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diff --git a/38606.txt b/38606.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..372afb6 --- /dev/null +++ b/38606.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5819 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Poultry, by Hugh Piper + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Poultry + A Practical Guide to the Choice, Breeding, Rearing, and + Management of all Descriptions of Fowls, Turkeys, + Guinea-fowls, Ducks, and Geese, for Profit and Exhibition. + +Author: Hugh Piper + +Release Date: January 18, 2012 [EBook #38606] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POULTRY *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + Transcriber's Note. + + Hyphenation has been standardised. + + ================================== + +[Illustration: White Dorking Cock. Coloured Dorkings. Duck-winged and +Black-breasted Red Game.] + + + + + POULTRY + + A + + Practical Guide + + TO THE + + CHOICE, BREEDING, REARING, AND MANAGEMENT + + OF ALL DESCRIPTIONS OF + + FOWLS, TURKEYS, GUINEA-FOWLS, + DUCKS, AND GEESE, + + FOR + + PROFIT AND EXHIBITION. + + BY + + HUGH PIPER, + + AUTHOR OF "PIGEONS: THEIR VARIETIES, MANAGEMENT, BREEDING, + AND DISEASES." + + ILLUSTRATED WITH EIGHT COLOURED PLATES. + + Fourth Edition. + + LONDON: + GROOMBRIDGE & SONS. + + MDCCCLXXVII. + + + LONDON: + BARRETT, SONS AND CO., PRINTERS, + SEETHING LANE. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +This work is intended as a practical guide to those about to commence +Poultry keeping, and to provide those who already have experience on the +subject with the most trustworthy information compiled from the best +authorities of all ages, and the most recent improvements in Poultry +Breeding and Management. The Author believes that he has presented his +readers with a greater amount of valuable information and practical +directions on the various points treated than will be found in most +similar works. The book is not the result of the Author's own experience +solely, and he acknowledges the assistance he has received from other +authorities. Among those whom he has consulted he desires specially to +acknowledge his obligations to Mr. Tegetmeier, whose "Poultry Book" +(published by Messrs. Routledge & Sons, London) contains his especial +knowledge of the Diseases of Poultry; and to Mr. L. Wright, whose +excellent and practical Treatise, entitled "The Practical Poultry +Keeper" (published by Messrs. Cassell, Petter & Galpin, London), cannot +be too highly commended. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +GENERAL MANAGEMENT. + + PAGE + CHAPTER I.--INTRODUCTION 1 + + Neglect of Poultry-breeding--Profit of Poultry-keeping--Value to the + Farmer--Poultry Shows--Cottage Poultry. + + CHAPTER II.--THE FOWL-HOUSE 6 + + Size of the House--Brick and Wood--Cheap Houses--The + Roof--Ventilation--Light--Warmth--The Flooring--Perches--Movable + Frame--Roosts for Cochin-Chinas and Brahma-Pootras--Nests for + laying--Cleanliness--Fowls' Dung--Doors and + Entrance-holes--Lime-washing--Fumigating--Raising Chickens under + Glass. + + CHAPTER III.--THE FOWL-YARD 18 + + Soil--Situation--Covered Run--Pulverised Earth for deodorising--Diet + for confined Fowls--Height of Wall, &c.--Preventing Fowls from + flying--The Dust-heap--Material for Shells--Gravel--The Gizzard--The + Grass Run. + + CHAPTER IV.--FOOD 27 + + Table of relative constituents and qualities of + Food--Barley--Wheat--Oats--Meal--Refuse Corn--Boiling Grain--Indian + Corn, or Maize--Buckwheat--Peas, Beans and + Tares--Rice--Hempseed--Linseed--Potatoes--Roots--Soft Food--Variety + of Food--Quantity--Mode of Feeding--Number of Meals--Grass and + Vegetables--Insects--Worms--Snails and Slugs--Animal + Food--Water--Fountains. + + CHAPTER V.--EGGS 40 + + Eggs all the Year round--Warmth essential to laying--Forcing + Eggs--Soft Shells--Shape and Colour of Eggs--The Air-bag--Preserving + Eggs--Keeping and Choosing Eggs for setting--Sex of Eggs--Packing + Setting-eggs for travelling. + + CHAPTER VI.--THE SITTING HEN 48 + + Evil of restraining a Hen from sitting--Checking the Desire--A + separate House and Run--Nests for sitting in--Damping Eggs--Filling + for Nests--Choosing their own Nests--Choosing a Hen for + sitting--Number and Age of Eggs--Food and Exercise--Absence from the + Nest--Examining the Eggs--Setting two Hens on the same day--Time of + Incubation--The "tapping" sound--Breaking the Shell--Emerging from + the Shell--Assisting the Chicken--Artificial Mothers--Artificial + Incubation. + + CHAPTER VII.--REARING AND FATTENING FOWLS 63 + + The Chicken's first Food--Cooping the Brood--Basket and + Wooden Coops--Feeding Chickens--Age for Fattening--Barn-door + Fattening--Fattening-Houses--Fattening-Coops--Food--"Cramming"-- + Capons and Poulardes--Killing Poultry--Plucking and packing + Fowls--Preserving Feathers. + + CHAPTER VIII.--STOCK, BREEDING, AND CROSSING 75 + + Well-bred Fowls--Choice of Breed--Signs of Age--Breeding + in-and-in--Number of Hens to one Cock--Choice of a Cock--To prevent + Cocks from fighting--Choice of a Hen--Improved Breeds--Origin of + Breeds--Crossing--Choice of Breeding Stock--Keeping a Breed pure. + + CHAPTER IX.--POULTRY SHOWS 83 + + The first Show--The first Birmingham Show--Influence of + Shows--Exhibition Rules--Hatching for Summer and Winter + Shows--Weight--Exhibition Fowls sitting--Matching Fowls--Imparting + lustre to the Plumage--Washing Fowls--Hampers--Travelling--Treatment + on Return--Washing the Hampers and Linings--Exhibition + Points--Technical Terms. + + +BREEDS. + + CHAPTER X.--COCHIN-CHINAS, OR SHANGHAES 93 + + CHAPTER XI.--BRAHMA-POOTRAS 101 + + CHAPTER XII.--MALAYS 105 + + CHAPTER XIII.--GAME 108 + + CHAPTER XIV.--DORKINGS 112 + + CHAPTER XV.--SPANISH 115 + + CHAPTER XVI.--HAMBURGS 118 + + CHAPTER XVII.--POLANDS 121 + + CHAPTER XVIII.--BANTAMS 124 + + CHAPTER XIX.--FRENCH AND VARIOUS 128 + + CHAPTER XX.--TURKEYS 132 + + CHAPTER XXI.--GUINEA-FOWLS 139 + + CHAPTER XXII.--DUCKS 142 + + CHAPTER XXIII.--GEESE 147 + + CHAPTER XXIV.--DISEASES 150 + + + + +LIST OF PLATES. + + + PAGE + PLATE I.--Facing the Title-page. + + White Dorking Cock--Coloured Dorkings--Duck-winged and + Black-breasted Red Game. + + PLATE II. 93 + + White and Buff Cochin-China--Malay Cock--Light and Dark + Brahma-Pootras. + + PLATE III. 115 + + Golden-pencilled and Silver-spangled Hamburgs--Black + Spanish. + + PLATE IV. 121 + + White-crested Black Polish--Golden and Silver-spangled + Polish. + + PLATE V. 124 + + White and Black Bantams--Gold and Silver-laced or Sebright + Bantams--Game Bantams. + + PLATE VI. 128 + + French: Houdans--La Fleche Cock--Creve-Coeur Hen. + + PLATE VII. 132 + + Turkey--Guinea-Fowls. + + PLATE VIII. 142 + + Toulouse Goose--Rouen Ducks--Aylesbury Ducks. + + + + +PROFITABLE AND ORNAMENTAL POULTRY. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Until of late years the breeding of poultry has been almost generally +neglected in Great Britain. Any kind of mongrel fowl would do for a +farmer's stock, although he fully appreciated the importance of breeding +in respect of his cattle and pigs, and the value of improved seeds. Had +he thought at all upon the subject, it must have occurred to him that +poultry might be improved by breeding from select specimens as much as +any other kind of live stock. The French produce a very much greater +number of fowls and far finer ones for market than we do. In France, +Bonington Mowbray observes, "poultry forms an important part of the live +stock of the farmer, and the poultry-yards supply more animal food to +the great mass of the community than the butchers' shops"; while in +Egypt, and some other countries of the East, from time immemorial, vast +numbers of chickens have been hatched in ovens by artificial heat to +supply the demand for poultry; but in Great Britain poultry-keeping has +been generally neglected, eggs are dear, and all kinds of poultry so +great a luxury that the lower classes and a large number of the middle +seldom, if ever, taste it, except perhaps once a year in the form of a +Christmas goose, while hundreds of thousands cannot afford even this. It +is computed that a million of eggs are eaten daily in London and its +suburbs alone; yet this vast number only gives one egg to every three +mouths. "It is a national waste," says Mr. Edwards, "importing eggs by +the hundreds of millions, and poultry by tens of thousands, when we are +feeding our cattle upon corn, and grudging it to our poultry; although +the return made from the former, it is generally admitted, is not five +per cent. beyond the value of the corn consumed, whereas an immense +percentage can be realised by feeding poultry." A writer in the _Times_, +of February 1, 1853, states that, while it will take five years to +fatten an ox to the weight of sixty stone, which will produce a profit +of L30, the same sum may be realised in five months by feeding an equal +weight of poultry for the table. + +Although fowls are so commonly kept, the proportion to the population is +still very small, and the number of those who rear and manage them +profitably still smaller, chiefly because most people keep them without +system or order, and have not given the slightest attention to the +subject. Nevertheless, it costs no more trouble and much less expense to +keep fowls successfully and profitably, for neglected fowls are always +falling sick, or getting into mischief and causing annoyance, and often +expense and loss. "A man," says Mr. Edwards, "who expects a good return +of flesh and eggs from fowls insufficiently fed and cared for, is like a +miller expecting to get meal from a neglected mill, to which he does not +supply grain." + +The antiquated idea that fowls on a farm did mischief to the crops has +been proved to be false; for if the grain is sown as deeply as it should +be, they cannot reach it by scratching; and, besides, they greatly +prefer worms and insects. Mr. Mechi says, "commend me to poultry as the +farmer's best friend," and considers the value of fowls, in destroying +the vast number of worms, grubs, flies, beetles, insects, larvae, &c., +which they devour, as incalculable; and the same may be said as to their +destruction of the seeds of weeds. They also consume large quantities of +kitchen and table refuse, which is generally otherwise wasted, and often +allowed to decay and become a source of disease, or at least of +impurity. + +The enormous prices paid at the poultry shows of 1852 and 1853 for fancy +fowls gave a new impulse to poultry-keeping; and many persons who +formerly thought the management of poultry beneath their attention, now +superintend their yards. Mrs. Ferguson Blair, now the Hon. Mrs. +Arbuthnot, the authoress of the "Henwife," whose experience may be +judged by the fact that she gained in four years upwards of 460 prizes +in England and Scotland, and personally superintended the management of +forty separate yards, in which above 1,000 chickens were hatched +annually, says:-- + +"I began to breed poultry for amusement only, then for exhibition, and +lastly, was glad to take the trouble to make it pay, and do not like my +poultry-yard less because it is not a loss. It is impossible to imagine +any occupation more suited to a lady, living in the country, than that +of poultry rearing. If she has any superfluous affection to bestow, let +it be on her chicken-kind and it will be returned cent. per cent. Are +you a lover of nature? come with me and view, with delighted gaze, her +chosen dyes. Are you a utilitarian? rejoice in such an increase of the +people's food. Are you a philanthropist? be grateful that yours has been +the privilege to afford a _possible_ pleasure to the poor man, to whom +so many are _impossible_. Such we often find fond of poultry--no mean +judges of it, and frequently successful in exhibition. A poor man's +pleasure in victory is, at least, as great as that of his richer +brother. Let him, then, have the field whereon to fight for it. +Encourage village poultry-shows, not only by your patronage, but also by +your presence. A taste for such may save many from dissipation and much +evil; no man can win poultry honours and haunt the taproom too." + +For those who desire to encourage a taste for poultry keeping in young +people, and their humbler neighbours, we would recommend our smaller +work on the subject as a suitable present.[1] + +"It becomes," says Miss Harriet Martineau, "an interesting wonder every +year why the rural cottagers of the United Kingdom do not rear fowls +almost universally, seeing how little the cost would be and how great +the demand. We import many millions of eggs annually. Why should we +import any? Wherever there is a cottage family living on potatoes or +better fare, and grass growing anywhere near them, it would be worth +while to nail up a little penthouse, and make nests of clean straw, and +go in for a speculation in eggs and chickens. Seeds, worms, and insects +go a great way in feeding poultry in such places; and then there are the +small and refuse potatoes from the heap, and the outside cabbage leaves, +and the scraps of all sorts. Very small purchases of broken rice (which +is extremely cheap), inferior grain, and mixed meal, would do all else +that is necessary. There would be probably larger losses from vermin +than in better guarded places; but these could be well afforded as a +mere deduction from considerable gains. It is understood that the +keeping of poultry is largely on the increase in the country generally, +and even among cottagers; but the prevailing idea is of competition as +to races and specimens for the poultry-yard, rather than of meeting the +demand for eggs and fowls for the table." + +With the exception of prizes for Dorkings, which are chiefly bred for +market, our poultry-shows have always looked upon fowls as if they were +merely ornamental birds, and have framed their standards of excellence +accordingly, and not with any regard to the production of profitable +poultry, which is much to be regretted. + +Martin Doyle, the cottage economist of Ireland, in his "Hints to Small +Holders," observes that "a few cocks and hens, if they be prevented from +scratching in the garden, are a useful and appropriate stock about a +cottage, the warmth of which causes them to lay eggs in winter--no +trifling advantage to the children when milk is scarce. The French, who +are extremely fond of eggs, and contrive to have them in great +abundance, feed the fowls so well on curds and buckwheat, and keep them +so warm, that they have plenty of eggs even in winter. Now, in our +country (Ireland), especially in a gentleman's fowl yard, there is not +an egg to be had in cold weather; but the warmth of the poor man's cabin +insures him an egg even in the most ungenial season." + +Such fowls obtain fresh air, fresh grass, and fresh ground to scratch +in, and prosper in spite of the most miserable, puny, mongrel stock, +deteriorating year after year from breeding in and in, without the +introduction of fresh blood even of the same indifferent description. +Many an honest cottager might keep himself and family from the parish by +the aid of a small stock of poultry, if some kind poultry-keeper would +present him with two or three good fowls to begin with, for the cottager +has seldom capital even for so small a purchase. + +Considerable profit may be made by the sale of eggs for hatching and +surplus stock, if the breeds kept are good, and the stock known to be +pure and vigorous. The "Henwife" says: "You may reduce your expenses by +selling eggs for setting, at a remunerative price. No one should be +ashamed to own what he is not ashamed to do; therefore, boldly announce +your superfluous eggs for sale, at such a price as you think the public +will pay for them." This is now done extensively by breeders of rank and +eminence, especially through the London _Field_ and agricultural papers. +But, "beware of sending such eggs to market. Every one would be set, and +you might find yourself beaten by your own stock, very likely in your +own local show, and at small cost to the exhibitor." + +The great secret of success in keeping fowls profitably is to hatch +chiefly in March and April; encourage the pullets by proper feeding to +lay at the age of six months; and fatten and dispose of them when about +nineteen months old, just before their first adult moult; and never to +allow a cockerel to exceed the age of fourteen weeks before it is +fattened and disposed of. