Poultry Notes.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12796, 30 September 1905, Page 1 (Supplement)

Poultry Notes.

Beware of damp quarters. Have regular feeding hours. Sort out the poor from the good. Feed plenty of meat during the moulting period. A lieu appreciates a variety of food, and.will repay you for giving it. The hen is a scratching animal, let her scratch. Don't feed bad or spoiled food because it- is cheaper. It is false economy. If you have any choice breeding stock mate them and keep the eggs for' hatching. Never give raw potatoes to the young stock. Every night-empty all the water vessels, and fill them again next morning. Three-fourths of high-bred poultry are _confied in small yards, and many of the best birds at our large shows are picked up in small backyards. Agood way of disposing of skim-milk with profit is to feed it to the poultry. It furnishes the material for making growth in a palatable, easily gigested form. For this reason it is valuable as . an. additionto the grain ration. If you are raising thoroughbred poultry do not sell your culls for cheap breeds, as people will point them out as your stock, never mentioning the price paid, and in such cases your stock will be condemned unjustly. The dust bath is a necessity. It is the wash basin of the hen family. Th# dust bath is a natural method of keeping the feathers and skin clean, and keeping down vermin. Remove the dToppings from the floors of the hen houses at- least once a week during the spring and summer months, cover an inch deep with road dust or sawdust, scatter slacked lime liberally under the perches and in the nests. Clover hay cut in half-inch lengths, cooked and mixed with bran, makes a good morning feed. Glover not only promotes digestion but also largely assits in supplying the elements necessary for egg production, and lowers the cost "of feed. A good plan to feed clover has is to cook it about an hour before feeding. If this is not easly done, it can be scalded at night and allowed to soak until morning.