THE CARE OF POULTRY 2$ 



bucket, pour boiling water over it, and allow to stand 

 till morning. Mix with bran, shorts, meal, a little salt, 

 and feed warm. Oats should be scalded and fed same 

 as clover, as the sharp points of the oats in the dry- 

 state are likely to injure the fowls. Wheat can be 

 scalded or fed dry in scratching pens ; and note the 

 pleasure it gives the hens with their bright red combs, 

 merrily singing and scratching for grain. Chopped 

 clover is an ideal litter for scratching pens, as it fur- 

 nishes food also. The chaffy fodder and shelled corn 

 picked up where corn has been "shredded," makes 

 good litter also, the fodder supplying green food, as 

 they will eat much of it. 



Feed plentifully of green food. A cabbage head 

 hung up every day where the fowls will have to take 

 exercise in jumping to reach it; small potatoes and 

 turnips chopped and fed raw, or together with all 

 parings, cooked and mixed with morning or evening 

 mash, will supply green food. All kinds of roots such 

 as mangels, sugar beets, carrots, etc., are excellent. 

 Keep charcoal and gravel mixed with lime by them 

 all the time. An occasional mess of parched corn is 

 feeding charcoal in a valuable form. Mashed or cut 

 bone and meat scraps should be fed to take the place 

 of bugs, etc., which is one of the natural foods in 

 summer. Milk, acorns and all nuts are valuable as 

 food. Supply plenty of water that has the chill re- 

 moved. Fowls will drink lots of water if it is where 

 they can get it; as the egg contains some water, it 

 is necessary that the fowls have plenty. 



The large breeds require somewhat different treat- 

 ment from the small fowls. Being large and heavy, 

 they are naturally inclined to be indolent and inactive, 

 so the more necessary to devise means to make them 

 exercise, the exercise helping in digesting their food, 

 and keeping them warm, which is an important factor 



