Poultry Raising. 7 
a hen will seldom overeat of grain, even if it is kept before her all the 
time. Hunting worms, bugs, grasshoppers, etc. affords her the 
necessary exercise to keep her in good condition; but in close con¬ 
finement, especially in cold weather, exercise should be provided as 
carefully as food. Confinement does not hurt the hen, it is really 
much better during cold and stormy weather than freedom, but she 
must have something to do. Every inch of the floor space should 
be clear for her use, covered deep with straw or other clean litter, 
and all grains should be scattered in this to induce scratching. A 
busy hen is a healthy hen, and only a healthy hen is profitable. 
Grains .—All grains are good, but a steady diet of any one grain is 
neither good nor economical. Where milo and Indian corn can be 
most successfully grown, these can be made the principal grain feed, 
but a hopper of dry bran kept before the fowls all the time 
and occasionally a feed of wheat or oats, even if comparatively high 
in price, will be found beneficial and economical. Cooked beans 
and cracked peas are a splendid addition to the grains and are cheaply 
grown. In most sections of Colorado, however, wheat, corn and 
oats will be found cheap enough to use largely, and a poultryman 
will find that it will pay well to lay in a winter’s supply of wheat and 
oats at threshing time, as the price usually advances twenty-five per 
cent, or more later in the season. 
Animal Food .—Something should be provided to take the place 
of the worms and insects so relished by the hen on free range. Green 
bone and meat scraps from the butcher, and blood meal from the pack¬ 
ing house, the flesh and bones of any farm animal, all are rich in those 
elements necessary for growth and for egg production. An old 
cow, no longer profitable for milk production, may be worth more 
as €gg material than for beef, and a horse worn out or crippled will 
make the finest addition to the grains: Fresh cut bone and beef 
scraps can usually be procured at a fair price, but where meat is not 
easily obtained and the prepared foods are expensive, milk in some 
form will be found to be a satisfactory substitute. 
Green Foods .—During the winter if the fowls are confined, we are 
apt to overfeed with the grains, and under feed with the more succu¬ 
lent vegetable foods. Alfalfa leaves, either dry or steamed, make 
as good a green food as we can furnish. So good is it, that eastern poul- 
trymen are paying as high as $65 per ton for cut alfalfa, which is 
not as good as the leaves, as all the hay is used in making it. Any 
of the root crops, sugar or stock beets, turnips or carrots, cabbage, 
potatoes, onions, waste apples, would be equally welcome and benefi¬ 
cial to the fowls. 
It pays to keep a supply of grit, oyster shell and charcoal before 
