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VOL. LVIII.
INDIANAPOLIS, AUGUST 22, 1903.
NO. 34
gspirietice Dcpuvtmctit
RAISING FALL CHICKENS.
Must Have Proper Feed and  Warm Quarters.
lsi I'i,Milium. My experience in raising
fall chicks extendi over a period a,f three
seasons. While the amount of time anil
labor required is greater than* is essential
for the rearing of spring and summer
hatched fowls. I have always found lliem
far more profitable. October hatched
chicks are of marketable size by February,
when the price of broilers and fries is at
the maximum. Three things are absolutely
necessary during the winter months that
one does not need to supply in the summer to fowls on free range, viz: An occasional meat ration, an abundance of
green feed, and warm, dry quarters. This
does not necessitate an extravagant cash
outlay. Green cut bone suplies what is
needed, or waste from slaughter houses
and butcher shops may Vac utilized. Where
rabbits are plentiful, even this small expense may be saved. The chicks will
thrive and do well if the meat ration is
provided only once or twice a week. Skim
milk may be substituted once in a while
if desired.
For green feed, which is liberally given
every day, we use turnips, cabbage, potatoes, or anything that can be stored for
the purpose. These cost nothing except
the labor of raising, harvesting and storing. For grain whole wheat millet
s.eal and cracked corn are used. These
are fed, morning and evening, all the chicks
will clean up. Our coops are simple and
very inexpensive. We use boards about
three feet in length, or, better still, dry
goods boxes. We make the coops nearly square. If boxes are used, these are
placed on their sides, and a door is fitted
aavaT the lower half of the opening, the
upper part being closed with boards. To
make them warm and cozy, a covering of
three inches depth of either hay or straw
is put on, after first cutting a hole in the
top of the coop for the admission of a
small ventilating tube. Over the hay is
thrown a covering of dirt, two or three
inches deep on the sides, bnt much more
on top, as the latter must be slanted to
protect the coop from the rainfall. The
dirt is smoothed and packed by pounding
with the flat side of the shovel. Usually
no further covering is needed, but, in case
of a very severe winter, more hay may
be added. For very small chicks, we
usually build a run, sheltered by some kind
of roofing, out in front of the coa.ps. This
is made of 18-inch wire netting with an
inch mesh, much finer than onlinary poultry netting.[ In case of snowy or stormy
weather, tha' chicks are confined to these
runs. In fine weather they are given
unlimited range. C. B. B.
Kansas.
Don't Allow Them to Catch Cold.
2d Premium.—Unless one gives the fall
nr late hatched, chick extra care, morning
and evening, he is almost sure to find it
liml.Ileal up saame chilly .lay dead, or at the
best growing into a stunted chicken. In
fact, many poultry keepers claim that it is
ss to bother with chickens hatched
after Sept. 1st, as, though they be of the
larga'st breed, with best pedigree in the
parents, they will simply grow into runts.
But the people who claim this I. find,
aic the people who let the fall chicken
come under the same can* as that given
summer hatches. They are usually I. ft
to shift f.ar themselves, must pick up their
meals as tha'.v can, sit around on cold
roosts or the damp ground at night, anal
stanal aroiiml  on  one  leg trying  to  keep
warm on the frosty mornings. This fives
them the sniffles, and tke bast bred chick
of the largest breeds will lac a stunted
chick if it gets this. Chickens that catch
ca.ld in the spring, and sniffle arounal until
June, are chickens of slow growth and seldom make the weight they should.
I.ate hatched chicks, that is, hatched we
will say in September and early October,
if given warm quarters for night, whiah
quarters must be kept closed until the
sun has dispelled the frost in the mornings, have a better show and chance for
living than the March and April chick, be-
afinse in our country we have warmer
days and more of them in these full months
than in the spring months named. Ami
a chicken has the chance, wilh the care
mornings and evenings that I have stated,
to make a six weeks growth unah>r favorable conditions, and after that it is not
difficult to get them on the rest of the way
even in winter. Chickens of any age
should be given warm quarters in winter,
chickens. But now a days hotels and
first a-luss restaurants iletiiaml broilers in
the winter months, and why not? A
lanailaT or fry tastes just as good in winter ta spring. The late chicken can be
brought to the ideal broiler limit, if Pad
nnd loaakeal after, as quickly and more
cheaply in the fall than in the spring.
Whan I speak of the ideal l.r.aila-r weight,
I in.':,ii aane paauml and a half. Broilers
go over this weight, aaf course, but now
that chicken is a frequent item on bills
of fare, the broiler of the pound and a
half wi'ight is the ideal weight. A chicken
aaf Ihis wi'ight i.s split in two, and one-
hiilf is served to one person.
I know.of nothing special to ta-11 in rela-
lia.n taa tin' ani'.. of the fall chicken, more
than providing warm quarters on frosty
nights anal chill days. feeding well tra
strengthen against the cold. On a farm
thai.' is so much in the way of vegetables
and fruit lying around for them to stuff
<>ii   in   th.'   fall,   besides   the   many   seeds
a warm place, it don't take but very little
more in winter than they ought to have
in summer. Chickens like clover hay, and
it is good for them. Our experience has
bean that chickens hatched in early fall
are the best winter layers. They begin
to lay after the early hatched hens begin
to set. That is when we want the hens
to lay the most eggs, when they are 25
a*,ms per aliiz.n, and they will, if they are
batched at tha right time, and have the
right kind of care and feed. Chickens
need grits, such as lime, gravel, charcoal,
crushed shells, etc. The more cooked
t'aeal tin' lietter, such as wheat, rye and
shaiits. baath for growth and laying. Feed
v.haale corn at night. Cleanliness should
be  observed. F.  B.
