"You cannot
get grass in winter."
"That is true," said Mrs. Spencer, "but you can give them cabbage, which
they like very much, or cooked vegetables. In the spring and summer they
will enjoy the fresh clover. When they are allowed to have free range,
they eat grasshoppers and crickets and do not need meat.
"All fowls must have some kind of grit with their grain food. Crushed
stone, which can be bought, will supply this need. Fowls must have clean
straw for their nests, and dry earth and plaster or lime must be put on
the floor of the hen-house under the roosts. It is important also to
sprinkle dry sulphur in the nests once in a while, to keep insects away.
"They like dry earth for their dust bath. Did you ever see a hen lying
down in the dust, and throwing it all over herself? She enjoys this just
as much as you enjoy going into the salt water, and she needs it as much
as you need your bath."
"I should think a hen would find it hard to know her own chickens."
"Oh, no! The youngest chicken knows the voice of its mother, and the
mother can tell the difference between the cry of her chickens and the
voices of those which do not belong to her.
"It is interesting, also, to watch the rooster care for the hens.
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