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE FOWL-HOUSE. + + +In this work we shall consider the accommodation and requisites for +keeping fowls successfully on a moderate scale, and the reader must +adapt them to his own premises, circumstances, and requirements. +Everywhere there must be some alterations, omissions, or compromises. We +shall state the essentials for their proper accommodation, and describe +the mode of constructing houses, sheds, and arranging runs, and the +reader must then form his plan according to his own wishes, resources, +and the capabilities of the place. The climate of Great Britain being so +very variable in itself, and differing in its temperature so much in +different parts, no one manner or material for building the fowl-house +can be recommended for all cases. + +Plans for poultry establishments on large scales for the hatching, +rearing, and fattening of fowls, turkeys, ducks, and geese, are given in +our smaller work on Poultry, referred to on page 3. + +The best aspects for the fowl-house are south and south-east, and +sloping ground is preferable to flat. + +"It is only of late years," says Mr. Baily, "poultry-houses have been +much thought of. In large farmyards, where there are cart-houses, +calf-pens, pig-styes, cattle-sheds, shelter under the eaves of barns, +and numerous other roosting-places, not omitting the trees in the +immediate vicinity, they are little required--fowls will generally do +better by choosing for themselves; and it is beyond a doubt healthier +for them to be spread about in this manner, than to be confined to one +place. But a love of order, on the one hand, and a dread of thieves or +foxes on the other, will sometimes make it desirable to have a proper +poultry-house." + +Each family of fowls should, if possible, have a house and run; and if +they are kept as breeding stock, and the breeds are to be preserved +pure, this is essential. And where many kinds are kept, the various +houses must be adapted to the peculiarities of the different breeds, in +order to do justice to them all, and to attain success in each. + +The size of the house and the extent of the yard or run should be +proportioned to the number of fowls kept; but it is better for the house +to be too small than too large, particularly in winter, for the mutual +imparting of animal heat. It is found by experience that when fowls are +crowded into a small space, their desire for laying continues even in +winter; and there is no fear of engendering disease by crowding if the +house is properly ventilated, and thoroughly cleansed every day. Mr. +Baily kept for years a cock and four hens in a portable wooden house six +feet square, and six feet high in the centre, the sides being somewhat +shorter, and says such a house would hold six hens as well as four. +Ventilating holes were made near the top. It had no floor, being placed +upon the ground, and could be moved at pleasure by means of two poles +placed through two staples fixed at the end of each side. A few +Cochin-Chinas may be kept where there is no other convenience than an +outhouse six feet square to serve for their roosting, laying, and +sitting, with a yard of twice that size attached. Mr. Wright "once knew +a young man who kept fowls most profitably, with only a house of his own +construction, not more than three feet square, and a run of the same +width, under twelve feet long." The French breeders keep their fowls in +as small a space as possible, in order to generate and preserve the +warmth that will induce them to lay; while the English breeders allow +more space for exercise, larger houses, and free circulation of air. The +French mode, is very likely the best for the winter and the English for +the summer, but the two opposite methods may be made available by having +one or more extra houses and runs into which the fowls can be +distributed in the summer. A close, warm roosting-place will cause the +production of more eggs in winter, when they are scarcest and most +valuable, while air and exercise are necessary to rear superior fowls +for the table; and if they can have the run of a farmyard or good fields +in which to pick up grain or insects, their flesh will be far superior +in flavour to that of fowls kept in confinement, or crammed in coops. + +Almost any outbuilding, shed, or lean-to, may be easily and cheaply +converted into a good fowl-house by the exercise of a little thought and +ingenuity. + +The best material to build a house with is brick, but the cheapest to be +durable is board, with the roof also of wood, covered with patent felt. +One objection to timber houses is their being combustible, and easily +ignited, and houses had better be built of a single brick in thickness, +unless cheapness is a great object. + +A lean-to fowl-house may be constructed for a very small sum, with +boards an inch thick, against the west or south side of any wall. +Whenever wood is employed it should be tongued, which is a very cheap +method of providing against warping by heat, or admitting wind or rain; +lying flat against the uprights, it saves material and has an external +appearance far superior to any other method of boarding. If the second +coat of paint is rough cast over with sand, it will greatly improve the +appearance, and the house will not be unsightly even in the ornamental +part of a gentleman's grounds. + +A house may be built very cheaply by driving poles into the ground at +equal distances, and nailing weather-boarding upon their outside. If it +is to be square, one pole should be placed at each corner, and two more +will be required for the door-posts. The house may be made with five, +six, or more sides, as many poles being used as there are sides, and the +door may occupy one side if the house be small and the side narrow, +otherwise two door-posts will be required. If the boards are not tongued +together, the chinks between them must be well caulked by driving in +string or tow with a blunt chisel, for it is not only necessary to keep +out the rain but also to keep out the wind, which has great influence on +the health and laying of the fowls. + +Where double boarding is employed for the sides, the house may be made +much warmer by filling up the space with straw, or still better with +marsh reeds, so durable for thatching. This plan, unfortunately, affords +a shelter for rats, mice, and insects, and therefore, if adopted, it +will be highly advantageous to form the inside boarding in panels, so as +to be removable at pleasure for examination and cleansing. + +For the roof, tiles or slates alone are not sufficient, but, if used, +must have a boarding or ceiling under them; otherwise all the heat +generated by the fowls will escape through the numerous interstices, and +it will be next to impossible to keep the house warm in winter. A +corrugated roof of galvanised iron may be used instead, but a ceiling +also will be absolutely necessary for the sake of warmth. A rough +ceiling of lath and plaster not only preserves the warmth generated by +the fowls and keeps out the cold, but has the great advantage of being +easily lime-washed, an operation that should be performed at least four +or five times a year. Boards alone make a very good and cheap roof. They +may be laid either horizontally, one plank overlapping the other, and +the whole well tarred two or three times, and once every autumn +afterwards; or they may be laid perpendicularly side by side, fitting +closely, in which case they should be well tarred, then covered with old +sheeting, waste calico, or thick brown paper tightly stretched over it, +and afterwards brushed over with hot tar, or a mixture of tar boiled +with a little lime, and applied while hot; this, soaking through the +calico, cements it to the roof, and makes it waterproof. But board +covered with patent felt, and tarred once a year, is the best. The roof +ought to project considerably beyond the walls, in order to prevent the +rain from dripping down them. + +Ventilation is most important, and the house should be high, especially +if there are many fowls, for by having it lofty a current of air can +pass through it far above the level of the fowls, and purify the +atmosphere without causing a draught near them. They very much dislike a +draught, and will alter their positions to avoid it, and if unable to +do so, will seek another roosting-place. Ventilation may be obtained by +leaving out some bricks in the wall or making holes in the boarding; and +when there is a shed at the side of the fowl-house, by boring a few +holes near the top of the wall next to the shed; all ventilators should +be considerably above the perches, in order to avoid a draught near to +the fowls; and should be entirely closed at night in severe weather. The +best method of ventilation for a fowl-house of sufficient size and +height, is by means of an opening in the highest part of the roof, +covered with a lantern of laths or narrow boards, placed one over the +other in a slanting position, with a small space between them like +Venetian blinds. + +Light is essential, not only for the health of the fowls, but in order +that the state of the house may be seen, and the floor and perches may +be well cleansed. It may be admitted either through a common window, a +pane or two of thick glass placed in the sides, or glass tiles in the +roof. It also induces them to take shelter there in rough weather. + +Warmth is the most important point of all. Fowls that roost in cold +houses and exposed places require more food and produce fewer eggs; and +pullets which are usually forward in laying will not easily be induced +to do so in severe weather if their house is not kept warm. It is a +great advantage when the house backs a fire-place or stable. A gentleman +told Mr. Baily that he "had been very successful in raising early +chickens in the north of Scotland, and he attributed much of it to the +following arrangements. He had always from twenty to thirty oxen or +other cattle fattening in a long building; he made his poultry-house to +join this, and had ventilators and openings made in the partition, so +that the heat of the cattle-shed passed into the fowl-house. Little good +has resulted from the use of stoves, or hot-water pipes, for poultry; +but by skilfully taking advantage of every circumstance like that above +mentioned, and by consulting aspect and position, many valuable helps +are obtained." + +A house built of wood in the north of England and Scotland must be +lined, unless artificially warmed. Felt is the best material, as its +strong smell of tar will keep away most insects. Matting is frequently +used, and will make the house sufficiently warm, but it harbours vermin, +and therefore, if used, should be only slightly fastened to the walls, +so that it can be often taken down and well beaten, and, if necessary, +fumigated. + +Various materials are recommended for the flooring. Boards are warm, but +they soon become foul. Beaten earth, with loose dust scattered over it +some inches deep, is excellent for the feet of the birds, but is a +harbour for the minute vermin which are often so troublesome, and even +destructive, to domestic fowls. Mowbray recommends a floor of +"well-rammed chalk or earth, that its surface, being smooth, may present +no impediment to being swept perfectly clean." Chalk laid on dry +coal-ashes to absorb the moisture is excellent. A mixture of cow-dung +and water, about the consistency of paint, put on the surface of the +floor, no thicker than paint, gives it a hard surface which will bear +sweeping down. It is used by the natives of India, not only for the +floors, but often for the walls of their houses, and is supposed to be +healthy in its application, and to keep away vermin. Miss Watts says: +"Dig out the floor to about a foot deep, and fill in with burnt clay, +like that used extensively on railways, the strong gravel which is +called 'metal' in road-making, or any loose dry material of the kind. +Let this be well rammed down, and then lay over it, with a bricklayer's +trowel, a flooring of a compost of cinder-ashes, gravel, quick-lime, and +water. This flooring is without the objections due to those which are +cold and damp, and those which imbibe foul moisture. Stone is too cold +for a flooring; beaten earth or wood becomes foul when the place is +inhabited by living animals; and a flooring of bricks possesses both +these bad qualities united." Bricks are the worst of all materials; they +retain moisture, whether atmospheric or arising from insufficient +drainage; and thus the temperature is kept low, and disease too often +follows, especially rheumatic attacks of the feet and legs. However, +trodden earth makes a very good flooring, and it or other materials may +easily be kept clean by placing moveable boards beneath the perches to +receive the fowl-droppings. The floor should slope from every direction +towards the door, to facilitate its cleansing, and to keep it dry. + +Perches are generally placed too high, probably because it was noticed +that fowls in their natural state, or when at large, usually roost upon +high branches; but it should be observed that, in descending from lofty +branches, they have a considerable distance to fly, and therefore alight +on the ground gently, while in a confined fowl-house the bird flutters +down almost perpendicularly, coming into contact with the floor +forcibly, by which the keel of the breast-bone is often broken, and +bumble-foot in Dorkings and corns are caused. + +Some writers do not object to lofty perches, provided the fowls have a +board with cross-pieces of wood fastened on to it reaching from the +ground to the perch; but this does not obviate the evil, for they will +only use it for ascent, and not for descent. The air, too, at the upper +part of any dwelling-room, or house for animals, is much more impure +than nearer the floor, because the air that has been breathed, and +vapours from the