“£50 COMMON SENSE 
colder and more severe than during any other time, yet it was 
during this period that we got most eggs from the hens that were 
on the place when I got it. 
As the season wore on, the eggs to began to increase again, but 
the price fell until it scarcely paid for the tear and wear of. the 
hens. The price got as low as 16 cents per dozen, so that it‘took 
25 dozen to pay for feed alone. 
When the first days of April came and the snows of March had 
disappeared, we were all impressed with a feeling of ‘great relief. 
‘The birds could again wander over the entire place, and the prospect 
of green food and plenty of insects was encouraging, even if the 
reality had not come. Our losses had been but slight, considering 
the motley composition of the flock—all ages, sizes and con- 
ditions. We lost twenty-six old birds—a little over four per cent.— 
and this, I thought, was not a bad showing. ‘They died with 
various symptoms—all evidently caused by severe weather. In 
the matter of chicken diseases, I do not profess to be an expert. 
When one of my birds shows signs of. ill-health, we place it in 
warm quarters, give it pills made of cayenne pepper, butter and 
bread, and then: feed it on soft food and clean water. If it im- 
proves (and they generally do) in three or four days, all right. If 
not we chop its head off and bury it where the other chickens can- 
not get at it. 
The farmers, and especially the “suburban ” residents, now began 
to buy chickens for laying, and paid good ‘prices for them. They 
thought in this way, to save the labor and cost of wintering them, 
and perhaps they did. But I had no objection to sell those of. my 
fowls from which I had taken as much good as I was likely to 
get, and so I made up a few crates selected from the different 
houses, and in this way I reduced my stock very considerably. 
The broods of last spring and summer were now laying, and 
the fall broods were coming on quite rapidly, so I thought it as 
well to dispose of some of the least valuable of my stock. 
