HINTS FOR NOVEMBER 



TIMELY REMINDERS OF THINGS THAT SHOULD BE DONE DURING THIS COLD MONTH 



M. S. GARDNER 



IF YOUR young birds are still roosting out in small coops, 

 it is high time to move them to more comfortable 

 quarters in the winter houses. Prompt attention to 

 this important work may save you the loss of some valuable 

 birds by roup or colds before the month is over. 



Do not let young stock sit on the ground these cold 

 nights. It hinders growth and endangers the health of the 

 flock. 



If your poultry house has windows on two sides, this is 

 the month to board up those on the north side. Do it today. 



It is a good plan to separate the younger and smaller 

 chicks from the main flock, if you have not already done 

 so and coop them where they can have better care and feed. 

 They will never develop properly where older birds are con- 

 tinually driving them away from the feed dish. 



Look over your flock of old birds. Perhaps you will 

 find a few hens that continued to lay after the others were 



Colony houses scattered through an orchard make desirable quarters for growing chicks. 



moulting. These hens are now in full moult and nearly 

 naked. They should be separated from the earlier moult- 

 ing ones and given especial care for the next six weeks. 



Do not make the mistake of shutting all the windows 

 and doors in your poultry houses these nights simply because 

 there may possibly be a frost. If there are cracks or loose 

 boards on the north side, or east, or west end, nail on the 

 boards and cover the cracks with building paper, but leave 

 the windows on the south side open. YoiPwill be surprised 

 at the amount of cold a hen can stand and be happy if she 

 does not have to sit in a draft. A tightly closed poultry 

 house is an unsanitary poultry house. 



If you intend to exhibit those fine cockerels and pullets 

 in December or January, they should be put in clean pens 

 now and the pullets separated from the males and old hens. 

 Never allow a prospective exhibition bird to become dirty 

 or soiled in plumage or legs. You cannot wash a dirty bird 

 so he will look as well as one that has always been kept clean. 



Do not forget to provide nests for the early hatched 

 pullets. If they are compelled to lay on the floor or roosts 

 they may form the habit of eating eggs, and the habit once 

 formed may keep you busy all winter. "An ounce of pre- 

 vention is worth a pound of cure." Both the early moult- 

 ing hens and the early pullets will be laying soon. See that 



there is a good supply of grit and shell forming material 

 accessible at all times. 



As the cold weather has now shut off the supply of bugs 

 and other forms of available animal food, fowls require more 

 meat meal or beef scrap. Failure to provide it means slow 

 moulting hens and few winter eggs. 



Did you remember to lay by a good supply of dry loam 

 or other dusting material for winter? Given a large dust 

 box filled with dry loam hens will look after the lice problem 

 in a satisfactory manner. 



Do not teach your young birds to roost on the sharp 

 edge of a narrow board unless you want crooked breast 

 bones. It does not make so much difference with Leghorns 

 and other small varieties, but Plymouth Rocks and birds 

 of the other large breeds should have roosts -three or four 

 inches wide to sit on when the breast bones are tender and 

 easily injured. 



When moving the young stock 

 into winter quarters, do not let forty 

 or fifty pile up in one corner on the 

 floor the first night. Nothing is more 

 productive of colds and distemper. 

 Teach them to fly onto the roost as soon 

 as possible. There is less danger of 

 crowding and consequent sickness 

 when this rule is strictly enforced. 



There is little or no danger of get- 

 ting growing chicks too fat, so the 

 youngsters should be fed aU they will 

 eat as this season of the year. A 

 ration composed largely of corn can 

 safely be fed to the half grown or not 

 fully developed chicks at this season. 



When the November storms com- 

 pel us to house our flocks more closely, 

 we are usually tempted to put^more 

 birds into a given space than our best judgment tells us is 

 advisable and safe. Do not yield to the temptation. Bet- 

 ter send some of the poorer specimens to the butcher than 

 to crowd the really, valuable ones. Have all the birds in 

 each pen as nearly of one size and age as possible. They 

 not only look better in this way, but results are better. 

 Pullets should never be wintered in the pen with old hens. 

 Either the hens will get too fat or the pullets will be underfed. 

 Did you raise some cabbage of mangle-wurzels for winter 

 feeding? If not, alfalfa cut very green and cured nicely, or 

 second crop red clover, will answer the purpose very well. 

 Perhaps you can buy it of some farmer. If not, clover meal 

 sold by all poultry supply houses can be purchased at reason- 

 able prices. 



If you have painted the roosts every week during the 

 summer with kerosene or some liquid lice killer, you probably 

 have not been troubled with mites. If they have gained a 

 foothold and you are having trouble to rid your house of 

 them, try white wash. It can be applied either with a brush 

 or compressed air sprayer. Fill all the cracks and crevices 

 full and you will kill everyone the whitewash touches. 



Perhaps you have not noticed whether there are mites 

 in the houses or not. Look at the ends of the perches and 

 in the cracks in the ■""■11° "'• r^1o+f^ re 2.1.. 



