in the bank. "We have not lost a 

 chicken. The coops in which they hatch have slats across the front. 

 One of them is movable. The hen is taken out once each day to feed, 

 and, thus managed, the eggs will hatch in the very coldest weather. 

 "When the chickens were about one week old, they were found to be 

 full of vermin upon the head and under the throat ; these we removed 

 immediately by rubbing the parts affected with kerosene ; this kills 