body, are lighter than pure air, and consequently +ascend to the top. The perches should therefore not be more than +eighteen inches from the ground, unless the breed is very small and +light. Perches are also generally made too small and round. When they +are too small in proportion to the size of the birds, they are apt to +cause the breast-bone of heavy fowls to grow crooked, which is a great +defect, and very unsightly in a table-fowl. Those for heavy fowls should +not be less than three inches in diameter. Capital perches may be formed +of fir or larch poles, about three inches in diameter, split into two, +the round side being placed uppermost; the birds' claws cling to it +easily, and the bark is not so hard as planed wood. The perches, if made +of timber, should be nearly square, with only the corners rounded off, +as the feet of fowls are not formed for clasping smooth round poles. +Those for chickens should not be thicker than their claws can easily +grasp, and neither too sharp nor too round. + +When more than one row of perches is required they should be ranged +obliquely--that is, one above and behind the other; by which arrangement +each perch forms a step to the next higher one, and an equal convenience +in descending, and the birds do not void their dung over each other. +They should be placed two feet apart, and supported on bars of wood +fixed to the walls at each end; and in order that they may be taken out +to be cleaned, they should not be nailed to the supporter, but securely +placed in niches cut in the bar, or by pieces of wood nailed to it like +the rowlocks of a boat. If the wall space at the sides is required for +laying-boxes, the perches must be shorter than the house, and the +oblique bars which support them must be securely fastened to the back of +the house, and, if necessary, have an upright placed beneath the upper +end of each. + +Some breeders prefer a moveable frame for roosting, formed of two poles +of the required length, joined at each end by two narrow pieces; the +frame being supported upon four or more legs, according to its length +and the weight of the fowls. If necessary it should be strengthened by +rails--connecting the bottoms of the legs, and by pieces crossing from +each angle of the sides and ends. These frames can conveniently be moved +out of the house when they require cleansing. Or it may be made of one +pole supported at each end by two legs spread out widely apart, like two +sides of an equilateral or equal-sided triangle. The perch may be made +more secure for heavy fowls by a rail at each side fastened to each leg, +about three inches from the foot. + +Mr. Baily says: "I had some fowls in a large outhouse, where they were +well provided with perches; as there was plenty of room, I put some +small faggots, cut for firing, at one extremity, and I found many of the +fowls deserted their perches to roost on the faggots, which they +evidently preferred." + +Cochin-Chinas and Brahma Pootras do not require perches, but roost +comfortably on a floor littered down warmly with straw. It should be +gathered up every morning, and the floor cleaned and kept uncovered till +night, when the straw, if clean, should be again laid down. It must be +often changed. A bed of sand is also used, and a latticed floor even +without straw, and some use latticed benches raised about six inches +from the floor. But we should think that latticed roosting-places must +be uncomfortable to fowls, and the dung which falls through is often +unseen, and, consequently, liable to remain for too long a time, while a +portion will stick to the sides of the lattice-work, and be not only +difficult to see, but also to remove when seen. The "Henwife" finds, +however, "that if there are nests, there the Cochins will roost, in +spite of all attempts to make them do otherwise." It is a good plan, in +warm weather, occasionally to sprinkle water over and about the perches, +and scatter a little powdered sulphur over the wetted parts, which will +greatly tend to keep the fowls free from insect parasites. + +The nests for laying in are usually made on the ground, or in a kind of +trough, a little raised; but some use boxes or wicker-baskets, which are +preferable, as they can be removed separately from time to time, and +thoroughly cleansed from dust and vermin, and can also be kept a little +apart from each other. These boxes or troughs should be placed against +the sides of the house, and a board sloping forwards should be fixed +above, to prevent the fowls from roosting upon the edges. If required, a +row of laying-boxes or troughs may be placed on the ground, and another +about a foot or eighteen inches above the floor. The nest should be made +of wheaten, rye, or oaten straw, but never of hay, which is too hot, and +favourable besides to the increase of vermin. Heath cut into short +pieces forms excellent material for nests, but it cannot always be had. +The material must be changed whenever it smells foul or musty, for if it +is allowed to become offensive, the hens will often drop their eggs upon +the ground sooner than go to the nest. When the fowl-house adjoins a +passage, or it can be otherwise so contrived, it is an excellent plan +to have a wooden flap made to open just above the back of the nests, so +that the eggs can be removed without your going into the roosting-house, +treading the dung about, and disturbing any birds that may be there, or +about to enter to lay. Where possible the nests in the roosting-houses +should be used for laying in only; and a separate house should be set +apart for sitting hens. Where there are but a few fowls and only one +house, if a hen is allowed to sit, a separate nest must be made as quiet +as possible for her.--_See_ Chapter VI. + +Cleanliness must be maintained. The _Canada Farmer_ suggested an +admirable plan for keeping the roosting-house clean. A broad shelf, +securely fastened, but moveable, is fixed at the back of the house, +eighteen inches from the ground, and the perch placed four or five +inches above it, a foot from the wall. The nests are placed on the +ground beneath the board, which preserves them from the roosting fowl's +droppings, and keeps them well shaded for the laying or sitting hen, if +the latter is obliged to incubate in the same house, and the nests do +not need a top. The shelf can be easily scraped clean every morning, and +should be lightly sanded afterwards. Thus the floor of the house is +never soiled by the roosting birds, and the broad board at the same time +protects them from upward draughts of air. Where the nests and perches +are not so arranged, the idea may be followed by placing a loose board +below each perch, upon which the dung will fall, and the board can be +taken up every morning and the dung removed. With proper tools, a +properly constructed fowl-house can be kept perfectly clean, and all the +details of management well carried out without scarcely soiling your +hands. A birch broom is the best implement with which to clean the house +if the floor is as hard as it ought to be. A handful of ashes or sand, +sprinkled over the places from which dung has been removed, will absorb +any remaining impurity. + +Fowls' dung is a very valuable manure, being strong, stimulating, and +nitrogenous, possessing great power in forcing the growth of vegetables, +particularly those of the cabbage tribe, and is excellent for growing +strawberries, or indeed almost any plants, if sufficiently diluted; for, +being very strong, it should always be mixed with earth. A fowl, +according to Stevens, will void at least one ounce of dry dung in +twenty-four hours, which is worth at least seven shillings a cwt. + +The door should fit closely, a slight space only being left at the +bottom to admit air. It should have a square hole, which is usually +placed either at the top or bottom, for the poultry to enter to roost. A +hole at the top is generally preferred, as it is inaccessible to vermin. +The fowls ascend by means of a ladder formed of a slanting board, with +strips of wood nailed across to assist their feet; a similar ladder +should be placed inside to enable them to descend, if they are heavy +fowls; but the evil is that, even with this precaution, they are +inclined to fly down, as they do from high perches, without using the +ladder, and thus injure their feet. A hole in the middle of the door +would be preferable to either, and obviate the defects of both. These +holes should be fitted with sliding panels on the inside, so that they +can be closed in order to keep the fowls out while cleaning the house, +or to keep them in until they have laid their eggs, or it may be safe to +let them out in the morning in any neighbourhood or place where they +would else be liable to be stolen. Every day, after the fowls have left +their roosts, the doors and windows should be opened, and a thorough +draught created to purify the house. During the winter months all the +entrance holes should be closed from sunset to sunrise, unless in mild +localities. Where there are many houses, they should, if possible, +communicate with each other by doors, so that they may be cleaned from +end to end, or inspected without the necessity of passing through the +yards, which is especially unpleasant in wet weather. The doors should +be capable of being fastened on either side, to avoid the chance of the +different breeds intermingling while your attention is occupied in +arranging the nests, collecting eggs, &c. See that your fowls are +securely locked in at night, for they are more easily stolen than any +other kind of domestic animals. A good dog in the yard or adjoining +house or stable is an excellent protection. + +Every poultry-house should be lime-washed at least four or five times a +year, and oftener if convenient. Vermin of any kind can be effectually +destroyed by fumigating the place with sulphur. In this operation a +little care is requisite; it should be commenced early in the morning, +by first closing the lattices, and stopping up every crevice through +which air can enter; then place on the ground a pan of lighted charcoal, +and throw on it some brimstone broken into small pieces. Directly this +is done the room should be left, the door kept shut and airtight for +some hours; care too should be taken that the lattices are first opened, +and time given for the vapour to thoroughly disperse before any one +again enters, when every creature within the building will be found +destroyed. + +It is said that a pair of caged guinea-pigs in the fowl-house will keep +away rats. + +In a large establishment, and in a moderate one, if the outlay is not an +object, the pens for the chickens and the passages between the various +houses may be profitably covered with glass, and grapes grown on the +rafters. Raising chickens under glass has been tried with great +success. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE FOWL-YARD. + + +The scarcity of poultry in this country partly arises from all +gallinaceous birds requiring warmth and dryness to keep them in perfect +health, while the climate of Great Britain is naturally moist and cold. + +"The warmest and driest soils," says Mowbray, "are the best adapted to +the breeding and rearing of gallinaceous fowls, more particularly +chickens. A wet soil is the worst, since, however ill affected fowls are +by cold, they endure it better than moisture. Land proper for sheep is +generally also adapted to the successful keeping of poultry and +rabbits." + +But poultry may be reared and kept successfully even on bad soils with +good drainage and attention. The "Henwife" says: "I do not consider any +one soil necessary for success in rearing poultry. Some think a chalk +soil essential for Dorkings, but I have proved the fallacy of this +opinion by bringing up, during three years, many hundreds of these _soi +disant_ delicate birds on the strong blue clay of the Carse of Gowrie, +doubtless thoroughly drained, that system being well understood and +universally practised by the farmers of the district. A coating of +gravel and sand once a year is all that is requisite to secure the +necessary dryness in the runs." The best soil for a poultry-yard is +gravel, or sand resting on chalk or gravel. When the soil is clayey, or +damp from any other cause, it should be thoroughly drained, and the +whole or a good portion of the ground should be raised by the addition +of twelve inches of chalk, or bricklayer's rubbish, over which should be +spread a few inches of sand. Cramp, roup, and some other diseases, more +frequently arise from stagnant wet in the soil than from any other +cause. + +The yard should be sheltered from the north and east winds, and where +this is effected by the position of a shrubbery or plantation in which +the fowls may be allowed to run, it will afford the advantage of +protection, not only from wind and cold, but also shelter from the rain +and the burning sun. It also furnishes harbourage for insects, which +will find them both food and exercise in picking up. Indeed, for all +these purposes a few bushes may be advantageously planted in or +adjoining any poultry-yard. When a tree can be enclosed in a run, it +forms an agreeable object for the eye, and affords shelter to the fowls. + +A covered run or shed for shelter in wet or hot weather is a great +advantage, especially if chickens are reared. It may be constructed with +a few rough poles supporting a roof of patent felt, thatch, or rough +board, plain or painted for preservation, and may be made of any length +and width, from four feet upwards, and of any height from four feet at +the back and three feet in the front, to eight feet at the back and six +feet in the front. The shed should, if possible, adjoin the fowl-house. +It should be wholly or partly enclosed with wire-work, which should be +boarded for a foot from the ground to keep out the wet and snow, and to +keep in small chickens. The roof should project a foot beyond the +uprights which support it, in order to throw the rain well off, and have +a gutter-shoot to carry it away and prevent it from being blown in upon +the enclosed space. The floor should be a little higher than the level +of the yard, both in order to keep it dry and the easier to keep it +clean; and it should be higher at the back than in the front, which will +keep it drained if any wet should be blown in or water upset. If +preferred, moveable netting may be used, so that the fowls can be +allowed their liberty in fine weather, and be confined in wet weather. +But the boarding must be retained to keep out the wet. The ground may be +left in its natural state for the fowls to scratch in, in which case the +surface should be dug up from time to time and replaced with fresh earth +pressed down moderately hard. If the house is large and has a good +window, a shed is not absolutely necessary, especially for a few fowls +only, but it is a valuable addition, and is also very useful to shelter +the coops of the mother hens and their young birds in wet, windy, or hot +weather. + +By daily attention to cleanliness, a few fowls may be kept in such a +covered shed, without having any open run, by employing a thick layer of +dry pulverised earth as a deodoriser, which is to be turned over with a +rake every day, and replaced with fresh dry pulverised earth once a +week. The dry earth entirely absorbs all odour. In a run of this kind, +six square feet should be allowed to each fowl kept, for a smaller +surface of the dry earth becomes moist and will then no longer deodorise +the dung. Sifted ashes spread an inch deep over the floor of the whole +shed will be a good substitute if the dry earth cannot be had. They +should be raked over every other morning, and renewed at least every +fortnight, or oftener if possible. The ground should be dug and turned +over whenever it looks sodden, or gives out any offensive smell; and +three or four times a year the polluted soil below the layer, that is, +the earth to the depth of three or four inches, should be removed and +replaced with fresh earth, gravel, chalk, or ashes.