How To Get Eggs In Winter

To get many eggs in winter it is necessary to have early hatched pullets or yearling hens that have moulted early. Pullets preferred. We must have comfortable houses and not have the stock over crowded. Feeding is very important, but there are other things that command attention besides the feed question. Plenty of fresh, pure water is an absolute essential. Grit, oyster shell and charcoal are a necessity also. Now to advise anyone just how to feed their hens to get winter eggs is no easy job, as what would strike one man would not another. It depends something on the houses, the breed, the care given and many other things. I never have any set rules for feeding, as a man can better tell what his hens need by studying their actions a little better than I can tell him several hundred miles away. In feeding for winter eggs we must strive to feed a variety of foods. A variety. Herein lies the success or failure to produce winter eggs. Chickens are like people ; they don't want the same thing every meal. People, as a rule like potatoes, but to get potatoes and nothing else would be slim living. Bread is the staff of life, but if we had to eat bread only we would probably look around for another boarding place. Still we know of some people who feed their hens whole corn all winter, then cuss because they don't lay an egg every day. We don't blame them for going on a strike.

I am not an advocate of feeding much wet mash. A moist mash once or twice a week will help to add to the variety for the hens, and make a change, but I don't think wet mash is the thing for very steady feeding. In the mornings I feed whole oats in the litter of chaff on the floor, making the birds scratch for every grain of it. I rake it in with a rake or fork, making it necessary for the bird's to scratch or go hungry. I go out after dark and scatter their morning feed in the litter, raking it in. Then they can go right to work when they get off the roost in the morning and don't have to wait around for their breakfast. One morning I feed the oats as stated, then at noon give a feed of wheat in the litter and you ought to see them sail into it. At night I give a feed of whole corn — all they will want. This too is scattered in the litter. The feed for the next morning I try to change a little ; probably feed them wheat or half wheat and oats. At noon a few hands full of cracked wheat and some cracked sunflower seed scattered in the litter will keep the birds busy for some time. The next day you can feed a mash. I feed occasionally soaked oats. The birds relish this and it is good for a change. I get stale bread from the bakers at l ½ c per pound.

A loaf is thrown into the pen for them to pick at. I feed them table scraps, parings, apples, small potatoes, in fact any old thing that I think will do them good, such as cabbage, beets, etc. I also feed green bone, and keep before them all the time a dry mash made up of 200 pounds bran, 100 pounds middlings, 100 pounds corn meal. This is fed in hoppers where the birds have free access to it. Make your birds work for all the grain fed. They need the exercise and it will keep them out of mischief such as feather pulling, egg eating, etc. Remember to give a variety. Variety is what counts. It is the keynote to success in winter egg production. Don't be afraid of feeding too much. More flocks are underfed than overfed. I am a believer in the "full and plenty" method. Hens properly cared for, kept busy and fed a variety of good wholesome feed cannot help but lay even if it is cold weather. The most eggs in a given period do not always bring greatest net profits. Expenses must be considered.

While the fancier may breed fur color and ideal form, the paramount object of poultry culture must be eggs. More people are interested in this feature of poultry products than in any other. How shall eggs be best obtained? Back of direct feeding and management comes increased power of production in the hens themselves. The trap nest enables the grower to select his most prolific hens and these he sets apart for breeding purposes. Say what you may, the general capacity of hens for egg production can be greatly in creased under the laws of evolution. The upward climb from the original jungle fowl shows this. By properly growing your fowls in pens from year to year the evils of in breeding may be avoided. Culling out the poorest layers and preserving the best will constantly increase the aver age egg-producing capacity of your fowl. All that is necessary is to continuously apply the law of development. What the ultimate result may be is only conjectural.

There is a popular idea that when a man fails at everything else he can strike out and make a fortune out of poultry. There never was a greater mistake. There is money in poultry for the right sort of man, but he must work for it the same as any other business. Another mistake is that it will pay to go into the poultry business temporarily. One has to learn the ropes by experience and build up in this as well as in other lines, and it generally takes years to do it. Customers can not be acquired in a few weeks. The best points in selling are picked up only through long years of experience. The only true way is to go in for life and stick to it.