26 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



It would pay to mark all chickens hatched, so that you could tell the 

 age of any hen and dispose of all aver two years old each year. This plan 

 would keep your flock down to pullets and one year old hens. These are 

 ;he producers, and it would lessen the losses a good deal, as the older 

 hens take on fat readily and are more subject to disease. 



One of the worst drawbacks in the chicken business is the hen louse 

 md the little red or gray mite, and every year dozens of good intelligent 

 people ask me what to do for mites, as the hens are dying on the nests 

 and we don't dare go into the house. My advice is always the same. 

 Subscribe for and read a good poultry journal; buy and use a tried "lice 

 killer," either liquid or dry. My own way is to have every thing in the 

 'louse movable, and every two, three or four weeks go over the roosts, 

 iropping boards, and nests with the sprayer loaded with Lee's lice killer,, 

 being sure to get into and behind everything. For setting hens I use 

 Lambert's insect powder.. A 100 oz. package usually lasts through the 

 season. 



I have given up the practice of medicine in connection with my 

 hens, and my new plan is to use the hatchet for all contagious diseases, 

 as I think the breeding from cured fowls is the cause of such large losses. 

 of chickens at two to v^ight weeks old, and I believe that in the course of 

 5- ears this "survival of the fittest'' will make a marked improvement in 

 the general rigor and hardiness oi the flock. 



It is unnecessary that I should tell you of the great importance of 

 the hen and her products, as it has been treated on in all the live-stock 

 papers. There is one way to increase the usefulness of the nen, ari'l 

 that it, never sell a fowl or an egg that you can possibly use on your own 

 table. This will cut down the supply j?nd increase the price. Kill one 

 hog less and eat fried chicken oftener. My only excuse for this "line 

 upon line" in regard to how to treat a flock of hens is the remembrance 

 of some houses and hens I have seen on otherwise well-conducted farms, 

 and an earnest desire to better their condition, and at the same time add 

 one more pleasure and beauty to a well stocked farm — a flock of pure 

 bred hens, well cared for and profitable. 



