3o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 11 
FEEDING A HEN. 
Part II. 
Last year’s “ balanced ration ” articles 
dealt with the food of the cow. There 
we had au animal with an immense 
paunch capable of holding a large quan¬ 
tity of water and food. The real diges¬ 
tive organs of the cow are comparatively 
small—the greater part of the stomach 
being chiefly a machine for soaking and 
grinding up the food so that it may be 
more readily digested. A horse has a 
comparatively small stomach. When his 
teeth are perfect, he chews his food 
longer than the cow does—though the 
latter makes use of the “ cud ”—that is, 
she can float up food fi’Oin that great 
paunch into her mouth and chew it over. 
The cow’s stomach was designed to make 
use of bulky food like hay or stalks, 
while the horse does better when fed a 
more concentrated ration. It is a mis¬ 
take to stuff a horse with hay, while the 
cow is better for a bulky feed. 
When we come to feed the hen, we And 
a very different state of affairs. Iler 
digestive apparatus is a sort of combina¬ 
tion of both horse and cow principles. 
The hen has no teeth, but the work of 
grinding or softening the foed is done 
in the crop and gizzard which, as every 
one knows, is a bag or sac containing 
grit or small pebbles—which smash, tear 
and grind the food between them. Yet 
the hen does not leave all this work of 
grinding to the gizzard, for we have all 
noticed how a hen will, if undisturbed, 
tear up fragments of food with her beak, 
until only small particles are left. The 
beak really does part of the work done 
by the teeth in other animals. This 
grinding and tearing in the gizzard is 
more like the cow chewing her cud than 
it is like a horse chewing its food, be¬ 
cause before the food goes to the gizzard, 
it has been acted on more or less by the 
acids that cause digestion. The next 
time you kill a hen, it will pay you to 
take out these digestive organs and 
trace them through. It is a very inter¬ 
esting thing to observe how the food 
enters the beak and is ground, softened 
and digested all along this curious canal. 
In humans and horses, and to a cer¬ 
tain extent, in cows, the saliva or spittle 
plays an important part in digestion, 
especially when the food is well chewed. 
In some birds, the glands that secrete 
this saliva are well-developed and active; 
but the quantity secreted is not great, 
and it is not probable that digestion is 
assisted very much in the hen’s mouth. 
We must look to the gizzard and the 
true stomach and intestines to do the 
work of nourishing the body. 
The “crop” is a storehouse into which 
the food is swallowed. The secretions 
of that organ soften and break up this 
food. It then passes into the proper 
stomach which contains the chief diges¬ 
tive fluid. The gizzard or grinder may 
be considered as a part of the stomach, 
though the grinding is evidently done 
after the digestive fluids have acted on 
the food. Probably a large part of the 
actual digestion or nourishment of the 
body, is done from the intestines which, 
as you can easily see, are long and well- 
developed in the hen. The gizzard seems 
to be a grinder only. There is very little 
fluid in it, and the food found there is 
said to be drier than in any other part of 
the digestive tract. 
A few hints suggested by a study of a 
hen’s digestive organs are that, in pro¬ 
portion to her size, she is capable of dis¬ 
posing of bulk}' food. If kept well sup¬ 
plied with sharp grit for use in the giz¬ 
zard, and kept in good health so that 
the digestive fluids flow readily, a hen 
should be able to dispose of almost any 
food she can get past her beak. At the 
same time, for quick and rapid diges¬ 
tion, it is evidently wise economy to do 
a large part of the softening and grind¬ 
ing for her. When we consider the mar¬ 
velous rapidity with which an egg must 
be formed and covered with a shell, we 
can readily see the necessity of provid¬ 
ing food that is easily digested and 
quickly available ; also the great need 
of a supply of lime to form the shell 
and, above all, a constant supply of 
pure water. ' vSo you see that this ques¬ 
tion of properly feeding a hen is more 
complicated than that of feeding a cow, 
and that we can, at best, give only gen¬ 
eral rules and suggestions to go by. 
Live Stock Matters. 
FORKFULS OF FACTS. 
Fish for IIkns. —S., page 825, can feed 
ancient fish to his hens, all he wishes, 
and there will be no harm to them ; but 
everything will taste in the food, and 
it will kill all of his customers that 
can tell tar from ’lasses. It is strange 
that’ folks don’t know that they can’t 
feed rotten food to anything, and get 
good results in return. L. ii. G. 
Florida. 
R. N.-Y.—What ? Not to hogs ? 
Self-Sucking Cows.—I have a self¬ 
sucking cow, and wish information in re- 
gard to some preventive. Can I get 
something to fasten in the nose of the 
cow to stop the habit ? w. t. s. 
