The farmer. Profit from Poultry.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1902, 13 September 1884, Page 6

The farmer. Profit from Poultry.

1 riiOMisFii some time ago, says Mr. Henry Stewart in tho Ihtral AY'w Yorker, to give an account of the cost and income of my flock of 20 hens for the whole year. The figures from January Ist to December 31st, 1883, are aa follows : — January 1, 20 hens and 1 cod: December 31, whole cost of feed $ 11 .15 lf)S:i epg.3 Fold 30.3H (')") eg^s for f-eifcmg sold . . 4 00 !) chickens sold 8.10 2 trios fold 10.00 17 cockerels Fold, 10.31b., at 18c 15.90 oS cockerels sold, 2511b , nt 3ftc 41.18 8 pullets sold, at $2.50 . . 20 00 15 pullets sold, 01 ib., fit 20c. . IS 20 Value of 3 cocks rtud 2(5 pullets on hand, 1701b., at 20c. . . 31.00 Balance.. 150 61 5397.76 197.70

These fowls r.ro light Biah~nas. It is seen thai, Mi cruntiiig i access pet, the avciage pioduet ip very low, Icing only 81 for each hen ; 1 82 eggs were pel, only 11 of the liens having brooded. With these the average yield was about 03 egg a . Fiora the 182 eggs set, 123 chick ■* v/cic h itched ; one only of "'! there was lost, and this di^d of cholcia v. - , . quitG young. This fact i.-' interesting, because I fiin quite oiti-o tins chick wa« fiom s>, diseased ogg laid by a hen which vai tii Kent i iKen \\ith choJeia, Mid l.iid pe>'Cial epRS white i)i a coop by Jieicolf when under mcd'cal hitmen. I had another hen sick rbouc ihe tame time, but cured both by giving a solution of hyposulphite of yoda in tea°pootjfnl dobes thioe times a day. The cgea laid by the sick hens ■were set by t.Lcmhtlvcs, and of two bsood i only this one chick vab hatched out ; ewiy other one was dead in the shell, or died as soon as it came out. This chick had the yellow discharge fiom the fust, but a few diops of the hyposulphite seemed to euie it, and it grew to be a month old, when zt 10-,t the use of its legs, but still atj, and was otherwise hearty for a month longer. It was kept by itself in the garden, and giew, but was completely paralysed. On killing it I found ihe liver enormously larpt, and the spinal maaow so soft as to be almost semi-liquid, co th^.t Iconeluded the eggs weie diseased, and could not produce healthy chicks. This teems to be quite reasonable, and I bel'ove may account for imny losses of epgg and chicks that seem inexplicable lo many peibons. These 20 hens have paid a net profit of 7 dols SOccats each, and jet have done nothing remarkable as to tLea pmuuet, which U sn average of 81 eg«s and six chicks each. Deducting what was lecoived extra for setting eggs and for the li pom for brewing it still leaves about 7 dolfl. aj the profit from epch hen. It is betlei than t have ever done befoze. I have tuado ,"5 doly. and over per hen previously with some of thio kind of for/Is, but never had fowL tv do so well as thsse. Perhaps a thoit desenntion of the y/ay they were kept will be of interest to seme reade/s. GJhese fovis arc kept in a yard 150 by 50 feet, or about one-sixth of an acre. They ha\e the run of the oov,-yard adjoining. They have a tight, aiiy, clean house, with taaed roof; walls of novelty siding, but no lining, two large windows m front, md the eaith for v, floor. The hou&c L3O feet long and 10 feet wide, 5V feut high in the leai, and S feet in the front. It faces the south, and 's partitioned off in the middle with laths. Ifc i? cleaned out oncf a week, and h then well dusted all over with air-slaked lime, of which a barrel h kppl in the house for this piupoyp. The nests are boxes 18 inches lon~, and 12 wide and deep ; open at the fiont with a narrow bar 2 inches wide at the bottom, to keep the nest in the box. The boxes are made of 2-:nch stilps, with about 1 inch spaces. They rue, in fact, hmall crates in which bracJl wooden pails (5 pounds), for packing butter, come. They can be lifted up easily, and, when a hen sit-!, the nest is taken up at night with her in n, and moved into the teparate half of the house, which ii smaller than the other, and is kepi for the sitting hens. The fowls are let out every afternoon, p.nd ha\etberuh of a grassy lawn of about an acie, and the sholtei o some grove-i nf h^ u^c and Aborvn.is. They eat and .spoil half j," much gr?,f,B a^, would Uex} a cow, and this ii not chtiij'ed to th^m. In tl>p fall they h t vvc the run of thfj maiden, Jnd ecta^ many grapes and melons and apples as they want