[2] The shed must be +so contrived that the sun can shine upon the fowls during some part of +the day, or they will not continue in health for any length of time, and +it is almost impossible to rear healthy chickens without its light and +warmth; and it will be a great improvement if part of the run is open. +Another shed will be required if chickens are to be reared. + +Fowls that are kept in small spaces or under covered runs will require a +different diet to those that are allowed to roam in fields and pick up +insects, grass, &c., and must be provided with green food, animal food +in place of insects, and be well supplied with mortar rubbish and +gravel. + +The height of the wall, paling, or fencing that surrounds the yard, and +of the partitions, if the yard is divided into compartments for the +purpose of keeping two or more breeds separate and pure, must be +according to the nature of the breed. Three feet in height will be +sufficient to retain Cochins and Brahmas; six feet will be required for +moderate-sized fowls; and eight or nine feet will be necessary to +confine the Game, Hamburg, and Bantam breeds. Galvanised iron +wire-netting is the best material, as it does not rust, and will not +need painting for a long time. It is made of various degrees of +strength, and in different forms, and may be had with meshes varying +from three-fourths of an inch to two inches or more; with very small +meshes at the lower part only, to keep out rats and to keep in chickens; +with spikes upon the top, or with scolloped wire-work, which gives it a +neat and finished appearance; with doors, and with iron standards +terminating in double spikes to fix in the ground, by which wooden posts +are divided, while it can be easily fixed and removed. The meshes should +not be more than two inches wide, and if the meshes of the lower part +are not very small, it should be boarded to about two feet six inches +from the ground, in order to keep out rats, keep in chickens, and to +prevent the cocks fighting through the wire, which fighting is more +dangerous than in the open, for the birds are very liable to injure +themselves in the meshes, and, Dorkings especially, to tear their combs +and toes in them. If iron standards are not attached to the netting, it +should be stretched to stout posts, well fixed in the ground, eight feet +apart, and fastened by galvanised iron staples. A rail at the top gives +a neater appearance, but induces the fowls to perch upon it, which may +tempt them to fly over. + +Where it is not convenient to fix a fence sufficiently high, or when a +hen just out with her brood has to be kept in, a fowl may be prevented +from flying over fences by stripping off the vanes or side shoots from +the first-flight feathers of one wing, usually ten in number, which will +effectually prevent the bird from flying, and will not be unsightly, as +the primary quills are always tucked under the others when not used for +flying. This method answers much better than clipping the quills of each +wing, as the cut points are liable to inflict injuries and cause +irritation in moulting. + +The openness of the feathers of fowls which do not throw off the water +well, like those of most birds, enables them to cleanse themselves +easier from insects and dirt, by dusting their feathers, and then +shaking off the dirt and these minute pests with the dust. For this +purpose one or more ample heaps of sifted ashes, or very dry sand or +earth, for them to roll in, must be placed in the sun, and, if possible, +under shelter, so as to be warm and perfectly dry. Wood ashes are the +best. This dust-heap is as necessary to fowls as water for washing is to +human beings. It cleanses their feathers and skin from vermin and +impurities, promotes the cuticular or skin excretion, and is materially +instrumental in preserving their health. If they should be much troubled +with insects, mix in the heap plenty of wood ashes and a little flour of +sulphur. + +A good supply of old mortar-rubbish, or similar substance, must be kept +under the shed, or in a dry place, to provide material for the +eggshells, or the hens will be liable to lay soft-shelled eggs. Burnt +oyster-shells are an excellent substitute for common lime, and should be +prepared for use by being heated red-hot, and when cold broken into +small pieces with the fingers, but not powdered. Some give chopped or +ground bones, or a lump of chalky marl. Eggshells roughly crushed are +also good, and are greedily devoured by the hens. + +A good supply of gravel is also essential, the small stones which the +fowls swallow being necessary to enable them to digest their hard food. +Fowls swallow all grain whole, their bills not being adapted for +crushing it like the teeth of the rabbit or the horse, and it is +prepared for digestion by the action of a strong and muscular gizzard, +lined with a tough leathery membrane, which forms a remarkable +peculiarity in the internal structure of fowls and turkeys. "By the +action," says Mr. W. H. L. Martin, "of the two thick muscular sides of +this gizzard on each other, the seeds and grains swallowed (and +previously macerated in the crop, and there softened by a peculiar +secretion oozing from glandular pores) are ground up, or triturated in +order that their due digestion may take place. It is a remarkable fact +that these birds are in the habit of swallowing small pebbles, bits of +gravel, and similar substances, which it would seem are essential to +their health. The definite use of these substances, which are certainly +ground down by the mill-like action of the gizzard, has been a matter +of difference among various physiologists, and many experiments, with a +view to elucidate the subject, have been undertaken. It was sufficiently +proved by Spallanzani that the digestive fluid was incapable of +dissolving grains of barley, &c., in their unbruised state; and this he +ascertained by filling small hollow and perforated balls and tubes of +metal or glass with grain, and causing them to be swallowed by turkeys +and other fowls; when examined, after twenty-four and forty-eight hours, +the grains were found to be unaffected by the gastric fluid; but when he +filled similar balls and tubes with bruised grains, and caused them to +be swallowed, he found, after a lapse of the same number of hours, that +they were more or less dissolved by the action of the gastric juice. In +other experiments, he found that metallic tubes introduced into the +gizzard of common fowls and turkeys, were bruised, crushed, and +distorted, and even that sharp-cutting instruments were broken up into +blunt fragments without having produced the slightest injury to the +gizzard. But these experiments go rather to prove the extraordinary +force and grinding powers of the gizzard, than to throw light upon the +positive use of the pebbles swallowed; which, after all, Spallanzani +thought were swallowed without any definite object, but from mere +stupidity. Blumenbach and Dr. Bostock aver that fowls, however well +supplied with food, grow lean without them, and to this we can bear our +own testimony. Yet the question, what is their precise effect? remains +to be answered. Boerhave thought it probable that they might act as +absorbents to superabundant acid; others have regarded them as irritants +or stimulants to digestion; and Borelli supposed that they might really +contribute some degree of nutriment." + +Sir Everard Home, in his "Comparative Anatomy," says: "When the external +form of this organ is first attentively examined, viewing that side +which is anterior in the living bird, and on which the two bellies of +the muscle and middle are more distinct, there being no other part to +obstruct the view, the belly of the muscle on the left side is seen to +be larger than on the right. This appears, on reflection, to be of great +advantage in producing the necessary motion; for if the two muscles were +of equal strength, they must keep a greater degree of exertion than is +necessary; while, in the present case, the principal effect is produced +by that of the left side, and a smaller force is used by that on the +right to bring the parts back again. The two bellies of the muscle, by +their alternate action, produce two effects--the one a constant friction +on the contents of the cavity; the other, a pressure on them. This last +arises from a swelling of the muscle inwards, which readily explains all +the instances which have been given by Spallanzani and others, of the +force of the gizzard upon substances introduced into it--a force which +is found by their experiments always to act in an oblique direction. The +internal cavity, when opened in this distended state, is found to be of +an oval form, the long diameter being in the line of the body; its +capacity nearly equal to the size of a pullet's egg; and on the sides +there are ridges in their horny coat (lining membrane) in the long +direction of the oval. When the horny coat is examined in its internal +structure, the fibres of which it is formed are not found in a direction +perpendicular to the ligamentous substance behind it; but in the upper +portion of the cavity it is obliquely upwards. From this form of cavity +it is evident that no part of the sides is ever intended to be brought +in contact, and that the food is triturated by being mixed with hard +bodies, and acted on by the powerful muscles which form the gizzard." + +The experiments of Spallanzani show that the muscular action of the +gizzard is equally powerful whether the small stones are present or not; +and that they are not at all necessary to the trituration of the firmest +food, or the hardest foreign substances; but it is also quite clear that +when these small stones are put in motion by the muscles of the gizzard +they assist in crushing the grain, and at the same time prevent it from +consolidating into a thick, heavy, compacted mass, which would take a +far longer time in undergoing the digestive process than when separated +and intermingled with the pebbles. + +This was the opinion of the great physiologist, John Hunter, who, in his +treatise "On the Animal Economy," after noticing the grinding powers of +the gizzard, says, in reference to the pebbles swallowed, "We are not, +however, to conclude that stones are entirely useless; for if we compare +the strength of the muscles of the jaws of animals which masticate their +food with those of birds who do not, we shall say that the parts are +well calculated for the purpose of mastication; yet we are not thence to +infer that the teeth in such jaws are useless, even although we have +proof that the gums do the business when the teeth are gone. If pebbles +are of use, which we may reasonably conclude they are, birds have an +advantage over animals having teeth, so far as pebbles are always to be +found, while the teeth are not renewed. If we constantly find in an +organ substances which can only be subservient to the functions of that +organ, should we deny their use, although the part can do its office +without them? The stones assist in grinding down the grain, and, by +separating its parts, allow the gastric juice to come more readily in +contact with it." + +When a paddock is used as a run for a large number of poultry, it should +be enclosed either by a wall or paling, but not by a hedge, as the fowls +can get through it, and will also lay their eggs under the hedge. The +paddock should be well drained, and it will be a great advantage if it +contains a pond, or has a stream of water running through or by it. +Mowbray advises that the grass run should be sown "with common trefoil +or wild clover, with a mixture of burnet, spurry, or storgrass," which +last two kinds "are particularly salubrious to poultry." If the grass is +well rooted before the fowls are allowed to run on it, they may range +there for several hours daily, according to its extent and their number, +but it should be renewed in the spring by sowing where it has become +bare or thin. A dry common, or pasture fields, in which they may freely +wander and pick up grubs, insects, ants' eggs, worms, and leaves of +plants, is a great advantage, and they may be accustomed to return from +it at a call. Where there is a cropped field, orchard, or garden, in +which fowls may roam at certain seasons, when the crops are safe from +injury, each brood should be allowed to wander in it separately for a +few hours daily, or on different days, as may be most convenient. "A +garden dung-heap," says Mr. Baily, "overgrown with artichokes, mallows, +&c., is an excellent covert for chickens, especially in hot weather. +They find shelter and meet with many insects there." When horse-dung is +procured for the garden, or supplied from your stables, some should be +placed in a small trench, and frequently renewed, in which the fowls +will amuse themselves, particularly in winter, by scraping for corn and +worms. When fowls have not the advantage of a grass run they should be +indulged with a square or two of fresh turf, as often as it can be +obtained, on which they will feed and amuse themselves. It should be +heavy enough to enable them to tear off the grass, without being obliged +to drag the turf about with them. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +FOOD. + + +The following table, which first appeared in the "Poultry Diary," will +show at a glance the relative constituents and qualities of the +different kinds of food, and may be consulted with great advantage by +the poultry-keeper, as it will enable him to proportion mixed food +correctly, and to change it according to the production of growth, +flesh, or fat that may be desired, and according to the temperature of +the season. These proportions, of course, are not absolutely invariable, +for the relative proportions of the constituents of the grain will vary +with the soil, manure used, and the growing and ripening characteristics +of the season. + + ------------------+-------+-------+-------+---------+------+------- + |Flesh- |Warmth-| Bone- | Husk |Water.