One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered Part 76

They surely are good for chickens or for any other stock that likes greens. They are winter growers in California valleys and should be sown in the fall as soon as the land is moist enough to keep them growing, or just as soon as you can get it moist either by rainfall or irrigation.

Neither plant likes dry heat or dry soil.

Preserving Eggs.

What is a good way to preserve eggs for home use?

In a cool cellar, eggs will keep very well in a mixture of common salt and bran. Use equal parts, mix well, and as you gather the eggs from day to day pack with big end down in the mixture and see that the eggs are covered. Watergla.s.s eggs are good enough for cooking purposes, but when boiled anyone that knows the taste of a strictly fresh egg can tell the difference in an instant; when fried the taste is not so p.r.o.nounced, but it is there just the same; besides, when broken, they are a little watery. This watery condition pa.s.ses off if left to stand for a few minutes. The best way is to use the watergla.s.s method, is one quart of watergla.s.s to ten quarts of water. Boil the water and put away to cool, when cold add the watergla.s.s, mixing well, and store in 3 or 5-gallon crocks in a cool place. They will keep six months if good when put in.

In all cases the eggs must be gathered very fresh, for one stale egg will spoil the whole lot, so great care is needed.

Dipping Fowls.

How do you dip hens to kill lice?

To dip fowls you must have a very warm day, or a warm room where you can turn them in to dry. I have know people to use tobacco stems, but it requires good judgment as to the right strength to use. The dips usually sold already prepared are safer, in my opinion, because they give directions as to quant.i.ty. Get a can of "zenoleum" or "creolium" - either is good - and have the water a little over blood-heat to commence; be very careful that the liquid does not get in the fowl's throat. If there are no directions with the cans, put enough in to make the water quite milky and strong smelling. It is best to make the hen sit down and with a sponge wet the back and head thoroughly, then under the wings and breast; if there are nits, don't be in a hurry to take the hen out, but let the dip get to the nits and skin on the abdomen. If the water is too warm it will be dangerous, as some fowls have weak hearts; that is the only danger, providing you dry them quickly.

Cure for Feather-Eating.

What is the cure for feather-eating?

Feather eating is the result of idleness or a shortage of green feed.

The best way to cure it is to furnish the fowls with exercise. Boil some oats until soft, and when cooked stir in salt enough to taste and about a quart of good beef sc.r.a.p; feed this for breakfast several mornings together. Make them scratch for the rest of their food in deep litter and give them sour milk to drink if you have it. If sour milk is not available, put a tablespoonful of flowers of sulphur in the boiled oats.

The object is to cool the blood and furnish exercise. See that the fowls are supplied with mineral matter, such ash sh.e.l.ls, bone meal and some, sand if it can be had. It is surprising the amount of sand that chickens will eat when carried to them in yards, so there must be a necessity for it, and if they cannot get to it, it pays to carry a good box full once in a while.

Cannibal Chicks.

What can I do to cure my chicks of eating each other?

Some kind of animal food is necessary when the chicks begin to pick toes, wings and vents. But the meat must always be cooked, the least bit of raw meat drives them wild as does the blood they can bring on each other. For that reason a strict watch must be kept to detect any case before blood is brought. Remove all weak chicks as they always go for the weakest, and as soon as one chick is picked on for a victim, remove it at once. Some people paint the toes with tar or liquid lice paint, but I have had the best success with bitter aloes mixed with water. A nickel's worth covers a lot of toes. It is best to buy a powder, then dissolve in a little water and paint wings, vent and toes. They won't take many pecks at them when they find they are so bitter.

Sunflower Seeds for Poultry.

What is the food value of sunflower seed as a ration for fowls, mostly laying hens? Should it be fed whole or crushed?

Sunflower seed is rich in oil, having the same proportion as flaxseed; otherwise it rates in value the same as grain. A little, not too much, fed whole is well relished by fowls and is said to give l.u.s.ter to the plumage in fitting birds for shows. Sunflower is greatly overrated for poultry purposes. It is an ungainly plant of no use for forage and its seed is so well liked by the sparrows that the only way to keep them till ripe is to cover the heads with netting.

Clipping Hens for Cleanliness.

My hens foul all the feathers below the vent; they appear healthy, but do not look nice. What can I do?

Take a pair of scissors and clip the fluff away from that part of the abdomen, give a teaspoonful of olive oil, and notice of they have any discharge that is of an offensive color or odor. Sometimes it is nothing but pure laziness with hens of the large breeds that causes this matting together of the fluff below the vent. We rarely see hens of the small breeds so affected. Whenever a hen soils her feathers clip her at once, and, in fact, it is a good custom to follow in any case. When hens are very heavily fluffed it interferes with the fertility of the eggs. In such cases there is not anything for it but the scissors.

Bowel Trouble in Chicks.

What is the cause of bowel trouble in young chicks, and what to do for it?

Bowel trouble in very young chicks is usually caused by a chill. It is very hard for us here to believe chicks get chilled because, not feeling the cold ourselves, we forget that chicks have really undergone a violent change from incubator to the outside atmosphere. In the Eastern States, great care is exercised in moving chicks from incubator to brooder oven, and also in seeing that the brooder itself is warm and fit to receive the chicks. But we are, as a rule, very careless in these little matters and the chicks feel the change and suffer from bowel trouble. Sometimes, of course, the trouble may be traced to the food, but more often it comes from a chill. The best way to cure it is to remove the chicks to new ground at once, or if in a brooder, clean it out well and spray with some disinfectant. Boil all the water that is given to the chicks and feed boiled rice once or twice a day in which a little cinnamon is mixed. Do not put in too much or they will not eat it, keep all meat away and just feed dry chick feed and boiled rice. No oatmeal or any other cereal but the rice; if chicks won't eat it, feed dry chick feed and boiled water and a little lettuce.

Quick Roosters and Laying Hens.

How can I get the young roosters off quick and the hens to lay in winter?

These two happy results come from correct methods of poultry keeping from the ground up. To get the c.o.c.kerels off quick, they must be hatched from strong-germed eggs, incubated properly and kept growing from the first jump out of the sh.e.l.l. To get eggs in winter the pullets must come from the same conditions. Very few hens will lay in the early winter under any conditions. The pullets must be depended upon for that season and the hens kept properly will drop in some time in January.

Poultry Tonic.

What is a good poultry tonic?

The following is a very good tonic for general purposes: Tincture of red cinchona, 1 fluid ounce; tincture of chloride of iron, 1 fluid drachm; tincture of flux vomica, 4 fluid drachms; glycerine 2 ounces; water, 2 ounces. Mix and give one teaspoonful to a quart of water, allowing no other drink.

Poultry in the Orchard.