FOWLS, AND HOW TO KEEP THEM.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIX, Issue XVI, 9 October 1897, Page 511

FOWLS, AND HOW TO KEEP THEM.

(CON TLX LID FROM ISSUE OF SEPTEMBER 25TH.) Feeding: Now, on the other hand, if there are not enough scraps, food will have to be bought. Maize is about the cheapest grain that can be got, but of course fowls enjoy a change of food now and then. Barley they are very fond of, also wheat, pollard, sharps, bran, and oats. When soft foods, snch as bran, etc., are mixed up, do not put too much water, as it will make the food too sloppy, and this the fowls do not like. In winter mix with warm water ; fowls like something warm in winter. Fowls kept in a run enjoy green stuff, such as cabbage leaves, tufts of grass, etc. Hens ought to be supplied with broken-up oyster shells, shell lime, egg-shells (boiled, because if they are given uncooked it will teach them to eat their eggs) pounded up and mixed with the food, in order to form the shells of their eggs. When confined in a run three meals a day must be given (a light meal at noon), but if allowed to run at large two meals are sufficient. A handful of grain is about enough for each fowl. A dust bath is very necessary, for the fowls will bore down into the dust to rid themselves of insects, etc. Sand and ashes form a very good dust bath. Diseases : Where a fowl-house is kept properly clean there ought to be no diseases. Diseases generally (not always) arise from either not keeping clean water in the run, or else from the fowls eating food which has been soiled by droppings. In order to prevent this, put the food in a shallow box or trough, and wash the box out every three or four days. When a fowl is sick remove it from the rest and put it in a coop. If this is not done the other fowls will almost invariably peck it, and very likely make it worse. (To be Continued.)