| + |forming|giving |making | or | | + There is in every | Food. | Food. | Food. | Fibre. | | + 100 lbs. of +-------+-------+-------+---------+ | + |Gluten,|Fat or |Starch,| Mineral | | + | &c. | Oil. | &c. |Substance| | + ------------------+-------+-------+-------+---------+------+------- + Oats | 15 | 6 | 47 | 2 | 20 | 10 + Oatmeal | 18 | 6 | 63 | 2 | 2 | 9 + Middlings or fine | | | | | | + Sharps | 18 | 6 | 53 | 5 | 4 | 14 + Wheat | 12 | 3 | 70 | 2 | 1 | 12 + Barley | 11 | 2 | 60 | 2 | 14 | 1 + Indian Corn | 11 | 8 | 65 | 1 | 5 | 10 + Rice | 7 |a trace| 80 | a trace | -- | 13 + Beans and Peas | 25 | 2 | 48 | 2 | 8 | 15 + Milk | 41/2 | 3 | 5 | 3/4 | -- | 863/4 + ------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Barley is more generally used than any other grain, and, reckoned by +weight, is cheaper than wheat or oats; but, unless in the form of meal, +should not be the only grain given, for fowls do not fatten upon it, as, +though possessing a very fair proportion of flesh-forming substances, it +contains a lesser amount of fatty matters than other varieties of corn. +In Surrey barley is the usual grain given, excepting during the time of +incubation, when the sitting hens have oats, as being less heating to +the system than the former. Barley-meal contains the same component +parts as the whole grain, being ground with the husk, but only inferior +barley is made into meal. + +Wheat of the best description is dearer than barley, both by weight and +measure, and possesses but about one-twelfth part more flesh-forming +material, but it is fortunate that the small cheap wheat is the best for +poultry, for Professor Johnston says, "the small or tail corn which the +farmer separates before bringing his grain to market is richer in gluten +(flesh-forming food) than the full-grown grain, and is therefore more +nutritious." The "Henwife" finds "light wheats or tailings the best +grain for daily use, and next to that barley." + +Oats are dearer than barley by weight. The heaviest should be bought, as +they contain very little more husk than the lightest, and are therefore +cheaper in proportion. Oats and oatmeal contain much more flesh-forming +material than any other kind of grain, and double the amount of fatty +material than wheat, and three times as much as barley. Mowbray says +oats are apt to cause scouring, and chickens become tired of them; but +they are recommended by many for promoting laying, and in Kent, Sussex, +and Surrey for fattening. Fowls frequently refuse the lighter samples of +oats, but if soaked in water for a few hours so as to swell the kernel, +they will not refuse them. The meal contains more flesh-forming material +than the whole grain. + +The meal of wheat and barley are much the same as the whole grain, but +oatmeal is drier and separated from a large portion of the husk, which +makes it too dear except for fattening fowls and feeding the youngest +chickens, for which it is the very best food. Fine "middlings," also +termed "sharps" and "thirds," and in London coarse country flour, are +much like oatmeal, but cheaper than the best, and may be cheaply and +advantageously employed instead of oatmeal, or mixed with boiled or +steamed small potatoes or roots. + +Many writers recommend refuse corn for fowls, and the greater number of +poultry-keepers on a small scale perhaps think such light common grain +the cheapest food; but this is a great mistake, as, though young fowls +may be fed on offal and refuse, it is the best economy to give the older +birds the finest kind of grain, both for fattening and laying, and even +the young fowls should be fed upon the best if fine birds for breeding +or exhibition are desired. "Instead of giving ordinary or tail corn to +my fattening or breeding poultry," says Mowbray, "I have always found it +most advantageous to allow the heaviest and the best; thus putting the +confined fowls on a level with those at the barn-door, where they are +sure to get their share of the weightiest and finest corn. This high +feeding shows itself not only in the size and flesh of the fowls, but in +the size, weight, and substantial goodness of their eggs, which, in +these valuable particulars, will prove far superior to the eggs of fowls +fed upon ordinary corn or washy potatoes; two eggs of the former going +further in domestic use than three of the latter." "Sweepings" sometimes +contain poisonous or hurtful substances, and are always dearer, weight +for weight, than sound grain. + +Some poultry-keepers recommend that the grain should be boiled, which +makes it swell greatly, and consequently fills the fowl's crop with a +smaller quantity, and the bird is satisfied with less than if dry grain +be given; but others say that the fowls derive more nutriment from the +same quantity of grain unboiled. Indeed, it seems evident that a portion +of the nutriment must pass into the water, and also evaporate in steam. +The fowl's gizzard being a powerful grinding mill, evidently designed by +Providence for the purpose of crushing the grain into meal, it is clear +that whole grain is the natural diet of fowls, and that softer kinds of +food are chiefly to be used for the first or morning meal for fowls +confined in houses (see p. 34), and for those being fattened +artificially in coops, where it is desired to help the fowl's digestive +powers, and to convert the food into flesh as quickly as possible. + +Indian corn or maize, either whole or in meal, must not be given in too +great a proportion, as it is very fattening from the large quantity of +oil it contains; but mixed with barley or barley-meal, it is a most +economical and useful food. It is useful for a change, but is not a good +food by itself. It may be given once or twice a week, especially in the +winter, with advantage. From its size small birds cannot eat it and rob +the fowls. Whether whole or in meal, the maize should be scalded, that +the swelling may be done before it is eaten. The yellow-coloured maize +is not so good as that which is reddish or rather reddish-brown. + +Buckwheat is about equal to barley in flesh-forming food, and is very +much used on the Continent. Mr. Wright has "a strong opinion that the +enormous production of eggs and fowls in France is to some extent +connected with the almost universal use of buckwheat by French +poultry-keepers." It is not often to be had cheap in this country, but +is hardy and may be grown anywhere at little cost. Mr. Edwards says, he +"obtained (without manure) forty bushels to the acre, on very poor sandy +soil, that would not have produced eighteen bushels of oats. The seed is +angular in form, not unlike hempseed; and is stimulating, from the +quantity of spirit it contains." + +Peas, beans, and tares contain an extraordinary quantity of +flesh-forming material, and very little of fat-forming, but are too +stimulating for general use, and would harden the muscular fibres and +give too great firmness of flesh to fowls that are being fattened, but +where tares are at a low price, or peas or beans plentiful, stock fowls +may be advantageously fed upon any of these, and they may be given +occasionally to fowls that are being fattened. It is better to give them +boiled than in a raw state, especially if they are hard and dry, and the +beans in particular may be too large for the fowls to swallow +comfortably. Near Geneva fowls are fed chiefly upon tares. Poultry +reject the wild tares of which pigeons are so fond. + +Rice is not a cheap food. When boiled it absorbs a great quantity of +water and forms a large substance, but, of course, only contains the +original quantity of grain which is of inferior value, especially for +growing chickens, as it consists almost entirely of starch, and does not +contain quite half the amount of flesh-forming materials as oats. When +broken or slightly damaged it may be had much cheaper, and will do as +well as the finest. Boil it for half an hour in skim-milk or water, and +then let it stand in the water till cold, when it will have swollen +greatly, and be so firm that it can be taken out in lumps, and easily +broken into pieces. In addition to its strengthening and fattening +qualities rice is considered to improve the delicacy of the flesh. Fowls +are especially fond of it at first, but soon grow tired of this food. If +mixed with less cloying food, such as bran, they would probably continue +to relish it. + +Hempseed is most strengthening during moulting time, and should then be +given freely, especially in cold localities. + +Linseed steeped is occasionally given, chiefly to birds intended for +exhibition, to increase the secretion of oil, and give lustre to their +plumage. + +Potatoes, from the large quantity of starch they contain, are not good +unmixed, as regular food, but mixed with bran or meal are most conducive +to good condition and laying. They contain a great proportion of +nutriment, comparatively to their bulk and price; and may be +advantageously and profitably given where the number of eggs produced is +of more consequence than their flavour or goodness. A good morning meal +of soft food for a few fowls may be provided daily almost for nothing by +boiling the potato peelings till soft, and mashing them up with enough +bran, slightly scalded, to make a tolerably stiff dry paste. The +peelings will supply as many fowls as there are persons at the dinner +table. A little salt should always be added, and in winter a slight +sprinkling of pepper is good. + +"It is indispensable," says Mr. Dickson, "to give the potatoes to fowls +not only in a boiled state, but hot; not so hot, however, as to burn +their mouths, as they are stupid enough to do if permitted. They dislike +cold potatoes, and will not eat them willingly. It is likewise requisite +to break all the potatoes a little, for they will not unfrequently leave +a potato when thrown down unbroken, taking it, probably, for a stone, +since the moment the skin is broken and the white of the interior is +brought into view, they fall upon it greedily. When pieces of raw +potatoes are accidentally in their way, fowls will sometimes eat them, +though they are not fond of these, and it is doubtful whether they are +not injurious." + +Mangold-wurtzel, swedes, or other turnips, boiled with a very small +quantity of water, until quite soft, and then thickened with the very +best middlings or meal, is the very best soft food, especially for +Dorkings. + +Soft food should always be mixed rather dry and _friable_, and not +_porridgy_, for they do not like sticky food, which clings round their +beaks and annoys them, besides often causing diarrhoea. There should +never be enough water in food to cause it to glisten in the light. If +the soft food is mixed boiling hot at night and put in the oven, or +covered with a cloth, it will be warm in the morning, in which state it +should always be given in cold weather. + +Fowls have their likes and dislikes as well as human beings, some +preferring one kind of grain to all others, which grain is again +disliked by other fowls. They also grow tired of the same food, and will +thrive all the better for having as much variety of diet as possible, +some little change in the food being made every few days. Fowls should +not be forced or pressed to take food to which they show a dislike. It +is most important to give them chiefly that which they like best, as it +is a rule, with but few exceptions, that what is eaten with most relish +agrees best and is most easily digested; but care must be taken not to +give too much, for one sort of grain being more pleasing to their palate +than another, induces them to eat gluttonously more than is necessary or +healthy. M. Reaumur made many careful experiments upon the feeding of +fowls, and among them found that they were much more easily satisfied +than might be supposed from the greedy voracity which they exhibit when +they are fed, and that the sorts of food most easily digested by them +are those of which they eat the greatest quantity. + +No definite scale can be given for the quantity of food which fowls +require, as it must necessarily vary with the different breeds, sizes, +ages, condition, and health of the fowls; and with the seasons of the +year, and the temperature of the season, much more food being necessary +to keep up the proper degree of animal heat in winter than in summer; +and the amount of seeds, insects, vegetables, and other food that they +may pick up in a run of more or less extent. Over-feeding, whether by +excess of quantity or excess of stimulating constituents, is the cause +of the most general diseases, the greater proportion of these diseases, +and of most of the deaths from natural causes among fowls. When fowls +are neither laying well nor moulting, they should not be fed very +abundantly; for in such a state over-feeding, especially with rich food, +may cause them to accumulate too much fat. A fat hen ceases to lay, or +nearly, while an over-fed cock becomes lazy and useless, and may die of +apoplexy. + +But half-fed fowls never pay whether kept for the table or to produce +eggs. A fowl cannot get fat or make an egg a day upon little or poor +food. A hen producing eggs will eat nearly twice as much food as at +another time. In cold weather give plenty of dry bread soaked in ale. + +Poultry prefer to pick their food off the ground. "No plan," says Mr. +Baily, "is so extravagant or so injurious as to throw down heaps once or +twice per day. They should have it scattered as far and wide as +possible, that the birds may be long and healthily employed in finding +it, and may not accomplish in a few minutes that which should occupy +them for hours. For this reason every sort of feeder or hopper is bad. +It is the nature of fowls to take a grain at a time, and to pick grass +and dirt with it, which assist digestion. They should feed as pheasants, +partridges, grouse, and other game do in a state of nature; if, +contrary to this, they are enabled to eat corn by mouthfuls, their crops +are soon overfilled, and they seek relief in excessive draughts of +water. Nothing is more injurious than this, and the inactivity that +attends the discomfort caused by it lays the foundation of many +disorders. The advantage of scattering the food is, that all then get +their share; while if it is thrown only on a small space the master +birds get the greater part, while the others wait around. In most +poultry-yards more than half the food is wasted; the same quantity is +thrown down day after day, without reference to time of year, alteration +of numbers, or variation of appetite, and that which is not eaten is +trodden about, or taken by small birds. Many a poultry-yard is coated +with corn and meal." + +If two fowls will not run after one piece, they do not want it. If a +trough is used, the best kind is the simplest, being merely a long, open +one, shaped like that used for pigs, but on a smaller scale. It should +be placed about a foot from one of the sides of the yard, behind some +round rails driven into the ground three inches apart, so that the fowls +cannot get into the troughs, so as to upset them, or tread in or +otherwise dirty the food. The rails should be all of the same height, +and a slanting board be fixed over the trough. + +Some persons give but one meal a day, and that generally in the morning; +this is false economy, for the whole of the nutriment contained in the +one meal is absorbed in keeping up the animal heat, and there is no +material for producing eggs. "The number of meals per day," says Mr. +Wright, "best