1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
731 
The Chicken Yard. 
HENS LAYING IN WINTER. 
It is to be considered that we have 
snow on the ground from November 1 
till April (April 15 this year), so that 
it is difficult to get chicks started early 
unless one has facilities for raising them 
under cover. My birds are Brahmas 
and a heavy strain of Plymoutn Rocks, 
and the pullets do not lay till they get 
a certain size, six or seven pounds. My 
first pullet commenced to lay October 9. 
I get eggs every day in the year, but 
the number varies from 10 per cent in 
September to 40 and 50 per cent in 
March and April. The pullets are put in 
their pens in September and October, as 
the old hens are moved to make place 
for them. Ninety-nine per cent of my 
hens moult in such a way as to make it 
impossible almost to tell when they 
begin or when they leave off. I feed a 
mash of bran and meal and meat meal 
in the morning and corn and oats at 
night, all the year. In Winter I feed 
cabbage three times a week, so as to 
have the eggs fertile. There is one point 
that I have noticed in the hen business. 
Every year about April and May there 
is a general complaint that the eggs are 
not hatching as well as they did earlier; 
perhaps the reason may be that the hen 
man has not taken into account the 
weather growing warmer, but has kept 
feeding the same as in the cold Winter, 
when the hens required feed to keep 
them warm and for eggs. v. e. h. 
Lakeport, N. H. 
Virginia Hens. —I do not believe in 
crowding fowls; have my henhouse 16x 
20 feet for a flock of 75 or 60 in the 
Winter. I’ve never fed to force early lay¬ 
ing, but the first pullets usually lay in 
November. In the Fall I commence 
feeding a hot mash for their breakfast, 
with whole grain, either wheat or corn, 
for supper. While I do not get eggs 
from more than one-fourth of my hens 
up to February 1, yet I can say after 
25 years’ experience I have never failed 
to get some eggs every day. Our fowls 
have the range of the farm, and when 
frosty nights come in October we drive 
the pullets into the henhouse a few times 
until they learn where to go to roost. 
As I have a mixed flock the moulting 
season is from September until Decem¬ 
ber, but some of the hens are always 
in laying condition. Do not believe 
much in powders; when hens are well I 
think that they are better without such 
things. b. k. 
Vienna, Va. 
Hens in Ohio. —Our hens lay almost 
all Winter, fully two-thirds of them. 
Our early-hatched pullets begin in Oc¬ 
tober and November, according to the 
time of hatching; the early hatch begin 
earlier than the late hatch. Our poul¬ 
try has shelter at all times; are kept in 
good, warm roosting places, and are at 
liberty to run in the houses. Our old 
hens have generally done moulting by 
October 1; this depends on the time of 
hatching. We aim to feed very regu¬ 
larly at all seasons of the year. Our 
ration is varied. Winter we feed cooked 
potatoes and all kinds of vegetables 
mixed with meal or bran. Corn is fed 
in the evening, and some in the morn¬ 
ing. We dry all refuse apples and cook 
them also. As we raise broom corn and 
sorghum they are fed the seed as a 
change seven 1 times a week. We have 
plenty of milk and fresh water all the 
time. We keep about 1,000 fowls; use 
all the eggs we need and market the 
remainder. Eggs are gathered every 
day and nicely cleaned. By this means 
we get higher prices than if sent to 
market dirty, and many of them bad. We 
guarantee all eggs to be fresh. Houses 
are thoroughly cleaned every morning 
all the year round. A great deal of 
whitewash, carbolic acid and sulphur are 
used to keep down vermin. Cleanly 
kept, well fed and sheltered, there is 
nothing that will yield as great an in¬ 
come for the time, labor and feed as a 
good flock of hens. We keep the Brown 
Leghorns and Plymouth Rocks, some 
of each strain, and a portion crossed; 
male Leghorns on Plymouth hens. This 
is the best cross, we find. We have some 
Wyandottes; a very good general-pur¬ 
pose fowl, but for the average farmer 
the Plymouths are the best; good for 
table and good layers, mothers, etc. 
Preston, Ohio. c. h. s. 
