144 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 'JO 
PRODUCING EGGS IN WINTER. 
Methods of a Successful Man. 
Part ii. 
Poi ltrv Quarters. —The entire flock 
is housed in two separate apartments 
which are by no means ideal. The larg¬ 
er of these is a room 12x28 feet, ar¬ 
ranged in the northwestern end of the 
basement of a bank barn. Necessarily 
the windows are in the northwest and 
southwest sides; hence, they are not 
well adapted for the admission of either 
sunshine or ventilation. These defects 
are reduced by a door which opens to 
the southeast under the “overshot” of 
the barn. This door is fitted with a 
screen, hence can be left open when 
necessary. The rear wall of this room 
of course is of stone, the other three are 
of matched boards. The floor consists of 
packed clay, except a section 12x12 feet 
in the rear, which is of boards; this is 
occupied by the roost. As may be sup¬ 
posed from its location, thk room is just 
barely dry enough not to give trouble. 
The smaller is a house of the common 
shed-roof construction, measuring 7x30 
feet. This is built of rough boards and 
battened. It has a good exposure, but 
is too high and narrow, which makes it 
colder than it would otherwise be. The 
floor is of clay throughout. The roost in 
this house occupies a space of 7x10 feet. 
In each house the perches are low, 18 
inches, are built in one piece trestle 
fashion and rest on the floor, so they 
are easily kept free from lice and moved 
for cleaning the house. Besides the 
roosts the furnishings in each house con¬ 
sist of a row of a dozen nest boxes, a 
self-feeding shell-box, a galvanized iron 
trough for water, a box for the dust bath 
and several wooden troughs for feeding 
mash. There is nothing about the build¬ 
ings that may not be arranged or built 
on almost any farm at moderate cost. 
The space not. occupied by the roosts is 
covered with a litter of forest leaves, in 
which all the grain is fed. I have never 
found anything near so well adapted to 
the purpose as leaves. 
General Care. —Once a week the 
floors are thoroughly cleaned, the ma¬ 
nure is scraped up, the soiled litter re¬ 
moved, the whole floor swept and then 
fresh leaves put in. This is very im¬ 
portant, and must not be postponed, as 
nothing will cause hens to lose then* 
tone and vigor more quickly than eating 
from foul litter. Of course ventilation is 
freely given by opening windows or 
screened door so as not to cause a draft. 
In severe weather all is kept close, ven¬ 
tilating thoroughly two or three times a 
day when the hens are busy. Clean water 
is given every morning and warm water 
added when cold enough to freeze. The 
dust bath is renewed once in two weeks. 
No roosters are kept in the flock. The 
food consists of corn, oats, wheat, corn- 
chop and bran, beef scrap, cabbage, hay 
and milk. The quantity the hens will 
eat A r aries with the number of eggs pro¬ 
duced; but last Winter, when the flock 
was at its best, and the quantity of food 
had been the same for more than a 
month, I took a note of the exact quan¬ 
tity, and comparing this with the 
amount fed this season since they are in 
full laying condition, 1 find it is prac¬ 
tically the same. The quantity for 100 
hens per day is about as follows: Corn, 
314 quarts; oats, six quarts; wheat, five 
quarts; corn chop and bran, mixed equal 
parts by weight for the mash, six quarts; 
beef scrap, one pint every second day; 
cabbage, three or four small to medium 
heads. About a peck of hay shatterings, 
mostly clover, such as collects where 
hay is thrown dotvn, is given every few 
days. 
Feetun’g System. —Not less important 
than the variety and quantity of food is 
its proper distribution throughout the 
day. In this it is well to remember the 
conditions in the Spring that usually in¬ 
duce the laziest hen to lay. The warm 
weather, new grass and insects coax her 
out, and she eats all day long, but only 
a little at a time, she becomes interested 
and busy. That is the vital point. No 
moping hen ever laid many eggs. With 
these facts in view the hens are fed lit- 
lle and often, six times in a day, as fol¬ 
lows: Early in the morning they are 
given iy 2 quart of oats. They wake up 
and take some exercise scratching for 
this, and then at eight o’clock they get 
their mash. At 10 o’clock 1V 2 quart of 
oats are again given and the same at 2 
P. M. The noon feed consists of two 
quarts of wheat and the evening feed, 
which is intended to be all they will eat, 
is 3% quarts of corn, three quarts of 
wheat and 1*4 quart oats. The cabbage 
is invariably fed in the evening after the 
grain. Milk and beef scrap are mixed in 
the mash. I have found mangels a fair 
substitute for cabbage. Caution should 
be exercised not to overfeed either of 
these or any other “greens,” as it is sure 
to cause a derangement of appetite. If 
will be noticed that oats are fed in small 
quantities and often. I consider them a 
very important part of the ration on ac¬ 
count of their bulk, but experience has 
made me cautious of feeding any large 
quantity at a time. Now, to those not 
accustomed to giving any but the most 
01 dinary care to their hens, the forego¬ 
ing may seem like all too much “fuss 
and feathers” to obtain eggs even in 
Winter; but the hen irust has its price 
and it is doubtful if eggs can be had in 
quantity for much less. After all if the 
work is done methodically it is not such 
an endless round as may at first appear. 
Thus, in beginning the morning chores, 
1 first give the hens their bit of oats, a 
“scratch” we call it, after doing the oth¬ 
er work the mash is given. The noon 
feed comes in with the rest of the stock 
feeding. The evening chores are begun 
by giving the hens their grain, then af¬ 
ter gathering the eggs the cabbage is 
distributed. This leaves no extra run¬ 
ning after the chickens, but to give them 
their “scratch” at 10 and two o’clock. 
This requires but a few minutes when 
I am about the barn, and when in the 
field pruning or absent from home my 
wife says it gives her exercise as well as 
the hens. Some one will be sure to ask 
what is to be done if the hens lack ap¬ 
petite. I must say I have had little trou¬ 
ble in this line. It is natural for hens 
to eat heartily if conditions are right. 
If they are fed lightly and often during 
the day, with a full feed at night, a pro¬ 
per ration of proper bulk; if protected 
from drafts and floors are kept clean; if, 
when making a change of food, care is 
taken to feed sparingly at first there 
should be little trouble. I have never 
had anything so serious but what was 
easily corrected by feeding scantily for 
a day or two. Perhaps the old saying: 
“Eternal vigilance is the price of suc¬ 
cess” does not apply better anywhere 
than to managing hens in Winter, but I 
think where the vigilance is exercised 
the success is sure. i>. l. hartman. 
Pennsylvania. 
“Billings has a thermometer that in¬ 
variably runs to extremes. When the 
temperature is at zero Billings’s ther¬ 
mometer always goes several degrees be¬ 
low. When the July heat reaches 90, 
Billings’s thermometer indicates 95.” 
“Where does it hang?” “I don’t think 
hanging has anything to do with it. It’s 
the. way it lies.”—Cleveland Plain 
Dealer. 
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■ 
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