Show ays yys j wf T KEEPING FOWLS CONFINED room which should be provided for a hundred hena A city man living in the country wants to know how much room will be needed for I 1 poultry bouse and wo yards to keep a flock of hens they roust be confined in yards all the time in ax nii such a case it Is well to have at least four yards it land Is available A house facing the south with a shed roof should be divided into two equal pens each will hold 50 fowls there may be two yards south of the house and two at the north as indicated in the diagram A half acre of land in this way will provide green food for the fowls they may be kept in the north yards during the summer and the south ones during the fall and winter months while the are in one set of yards says the farm and home the others should be plowed up to sweeten the soil and bowed sowed with some suitable crop to provide green food it clover Is sown la spring in the north yards it will make sufficient growth to pro vide good picking during fall and win ter rye or wheat and winter vetch can be sown in the south yards dur ing fall it the yards are large enough the best way Is to seed them down to grass HENS EAT INSECTS for this reason they arc a good thing on the farm movable poultry establishments are coming into use on some of our farms it is probable that they are as yet in their infancy and that we are to see more elaborate appliances for utilla ing the idea I 1 have often thought that it would be a good thing it the whole poultry establishment could be moved about the farm says a writer in farmers review so that we could have the fowls working over a pasture one week a plowed field next and perhaps a worn out meadow the next the amount of insects on every farm make a rare possibility for the feeding of fowls I 1 notice that when ever we plow a field near the house the hens turn out en masse and als tribute themselves along the furrows and are extremely busy pulling out angleworms angle worms and grubs from the turned up soil I 1 can imagine that in case of a breeding ground of locusts being plowed up a big flock of fowls would prove exceedingly valuable the fowls destroy a great many insects each every day it they are given a good chance I 1 wish some person would make a few examinations of the crops of the hens that have been allowed to run in field infested with grasshoppers I 1 think they would find 60 or more of these insects in the crops of each bird at that rate a hundred hens rould destroy 5 insects in a day insect life Is very abundant on all of our farms it we include the angle worms we see that the aggregate weight of food of this kind must be very large the domestic fowls should be iced more for the destruction of in sects than they are IMPROVED CHICKEN COOP convenient way in which it can be made the diagram shows a convenient way to make a coop for the poultry yard of which the special feature is its door procure a box of the right dl mansions men and saw a hole d in one end then strengthen the box with narrow strips of wood b c on each door for chicken coop side of the hole b c this acts as a groove for the door a to slide in thus you have a sliding door which opens and shuts with the greatest ease the front of the coop Is with lath or narrow strips placed 2 to three inches apart the top should be covered with good grade of roofing paper to make it waterproof A coop of thia sort saya farm and home should be two to 2 feet long 16 inches deep and not less than 20 inches high while two feet would be better water often plenty of pure fresh water should oe provided for both old and young chickens they drink lots of it these warm days and they should not be restricted otherwise they will seek some foul water in pools or hollows this will invariably bring on some disease look after the broods see that the brood coops are securely fastened each night or a rat skunk Is liable to get your chicks be fore morning THE PURE BRED its value hag been proved over and over again progressive chicken raising keep up with the and adapt itself to new methods As in all industries so in chicken raising the past few years bae offered wonderful improvements prove ments but these have taken place in fanciers eatock more largely than on the farm if winter egg producing Is to be the main object of the farmer let him select one of the heavy lai ing breeds such as minorca or leghorn best of care must be taken of the young chicks so they will grow to maturity they should be kept free from vermin above all things A flock of strong healthy pullets Is a source ot joy and profit to the farm er but farmers wilt say they haven t time or money to grade up their fowls with very small expense simply the purchase of a few well bred cockrell coc krels any farmer can make an improvement in his poultry twelve years ago writes a correspondent spon dent of orange judd farmer I 1 fought a sitting of purebred pure bred eggs which turned out BO well that I 1 soon disposed of all my mongrel stock at the market and proved to my own satisfaction is that a flock of purebred pure bred poul try was a good side issue on my place I 1 have improved my flock from time to time till now I 1 have chickens that are admired by all who see them I 1 am sure no farmer who ever once owns a flock of pure bleds will go back to mongrels mon grels beside being handsomer they lay more eggs and command a ready market for fowls and agga egga for breeding purposes at a good price what Is more beautiful than a flock of purebred pure bred chickens on a green lawn all farmers should own at least a small flock CIGAR BOX EGG TESTER serviceable device made out of sim pie materials take a algar box and in end A fig 4 drill a bole one quarter of an inch in diameter in end B fig B cut a hole 3 inches by as inches cut a strip of thin board 5 inches long and 1 inches wide and in the center ot EMD B noa rig parts and construction board cut a hole 1 by inches taka another thin board 6 by 14 inches and cut a hole in it 2 by 1 24 2 4 inches place first board fig 2 2 inches from end A of algar box and second board fig 3 2 aches from end B tack two thin boards between the two boards allowing plenty of room for an egg to be dropped down says the farmers mall and breeze they will keep the eggs from rolling back and forth four and three fourths inches from end A of box paint with blade paint and ay inches from end B paint with white paint the eggs may be tested either by sun or lamp light CACKLES fine wire netting about the yard ot the little chicks will keep out rats unless they dig under it they do that better put a cement floor under the inclosure lack of vigor Is one thing to be looked after none but strong vigorous stock should be allowed in mhd breeding pens it the health of the birds la to be kept up it the feathers about the neck of any fowl look ragged at any time other than the bolting molting period it Is a pretty sure sign that lice are present and it Is well to get after them at once the late chicks some of the best fowls on the farm are from the late broods we have seen broods come out as late as september and give birds that became very valuable as layers september chicks of the plymouth rock breed have begun to lay in february the early broods are easily handled but there are some things in favor of tho late chicks one of these things Is tho lack of insect pests which seem to be most vigorous and aggressive in the spring the late chicks should be well fed it the are to be gotten ready for the coming winter A mixed ration with plenty of ground bone and meat should be given from the time the chicks are large enough to eat this will give a rapidity of growth that will astonish the person that tries it for ahe first time vitality of chicks how shall chicks with great vitality be secured in the first place by keeping and feeding hens in such a way as to give them the greatest pos sable amount of muscle and muscular energy which means that powerful heart muscles will be developed it these hens are compelled to exercise they will be able to produce eggs that will have in them the elements of nutriments and energy that will develop into chicks ot powerful vitality e do not believe that chicks of great vitality can be developed from agga egga laid by hens that have been pampered on tatty foods and deprived of exercise it usaa |