1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
763 
The Chicken Yard. 
Granite State Hens. —My hens near¬ 
ly all lay in Winter. I secure this re¬ 
sult in this way: I give them a warm, 
dry. sunny place, plenty of scratching 
room and something to scratch for. One 
year old hens that have been “chocked 
off’’* from laying in the Spring will, un¬ 
der favorable conditions, make up lost 
time the following Winter. April pul¬ 
lets, if they have been well taken care 
of, will begin laying in January, and 
not infrequently in December. My old 
hens quit moulting about September. I 
give them a generous supply (not too 
much) of good grains, all kinds, but 
principally corn and wheat—warm mash, 
generally moistened with skim-milk, in 
the morning, and whole grain at night 
with plenty of pure water. I have no 
faith in patent medicines” or “doctor’s 
notions” for hens, and I seldom have a 
sick one. I give them plenty of oyster 
shells (crushed) and sharp grit; meat, 
usually cooked, about twice a week, 
some kinds of vegetables also cooked, 
and cabbage. It is natural for hens to 
deposit their eggs in Spring and Sum¬ 
mer, and just so far as one can change 
the atmosphere and general surround¬ 
ings, and their food from those of Win¬ 
ter to those of Spring and Summer, in 
just that degree he will fill his egg bas¬ 
ket. There is no secret about it, it is 
wholly a matter of study and adaptation. 
Franconia, N. H. H. H. c. 
Sensible Talk. —One-fourth to one- 
third of our hens lay in Winter, judg¬ 
ing irom laying records of the past three 
Winters. I usually keep about 60 hens 
and pullets. We have had April-hatched 
pullets laying about November 1. This 
year being so warm and dry we have not 
done anything about housing yet; usual¬ 
ly try to get them in by the middle of 
October. Often the hens do not stop un¬ 
til cold weather sets in, but I usually try 
to get rid of old stock and keep nothing 
but pullets over Winter. I have fed 
dried ground beef and bone, and find it 
helps some, but place most faith in mid¬ 
dlings and a little oil meal in mash, and 
wheat or buckwheat in scratching ma¬ 
terial. Keep plenty of grit and warm 
water before them and make them 
scratch. Quite often during the coldest 
weather I used to bring a small quan¬ 
tity of shelled corn piping hot from the 
oven and throw it, a handful at a time, 
and tnat in various parts of the coops, 
to the fowls. This made them scramble 
and get warmed up ready for the mash 
feed, which soon followed. Warm water 
twice a day was also a good egg pro¬ 
ducer, besides helping to warm up the 
fowls. My coops are pretty cold in real 
cold weather, and sometimes eggs left 
half a day would freeze, but with it all I 
rarely ever have roup or colds among 
them. When I see signs of colds I put 
kerosene in the drinking water, and the 
colds disappear. mrs. g. l. boss. 
Wisconsin. 
Onion and Green Bone. —Not over 
one-quarter of our hens lay till toward 
Spring, when the proportion increases 
as the days grow longer. Mine will lay 
earlier this year, as they are mostly 
through moulting. Having fed meat all 
Summer I think had something to do 
with the early moult. My pullets usual¬ 
ly commence in September and October, 
the early ones; some of the late hatch 
not till toward Spring. If I could have 
it as I should like I would have them in 
houses all of the time; when they are 
in small houses I should begin to house 
them in August or first of September, 
before they begin to lay, as a change 
then will make them stop laying. Most 
of the old hens are through moulting 
now; a few go sometimes into the Win¬ 
ter. To encourage Winter eggs I feed 
wheat, corn, oats and buckwheat as 
staple feed, meat once a day in soft feed 
like the B. B. B. meat. When I grind 
green meat and bone I usually put in a 
few small onions and grind with the 
bone for an appetizer. I give either cab¬ 
bage or beets for green food, and let 
them pick at it hanging up; also scatter 
the grain in litter, so that they have to 
work for it, and in cold zero weather 
warm the grain, also the water, and 
house in houses that are warm, with 
not too much glass. g. d. f. 
Atwater, N. Y. 
The Food Question. —I have been in¬ 
terested in keeping hens for some time, 
and my efforts have been attended witn 
various degrees of success. I have read 
the leading poultry journals carefully 
and find much good in them, but have 
come to the conclusion that much more 
importance is attached to the feed ques¬ 
tion than should be. A hen well fed 
upon any of the common grains in this 
country will live and prosper. Yet Mrs. 
Biddy, like many others of her sex, is 
somewhat set in her ways, and when 
you attempt to make a very radical 
change in her habits she will show her 
resentment by cutting off your income. 