consistent with real economy will vary from two to three, +according to the size of the run. If it be of moderate extent, so that +they can in any degree forage for themselves, two are quite sufficient, +at least in summer, and should be given early in the morning and the +last thing before the birds go to roost. In any case, these will be the +principal meals; but when the fowls are kept in confinement they will +require, in addition, a scanty feed at mid-day. The first feeding should +consist of soft food of some kind. The birds have passed a whole night +since they were last fed; and it is important, especially in cold +weather, that a fresh supply should as soon as possible be got into the +system, and not merely into the crop. But if grain be given, it has to +be ground in the poor bird's gizzard before it can be digested, and on a +cold winter's morning the delay is anything but beneficial. But, for the +very same reason, at the evening meal grain forms the best food which +can be supplied; it is digested slowly, and during the long cold nights +affords support and warmth to the fowls." + +They should be fed at regular hours, and will then soon become +accustomed to them, and not loiter about the house or kitchen door all +day long, expecting food, which they will do if fed irregularly or too +often, and neglect to forage about for themselves, and thus cost more +for food. + +Grass is of the greatest value for all kinds of poultry, and where they +have no paddock, or grass-plot, fresh vegetables must be given them +daily, as green food is essential to the health of all poultry, even of +the very youngest chickens. Cabbage and lettuce leaves, spinach, endive, +turnip-tops, turnips cut into small pieces and scattered like grain, or +cut in two, radish-leaves, or any refuse, but not stale vegetables will +do; but the best thing is a large sod of fresh-cut turf. They are +partial to all the mild succulent weeds, such as chickweed and +_Chenopodium_, or fat-hen, and eat the leaves of most trees and shrubs, +even those of evergreens; but they reject the leaves of strawberries, +celery, parsnips, carrots, potatoes, onions, and leeks. The supply of +green food may be unlimited, but poultry should never be entirely fed on +raw greens. Cabbage and spinach are still more relaxing when boiled than +raw. They are very fond of the fruit of the mulberry and cherry trees, +and will enjoy any that falls, and prevent it from being wasted. + +Insect food is important to fowls, and essential for chickens and laying +hens. "There is no sort of insect, perhaps," says Mr. Dickson, "which +fowls will not eat. They are exceedingly fond of flies, beetles, +grasshoppers, and crickets, but more particularly of every sort of +grub, caterpillar, and maggot, with the remarkable exception of the +caterpillar moth of the magpie (_Abraxas Grossularia_), which no bird +will touch." M. Reaumur mentions the circumstance of a quantity of wheat +stored in a corn-loft being much infected with the caterpillars of the +small corn-moth, which spins a web and unites several grains together. A +young lady devised the plan of taking some chickens to the loft to feed +on the caterpillars, of which they were so fond that in a few days they +devoured them all, without touching a single grain of the corn. Mr. +Dickson observes, that "biscuit-dust from ships' stores, which consists +of biscuit mouldered into meal, mixed with fragments still unbroken, +would be an excellent food for poultry, if soaked in boiling water and +given them hot. It is thus used for feeding pigs near the larger +seaports, where it can sometimes be had in considerable quantity, and at +a very reasonable price. It will be no detriment to this material if it +be full of weevils and their grubs, of which fowls are fonder than of +the biscuit itself." + +There is not any food of which poultry generally are so fond as of +earthworms; but all fowls are not equally fond of them, and some will +not touch them. They will not eat dead worms. Too many ought not to be +given, or they will become too fat and cease laying. When fowls are +intended for the table worms should not be given, as they are said +always more or less to deteriorate the flavour of the flesh. A good +supply may easily be obtained. By stamping hard upon the ground, as +anglers do, worms will rise to the surface; but a better method is to +thrust a strong stake or a three-pronged potato-fork into the ground, to +the depth of a foot or so, and jerk it backwards and forwards, so as to +shake the soil all around. By going out with a light at night in calm, +mild weather, particularly when there is dew, or after rain, a cautious +observer will see large numbers of worms lying on the ground, +gravel-walks, grass-plots or pastures; but they are easily frightened +into their holes, though with caution and dexterity a great number, and +those chiefly of the largest size, may be captured. Mr. Dickson advises +that cottagers' children should be employed to imitate the example of +the rooks, by following the plough or the digger, and collecting the +worms which are disclosed to view; and also to collect cock-chafers, +"and, what would be more advantageous, they might be set to collect the +grubs of this destructive insect after the plough, and thus, while +providing a rich banquet for the poultry, they would be clearing the +fields of a most destructive insect." + +Fowls are very fond of shell snails. They are still more fattening than +worms, and therefore too many must not be given when laying, but they do +not injure the flavour of the flesh. Some will eat slugs, but they are +not generally fond of these, and many fowls will not touch them. + +One great secret of profitable poultry-keeping is, that hens cannot +thrive and lay without a considerable quantity of animal food, and +therefore if they cannot obtain a sufficient quantity in the form of +insects, it must be supplied in meat, which, minced small, should be +given daily and also to all fowls in winter, as insects are then not to +be had. Mr. Baily says: "Do not give fowls meat, but always have the +bones thrown out to them after dinner; they enjoy picking them, and +perform the operation perfectly. Do not feed on raw meat; it makes fowls +quarrelsome, and gives them a propensity to peck each other, especially +in moulting time if the accustomed meat be withheld." They will peck at +the wound of another fowl to procure blood, and even at their own wounds +when within reach. Take care that long pieces of membrane, or thick +skin, tough gristle or sinew, or pieces of bone, are not left sticking +to the meat, or it may choke them, or form a lodgment in the crop. +"Pieces of suet or fat," says Mr. Dickson, "are liked by fowls better +than any other sort of animal food; but, if supplied in any quantity, +will soon render them too fat for continuing to lay. Should there be any +quantity of fat to dispose of, it ought, therefore, to be given at +intervals, and mixed or accompanied with bran, which will serve to fill +their crops without producing too much nutriment." It is a good plan +when there are plenty of bones and scraps of meat to boil them well, and +mix bran or pollard with the liquor before giving them to the fowls, as +it makes the meat easier to mince, and extracts nourishment from the +bones. When minced-meat is required for a large number of fowls, a +mincing or sausage machine will save much time and prepare the meat +better than chopping. They are as fond of fish, whether salted or fresh, +as of flesh. Crumbs, fragments of pastry, and all the refuse and slops +of the kitchen may be given them. Greaves, so much advertised for fowls, +are very bad, rapidly throwing them out of condition, causing their +feathers to fall off, spoiling the flavour of the flesh; they cause +premature decrepitude, and engender many diseases, the most common being +dropsy of an incurable character. + +Where there is no danger from thieves, foxes, or other vermin, and the +run is extensive, it is the best plan to leave the small door of the +fowl-house open, and the fowls will go out at daybreak and pick up many +an "early worm" and insect. The morning meal may be given when the +household has risen. + +A constant supply of fresh clean water is indispensable. Fountains are +preferable to open vessels, in which the fowls are apt to void their +dung, and the chickens to dabble and catch cold, often causing roup, +cramp, &c. The simplest kind of water vessel is a saucer made of red +pottery, containing several circular, concentric troughs, each about an +inch wide, and of the same depth. Chickens cannot get drowned in these +shallow vessels, but unless placed behind rails the water will be +dirtied by the fowls. They are sold at all earthenware shops, and are +used for forcing early mustard in. A capital fountain may be made with +an earthenware jar or flower-pot and a flower-pot saucer. Bore a small +hole in the jar or flower-pot an inch and a half from the edge of the +rim, or detach a piece about three-quarters of an inch deep and one inch +wide, from the rim, and if a flower-pot is used plug the hole in the +bottom airtight with a piece of cork; fill the vessel with water, place +the saucer bottom upwards on the top, press it closely, and quickly turn +both upside down, when the water will flow into the saucer, filling up +the space between it and the vessel up to the same height as the hole +in the side of the jar or flower-pot, therefore the hole in the side of +the rim of the vessel must not be quite so deep as the height of the +side of the saucer; and above all the plug in the flower-pot must be +airtight. This fountain is cheap, simple, and easily cleaned. Water may +also be kept in troughs, or earthenware pans, placed in the same way. +The fountains and pans should be washed and filled with fresh water once +every day, and oftener in warm weather; and they should occasionally be +scoured with sand to remove the green slime which collects on the +surface, and produces roup, gapes, and other diseases. In winter the +vessels should always be emptied at night, in order to avoid ice from +forming in them, which is troublesome to remove, and snow must never be +allowed to fall into them, snow-water being most injurious to poultry. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +EGGS. + + +During the natural process of moulting, hens cease laying because all +the superabundant nutriment is required for the production of the new +feathers. Fowls moult later each time; the moulting occupies a longer +period, and is more severe as it becomes later, and if the weather +should be cold at its termination they seldom recommence laying for some +time. But young fowls moult in spring. Therefore, by having pullets and +hens of different ages, and moulting at different times, a healthy +laying stock may be kept up. Pullets hatched in March, and constantly +fed highly, not only lay eggs abundantly in the autumn, but when killed +in the following February or March, are as fat as any one could or need +desire them to be, and open more like Michaelmas geese than chickens. +When eggs alone are wanted, you can commence by buying in the spring as +many hens as you require, and your run will accommodate, not more than a +year or eighteen months old. If in good health and condition, they will +be already laying, or will begin almost immediately; and, if well housed +and fed, will give a constant supply of eggs until they moult in the +autumn. When these hens have ceased laying, and before they lose their +good condition by moulting, they should be either killed or sold, unless +they are Hamburgs, Brahmas, or Cochins, and replaced by pullets hatched +in March or April, which will have moulted early, and, if properly +housed and fed, will begin to lay by November at the latest, and +continue laying until February or March, when they may be sold or +killed, being then in prime condition, and replaced as before; or, as +they will not stop laying for any length of time, the best may be kept +until the autumn, when, if profit is the chief consideration, they must +be disposed of.[3] But Brahmas, Cochins, and Hamburgs will lay through +the winter up to their second, or even third year. If you commence +poultry-keeping in the autumn you should buy pullets hatched in the +preceding spring. The best and cheapest plan of keeping up a good stock +is to keep a full-feathered Cochin or two for March or April sitting; +and, if necessary, procure eggs of the breed you desire. The Cochin +will sit again, being only too often ready for the task; and the +later-hatched chickens can be fattened profitably for the table. But if +you wish to obtain eggs all the year round, and to avoid replacing of +stock, or object to the trouble of rearing chickens, keep only those +breeds that are non-sitters, as the Hamburgs, Polands, and Spanish; but +you must purchase younger birds from time to time to keep a supply of +laying hens while others are moulting. + +Warmth is most essential for promoting laying. A severe frost will +suddenly stop the laying of even the most prolific hens. "When," says M. +Bosc, "it is wished to have eggs during the cold season, even in the +dead of winter, it is necessary to make the fowls roost over an oven, in +a stable, in a shed where many cattle are kept, or to erect a stove in +the fowl-house on purpose. By such methods, the farmers of Ange have +chickens fit for the table in the month of April, a period when they are +only beginning to be hatched in the farms around Paris, although farther +to the south." It is the winter management of fowls that decides the +question of profit or loss, for hens will be sure to pay in the summer, +even if only tolerably attended to. It is thought by many that each hen +can produce only a certain number of eggs; and if such be the case, it +is very advantageous to obtain a portion of them in winter when they are +generally scarce and can be eaten while fresh, instead of having the +whole number produced in the summer, when so many are spoiled from too +long keeping in consequence of more being produced than are required for +use at the time. + +When the time for her laying approaches, her comb and wattles change +from their previous dull hue to a bright red, the eye brightens, the +gait becomes more spirited, and sometimes she cackles for three or four +days. After laying her egg on leaving the nest the hen utters a loud +cackling cry, to which the cock often responds in a high-pitched kind of +scream; but some hens after laying leave the nest in silence. Some hens +will lay an egg in three days, some every other day, and others every +day. Hens should not be forced. By unnaturally forcing a fowl with +stimulating food, and more particularly with hempseed and tallow +greaves, to lay in two years or so the eggs that should have been the +produce of several, the hen becomes prematurely old and diseased; and it +is reasonable to suppose that the eggs are not so good as they would +have been if nature had been left to run its own course. The eggs ought +to be taken from the nest every afternoon when no more may be expected +to be laid; for if left in the nest, the heat of the hens when laying +next day will tend