. The Eastern poultryman. Poultry Periodicals; Fruit Periodicals. 118 THE EASTERN his hens. His house should be warm enough so that water will not freeze in it, and it should be free from draughts. Build your house tight. Don't worry about ventilation. Where one poultry- house is built too tight, one hundred are not built tight enough. Now if any reader contemplates trying the moulting plan I have described, I would advise him to try il on part of his fiock first and compare the egg-yield of the part thus handled with the rest of the flock, and I think this will convert him into a


. The Eastern poultryman. Poultry Periodicals; Fruit Periodicals. 118 THE EASTERN his hens. His house should be warm enough so that water will not freeze in it, and it should be free from draughts. Build your house tight. Don't worry about ventilation. Where one poultry- house is built too tight, one hundred are not built tight enough. Now if any reader contemplates trying the moulting plan I have described, I would advise him to try il on part of his fiock first and compare the egg-yield of the part thus handled with the rest of the flock, and I think this will convert him into an enthusiastic advocate of moulting by hand. Another point in favor of this plan is that we find it profitable to keep hens three or even four years when handled this way, instead of disposing of them at two years old as is the rule. The older a hen grows the later she will moult if left to do it in the natural way, and this is the reason old hens do not lay in winter »s well as young ones. But by picking them they are compelled to moult a certain time with the rest. Generally the first week after picking, the hens will begin to look as though covered with "goose ; By the second week these have developed into such a mass of "pin-feathers" as would make them a small temptation to the class of ' chicken-raiser" who "raise" chickens in the night. In four weeks the feathers have begun to spread out so that the hens are fairly covered, while in eight weeks, if properly fed, they will be as smooth and nice as you could wish. One thing more in favor of this plan. The feathers if saved will help materially in adding to the comf(irt of your home in the way of feather beds, pillows, etc., which would have been lost had the feathers been scattered over the farm in the regular way. And there is just as much difference between the value of a "live" and one taken from a killed hen as there is between "live" and &quo


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