West Virginia Hens. —What propor¬ 
tion of my hens lay in Winter? About 
one-haii. They could be made to do 
better than that if kept in a house 
heated by artificial heat and fed egg- 
producing food. A Leghorn pullet will 
lay at six months old; Plymouth Rocks 
and most of the larger breeds not so 
early, about eight months. We do not 
confine the hens in the house all Win¬ 
ter, but let them out on fine days and 
keep them housed when cold. Our hens 
Tiave all done moulting now, October 
10, and some are beginning to lay. To 
encourage Winter laying we feed green- 
cut bone and green food, such as cab¬ 
bage. Corn is a good Winter feed for 
grain. We also feed warm feed once a 
day in Winter. We think wheat is a 
great food for poultry, and a good egg- 
prod acing food. We keep some kind of 
grit, such as oyster shell, for the hens in 
Winter; also give them plenty of pure 
water. Milk is a very good food for lay¬ 
ing hens, eitner in Winter or Summer. 
Another tiling is necessary; the poultry 
house must be kept well cleaned. 
Valley Grove, W. Va. d. s. f. 
Illinois Methods. —Counting hens 
and pullets, should say about one-half 
lay in Winter. I have always let my 
hens and pullets run together, but it is 
not right, as hens will get too fat on 
the feed that is just right for pullets. 
April-hatched pullets (Leghorn and Wy¬ 
andottes) begin to lay in October, and 
most of them should be laying by De¬ 
cember 1. As soon as we begin to have 
cold stormy nights the hens are housed. 
I have some hens now with their new 
coat complete, others nearly naked, and 
some not started to moult yet, age about 
the same. I am no hand for patent egg- 
foods, condition powders, or drugs of 
any kind. Healthy poultry do not need 
such things, and I have no other kind. 
Keep oyster shells before hens all the 
time, and pure water. On a farm they 
will get all the green food they need in 
Summer. For Winter do not fail to have 
a good patch of Winter rye, and when 
. snow is on the ground feed clover, cow- 
pea leaves, etc., and as big a variety of 
grains as one can get. Bran and ship- 
stuff, half of each, mixed with milk or 
water, makes a good feed for morning 
meal. Probably a little meat of some 
kind is good, meat meal, cut bone, etc., 
but the necessity and value of these 
foods have been greatly overestimated 
by interested parties. I have had hens 
lay well all Winter without a particle 
of meat of any kind. If one wants Win¬ 
ter eggs only don’t have an old hen on 
the place. Have a good, warm house, 
and roosting room warm enough so even 
a Leghorn’s comb will not freeze. Then 
have good, healthy April-hatched pul¬ 
lets from good-laying strain, feed well 
all Summer and they can’t help laying 
But do not depend on old hens for late 
Fall and Winter eggs. I encourage my 
pullets to roost in the trees, as soon as 
large enough, and they roost there till 
cold weather. Never had a case of roup, 
and don’t expect to. There are other 
things to think of, such as body lice, 
mites, etc. The latter can be easily ex¬ 
terminated without a cent of expense,, 
and if provided with a good dust bath 
the former will never bother healthy 
hens. g. m. a. 
Tamaroa, ill. 
The following report comes from Har- 
rodsburg, Ky.: “A hen belonging to T. C. 
Linney laid an egg which was twice as 
heavy as an ordinary egg. It was acci¬ 
dentally broken, and it was found that the 
yolk had turned to glass, while the white 
was of a spongy substance. A portion of 
the glass ‘yellow’ is now on exhibition 
here,” 
Fall Care of Pullets. 
Taking one year with another half of 
my hens lay through the Winter. As a 
general thing part of my pullets learn 
to go into the houses themselves; the 
others I let stay out until snow flies, or 
until the weather gets so cold that by 
putting them in the houses a few nights 
they know enough to go in afterward 
for their own comfort. They will gen¬ 
erally do so after a few cold storms 
Some of the old hens do not get through 
with tneir moult until the middle of 
November. It does not pay to keep 
those unless wanted badly for breeding 
purposes. Pullets hatched in March and 
April will start in laying from the first 
of October until Thanksgiving under 
good conditions. To make good Winter 
layers chicks want to be forced from 
the start on nitrogenous foods; scraps, 
wheat and ground feeds made into a 
mash. This will not apply to all breeds, 
but taking a mixed flock it will apply 
pretty well. G. h. d. 
