THE CARE OF ADULT FOWLS 



Allow Nature to Assert Itself — Do Not Pamper Your Fowls —Definite Instructions on Feeding 



for Winter Laying— Special Winter Care of Adult Fowls — Best 



Egg Rations — Feeding For Eggs. 



PROVipB a few essentials in the care of adult fowls 

 and there should be little trouble in handling large 

 numbers successfully. Poultry is naturally vigorous 

 and hardy, but their constitutions can be ruined by 

 imagined kindness. It is not, for example, true kindness to 

 subject adult fowls to artificial heat. They do not need it. 

 As a rule they will suffer from it. To subject fowls to arti- 

 ficial heat (which fenders them tender) and then to turn 

 them out into even moderate weather is almost sure to bring 

 on colds, throat trouble and roup. It is the fowl that be- 

 comes gradually hardened to cold that is able to withstand 

 it and pass through the winter in good health. 



Have your houses .closely built, so that no drafts can 

 strike the fowls at night; keep the houses free from bad 

 odors; protect the fowls from lice, mites or other vermin; 

 keep them at work as much as possible; feed sparingly of 

 proper foods, and you need not dread disease in your flocks. 

 These things are essential; provide them and you will meet 

 with smooth sailing, 



Poultry houses should be cleaned often enough to keep 

 down the bad odors. In summer time (especially during 

 damp weather) clean out three or four times a week, accord- 

 ing to your accommodations and the number of fowls kept. 

 In winter time twice or even once a week will do, if your 

 houses are properly constructed and your fowls are not over- 

 crowded. Overcrowded fowls require far more attention 

 than those not crowded. 



Use fresh loam or earth under the roosts rather than 

 boards, as earth is a great absorbent of bad odors — a great 

 purifier in fact — while wood (especially pine) soon becomes 

 foul. Clean out the droppings frequently and change the 

 earth under the roosts once every two or three weeks. 

 Slacked lime is an excellent disinfectant. Use, as a lime 

 sifter, an ordinary tin can with nail holes punched in the 

 bottom. Box up the earth under the roosts in such a way 

 that the night droppings will not get scratched out into the 

 litter placed in the pens. 



In winter time, by all means, feed all grain in litter of 

 some kind, and do not spare the litter. Use straw, chaff, 

 leaves, weeds, corn fodder — anything will do if you have 

 enough of it. Make your fowls work by keeping them hun- 

 gry through the day. Send them to bed with full crops' at 

 night (especially in the winter time), but be sparing enough 

 of food of all kinds in the daytime to keep them on the 

 move, to keep them hunting and scratching for more. Have 

 them so that they will. eat up clean all that you give them. 



We should like to italicize every word of tha foregoing 

 paragraph, it is so important. If you overlook or forget 

 everything else in this book, remember the advice given 

 above. 



Every fall we thoroughly clean our poultry houses, re- 

 moving all the litter and also at least -three inches of the 

 ,soil. We then put in three or four inches of fresh, sweet 

 earth, obtained from fields or garden. This is put in the 

 houses during dry weather, and under the constant scratch- 



ing of the fowls becomes fine dust. Roa^ dust contains too 

 much horse manure to suit us, and we doubt if it is healthfifl 

 for fowls, especially if it gets wet or becomes damp. We 

 are certain that to do not like to inhale it ourselves; hence 

 we advise dry, fresh, eleah soil in place of road dust. Dur- 

 ing an hour or two after feeding tinie a person can hardly 

 see twenty feet ahead of him in our houses, so full is the air 

 of dust. It invariably makes us feel good to see this, for. it 

 shows activity among the fowls and is a sure indication of 

 health. 



Fowls that do not scratch, and scratch with energy, need 

 looking after. They may be sickly. They are either "out 

 of condition ' ' or are being over-fed. It is an easy matter to 

 over-feed the larger breeds of fowls, especially the Asiatics. 

 But do not under-feed. Avoid the two extremes. The more 

 active birds can stand more food than the big, lazy breeds, 

 for the latter pile on the fat with ease. They stand the cold 

 better and are more contented in confinement — two things 

 that are conducive ,to fat. 



Dust is a paralyzer of lice. Lice cannot live in a cloud 

 of dust. With plenty of fine dust handy, the fowls will 

 themselves save you the trouble and annoyance of fighting 

 vermiil. In the fall, when we put in fresh earth and fresh 

 litter, we carefully whitewash the inside of the house, put- 

 ting an ounce of carbolic acid in every gallon of the wash. 

 Fill all the cracks and crevices. Be liberal with the wash; 

 it is cheap, and lice are the source of sixty per cent of the 

 losses in poultry. 



In feeding poultry the first thing to decide is. What am 

 I feeding for? 



If you have thoroughbred stock only, and are intending 

 to furnish eggs for hatching purposes alone, then you do not 

 want to force winter laying, for the demand for your eggs 

 will be much better, and at higher prices during the spring 

 months— during March, April and May. In this case it may 

 become necessary to shift your fowls from pen to pen dur- 

 ing January and February to prevent their beginning to lay 

 too early. 



If you wish to conduct an egg farm, as some farms are 

 called, it will be to your advantage to force laying during 

 November, December, January, February and March, t^hen 

 the market price is high for eggs as food, and to do this, you 

 must do two things: Hatch out each spring a large number 

 of ear.y puuets, and then feed them for eggs the coming fall 

 and winter. An egg farm pays well. The price of eggs sel- 

 dom, if ever, falls below the cost of production, while in the 

 fall, winter and early spring from 100 to 200 per cent can be 

 made on every egg laid. It requires thought, system in feed- 

 ing, and extra care to secure a large number of eggs during 

 this time, and that is why there is money to be made in this 

 branch of tn'e business. 



A market always exists everywhere for fresh eggs. No 

 one need go a-begging with a basket or case of fresh laid 

 eggs, especially in winter time. Every human habitation 

 contains a customer. On an egg farm, rightly conducted, 