For example: If she has made up her 
mind to lay in some out-of-the-way cor¬ 
ner, she will certainly do better if al¬ 
lowed to continue there than she will if 
you attempt to force her to lay in a pat¬ 
ent nest in some place which is not to 
her liking. In this cold climate it is 
necessary to have warm quarters, and 
by doing so my hens usually lay fairly 
well in the Winter, especially my White 
Wyandottes and Plymouth Rocks. My 
pullets usually begin to lay in Novem¬ 
ber, and continue through the Winter. 
In Maine we always house our hens at 
night, taking care to keep the house well 
ventilated. My old hens quit moulting 
about the middle of October, and at this 
time have their new Winter suits nearly 
ready for the cold season. Last year I 
bought a few Sherwoods and find them 
to be great layers; better, I think, than 
any other breed I have yet tried. Within 
the last two years I have changed my 
former method of feeding mash in morn¬ 
ing and now feed it at night, and believe 
the hens do better* as a good warm feed 
of mash in the morning made them too 
lazy. s. w. gould. 
Maine. 
FEEDING OATS TO CHICKENS. 
We have fed oats twice a day to a flock 
of chickens, 80 in number, ever since 
the middle of July. The chickens are 
both young and old, and oats are fed 
whole, mixed in a mash with equal parts 
of coarse-ground cornmeal and ship 
stuff or middlings, and all the scraps 
from the table. Occasionally we give 
them a feed of boiled small potatoes, 
either Irish or sweet, in such a manner 
as to make a variation in the bill of fare. 
Tomatoes, watermelons, cantaloupes,etc , 
not perfect enough to market, are 
thrown into the yard as gathered, a 
good-sized pinch of salt is added to each 
mash, which is always given in the 
morning. In the afternoon oats mixed 
with corn is fed whole, without soaking 
or moistening. If weather is warm we 
use a larger portion of oats, two or 
three parts of oats, one of corn. When 
cool weather comes on we use one part 
of oats to two of corn, and in the Win¬ 
ter will stop oats altogether. We have 
had no trace of disease all season and 
have had eggs right along for the past 
two years. Me have had no extraordi¬ 
nary egg yield, but even in moulting 
time have had fresh eggs daily, far more 
than we could use in the household. 
We gradually thin out our flock until 
we have selected from 40 to 50 of the 
best hens, finding that to be as many as 
will do well in one flock, although we 
have house room for a hundred or more, 
without crowding. As to any extra bene¬ 
fit in feeding oats we believe that we 
have derived no advantage other than 
that it is a food more suitable as a warm- 
weather diet, and has no more nourish¬ 
ing quality than other grains ordinarily 
fed. We would under no circumstances 
feed oats to very young chicks, either 
ground or whole, nor let them or hens 
either, run to an oat-straw stack on ac¬ 
count of getting an overfeed, the oats 
swelling in crop and causing either rup¬ 
ture or obstruction. The danger in feed¬ 
ing to young chicks lies in the beard, 
which in grinding is not sufficiently de¬ 
stroyed to prevent puncturing the crop, 
and when fed whole is equally as liable 
to do so. A long soaking may possibly 
soften the beard enough to render it 
harmless, but in warm weather fermen¬ 
tation is so liable to do harm that we 
do not even soak over one night. We 
would feed no fermenting food purpose¬ 
ly; therefore we mix our mash fresh. 
Our flock is confined to a yard of one- 
half acre. We have had no hens killed 
except from overeating and swelling of 
oats, causing rupture or perforation or 
obstruction. j. s. p. 
South Park, Ky. 
NEST EGGS. 
We house pullet as soon as cold weather 
comes. Old hens quit moulting about De¬ 
cember 1. We feed a warm mash (most any 
kind of ground grain) in the morning. We 
find that hens fed plenty of corn will stand 
more cold and lay better than those that 
have a lighter feed. a. j. f. 
Armada, Mich. 
Our pullets will commence laying about 
November 1. As to feed, we use the scraps 
from the table, boil potatoes, mash them 
up and put meal in, and feed warm in the 
morning; feed corn, wheat and buckwheat, 
meat scraps and bone. Hens like a va¬ 
riety of food. e. l. s. 
Colebrook, Conn. 
Our hens are the most neglected stock 
on the farm, and yet we get right good 
returns from them all the year. When T 
lived on a small farm I hatched with in¬ 
cubators and spent quite a lot of time to 
care for the chicks and hens. The hatch¬ 
ing was easy enough, but raising the chicks 
was where the trouble came. J. g. k. 
Baldwin, Pa. 
