The Farmer.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 270, 11 October 1884, Page 5 (Supplement)

The Farmer.

Profit from Ponltry.

I promised some.. time. ago, ; ; says Mr; Henry Stewart, m tho Rural ifeipYprker, to give j anaccount ol the Vbst and income of ,my flock' of 20 hens for the whole year. The figures from January. Ist to December 31st, 1883; arci as follows: — . . • ■ i \ January 1, 20 hens and 1 cock . , .

. These fowls arc light. Br-ahmas. , pis seen that, not counting the eggs, set, the, average product ia very, low, "being only 84' 'for each hen ; 182 eggs were' Bet}' only : 14 of the hens having brooded. With these the -average yield was about $3 eggs^ -.From.the.lß2 eg ! Bet, 123 chicks were hatched"; one only of "all theee was lost, and this" died of cholera when quite young/ 'Th'is i fadfrl inteirisiing, because I am quite sure this, chick was from a disease^ egg i laid ' Iby a hen which > . was ■■ taken with cholera, and laid : seyei;al eggs while m a coop by herself when under medical treatment. I had another hen sick about, the same time| but cured both by giving a solution of hypo-; sulphite of tioda m teaspopnful doses .ttiree times a day. The eggs laid by the sick^nens! were set bjthemselves,' and^ofitwobroods only this one chick was hatched but ;' every other one was dead m the shell, or died as socux-as it oame out. This chick had the yellow discharge from the first, but a few drops of the hyposulphite seomed to."care-.it, ; and it grew to be a month old, when it lost the use of its legs, but still ate, -and was. otherwise hearty for a month longer. . It,was kept by itself m the garden; and. greyr,'but- was completely paralysed. On killing it I found the liver enormously large, and the spinal marrow so eoftas to be almost gemi-liquid, so thatl concluded the eggs were diseased, and oould not produce healthy chicks. This seems to be quite reasonable, and I believe may account for many losses of eggs and chicks that, seem inexplicable to many persons. ■ ' ' \' These 20 hens have paid a net profit of 7 dols. 80 cents each, and yet have done nothing remarkable as to their product, which is an average of 84 eggs and six chicks each. Deducting what was reoeived extra for setting eggs and for the 14 sold, for breeding, it still leaves about 7 dols. as the profit from each hen. It is better than I have ever done before. I have made 5 dols. and over per hen previously with some of this kind' of fowls; but never had fowls to do so well as these! Perhaps a short description of the way they were kept will be of interest to some readers. ; These fowls are kept m a yard 150 by' so feet, or about one-sixth of an acre. They have the run of the cow-yard adjoining.' 'They have a tight, airy, clean house, with tarred roof ; walls of novelty siding, but no lining', two large windows m front, and. the earth for a floor. The house is 30 feet long, and 10 feet wide, 5£ feet high m the rear, and 8 feet m the front. It faces the south, and is partitioned off m the middle.with laths, it is cleaned out once a week, and is then well ducted all, over with air-slaked lime, of which, a barrel, is kept hi the house for this purpose. ' The nests are boxes 18 inches long, and 12 wide and deep j open at the front with a narrow bar 2 inches wide at the bottom, to keep the nest m the box. The boxes are made of 2-inch strips; with about 1 inch spaces. .They are, m factj small crates m which: small wooden .pails (5 pounds), for packing butter, come., They, can be lifted up easily, and, when a hen sits, the nest is taken up at night' with.^er m it,; and moved into the separate half ol the house', which' is smaller than the 'other, and is kept for the sitting hens. ! ! '"■'.'■ ! The : fowls are let out every afternoon, afad havethe run of a grassy laVn •--of; about an acre, and the shelter of some groves of spruce and Aborvitres. They eat andepoil half as much grass as would keep a cow, and this' is not charged to them. In the fall they hav^ the run of the garden, and eat as many grape? and melons and -apples as they want toi Perhapa,this is .goqJMpMhem. 5 They, do a wonderfjal deal^f garden; and want very little grain at that time. They have plenty of ooal ashes, and about once a week the. whole-flock, chicks^ and fowls eat clean half a peck of ffe*sn)b;on& (fjam v v ihe butcher, crushed small with a hammer* on a stone. ( The smallest .chicks will, fight for these fragments, and. Hop on to the etone, so that they ran great risk of getting smashed with the hammer, until I raised the stone on a box. This fresh bone is, I think, jsauoh better than the dry bone one buys,- or the burned bones or shells. '- l ■ ? s ' ' : - \ When the. chioks : are hatohed.-two ( broods are put together,' and given 1 lo a hen m a roomy coop which is put hijthe gajSdßjtfin th& melon-patch, or among the corn or peas. The young ; chicks will i soon wander 'off to thl further end of a three T aore aardqn^and when sudden heavy rains '■ come' bn' nave* to be hunted up and. driven home. •.-•Sometimes when the chick's are a month old the hen is turned into the yard; and the jchieksJwfli care for themselves and nestle m the coop all, alone; Strange, cats :are treated to ; a 'little irifle ball as soon as one is seen about, and my own cats have been trained : to ! leave tlie 'chicks alone, and will sit near a coop -and /watch them, but they never do 'this a second time if they are seen near, as I don't trusMats.iany more' than some' two-legged Animals. The chicken-house is kept locked day and night, and at night the: entrance holes and. the wire net fence gates are ciosedto keep out an occasional opossum, of which I had caught two m the house previously. . , I \ The chicks are fed with a thick, dryish mush, made of corn and bran m nearly equal parts ground together, and also coarse cracked corn, wheat, and some meat scraps with the crushed bone ; and this is the main feeding of the hens. I should not forget that plenty of dean water is given : m clean ' iroti wire? oovered troughs every morning. / When the yard becomes foiil it is ploughed up with a small hand-plough or spaded over* and wheat is scattered over it. There are several plum-trees m the yard, .and for some reason — perhaps curoulies— the fowls scratch under these trees so as to lay bare the roots., To encourage this some corn-meal. is now and then scattered under the trees. One profit not counted is a good crop' of plums," of which I got none until they were enclosed m this yard. " \ Now, if this oan all be done one year and with 20 (I have done nearly as well with 50) ? , why cannot it be done every year, and with 10 times 20 or 50? It takes time, of course) but not half an hour a day for a flock, and 50 would take no more time than 20 to feed and oare foe, (and one person could care for 20 flocks if the whole time, .were, given. There are persons who say special poultry^ keeping will not pay. 1 feel confident il will if any person will manage it properly', and riot orawd the fowls. ' Soin'e day I will try what can be done by turning the whole farm to poultry, just as I have-done.with this flmallflook ; 50aores would certainly keep .l,ooo fowls as well as this flock ia kept onone aore, and if each fowl will only pay half as much as the flock has done, the fowls! will' yield as much profit as so oows will. ■■ '■ -v. :1 ~ There are some indispensable requisites* as a dry clean house,; freedom from> vermin and damp, a clean yard when it is necessary for them to be shut up, moderately good feeding; a quart of grain is enough^ for 10 fowls every day; plenty^of cTettn 1 water, a sumcient run at liberty, common sense and tact en the part of the keeper, Jrijjdness and gentleness to make tame fowls (I oan take any' of mine up like a kitten and feed them norn my hand), bo that there is no^jgorry