Rockland. 
SCRAPS. 
Eat the feather pullers. 
Steamed wheat and oats is good feed for 
young chickens. 
Whitewash— bad to use on politicians, 
but good for the henhouse. 
I have found milk to be very good to 
induce Winter laying. When we have it to 
spare we give it to them to drink, and to 
make a mash of bran, chop and oil meal. 
Brooklyn, O. J. l. f. 
Chicken Notes.— I wrote some time back 
in regard to my Minorca chickens. To-day 
I added the year’s egg record, an average 
of 125 eggs per hen to flock, from October, 
1899, to October, 1900. October 1 we put our 
chickens into Winter quarters; 22 White 
Wyandotte, and 15 Plymouth Rock in one 
house; 60 Minorca and Game mongrels in 
another large house. In very bad weather 
or after the bad weather sets in, we never 
leave them out of the houses. d. l. h. 
Pa. 
Good Hens.— The old hens begin to lay 
about January 1; by March 1 half of the 
flock will lay every day. The pullets have 
lived in the house they will winter in all 
Summer. The old hens moult from Sep¬ 
tember till December 1. I feed butchers' 
meat and bone, wheat bran and middlings 
twice a day, and corn at night. The pullets 
will begin to lay at seven or eight months 
from time they were hatched; they are 
Plymouth Rocks. I buy all the feed for 
my flock. They will pay the feed and $1 
apiece for care, and keep the flock good. 
Eggs sold for 11 cents in April, 21 cents in 
October. p. n. h. 
Panton, Yt. 
Oh, the hare, the Belgian hare, 
I’ve had the fever since I went to the fair. 
And of all the people that I saw there 
Few have escaped from the intricate snare 
Laid so well by the exhibitors there 
In the interests, of course, of their friend, 
the hare. —Farm Student’s Review. 
While the hay crop was short farmers 
planted largely of fodder crops, chiefly 
corn, which did well, and most farmers 
will try to keep their stock over. I have 
known of some buying cows four or five 
years old coming fresh in Spring, at from 
$15 to $16 each. Cows fresh now, good ones, 
are selling at $25 to $33. Most farmers sell 
milk, and the higher prices of feed more 
than offset the higher price of milk. There 
have been many new silos built this year, 
more than in any previous three years, 
about half of which are tubs. c. a. j. 
Kortright, N. Y. 
are the standard of ex cellence, A athey 
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separators which 
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of farm Cream Sep- 
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Separators are putting dollars in place 
Of dimes Into the pockets of the cream¬ 
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Send for Free Pamphlet No. 25 
P. M. SHARPIES, 
West Chester , Pa. 
THE SHARPER® CO., 
98 So. Canal St., Chicago, Ill. 
Easier 
Turn 
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and 
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A. H. REID, 30th & 
New Preston, Ct. 
April 20,1900. 
“I find that tho 
REID 
Hand Separator 
is easier to turn and 
takes less time to 
wash than any other 
separator in this 
section. I have 
tested it for close 
work, and cannot 
find a trace of 
cream in the 
skim milk.” 
Ed. B. Holcomb. 
r eluiins for the Reid. 
MarketSts.. Philadelphia. 
National 
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The closest skimming, light¬ 
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prove this, we will give 
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without charge. 
Use it 
Ten Days Free 
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expense. Full particulars on request. 
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Cream Separators. 
De Laval “Alpha " and “Baby " Separators. 
First—Best—Cheapest. All Styles—Sixes 
Prloes, SSO to $800. 
Bare 110 per cow per year. Send for Catalogue. 
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Randolph and Canal Streets, I 74 Cortlandt Street 
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W La II Lb 
Ihe butter makers' succesa depends upon clean skim* 
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Holds them firmly, draws 
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E. C. NEWTON CO. 
Batavia, Ill. Catalogue Frss 
COOK YOUR FEED and SAVE 
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I cook feed of say kind for any par 
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