^ Those interested in rearing poultry for sale should study the
methods of the National Poultry Organization Society, 12, Hanover
Square, London, who issue many interesting leaflets on Hatching and
Rearing, Suggestions for Collecting Depots, etc. As the seasons at the
Cape are the opposite of those in England, it is possible that by good
organization our summer eggs would find a good sale in the London
winter months.
35
Jan.
STILL POULTRY AND £ s. d.
during September my friend sold 1200 eggs on an average
of 2s. id. per dozen. It cost him about I2J. a month to feed
them, the fowls having about two acres of ground to run
on. He considers a feed of pollard and bran in the
morning {Jiot by preference), and a little mealies in the
evening, the best food.
Hens should be set early in September — or even the
end of August, and then again the last week in February
— taking care to set the hens in a cool place on sand, and
being careful to dust them with insect-powder or tobacco-
dust to keep insects away.
I consider that to any housekeeper the keeping of one
dozen hens and one cock can be a source of profit. Never
let the hens get older than two years, as after that they do
not lay well. Half-bred Orpingtons and Minorcas hatched
in March lay in September. This shows how quickly they
are full grown. It is a great comfort to have fresh eggs,
which we are never without, and I also rear about fifty
chickens, more or less — twenty-five in September, and
twenty-five in March — and this enables us to have plenty
of nice pullets. I attribute never having any disease
amongst my fowls to being very careful to keep the run
nice and clean, and giving the birds good water, and
mixed food, which is not too fattening. I always let
them have a run for an hour in the afternoon, and give
them cabbage-leaves, etc., every morning.
This newspaper cutting lately sent me will have interest
for keepers of poultry. I do not know what paper it is
from, nor the date.
“Feeding and Housing of Poultry. — Experiments in
the feeding and housing of poultry are far from common
in this or in any other country, consequently the re-
36
FEEDING AND HOUSING OP POULTRY Jan.
suits of investigations conducted at the West Virginia
Agricultural Experiment Station will be received with
much interest. The first object was to test the respec-
tive values of nitrogenous and carbonaceous rations for
laying hens, and the second to ascertain the influence
of floored and unfloored poultry-houses on the health
of fowls. In the first experiment three lots, comprising
as many breeds of fowls, were fed for seven periods of
thirty days each on a nitrogenous ration consisting of
middlings, linseed meal, ground oats, and maize meal in
varying proportions, together with ground fresh meat and
bone ; and a like number of lots for a similar period
received a carbonaceous ration, of which maize meal was
the principal constituent In addition all the lots had
either boiled potatoes or steamed clover hay, and at night
all the whole grain they would eat, consisting of maize,
oats, and wheat screenings, maize predominating for the
lots fed with the carbonaceous ration. The result was
emphatic. The fowls receiving the nitrogenous ration
gained in weight at the rate of Ii8 lbs.
Page 18
Presented as published in 1902. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
^ Those interested in rearing poultry for sale should study the methods of the National Poultry Organization Society, 12, Hanover Square, London, who issue many interesting leaflets on Hatching and Rearing, Suggestions for Collecting Depots, etc. As the seasons at the Cape are the opposite of those in England, it is possible that by good organization our summer eggs would find a good sale in the London winter months.
Jan.
[illustration: STILL POULTRY AND £ s. d. Jan.]
during September my friend sold 1200 eggs on an average of 2s. id. per dozen. It cost him about 12s. 6d. a month to feed them, the fowls having about two acres of ground to run on. He considers a feed of pollard and bran in the morning (hot by preference), and a little mealies in the evening, the best food.
Hens should be set early in September — or even the end of August, and then again the last week in February — taking care to set the hens in a cool place on sand, and being careful to dust them with insect-powder or tobaccodust to keep insects away.
I consider that to any housekeeper the keeping of one dozen hens and one cock can be a source of profit. Never let the hens get older than two years, as after that they do not lay well. Half-bred Orpingtons and Minorcas hatched in March lay in September. This shows how quickly they are full grown. It is a great comfort to have fresh eggs, which we are never without, and I also rear about fifty chickens, more or less — twenty-five in September, and twenty-five in March — and this enables us to have plenty of nice pullets. I attribute never having any disease amongst my fowls to being very careful to keep the run nice and clean, and giving the birds good water, and mixed food, which is not too fattening. I always let them have a run for an hour in the afternoon, and give them cabbage-leaves, etc., every morning.
This newspaper cutting lately sent me will have interest for keepers of poultry. I do not know what paper it is from, nor the date.
“Feeding and Housing of Poultry. — Experiments in the feeding and housing of poultry are far from common in this or in any other country, consequently the re-
[illustration: FEEDING AND HOUSING OF POULTRY Jan.]
suits of investigations conducted at the West Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station will be received with much interest. The first object was to test the respective values of nitrogenous and carbonaceous rations for laying hens, and the second to ascertain the influence of floored and unfloored poultry-houses on the health of fowls. In the first experiment three lots, comprising as many breeds of fowls, were fed for seven periods of thirty days each on a nitrogenous ration consisting of middlings, linseed meal, ground oats, and maize meal in varying proportions, together with ground fresh meat and bone ; and a like number of lots for a similar period received a carbonaceous ration, of which maize meal was the principal constituent In addition all the lots had either boiled potatoes or steamed clover hay, and at night all the whole grain they would eat, consisting of maize, oats, and wheat screenings, maize predominating for the lots fed with the carbonaceous ration. The result was emphatic. The fowls receiving the nitrogenous ration gained in weight at the rate of Ii8 lbs.