It. N.-Y.—Most hardware dealers can 
get you a ring, that fits into the nose, 
with row of sharp spikes on the out¬ 
side. The idea is to get something on 
her nose that will prick her every time 
her mouth comes close to the udder. It 
is a bad habit. Unless she is a first-class 
cow you would better make beef of her. 
Feeding Twice a Day. —In reply to 
F. E. B., page 834, I would say that for 
several years past, I have fed my cows 
only twice daily; I think it would be just 
as sensible to get up at midnight and 
feed as at midday. I think if cows are 
fed all they can eat up clean twice daily, 
especially if they are in milk, much bet¬ 
ter results will be obtained than though 
they are fed more frequently. I believe it 
does a working cow as much good to 
get hungry as a working man, and what 
man would be foolish enough to have 
his food meted out evei’y hour or so ? 
When I was a boy, we always had to 
clean the orts, so called, out of the man¬ 
gers every day ; now you can’t find a 
scrap on anything in the manger one 
hour after eating, and my stock is look¬ 
ing fine. J. A. o. 
Erie County, N. Y. 
The “Milk Mirror.” —Years ago, I 
l’ead a book which treated of a new sys¬ 
tem by which it was claimed that the 
quality and quantity of milk could be 
most accurately determined by natural 
marks on each cow—by the shape of the 
escutcheon, etc. This theoi*y, I think, 
was the result of experiments by a 
Frenchman. Has it ever been put to 
test in this country ? If so, has it proved 
to be what is claimed for it ? f. l. h. 
Fairfield, Iowa. 
R. N.-Y.—Some years ago, this “ es¬ 
cutcheon ” theory was strongly advo¬ 
cated by some dairymen, and at thepres- 
ent time, a good many farmers will ex¬ 
amine the “milk mirror” carefully in 
buying a cow. The “ milk mirror ” is 
the space above the udder and between 
the thighs. The general theory w r as that 
a heavy udder, full of milk, would, by 
its weight, determine the location of the 
“curl” or twist in the hair above it. 
Gueion, who advocated this test, had the 
matter all mapped out with drawings of 
the “Anilk mirror,” showing how a good 
milker ought to look. Other and better 
tests of a cow’s milking qualities have 
displaced this one, and now it is con¬ 
sidered but one of several marks to de¬ 
termine a good cow. The scale of points 
adapted for the different dairy breeds 
lay but little stress on it. 
Killing Horns on Calves. —Can TnE 
R. N.-Y. give directions for the effectual 
prevention of the growth of horns on 
calves ? I have just concluded an ex¬ 
perience in dishorning aged dairy cattle, 
that 1 do not care to repeat ; yet I do 
Dot wish any cows in my herd with 
horns. As I raise all my own cows, it 
strikes me as the proper thing, to pre¬ 
vent the growth of the horns if it can 
be done without injury to the calf. 
North Yakima, Wash. d. m. s. 
R. N.-Y.—Caustic potash is said to de¬ 
stroy the young horn, and various “ horn 
killers ” are sold for this purpose. This 
opei'ating on calves does not prevent 
fighting, as such stock learn to butt and 
fight like the polled breeds. On the 
plains, a polled Scotch bull will often 
whip a Hereford—“horns and all.” 
Clean Milkers Wanted. —The story 
of certified milk, to me, was interesting 
reading, when it says, “ The milkers are 
obliged to keep themselves clean.” How 
different here in the dairy country ! Let 
a man stand at any of our cheese factor¬ 
ies on a warm J line morning, and a large 
proportion of the men and boys that 
come with their milk look and smell as 
though a quarantine for a few days, or 
until cool weather, would be a blessing 
to the cheese business. Men—and some 
women—will persist in dipping then- 
bands into the milk pail, to wet the 
teats to make the cow milk easier ; and 
in order to keep the teats slippery and 
nice, every time they change their hands 
from one teat to another, down go their 
hands into the milk. Then look at their 
hands, and look at every thing they 
touch or with which they come in con¬ 
tact. Then pour the milk slowly out of 
the pail, and see what is in the bottom. 
Then pour the milk out of the can at 
the factory, and see what is in the can, 
and has to go into the cheese vat—ex¬ 
cept the coarser part; the pui-e essence 
has to go, one string of filth from begin- 
(Continued on next vage.) 
Pi^'fcUanroujsi gUvmistnth 
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The Business Hen. 
This little book is one of the most popular we 
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preciate it. It gets down to the practical side 
of the question, and treats of the hen as the 
means of making a dollar. The price in cloth 
is 75 cents, but as the paper cover edition s 
exhausted, we fill all orders in cloth covers at 
paper cover price, while a new supply of 
paper covers are being provided. Price, 40 
cents. Sent to any subscriber for sending ns 
one new subscription. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER New Yobk. 
