POULTRY.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXVIII, Issue 1514, 2 May 1902, Page 7

POULTRY.

If you evep fsd porn now is the time to do it", while the weather is cold. But remember that there is more Tat than eggs in a corn diet.--To secure eggs through the cold season it is. necessary, first, to hatch the pullets so they will hegin to lay about the first of -April; second, keep no birds ji.ore than two years old ; third, have substantial warm, but well-ventilated houses ; fourth, nutritious and stimulating food, with plenty exercise. Dried meats or scraps do not and cannot be expected to produce as good results as fresh meat or ground green bone, for the simple reason that the very ingredients most needed by the fowl are evaporated in the drying process. In feeding green bone and beef scraps, the allowance to each hen is soz per week. If you have a nice lot of pullets .that you want to kill, just feed them a lot of whole oats, but if you want them to live then do, not do it. On the other hand if you have a lot Of old liens that are too fat to lay, and you want some anti-fat, put them on a short ration of whole oats. The tender crops of the youngsters will be injured by the long,sharp points of the oats, while to the old hens will lip administered the pricking they need to put egg-laying life into them. Early eggs owing to a variety of circumstances, are apt to be not very fertile, If one will feed a small flock of fowls, kept where they can ahve abundant of exercise, liberally upon meat and grain, with the addition of green stiuff, the fertility of the early eggs will be increased and the number of chickens hatched will be larger . Because ducks go on.the water, the supposition is that they can endure dampness, and that they really like it, when in fact, there is nothing so fatal to ducks or ducklings as being compelled to sleep on the damp ground. A sudden rain storm will destroy ducklings more surely than Ihe rain affects chicks. Dryness is absolutely essential, as ducks do not loost on perches and are easily affected at night by damp situations. Another advantage ;n having dry, comfortable quarters for ducks is Ihat during the laying season much less trouble is experienced in gathering the eggs. Ducks lay at night, or very early in the morning, and if accustomed to being confined it is ?n easy task to shut them in at night and let them out in the morning, when the eggs'may be collected.

For laying hens it is desirable that a constant supply of nutritious ailment be afforded appropriate to the formation of eggs, as lime, powdered oyster or clam shells, old mortar crushed in small quantities, for the .■-hells ; and wheat, oats, barley, and bone as an, aid towards increasing the egg-meat substance. Sea food, beyond all question, is valuable for fowls, and not only makes the fowls lay well, as they pick at the shells, but fattens them, and keeps them in good condition for either breeding or the table. When the breeding of improved varieties of fowls is better understood, the North will offer facilities for rearing poultry not offered by any other section of the country. Yarded fowls must have green stuff, and to avoid crop-binding from swallowing too large pieces the the fowls sl-ould have a chance to nick off pieces of the leaves that are held firmly to the stalk. Sods thus give the best form of green food for yarded fowls. But it is not possible to keep digging up sods where one has only a village lot. Kence, get two or thrse low broad boxes and nail on' handles. Fit clover 'turf neatly into each and set one after the other into the pens. When the leaves are eaten off set the boxes in a shady place and keep well watered, when the grass will soon spring up again. A supply can thus be kept growing.