to corrupt them. + +When the shells of the eggs are somewhat soft, it is because the hens +are rather inclined to grow too fat. It is then proper to mix up a +little chalk in their water, and to put a little mortar rubbish in their +food, the quantity of which should be diminished. We give the following +remarks by an experienced poultry-keeper of the old school, as valuable +from being the result of practice: "The hen sometimes experiences a +difficulty in laying. In this case a few grains of salt or garlic put +into the vent have been successfully tried. The keeper should indeed +make use of the latter mode to find out the place where a hen has laid +without his knowledge; for, as the hen will be in haste to deposit her +egg, her pace towards the nest will be quickened; she may then be +followed and her secret found out." + +"Though one particular form," says Mr. Dickson, "is so common to eggs, +that it is known by the familiar name of egg-shaped, yet all keepers of +poultry must be aware that eggs are sometimes nearly round, and +sometimes almost cylindrical, besides innumerable minor shades of +difference. In fact, eggs differ so much in shape, that it is said +experienced poultry-keepers can tell by the shape of the eggs alone the +hen that laid them; for, strange to say, however different in size the +eggs of any particular hen may be occasionally, they are very rarely +different in form. Among the most remarkable eggs may be mentioned those +of the Shanghae, or Cochin-China fowl, which are of a pale chocolate +colour; and those of the Dorking fowl, which are of a pure white, and +nearly as round as balls. The eggs of the Malay fowls are brown; those +of the Polish fowl, which are very much pointed at one end, are of a +delicate pinkish white; and those of the Bantam are of a long oval." + +A very important part of the egg is the air-bag, or _folliculus aeris_, +which is placed at the larger end, between the shell and its lining +membranes. It is, according to Dr. Paris, about the size of the eye of a +small bird in new laid eggs, but enlarges to ten times that size during +the process of incubation. "This air-bag," says Mr. Dickson, "is of such +great importance to the development of the chick, probably by supplying +it with a limited atmosphere of oxygen, that if the blunt end of the egg +be pierced with the point of the smallest needle (a stratagem which +malice not unfrequently suggests), the egg cannot be hatched, but +perishes." + +An egg exposed to the air is continually losing a portion of its +moisture, the place of which is filled by the entrance of air, and the +egg consequently becomes stale, and after a time putrid. M. Reaumur made +many experiments in preserving eggs, and found that, by coating them +with varnish, it was impossible to distinguish those which had been kept +for a year from those newly laid; but varnish, though not expensive, is +not always to be had in country places, and it also remained on the eggs +placed under a hen and impeded the hatching, while in boiling them, the +varnish, not being soluble in hot water, prevented them from being +properly cooked. He tried other substances, and found that fat or +grease, such as suet, lard, dripping, butter, and oil, were well adapted +for the purpose, the best of these being a mixture of mutton and beef +suet thoroughly melted together over a slow fire, and strained through +a linen cloth into an earthen pan. It is only requisite, he says, to +take a piece of the fat or butter about the size of a pea on the end of +the finger, and rub it all over the shell, by passing and repassing the +finger so that no part be left untouched; the transpiration of matter +from the egg being as effectually stopped by the thinnest layer of fat +or grease as by a thick coating, so that no part of the shell be left +ungreased, or the tip of the finger may be dipped into oil and passed +over the shell in the same manner. If it is desired that the eggs should +look clean, they may be afterwards wiped with a towel, for sufficient +grease or oil enters the pores of the shell to prevent all transpiration +without its being necessary that any should be left to fill up the +spaces between the pores. They can be boiled as usual without rubbing +off the fat, as it will melt in the hot water, and when taken out of the +water the little grease that is left upon the egg is easily wiped off +with a napkin. + +Eggs preserved in this manner can also be used for hatching, as the fat +easily melts away by the heat of the hen; and by this means the eggs of +foreign fowls might be carried to a distance, hatched, and naturalised +in this and other countries. The French also find that a mixture of +melted beeswax and olive oil is an excellent preservative. + +Eggs may also be preserved for cooking by packing them in sawdust, in an +earthen vessel, and covering the top with melted mutton suet or fat; as +fruit is sometimes preserved. They are also said to keep well in salt, +in a barrel arranged in layers of salt and eggs alternately. If the salt +should become damp, it would penetrate through the pores of the shell +and pickle them to a certain extent. M. Gagne says that eggs may be +preserved in a mixture made of one bushel of quick-lime, two pounds of +salt, and eight ounces of cream of tartar, with sufficient water to make +it into a paste of a consistency to receive the eggs, which, it is said, +may be kept in it fresh for two years; but eggs become tasteless when +preserved with lime. It may be as well to mention here that eggs are +comparatively wasted when used in making a rice pudding, as they render +it too hard and dry, and the pudding without them, if properly made, +will be just of the right consistency. + +"Another way to preserve eggs," says Mr. Dickson, "is to have them +cooked in boiling water the same day they are laid. On taking them out +of the water they are marked with red ink, to record their date, and put +away in a cool place, where they will keep, it is said, for several +months. When they are wanted for use, they are again put into hot water +to warm them. The curdy part which is usually seen in new-laid eggs is +so abundant, and the taste is said to be so well preserved, that the +nicest people may be made to believe that they are new laid. At the end +of three or four months, however, the membrane lining the shell becomes +much thickened, and the eggs lose their flavour. Eggs so preserved have +the advantage of not suffering from being carried about." + +"It ought not to be overlooked," says Mr. Dickson, "with respect to the +preservation of eggs, that they not only spoil by the transpiration of +their moisture and the putrid fermentation of their contents, in +consequence of air penetrating through the pores of the shell; but also +by being moved about, and jostled when carried to a distance by sea or +land. Any sort of rough motion indeed ruptures the membranes which keep +the white, the yolk, and the germ of the chick in their proper places, +and upon these becoming mixed, putrefaction soon follows." + +If the eggs are to be kept for setting, place a box, divided by +partitions into divisions for the eggs of the different breeds, in a dry +corner of your kitchen, but not too near to the fire; fill the divisions +with bran previously well dried in an oven; place the eggs in it +upright, with the larger ends uppermost, as soon as they are laid, and +cover them with the bran. Mark each egg in pencil with the date when +laid, and description of breed or cross. They should be kept in a cool +place or a warm place according to the season. Airtight jars, closed +with airtight stoppers, may be used if the eggs are intended to be kept +for a very long time. + +In selecting eggs for setting, choose the freshest, those of moderate +size, well-shaped, and having the air-vessel distinctly visible, either +in the centre of the top of the egg, or slightly to the side, when the +egg is held between the eye and a lighted candle, in a darkened room. +Reject very small eggs, which generally have no yolk, those that are +ill-shaped, and those of equal thickness at both ends, which latter is +the usual shape of eggs with double yolks. These should be avoided, as +they are apt generally to prove unfertile, or produce monstrosities. + +It has been stated that the sex of the embryo chicken can be ascertained +by the position of the air-vessel; that if it be on the top the egg will +produce a cockerel, and if on the side a pullet; but there is no proof +of the truth of this, and, notwithstanding such assertions, it appears +to be impossible to foretell the sex of the chick, from the shape of the +egg or in any other way. + +In selecting eggs for the purpose of producing fowls that are to be kept +for laying only, being non-sitters, choose eggs only from those hens +that are prolific layers, for prolific laying is often as characteristic +of some fowls of a breed as it is of the particular breeds, and by +careful selection this faculty, like others, may be further developed, +or continued if already fully developed. + +If carefully packed, eggs for setting may be carried great +distances--hundreds and even thousands of miles--without injury; +vibration and even moderate shaking, and very considerable changes of +temperature, producing no ill effect upon the germ. The chief point is +to prevent the escape of moisture by evaporation, and consequent +admission of air. A hamper travels with less vibration than a box, and +is therefore preferable, especially for a long journey. They should be +packed in hay, by which they will be preserved from breakage much better +than by being packed in short, close material like bran, chaff, oats, or +sawdust; these being shaken into smaller space by the vibration of +travelling, the eggs often strike and crack each other. The hamper or +box should be large enough to admit of some soft, yielding packing +material being placed all round the eggs. The bottom should be first +covered with a good layer of hay, straw, or moss. It is a good plan to +roll each egg separately in hay or moss, fastened with a little wool or +worsted. They should be covered with well-rubbed straw, pressed down +carefully and gently. The lid of the hamper should be sewed on tightly +all round, or in three or four places at least. If a box is used, the +lid should be fastened by cords or screws, but not with nails, as the +hammering would probably destroy the germ of the egg. + +In procuring eggs for hatching, be sure that the parent birds are of +mature age, but not too old, well-shaped, vigorous, and in perfect +health; that one cock is kept to every six or seven hens; and that they +are well fed and attended to. Have a steady broody hen ready to take the +eggs. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE SITTING HEN. + + +All hens that are inclined to sit should be allowed to hatch and bring +up one brood of chickens a year; for, if altogether restrained from +sitting, a hen suffers much in moulting, and is restless and excited for +the remainder of the season. It is unnatural, and therefore must be +injurious. The period of incubation gives her rest from producing eggs. +The hen that is always stimulated to produce eggs, and not allowed to +vary that process by hatching and bringing up a young brood, must +ultimately suffer from this constant drain upon her system, and the eggs +are said to be unwholesome. + +But hens frequently wish to sit when it is not convenient, or in autumn +or winter, when it is not advisable, unless very late or early chickens +are desired, and every attention can be given to them. To check this +desire, the old-fashioned plan with farmers' wives, of plunging the +broody hen into cold water, and keeping her there for some minutes, was +not only a cruel practice, but often failed to effect its object, and +must naturally always have caused ultimate disease in the poor bird. +When it is absolutely necessary to check the desire of a hen to sit, the +best plan is to let her sit on some nest-eggs for a week, then remove +and coop her for a few days, away from the place where she made her +nest, low diet, as boiled potatoes and boiled rice, and water being +placed near; meanwhile taking away the eggs and destroying the nest, +and, not finding it on her return, she will generally not seek for +another, unless she is a Cochin, or the desire exceedingly strong. + +When a hen wishes to sit, she utters a peculiar cluck, ruffles her +feathers, wanders about, searches obscure corners and recesses, is very +fidgety, feverishly hot, impatient, anxiously restless, and seeks for a +nest. Highly-fed hens feel this desire sooner than those that are not so +highly fed. A hen may be induced to sit at any season, by confining her +in a dark room in a covered basket, only large enough to contain her +nest, keeping her warm, and feeding her on stimulating food, such as +bread steeped in ale, a little raw liver or fresh meat chopped small, +and potatoes mashed warm with milk and oatmeal. + +Every large poultry establishment should have a separate house for the +sitting hens, and the run that should be provided for their relaxation +must be divided from that of the other fowls by wire or lattice work, to +prevent any intrusion. Where there is a large number of sitting hens, +each nest should be numbered, and the date of setting, number and +description of eggs, entered in a diary or memorandum book opposite to +the number; and the number of chickens hatched, and any particulars +likely to be useful on a future occasion, should afterwards be entered. + +A separate house and run for each sitting hen is a great advantage, as +it prevents other hens from going to the nest during her absence, or +herself from returning to the wrong nest, as will often happen in a +common house. The run should not be large, or the hen may be inclined to +wander and stay away too long from her nest. A separate division for the +sitting hen is often otherwise useful, for the purpose of keeping the +cock apart from the hens, or for keeping a few additional birds for +which accommodation has not been prepared, or for the use of a pen of +birds about to be sent for exhibition. + +"Boxes, of which every carpenter knows the form," says Mowbray, "are to +be arranged round the walls, and it is proper to have a sufficient +number, the hens being apt to dispute possession, and sit upon one +another. The board or step at the entrance should be of sufficient +height to prevent the eggs from rolling out. Provision of a few railed +doors may be made for occasional use, to be hung before the entrance, in +order to prevent other hens from intruding to lay their eggs upon those +which sit, a habit to which some are much addicted, and by which a brood +is often injured. The common deep square boxes, uncovered at top, are +extremely improper, because that form obliges the hen to jump down upon +her eggs, whereas for safety she should descend upon them from a very +small height, or in a manner walk in upon them. The same objection lies +against hampers, with the additional one of the wicker-work admitting +the cold in variable weather, during winter or early spring sittings. +Many breeders prefer to have all the nests upon the