HOW TO MAKE HENS LAY IN WINTER.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1927, 28 April 1880, Page 4

HOW TO MAKE HENS LAY IN WINTER.

To get a plentiful supply of eggs in winter young hens arc necessary. Pullets batched in April and May will prove most satisfactory. The hen-house must be warm aud kept clean. Provide plenty of fresh water always. A variety of food is absolutely necessary, but wheat or screenings should be the main feed. Corn has more fattening than et-g-producing properties, and should bo fed sparingly. Buckwheat is valuable feed for Oats aro not worth much, but will do to maka out tho variotv.

Feed in the morning a warm mess of menl, middling?, or something of that sort, mixed stiff, but feed no soft feed after the middle of the day. Only dry grain should he in a hen’s crop upon going to roost. Fresh meat must

be fed. Lard or tallow scraps are good ; both can be bought at the soap factories, the former costing 3dols. and the latter Idol, per hundred. Scraps should be broken up and soaked over night, wormed, and fed in the morning. Meal may bo added. Hens also require vegetable food. Carrots aro best ; chop as fine as kernels of corn, and about twice a week add a few onions. For sboll material use oyster or clam shell?, both browned and raw. B.'eak them fine. Keep plenty of flno sand where your hens can have full access to it. Another important consideration is, make no sudden change in your manner of feeding, as every radical change diminishes the supply of eggs. Provide plenty of nests, and never allow your hens to be chased by boy?, worried by dogs, or frightened in any way. Perfect quiet must reign in the poultry house, or eggs will be scarce. Let no one who has neglected his hens expect a full supply of eggs immediately after commencing a systematic course of feeding. It will take weeks, perhaps months, before the best results will bo realised.