The Ohio farmer . 160 THE OHIO FARMER. Jan. 4, 1908. P01LTRYan»BEES1 FEEDING THE HENS IN WINTER. I STARTING AND FEEDING A PURE-BRED FLOCK. B. F. J., of Richmond, Mo., says thathe has always kept mongrel chickens,that they have never seemed to payfor the work with them, that he in-tends to sell all the chickens he hasand begin again with 18 pure-bredhens. He wants to know how to feedthem and care for them for best re-sults. He has fed bran, but finds thatit scours the hens too much; and hehas tried corn, oats and middlings. B. F. J. is wholly right in disposingof his mongrels and adopting the p
The Ohio farmer . 160 THE OHIO FARMER. Jan. 4, 1908. P01LTRYan»BEES1 FEEDING THE HENS IN WINTER. I STARTING AND FEEDING A PURE-BRED FLOCK. B. F. J., of Richmond, Mo., says thathe has always kept mongrel chickens,that they have never seemed to payfor the work with them, that he in-tends to sell all the chickens he hasand begin again with 18 pure-bredhens. He wants to know how to feedthem and care for them for best re-sults. He has fed bran, but finds thatit scours the hens too much; and hehas tried corn, oats and middlings. B. F. J. is wholly right in disposingof his mongrels and adopting the pure-bred fowl in its place. Why will farm-ers persist in mixing breeds? I mustconfess that it is a custom that strikesme as being extremely unwise bothfrom a utility and a beauty point ofview. As I go around and see the non-descript flocks that most farmers keepI marvel that they can tolerate themat all. All sizes, colors, forms throwntogether without plan or an eyesore to any farm. And no. A LIGHT BRAHMA TYPE. more erroneous idea ever got into anyones head than that such nondescriptfowls are more profitable than pure-bred ones. Any such flock deterior-ates in size, and never can at anystage equal in productiveness a flockof intelligently-bred, standard chick-ens. I can not see how B. F. J. can findany advantage in feeding bran andmiddlings over feeding the wholewheat, providing he can easily get thewheat. The cost here would not bevery much above that of bran and mid-dlings. If he must use the mill feedto balance the ration, owing to the dif-ficulty in getting wheat, I should ad-vise him to cook it. In this way it willnot produce looseness of bowels in thefowls, and it will be even more readi-ly eaten. Corn, oats, and wheat in about equalamounts make an ideal grain rationfor fowls. They are the most com-mon of grains in the United States,andno others can equal them for the wittier the hens should be com-pelled to scratch for their grain instraw or o
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectagriculture, bookyear