Cass Co.
and never let out in frost and snow. When
this is the case, the larger chickens help
protect the younger set with their own
warm bodies.
The finest chickens I ever raised were
late hatched chicks. We ate the cockerels in midwinter, and kept the pullets
for next yoar. They were not matured,
of course, in time for the spring laying,
but after harvest they were laying when
the other hens had shut off, and they kept
this up until far into the winter, to begin
again and be the first hens clucking when
I wanted hens to hatch the early chicks.
I had not given these chickens extra care
the first months of their life, except to feed
them plenty of corn and table scraps, and
give them a dry hen house and an old
discarded woodshed to stay in. There
was plenty of clean straw provided for
them to sit in during very cold weather.
They had plenty of wanned fresh water,
and parched or warmed corn, and this
was about all the raising they got
Usually farmers are tired of bothering
with young chicks before fnll Cannes on.
and want a rest; but this year proving so
wt. and because of this so disastrous to
all the early chickens, it would be just
as well to keep on setting the bans or the
incubator to produce the fall chicken, and
then fix up some rough houses, or board
np  some  sheds  warmly,  to  keep  then  in.
Ra* mla-er   thnt   straw   nnd   corn   stalks
make excellent and warm coverings for
chicken premises.     Nothing better.
A- fa.r profit, I cannot say. This depends on your proximity to large towns,
ami tha" market you have created for yaaur
which they like; but don't let them rustle
for all of their grub, unless you are very
sure they are getting too mnch as it is.
llenry Co. . I. M. S.
They Lay High Priced Eggs.
3d Premium.—Yes they pay. Two of
the main points are to have plenty for
them to eat, and a warm place for them to
stay, where they can have exercise and access t.a the sunlight. When we raise
chickens we raise them for the profit there
is in them. We can't get the right profit from chickens unless they are fed the
whole year. When people think they
cau raise summer chickens, and let them
hunt for their living, and then expect to
gat the right kind of results, they make
a mistake. In raising fall chickens, it always is our luck to have a lot of ha'iis
steal their nests away in the fall of the
year, and they hatch a nice brood of chickens. They always do well. We also
set them in the fall. When cold weather
conies on, they must be put in a warm
place, and given plenty aaf wholesome feed,
water and grit. The grain feed should
be thrown in straw or something so the
chickens will get exercise to get the feed.
The chickens must be kept fat, so they
will graiw. As to the profits: Broilers
anal fries are always high in early spring.
Scarcity brings the price up. And they
.ua' not bad to eat at home, either.
The highest price I know of anyone
gi'tting for capons was in the month of
May. nnd they were fall chickens. Some
argue that it takes so much grain to feed
them  through the winter.       If they have
Premiums of $1, 75 cents and 50 cents
are given for the first, second and third
best articles for the Experience Department each week. Manuscript shonld be
sent direct to the Indiana Farmer Company and should reach ns one week before dat«  of  publication.
Topics for discussion in future numbers of the Farmer are as follows:
No. 300. Aug. 29— What is the most
profitable way to feed stock cattle and
finish  for market?
No. 391, Sept. 5.—Give the rea<9ons why
the farmer and his family should attend
the State fair.
MlXIXfi   KAINIT.
Agriculture in this country has gained
large advantages from the potash deposits
of the Strassfurt mines of Germany. Oo
this page we show a sketch of kainit mining in Germany, and from a pamphlet just
published by the German Kali Works, of
Xew York, we take the following brief
description of these mines:
"The depth of the Stassfurt salt deposit,
from the top of the upper to the bottom
of the lowest stratum is some 5,000 feet.
The beds underlie the extensive country
reaching approximately to Thuringia on
the south, to Hanover on the west and to
Mecklenburg on the north.
"These deposits, in order of their placing, follow well understood physical and
chemical laws; and yet local conditions and
geologic disturbances fixed the relative
jia.sitions of strata and account for more or
less apparent disturbances as shown by
the diagram. At a few places surface water
found access through cracks or fissures,
and either carried away the potash salts
or changed them into secondary products;
from whieh action in the upper strata occur beds of kainit, sylvinit, bartsaiz and
other compounds of less importance."
The weed problem is one of the most
serious which the successful farmer must
meet. Farmers are or should be constantly at war with weeds. Those en-
gaga'd in this warfare will find valuable
points as to the kind, nature and best
methods of destroying weeds in a bulletin
just issued by the Iowa Experiment Station at Ames. About half a hundred
of our common weed pests are described
and ilustrated. Crab grass. Morning
Glory. Russian Thistle, Canada Thistle,
Wild Barley, Rag Weeds, Smart Weeds
and Fox Tails are among the species listed. A considerable space is devoted to
poisonous plants, among them Cowbane,
which claims a few victims almost every
year. The bulletin contains 80 pages
and CO cuts. It will be of interest to
teachers and students as a means of becoming familiar with some of our common
plants as well as a direct help to the
fanner and gardener.