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Bones For Poultry

Bones For Poultry image
Parent Issue
Day
23
Month
April
Year
1880
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

A writcr in the American Poultry Yard urges upnii jioultry keepers the neoenit; of giving to fowls a liberal supply of baked iones and oyf-ter shells, and writes his own experience in a very cntertaining manner. it is as iollows: "1 supposed I did ïny duty by my hens when I burnt bones to vory whiteness, ground thcm to the consistency of flower, and f'ed them xiccasionally, with the idea that I was giving tluin egg-shulls in a very available form. But I did notconsiderthat the galatine,the fat, the ammonia, and other constituent of the )Odcü, which were discharged by the internal heit (leaving only a little pure lime) veré really the richeft possible food for the ïens and the greatcst egg-producing diet hat could be f'urnislicd them. My ncw enatit only bakos thctu, more or less brown, n an old tin-plate on the top grate oí the stove oven. This is not a very pleawant roces.s ; for like ill soorclied portions of auiinal frame, they give a pungent, halfuffooatiag hmell, whicli temptsyouto 'dar Ie kitchcn ' till frcsh air irom doors and windows has sent the objectionable odors nto outer space. But you soon become rcconciled to this invasión of 11 Rcents whcn the firj' rombs the ceaseless cackle, the evident high health of your fowla, and the daily filled egg-baakets show you what they have accomplished. No other food, nor any amount offood, if this is left out, wil] give you sucli returns; and this baked bone, pounded on a rock in your poultry pens and fed with ordinary feed, will p'wo results that ought to satisfy the mustcraving disposition. The hens cluster around that primitive bène-mill, gulping down the rich morsels with evident deliïht; and since everything necessary for the production of eggs is thus f 'ully furnisbed, there 8 no undue strain on the vital íbrces, no weakening of the system, but a daily attention to business, to the complete satisfaction of the fowls and their ownera. You can hardly give too much burned bones to your hens to provide the necesaary amount of lime for the eggshells, and the nezt best thing for that purpose is oyster-shells, which can bo obtained by the barrel (and generally without cost, except taking away) at hotels or restaurants in your nearest city. My new tenant goes eighteen miles for thcm, and considers them cheap enough at that. The hens eat thcm when pounded into fragments as eagerly as they piek np shelled corn, and they furnish the needed material for the eggiells more completely than anything else."