Show Care of Fowls In the Winter Farm News All domestic fowls and especially chickens should be well protected pro-tected in the winter if they are to do their best work Nature recognizes the need of the chicken as of all the rest of the feathered tribe in northern latitudes lat-itudes of a warmer covering for winter win-ter than for summer and therefore on the approach of cold weather they commence com-mence moulting The old feathers I which they have worn for a year begin be-gin to drop out and new ones in increased in-creased numbers take their place this process goes on until the bird has a new and thicker coat of feathers for the coming winter The pullets of the spring do not need this entire change because their first coat is new and warm but these also grow thicker as the winter approaches This process of making new and warmer coats for the winter is exhaustive exhaus-tive to the bird as the feathers must grow out of the body and their composition com-position requires some of the most vitalizing vi-talizing elements of the blood Chickens Chick-ens therefore always cease laying eggs when they are moulting and pullets never begin to lay in full earnest until they are well feathered This is natures na-tures way of protecting the fowls of the air which must meet cold weather The thoughtful poultryman should learn from this that hens that are expected ex-pected to produce eggs in the winter should be well protected so that their vitality should not be exhausted by resisting re-sisting the cold but preserved for the production of eggs A warm shed and plenty of nourishing and egg producing food would therefore seem to be an absolute necessity if eggs are to be furnished But this is not the only necessity ne-cessity birds as well as chickens are very warm blooded animals Their blood is warmer than that of the cow or the horse and their circulation is much more rapid If anyone will test this by noticing when handling them rJ the rapidity of their heart throbs he will be convinced on this point at once The frightened bird held in the hand of its captor flutters at the heart as well as with the wings but the flutter at the heart is not entirely due to fright it tells of the rapidity of the circulation necessary to keep up the activity and warmth of the little animal ani-mal All this requires plenty of fresh air and rapid breathing Fresh air is therefore as necessary for bird life and chicken life as good food They are literally the fowls of the air Good ventilation is therefore as necessary ne-cessary for the hen as any part of her food It is even more necessary because without it she must become diseased whilst without sufficient food she may cease laying and for a time draw upon the fat she has laid up in her body Often a close warm pen for chickens without sufficient ventilation acts as a close warm stove room without any pure air from the outside does upon children who sometimes through mistaken mis-taken kindness are thus cooped up they become dull and stupid and of such low vitality that they cannot endure en-dure a sudden change of temperature of a breeze of cool air without taking cold They become hot house plants tender and worthless for any strong fibre of brawn or brain which can bear the hard knocks of labor which they must meet in life The young animals have been stinted and kept from proper development through mistaken kindness kind-ness Air is life or at least life food and we must have it or we die With all due respect for higher life it must not be forgotten that plenty of fresh air is necessary for the life and health of a chicken that it may perform per-form all its pic per functions and be prepared to be a good egg producer from a good healthy body On the mild days in winter it should have a free run and always plenty of fresh air and it will not take cold when a breeze a little cooler than usual happens to blow upon it The exercise of good common sense in housing and feeding chickens in the winter when they are dependent upon those who expect eggs from them will pay as well as if expended ex-pended in almost any other way better than talking politics l |