112 EGG MONEY 



a mash of corn meal and bran which sometimes contains 

 boiled vegetables. This is mixed at night if it is to be fed 

 in the morning or mixed in the morning if to be fed at night. 

 Two trips a day are generally made by the feeder. In the 

 morning the hens are fed mash, or given a little barley or 

 wheat to scratch for, and watered. At night when the eggs 

 are collected, mash or scratch feed is given, according to 

 whether or not mash was fed in the morning, and in freezing 

 weather the water buckets are emptied. 



Incubating and Brooding Done By Hens. 



The incubator agent has not invaded this section, or 

 must have been repulsed if he has, for the old hen seems to 

 be good enough for these poultrymen. Two or three 

 thousand chicks are raised on several of these farms, but the 

 natural method holds sway. . The hens are usually set in 

 a house or barn fitted up for the purpose. They are fas- 

 tened on the nests and let off at a certain time each day. 

 The nests are usually arranged in rows and tiers. 



The hen and her brood usually occupy a small separate 

 coop of simple design and often crude. The accompanying 

 photographs show instances of the very primitive construc- 

 tion found here. The hen is confined to these coops. The 

 chickens run during the day, but are confined during the 

 night as a precaution. The small chickens are usually 

 put near to the farm buildings where it is convenient to feed 

 them several times a day. The method of feeding is the 

 old one; mash that has cooked over night in the morning 

 and broken grains three or four times during the rest of the 

 day. Of late the prepared dry chick feeds are used some- 

 what. 



Cracked Corn a Staple Food. 



The larger chicks are moved farther away where they 

 get splendid range. Their houses are of the box-like type, 

 usually about six feet square and from four to seven feet 

 high. These chicks are fed mash in the morning when 

 released from the coops and have hoppers of cracked corn 

 always before them. Beef scraps are fed in limited quanti- 

 ties, usually mixed with the mash of corn meal and bran. 



