Vol. LV. No. 2403 . 
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 15, 1896. 
*1.00 PER YEAR. 
REVOLUTIONARY POULTRY KEEPING. 
HENS ON GRAIN ANI) PASTURE. 
One Big Flock Instead of Several Small Ones. 
Like Mr. Collingwood, I have no desire to parade 
my private affairs; but I would liue to show R. N.-Y. 
readers how I have managed to make an honest 
dollar with my hens. I began keeping fowls about 15 
years ago, and there has not been a year since in 
which they have not paid something. There has been 
considerable work connected with the business, for I 
housed, yarded and fed the fowls as generally recom¬ 
mended by the poultry papers. Three years ago I 
determined to find out whether it were possible to 
keep fowls successfully in moderately large numbers, 
fed on dry grain, with no soft food or meat. Of 
course I knew that such an undertaking was not 
orthodox ; but 
I concluded to 
ignore the es¬ 
tablished rules 
of poultry cul¬ 
ture, and con¬ 
duct the busi¬ 
ness according 
to my own 
ideas. 
Experience 
had taught me 
that the largest 
number of eggs 
did not always 
represent the 
largest profit. 
Hens fed on 
beefsteak at 3C 
cents a pound, 
might produce 
a large number 
of eggs, but at a 
loss. It doesn’t 
require a great 
intellect to see 
that there is 
just as much 
profit in pro¬ 
ducing eggs at 
a cost of 10 
cents a dozen 
and selling 
them for 30, as 
there is in pro¬ 
ducing them at 
a cost of 30 
cents and sell¬ 
ing them for 40. 
Much has been 
written about 
the advantage 
o f producing 
eggs in winter, 
when the price is high. IUshould be borne in mind 
that the cost of producing eggs in winter is greater 
than it is in summer. Hens that are forced during 
cold weather will, no doubt, lay more eggs for a 
while than those not forced ; but such forcing is, in 
my opinion, dangerous to their health, and I am con¬ 
vinced that they will not keep up the supply of eggs 
during the year. 
Here I will point out a common error of belief. 
Eggs do not bring the highest prices, on an average, 
in cold weather. In January, eggs generally sell at 
wholesale in the local markets here for about 33 cents 
a dozen. In February, the price rapidly declines, and 
in March it is about as low as at any time during the 
year—15 or 16 cents. In June, the price begins to 
rise and daring July, August, September and Octo¬ 
ber, the eggs bring from 35 to 30 cents a dozen. There 
are two reasons why eggs bring good prices from 
July to October. One is that there is a greater de¬ 
mand for eggs in those months on account of the 
large number used by summer hotels and ice cream 
makers, and the other is that the hens that were lay¬ 
ing so well in January are now on a vacation. Hens 
that were not forced during the winter, and now have 
access to a large grass run, are in condition to lay 
well during the latter half of the year. 
I asked Professor Whitcher of New Hampshire, 
what should be added to June pasture grass to make 
it a perfect food for cows giving milk. He replied, 
“Nothing; it is a perfect food itself.” If grass is a 
perfect milk-producing food for a cow, why, thought 
I, would it not be a good egg-producing food for a 
hen ! The professor had told me that an egg is com¬ 
posed of much the same elements as milk. I had 
never heard that it was necessary to feed meat to 
cows in order to have them produce milk, and I did 
not believe it necessary for hens, notwithstanding 
one writer on poultry had declared that it was im¬ 
possible for hens to lay if not fed meat. I decided to 
feed t u e hens dry grain in winter, and dry grain and 
grass in summer. They were given a small feed of 
mash occasionally for a change ; but the great bulk of 
their food was whole wheat, fed dry. For variety, 
about one-fourth the dry grain was corn or oats. In 
winter, the hens were obliged to scratch for their 
living, which was very beneficial, the exercise keep¬ 
ing them in health and out of mischief. 
"But how about keeping 300 hens in one flock ? This 
was the most radical departure contemplated ; but I 
determined to make it. If 300 hens in one flock could 
be kept in health, I believed that they could be cared 
for at one-fourth the expense that they could be in 
flocks of 35, and experience has proved it to be a fact. 
I partitioned off one end of the barn, giving the 300 
hens a room 37 x 45 feet, or about seven feet to a hen. 
On mild days, they had access to the barn cellar 
which was 30 x 100 feet, and open to the south. Pains 
were taken to provide grain that was sound and 
sweet, and water that was clean and fresh. The floor 
under the roosts was kept covered with sand, and the 
droppings raked out every day. A wire netting fence 
was built to inclose five acres of grass land, which 
was used for a pasture for the hens, about 300 chick¬ 
ens, a cow, and a horse. Under such conditions, I 
believed that the hens would keep in health, and lay 
a goodly number of eggs, and they did. 
December 31, 
last, I closed 
my second 
year’s account 
with the hens, 
and here are 
some of the 
figures. The 
hens were 
grade Brown 
Leghorns of my 
own raising. 
Not one ounce 
of meat or bone 
was fed them 
during the 
year, and n o 
milk except to 
the chickens. 
There were not 
bugs enough in 
the pasture to 
give them one 
apiece each 
week. Number 
of eggs laid : 
January, 490; 
February,1306; 
March, 3,337 ; 
April, 3,134 ; 
May, 3,399 ; 
June, 3,363; 
J uly, 3,354 ; 
August, 3,033 ; 
September, 
3,068 ; October, 
3,081; Novem¬ 
ber, 1,316 ; De 
cember, 496. 
Total, 37,357. 
Not a very 
large average, 
it is true; but 
they were pro¬ 
duced at small expense. Cash received for eggs and 
chickens, $680.33. Paid for grain and sundries, $333.15. 
Counting the droppings as pay for the interest on the 
investment, I have a balance of $348.07 to pay for my 
time, which is $1.74 for each hen, for one year. 
Amesbury, Mass. J. A. w. 
R. N.-Y.—Readers are referred to “Primer Science,” 
page 110, for some comments on this method of keep¬ 
ing poultry. We have no doubt that our poultry ex¬ 
perts will fire away at this target. They will have a 
job to shoot that profit of $1.74 per hen out of sight, 
but very likely they will give us the other side in an 
interesting way. It is just such reports of practical 
results that give value to a discussion ; but we must 
all understand that it takes years of hard study to 
grind good practice out of the best theory. 
AN OLD TIMER. THE WAY THEY BUILT LOG HOUSES IN PUTNAM COUNTY, N. Y. Fig.'37. 
