FEEDING ON THE COLONY RANGE
The Laying House has been previously prepared for their reception, by removing all the old litter, the nest boxes having been scraped and brushed out, and the House then thoroughly swept, and all the corners cleaned out with a scraper, after which, with all the doors and drops closed, it is subjected to a most thorough spraying with Kerosene and Crude Carbolic, in the same proportions given in the earlier part of this chapter. This spraying covers every part of the House, and is done with a force pump, so that the solution is forced into every nook and cranny. The House is then bedded down with about eight inches of fresh straw, the nest boxes made ready with excelsior, and the mash for that day placed in the two mash boxes in each section, under the dropping boards. The grain is scattered in the litter, this being all done before the birds are brought to the house, so as to obviate the necessity of disturbing them more than is absolutely necessary for the first twenty-four hours in their new quarters.
The birds having been left shut up in the Colony Houses, a wire hook is used to catch them, and a man who is accustomed to using it, standing at the door, reaches in and easily catches one pullet after another by the leg, gently pulls her to the door and hands her out to the man in waiting, who drops her quietly into a large box, on the Farm Wagon, with an opening, provided with a slide at the top. These boxes are carried right into the Laying House, when the entire front slides out, thus releasing the birds all at once, and any chance of struggling through a small opening and injuring themselves, is done away with.
The method used in accustoming the birds in the Colony Houses to get on without artificial heat is as follows: for the first three or four nights, depending on the coolness of the weather, all canvas drops are down, and a large, lighted, stable lantern is hung in the House. For the next few nights after the lantern is removed the drops are left closed. Then one drop is propped out an inch or two, and from night to night the opening is increased, until the drop is left up altogether. After that, for a few nights, one drop is left up and the other closed. Next, the second drop is slowly worked up in the manner described, until it reaches the height of the hook. After this they are never lowered again so long as the birds remain on the Range.
CHAPTER XXI
Feeding for Eggs—Wholesome Nourishment—Not Destructive Stimulants
Unless a hen is properly fed she may have been purchased from the greatest strain of layers that it is possible to imagine, and still you may have an empty nest so far as eggs go.
The food which the hen takes into her system goes first to supply her bodily wants, the surplus she turns into eggs, and if properly bred she will turn that surplus into profit very rapidly.
Easy Assimilation
She must be fed, then, so as to have what is generally termed a “balanced ration,” which really means a ration supplying all her different wants.
She must be fed so as to be able to assimilate her food with ease. She might be fed a ration which she could easily digest, but the ration might not so assimilate and combine as to be an egg maker.