284 PROFITS IN POULTRY. 
Some growers keep, for laying, hens without a male. 
Under such conditions, the hens will lay an equal or 
greater number of eggs, and the eggs are claimed to 
keep better than those which have been fertilized. Ac- 
cording to experiments at the New York station, eggs 
were produced at about thirty per cent less cost where 
no cockerel was kept. The only objection to the plan is 
the annoyance occasioned by the uneasy and peculiar 
behavior of the hens. When eggs are wanted for hatch- 
ing, the cockerel may be added about four weeks before 
beginning to save the eggs. 
ABOUT CERTAIN FOODS. 
Old cheese can sometimes be had for a very low price, 
and such has been found to be a very good egg producer. 
Ground oyster shells, fine sea shells, refuse plaster 
from houses, a little slaked lime, etc., should be sup- 
plied to provide the lime necessary to form egg shells. 
Good, clean gravel, to aid the digestion, should be 
provided. 
Pork is not good to feed to poultry, and if used must 
first be thoroughly cooked. It is sometimes recom- 
mended in disease. 
Sunflower seed, especially the large Russian variety, 
is fine for poultry. 
Clear rye bran will swell and cake in the crop, so 
don’t feed it whole. Rye should not he fed too freely 
to fowls, as it is very loosening to the bowels; it is 
the least desirable of any of the various grains for the 
production of eggs, and if fed at all, it should be used 
sparingly. 
Cabbage for poultry feed may be hung up in the poul- 
try house, head cown, and high enough from the floor 
so that the birds can pick at it and yet not soil it. 
Animals which die on the farm, if the disease is not 
infectious, may be fed to poultry. 
