Miscellaneous.

Otago Witness, Issue 1813, 20 August 1886, Page 8

Miscellaneous.

It will do a hen no harm to have her wings clipped if she is a tramp, and it will prevent her from going over the fence. The proper mode is to cut only one wing. The two longest, or flight feathers, may be left, cutting all the shorter ones. When her wings are folded, the shortened feathers will not be seen. A large quantity of eggs are exported by Prince Edward Island to supply the requirements of the fifty-five millions of Americans, who are estimated to consume three thousand million eggs annually. The Dominion of Canada

exported last year eleven and a half million dozen eggs, of the value of 2,000,000d01. This is the product of a million hens. Prince Edward Island furnished a million dozen of these, valued at 160,901d01. The chick that seems nearly naked and whioh feathers slowly will be easier to raise, if kept warm, than one that begins to feather rapidly from the start. It is the feathering period that is the critical time with young chicks. Poultry raisers should not neglect to use' sufficient raw bone, either crushed or in the form of meal. It contains lime, as do oyster shells, but it also contains animal matter, which is of great value. Bone, when burnt, is of comparatively little value over oyster shells, bub when crushed or ground raw, supplies value peculiar to itself. All classes of poultry are extremely fond of it. Care should be taken to have it pure and sweet. It is good tor all clases and ages of poultry. Distinguishing Age in Fowls.— lf a young bird, the legs are delicate and smooth, the comb and wattles soft, and her general outline light and graceful. An old hen, on the contrary, has hard and horny looking legs, comb and wattles look somewhat harder and drier, and the figure is well filled out. No hen should be kept beyond her second laying season as a rule. Because many pay no heed to this point but keep hens three, five, or more years, they wonder why they lay co badly. Broken or rotten eggs always breed lice in myraids. Leg weakness in chickens is usually the result of rapid growth. Sitting hens. — Those who have charge of sitting hens must bear in mind that they require different food from the balance of the flock that is exercising freely out of doors every day. While the hen is sitting, being quiet and having but little exercise, but little food is needed to sustain life, and that eaten should be rather slow in digesting. Once every other day is often enough for a sitting hen to eat, if fed the proper food. If food quickly digested is fed, the hen soon becomes hungry and must leave the nest to satisfy her hunger. Soft food of any kind should not be fed. Whole grain is claimed by most poultry-keepers to be the best food, and in our experience we have found it so, whole corn being, in our judgment, the best of all. It is thought, too, that from its composition it is not so likely to stimulate the production of eggs, and hence is better for the hen during the period of incubation. — Column's Rural World.