with the sitting hens, and the right breed of fo«vl^ It is seen that all the profit comes 'from the chickens sold, and if there had been 50 pfcr cent, more eggs and no chicken?, the profit would have been but small. • I would say I believe the Plymouth 'Books are the next best to the light Brahma's, but they 'will not make auch heavy cookerels for sale at holidays. Some of the earliest of mine weighed' 11 pounds, which is equal to nearly 2 dqls. .each at 18 cents a pound, .and sell for as much as a turkey and are just as Rood. Lastly, one must .have a near market. • A summer resort, or a hotel or country boarding houses are next to a large city; but this last is the best, and if one can have a good number to ship about the holidays he can get a good price.; The poultry business oan be oarried on extremely well with frnit growing, as with pears or apples, or plums, or grapes, and with the two m connection the whole ground can be .occupied with remarkable profit, if the man or woman is the right one. If not it must 'failifor it is an unusually particular and peculiar business. ;

December 31, whole cost of feed §41.15 1683 egga sold . . . . , . . : 39.38 65 eggs foil Betting sold .. 4.00 9 chickens 501 d .... i.. 8.10 2 trios sold; ... : „..!..'.<!.:. „ 10,00 17 cockerels cold, 1051 b., at „ 18c :,'.'"'■ 18.90 38 cockerels sold,' 2511 b. f 'at ' '" ■ 180 ';. I.;- 1 - 1;■ - ■;■ 45.18f 8 pullets sold, at: $2.50 .... ■■ j2OX)Q 15 pullets sold, 911 b., at 20c. . . ,18 20 Value of 3 cocks and 26 pulletß; on hand, 1701 b;; at 20b. .. Balance 156.61 : ' • • • ■ ;M ; .......