FEEDING FOR WINTER EGGS 5& 



room with loose dust floor, bedded about a foot, or morCr 

 deep with alfalfa; into this litter is scattered grain and grit. 

 Every night after I have had my supper and enjoyed a 

 cigar, we go the rounds. Our pen of laj'ers gets a late sup- 

 per of warm corn, and twice a week a good feed of raw 

 beef (beef lungs); they also get a drink of water that has 

 had the chill taken off. 



Anyone who has not tried this night method of feeding, 

 will doubt its usefulness; but if you wait and consider the 

 long night and the short day you will see how very neces- 

 sary an extra meal is, and it will astonish you how quickly 

 the birds learn to watch for the lantern. In fact they are 

 generally off the perch and waiting my coming long before 

 I get to their quarters. Another great advantage is that 

 the Vjirds get to be remarkably tame, and the egg poulterer 

 knows what that means. If I'm short of accommodations 

 for males I allow one in that pen, but always thought 

 that the hens laid better without the company of a chanti- 

 cleer than with one. 



As to what I feed I can give no formula, for I have to- 

 depend on the feed store, but I give all the variety that is 

 possible, making wheat the staple. 1 feed no mashed or 

 condiments. 



Watering is the hardest problem, for even in my double 

 walled, plastered houses, drinking founts freeze; the birds 

 are given a drink at noon and get a good drink again at 

 night, but I am hoping that some clever person will devise 

 a simple but serviceable drinking fount that can be heated 

 sufficiently to keep the drinks from freezing in our coldest 

 weather. 



So for winter eggs, I allow plenty of room and light, a 

 warm sleeping place, an extra feed by lamplight, and a 

 social chat of course. Have kept no records in late years 

 of what my egg pen does for me during the winter; but 

 a dozen pullets will, I believe, average pretty close to seven 

 eggs a day, handled this way. We manage to get along 

 without buying any eggs all winter, and I really prefer 

 that my stock birds reserve their energies for spring busi- 

 ness. A hen that will lay 1.50 eggs in 160 days during the 

 spring and early summ'fer is much more valuable to me thaa 



