We had frequently seen it stated that birds hatched in the very last week of August, or the first week in September, would produce eggs at the same time that the June hatched pullets would begin to produce them. Our experience with June hatches, and we have had four years of it, disproves this statement absolutely. We find that the June hatched pullet, properly cared for, comes in quite as rapidly as those hatched in April and May.
We do not wish to go on record as advocates of July and August hatching, but we simply wish to show what could be accomplished if a Breeder met with some misfortune, and was compelled to hatch late or not at all.
CHAPTER X
Succulent Green Food—Satisfactory Egg Production Impossible Without It
A goodly supply of green food is necessary to all birds, the growing chicken as well as the yearling hen, for it is a great aid to digestion, helping to properly assimilate all foods as they are taken into the crop, and passed through the great grinding mill of a chicken.
There is no possible hope of a full egg supply from any Laying House where a large quantity of green food is not fed daily. It may be fed in many forms. Clover or Alfalfa (and we are now speaking first of the Winter supply of green food) may be procured in a dry state, and by properly scalding it with hot water it may be made to almost live again, so far as its freshness and delightful odor go. In many cases the preparation of Clover or Alfalfa spoils it. The water should be quite at the boiling point, and it should be poured over, preferably it should be put on with a sprinkling can. The method at The Corning Egg Farm is to place whichever we are using of the Clover family in pails, a given number for each Laying House, and as they stand in rows the hot water is applied with a sprinkling can. The contents are not allowed to steep, but as soon as the second wetting of the long row of pails is reached they are placed on the delivery wagon and at once taken to their destination. When the contents are emptied from the pails they will be steaming hot, too hot for the birds to take at first, and you will find them standing in a ring around the Clover, and from time to time testing the heat. As soon as it is cool enough they will devour it with great avidity.
Where Alfalfa is fed some flocks give considerable difficulty at first as they do not seem to relish it, but after a short time they seem to acquire the taste, and become very fond of it. It contains a higher amount of protein than the ordinary Clover which can be bought in the market, but in purchasing Alfalfa products one should be careful not to buy a large quantity of dirt, but get what is known as “short cut,” and have it carefully sifted.
By many people cabbages are considered a most excellent green food for Winter use, but if they are chopped up and fed to the layers considerable caution should be used in the feeding. They are very apt to upset the digestive organs of the birds, and that means a very decided decrease in the number of eggs. This is equally true of Mangle beets and other roots which in many cases are used.
Sprouted Oats Best
At The Corning Egg Farm we are strong believers in Sprouted Oats as a green food, and we now maintain a cement Cellar, with good drainage, which is used for nothing else. The method of sprouting oats is really very simple, and does not require the arduous labor which one would imagine from numerous articles written on the subject.