T keep Grey Dorking hens; they lay in 
Winter better than any other I ever had, 
are first-class layers the year round, and 
good mothers. I have about 50 hens, and keep 
two roosters. Meat and green feed in Win¬ 
ter is what will give you the eggs; do not 
expect something from nothing. A hen 
is a hopper; plenty of good feed at one 
end and lots of eggs at the other. d. l. 
Killingworth, Conn. 
My hens have a large farm to range over, 
and a board house to roost in, and are 
never shut up except at night. It does not 
pay to feed here for egg production at 
the price they bring. In 1899 eggs averaged 
11% cents per dozen. Although I sold 
more eggs in February than any other 
month, the greatest profit here is raising a 
large fowl for market. I keep the Light 
Brahmas. w. a. c. 
Nichols, Mo. 
Who Can Tell?—I would like to ask a 
few questions. Why are Buff Leghorns so 
much wilder than the Whites or Browns, 
when raised all together under like con¬ 
ditions? Why should my Buff pullets, for 
the past two years, mature first and com¬ 
mence laying first, when this Fall the 
Whites are in advance of the Buff, and are 
laying, all hatched at same time and fed 
together? The parent stock had just as 
much pains taken with the breeding of one 
kind as the other. g. l. f. 
* JHhakes short roads 
SHARPLES 
Cream 
Separators ■ 
Farmers 
should realize 
i that all the 
fertilizing val 
1 ue of milk 
(the part that 
' lifts the mort- 
, gage) is in the 
skimmilk, not 
i in the cream. 
Fresh, warm, 
I s k i m milk _ 
from a Sharpies Farm Sep 
m arator is worth full 22c per 
T hundred for feed. Stale, sour 
'milk loses its value. The 
i difference is profit or loss in 
the business. Then Sharpies Sep¬ 
arators make better butter, more 
of it. Get our catalog No, 25 It 
gives the points. 
P. M. SHARPLES, 
Wcmt Chaster, Pa. 
THE SHARPLES CO., 
KS So. Canal St., Chicago, Ill. 
Banner Root 
Cutters. JKSllPl 
Unequalled for cutting all kinds of E38* 
roots and vegetables for feeding live 
stock. Take out all dirt. Cut tine. 5 1 1 ll/TtI ffTwMT 
sizes, hand and power. Catalog free, ft 1 
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Ypsilnntl, Mirh. II rfgggfiggai 
Largest Root Cutter Makers 
In the world. LI* 
l 
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1, 
GEM ^Baler 
_ Warranted the VJKSfWJ lightest, strong 
eat cheapest <fc fastest Fall > i UK * Circle Baler in the 
market. Made of wrought steel. Can be operated 
with one or two horses. Will bale 10 to 15 tons of hay 
a day. Write for description and prices. 
GEORGE ERTEL CO.^QUINCY 
Sharpen your own Horse. 
THE BLIZZARD 
the greatest of all 
HORSE ICE CALKS 
Agents Wanted. Address, 
S.W. KENT,Cazenovia,N.Y. 
COOK YOUR FEED and SAVE 
Half the Cost—with the v 
PROFIT FARM BOILER 
With Dumping Caldron. Empties its 
kettle in one minute. The simplest 
and best arrangement for cooking 
food for stock. Also make Dairy and 
Laundry Stoves, Water and Steam 
Jacket Kettles, Hog Scalders, Cal* 
drons, etc. 93T Send for circulars* 
V. R. SPERRY & CO., Batavia, UJL 
^ LIGHT RUNNING 
REID Hand 
Separator 
is easiest to operate, 
easiest to clean, 
skims closest. Trial 
Free. Writr for free book. 
A. H. REID, 
30th ami Market Streets, 
Philadelphia. 
Cream Separators. 
De Laval “ Alpha " and " Baby ” Separators. 
First—Best—Cheapest. All Styles—Sixes 
Prloes, SBO to $800. 
Save 110 per oow per year. Bend for Catalogue. 
THE DE LAVAL SEPARATOR CO., 
Randolph and Canal Streets, I 74 Cortlandt Street 
CHICAGO | NBW TOBK. 
The Most profitable Separator to Buy is 
THE IMPROVED U. S. SEPARATOR, 
AS PROVEN DAILY RY ITA 
Paid for Itself 5 Times in 3 Years. 
Tr , _ Richmond, Va., May 14,1900. 
I he U. S. Separator bought in 1897 is all right. It has paid for 
itself about 5 tunes. If I did not make a pound more butter, it is 
worth the price in labor saved. Anyone that has four good cows 
can afford to buy a U. S. Separator. L. H. CARLTON. 
For. full information regaiditig its money-making and money-saving 
write the VERMONT FARM MACHINE CO., Bellows Falls, Vt. 