to. Perhaps this is good for ihcm. They do a wondeiful deal of 'notching in the garden, and want very little gram at that time. They have plenty of coal as ! es, and about onco a week the vhole iiock, chioks, and fowld eat clean half a peck oi fiLbh bones from the butcher, ciushed .small with a hammer on a stone. The smallest ehiekfi will fight for these fragmeiits, and hup on to the stone, so that they ran giout nsk of getting Mmashea with the hammer, un'il I raised the ptor>e on a box. This fredh bone i-,, I think, vjnch bettei the a the diy bono one buy», or th" burned bones or shelh. When the chickfi aie hatched tv/o broods aia put together, and given to a hen in a roomy coop which is put in the garden, in thu melon -patch, or a'nong thy com or peas. The young chicks will soon wander oil to the further end of a th«e-acie garden, and when sudden heavy lams come on have to bo huntfed up and driven home. Sometimes when the ohicKh are a month old the hen i& turned i'lto tJie jaid, and the chicks will caic for themselves and neotle in the coop ail alone. Stiange catsj am {jeatrd to a littl'Mj/Ie ball i\h soon aj ono io nevn about, and my own catd have been trained to i^ave the chickti alone, and will fit near a coop and watch them, but they never do this a second fcime if they aie ppen near, a.s I don't iru j t eats any more than some two-legged pnimaK The chicken-house is kept locked (Liy And nignt, and at night the entianee holes and the wire net fence gates are cloaed to keep out an occasional opossum, of which I had caught two in tho house previously. The chicks are fed with a thick, dryish muah, made of coin and bran in nearly equal parts ground together, find also coaise cracked corn, wheat, and some meat scraps with the crushed bone ; and this is iho main feeding of the hens. 1 should not foiget that plenty of clean water is given in clean iron wirecovered troughs every morning. When tho yard becomes foul it is ploughed up with a small hand-plough or spaded over, and wheat is scattered over it. There are several plum-trees in the yard, and for some reason —perhaps curculied— the fowls scratch under these trees so as to lay bare the roots. To encourage this some corn-meal is now 1 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 in thiB yard. Now, if this can all be clone 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, or course, but not half an hour a day for a flock, and 50 would take no more time than 20 to feed and care for, land one peison could care for 20 flocks if the whole time were given. There are persons who say special poultrykeeping will not pay. I feel confident it will i£ any person will manage it pioperly, and not crowd the fowL\ Some day 1 will try what can be done by turning the whole farm to poultry, just as I have done with this small flock; 50acies would ceitainly keep 1,000 fowls a,s well as this flock ia kept on one acre, and if. each fowl will only pay half as much as the flock has done, the fowls will yield as' much profit as 50 cows will. There are Borne 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 clean water, a sufficient run at liberty, common sense and tact on the part of the keeper, kindness and gentleneHS to make lame fowls (I can take any of mine up like a kitten and feed them from my hand), so that there is no worry

with the sitting hens, and the right breed of fowls. It is seen that all the profit comes from the chickens sold, and if there had been 50 por cont. more eggs and no chickens, the piofifc would have been but small. I would, say I believe the Plymouth Bocks are the next best to the light Brahniaa, but they will not make auch heavy cookerels for pale at holidays. Sorao of the earliest of mine m eighed 11 pounds, which is equal to nearly 2 dola. each at 18 cents a pound, and sell for as much as a turkey and are just as good. Lastly, one must have a near market. A summer resort, or a hotel or country bearding houses are next to a laige city ; but this last is the best, and if one can have a good number to ship about Iho holidays he can got a good price. The poultry business) can be carried on extremely well with fruit growing, as with pears or apples, or plums, or grapes, and with the two in connection the whole ground can be occupied with remarkable profit, if the man or woman is the right one. If not it must fail, for it is an unusually particular and peculiar business.