ground, on account +of the danger of chickens falling from the nests which are placed +above." The ground is preferable for other reasons. The damp arising +from the ground assists very materially in incubation. When fowls sit +upon wooden floors, or in boxes, the eggs become so dry and parched as +to prevent the chicken from disencumbering itself of the shell, and it +is liable to perish in its attempts. Hens in a state of nature make +their nests upon the ground; and fowls, when left to choose a nest for +themselves, generally fix upon a hedge, where the hen conceals herself +under the branches of the hedge, and among the grass. In general, the +sitting places are too close and confined, and very different in this +respect to those that hens select for themselves. + +But nests cannot always be allowed to be made on the ground, unless +properly secured from vermin, particularly from rats, which will +frequently convey away the whole of the eggs from under a hen. And other +considerations may render it necessary to have them on a floor, in boxes +on the ground, or placed above; in which cases the eggs must be kept +properly moistened, for, unless the egg is kept sufficiently damp, its +inner membrane becomes so hard and dry that the chicken cannot break +through, and perishes. When a hen steals her nest in a hedge or clump of +evergreens or bushes, she makes it on the damp ground. She goes in +search of food early in the morning, before the dew is off the grass, +and returns to her nest with her feathers saturated with moisture. This +is the cause of the comparatively successful hatching of the eggs of +wild birds. The old farmers' wives did not understand the necessity of +damping eggs, but frequently complained of their not hatching, although +chickens were found in them, which was, in most cases, entirely caused +by want of damping. If, therefore, the weather is warm and wet, all will +probably go well; but if the air should be very dry, moisture must be +imparted by sprinkling the nest and eggs slightly, when the hen is off +feeding, by means of a small brush dipped in tepid water. A small flat +brush such as is used by painters is excellent for this purpose, as it +does not distribute the water too freely. The ground round about, also, +should be watered with hot water, to cause a steam. But the natural +moisture of a damp soil is preferable, and never fails. + +The nest may be of any shape. A long box divided by partitions into +several compartments is much used, but separate boxes or baskets are +preferable as being more easily cleaned and freed from vermin. Wooden +nest-boxes are preferable to wicker baskets in winter, as the latter let +in the cold air, but many prefer wicker baskets in summer for their +airiness. A round glazed earthen pan, with shelving sides, like those +used in the midland counties for milk, and partially filled with moss, +forms a good nest, the moss being easier kept moist in such a pan than +in a box. The nest should be made so large that the hen can just fill +it, not very deep, and as nearly flat inside at the bottom as possible, +so that the eggs may not lean against each other, or they may get +broken, especially by the hen turning them. + +The best filling for hatching nests is fine dry sand, mould, coal or +wood ashes placed on a cut turf, covering it and lining the sides with a +little well-broken dry grass, moss, bruised straw, lichen, or liverwort +collected from trees, or dry heather, which is the best of all, but +cannot always be had. Hay, though soft at first, soon becomes hard and +matted, and is also said to breed vermin. Straw is good material, but +must be cut into short pieces, for if long straw is used and the hen +should catch her foot in it, and drag it after her when she leaves the +nest, it will disturb, if not break, the eggs. The nests of the sitting +hens in Her Majesty's poultry-yard at Windsor are made of heather, +which offers an excellent medium between the natural damp hedge-nest of +the hen and the dryness of a box filled with straw, and also enables her +to free herself from those insects which are so troublesome to sitting +hens. A thick layer of ashes placed under the straw in cold weather will +keep in the heat of the hen. A little Scotch snuff is a good thing to +keep the nests free from vermin. + +Where only a few fowls are kept, and a separate place cannot be found +for the sitting hen, she can be placed on a nest which should be covered +over with a coop, closed in with a little boarding or some other +contrivance for a day or two, to prevent her being disturbed by any +other fowls that have been accustomed to lay there. They will then soon +use another nest. She should be carefully lifted off her nest, by taking +hold of her under the wings, regularly every morning, exercised and fed, +and then shut in, so that she cannot be annoyed. + +It is best to allow a hen to keep the nest she has chosen when she shows +an inclination to sit; and if she continues to sit steadily, and has not +a sufficient number of eggs under her, or the eggs you desire her to +hatch, remove her gently at night, replace the eggs with the proper +batch, and place her quietly upon the nest again. Hens are very fond of +choosing their own nests in out of the way places; and where the spot is +not unsafe, or too much exposed to the weather, it is best to let her +keep possession, for it has been noticed that, when she selects her own +nest and manages for herself, she generally brings forth a good and +numerous brood. Mr. Tegetmeier observes that he has "reason to believe, +indeed, that whatever care may be taken in keeping eggs, their vitality +is better preserved when they are allowed to remain in the nest. Perhaps +the periodical visits of the hen, while adding to her store of eggs, has +a stimulating influence. The warmth communicated in the half-hour during +which she occupies the nest may have a tendency to preserve the embryo +in a vigorous state." + +It is a good plan, before giving an untried hen choice eggs, to let her +sit upon a few chalk or stale eggs for a few days, and if she continue +to sit with constancy, then to give her the batch for hatching. When +choice can be made out of several broody hens for a valuable batch of +eggs, one should be selected with rather short legs, a broad body, large +wings well furnished with feathers, and having the nails and spurs not +too long or sharp. As a rule, hens which are the best layers are the +worst sitters, and those with short legs are good sitters, while +long-legged hens are not. Dorkings are the best sitters of all breeds, +and by high feeding may be induced to sit in October, especially if they +have moulted early, and with great care and attention chickens may be +reared and made fit for table by Christmas. Early in the spring Dorkings +only should be employed as mothers, for they remain much longer with +their chickens than the Cochin-Chinas, but the latter may safely be +entrusted with a brood after April. Cochins are excellent sitters, and, +from the quantity of "fluff" which is peculiar to them, keep the eggs at +a high and regular degree of heat. Their short legs also are +advantageous for sitting. A Cochin hen can always be easily induced to +sit, and eggs of theirs or of Brahma Pootras for sitting, are not wanted +in the coldest weather. + +Old hens are more steady sitters than pullets, more fond of their brood, +and not so apt as pullets to leave them too soon. Indeed, pullets were +formerly never allowed to sit before the second year of their laying, +but now many eminent authorities think it best to let them sit when they +show a strong desire to do so, considering that the prejudice against +them upon this point is unfounded, and that young hens sit as well as +older fowls. Pullets hatched early will generally begin to lay in +November or December, if kept warm and well fed, and will sit in January +or February. + +Broody hens brought from a distance should be carried in a basket, +covered over with a cloth. + +The number of eggs to be set under a hen must be according to the extent +of her wings and the temperature of the weather. Some say that the +number may vary from nine to fourteen, but others would never give more +than nine in winter and early spring, and eleven in summer, to the +largest hen, and two fewer to the smaller fowls. A Cochin-China may have +fifteen of her own in summer. A hen should not be allowed more eggs than +she can completely cover; for eggs that are not thoroughly covered +become chilled, and fewer and weaker chickens will be hatched from too +large a number than from a more moderate allowance. It is not only +necessary to consider how many eggs a hen can hatch, but also how many +chickens she can cover when they are partly grown. In January and +February, not more than seven or eight eggs should be placed under the +hen, as she cannot cover more than that number of chickens when they +grow large, and exposure to the cold during the long winter nights would +destroy many. "The common order to set egges," says Mascall, "is in +odde numbers, as seven, nyne, eleven, thirteen, &c., whiche is to make +them lye round the neste, and to have the odde egge in the middest." + +Eggs for sitting should be under a fortnight old, if possible, and never +more than a month. Fresh eggs hatch in proper time, and, if good, +produce strong, lively chicks; while stale eggs are hatched sometimes as +much as two days later than new laid, and the chickens are often too +weak to break the shell, while of those well out fewer will probably be +reared. It is certain, as a general rule, that the older the egg the +weaker will be its progeny. Every egg should be marked by a pencil or +ink line drawn quite round it, so that it can be known without touching, +and if another be laid afterwards it may be at once detected and +removed, for hens will sometimes lay several after they have commenced +sitting. Place the eggs under the hen with their larger ends uppermost. + +Let the hen be well fed and supplied with water before putting her on +the nest. Whole barley and soft food, chiefly barley-meal and mashed +potatoes, should be given to her when she comes off the nest, and she +must have as much as she will eat, for she leaves the nest but once +daily, and the full heat of the body cannot be kept up without plenty of +food; or she may have the same food as the general stock. A good supply +of water must be always within her reach. A good-sized shallow box or +pan, containing fine coal-ashes, sand, or dry earth, to cleanse herself +in, should always be ready near to the nest. She should be left +undisturbed, and, as far as possible, allowed to manage her own +business. When a hen shows impatience of her confinement, and frequently +leaves the nest, M. Parmentier advises that half only of her usual meal +should be given, after which she should be replaced on the nest and fed +from the hand with hemp or millet seed, which will induce her to stay +constantly on her eggs. Others will sit so long and closely that they +become faint for want of food. Such hens should not be fed on the nest, +but gently induced with some tempting dainty to take a little exercise, +for they will not leave their eggs of their own accord, and feeding on +the nest has crippled many a good sitter. It is not healthy for the hen +to feed while sitting on or close by the nest, for she requires a little +exercise and rolling in the dust-heap, as well as that the eggs should +be exposed for the air to carry off any of that stagnant vapour which M. +Reaumur proved to be so destructive to the embryo chickens; and it has +also been shown by physiologists that the cooling of the eggs caused by +this absence of the hen is essential to allow a supply of air to +penetrate through the pores of the shell, for the respiration of the +chick. When there are many hens sitting at the same time, it is a good +plan to take them off their nests regularly at the same time every +morning to feed, and afterwards give them an opportunity to cleanse +themselves in a convenient dusting-place, and, if possible, allow them +exercise in a good grass run. A hen should never be caught, but driven +back gently to her nest. + +A good hen will not stay away more than half an hour, unless infested +with vermin, from want of having a proper dust-heap. But hens have often +been absent for more than an hour, and yet have hatched seven or eight +chickens; and instances have been known of their being absent for five +and even for nine hours, and yet hatching a few. The following +remarkable instance is recorded by an excellent authority: "Eggs had +been supplied and a sitting hen lent to a neighbour, and, when she had +set in a granary ten days, she was shut out through the carelessness of +a servant. Being a stranger in the farmyard, the hen was not recognised, +but supposed to have strayed in from an adjoining walk, and thirty hours +elapsed before it was discovered that the hen had left her nest. The +farmer's wife despaired of her brood; but, to her surprise and pleasure, +eight chickens were hatched. The tiled roof of the granary was fully +exposed to the rays of the sun, and the temperature very high, probably +above 80 deg. during the day, and not much lower at night." Valuable +eggs, therefore, should not be abandoned on account of a rather +lengthened absence; and ordinary eggs should not be discarded as +worthless if the hen has already sat upon them for a fortnight or so; +but if she has been sitting for only a few days, it is safer to throw +them away, and have a fresh batch. + +During the hen's absence, always look at the eggs, remove any that may +have been broken, and very gently wash any sticky or dirty eggs with a +flannel dipped in milk-warm water. See that they are dry before putting +them back. If the nest is also dirty, replace it with fresh material of +the same kind. Gently drive the hen back to her nest as quickly as +possible, to prevent any damage from the eggs becoming chilled. If a hen +should break an egg with her feet or otherwise, it should be removed as +soon as it is seen, or she may eat it, and, liking the taste, break and +eat the others. Some hens have a bad habit of breaking and eating the +eggs on which they are sitting, to cure which some recommend to boil an +egg hard, bore a few holes in it, so that the inside can be seen, and +give it while hot to the culprit, who will peck at the holes and burn +herself; but hens with such propensities should be fattened for the +table, for they are generally useless either for sitting or laying. + +Some persons examine the eggs after the hen has sat upon them for six or +seven days, and remove all that are sterile, by which plan more warmth +and space are gained for those that are fertile, and the warmth is not +wasted upon barren eggs. They may be easily proved by holding them near +to the flame of a candle, the eye being kept shaded by one hand, when +the fertile eggs will appear dark and the sterile transparent. Another +plan is to place the eggs on a drum, or between the hands, in the +sunshine, and observe the shadow. If this wavers, by the motion of the +chick, the eggs are good; but if the shadow shows no motion, they are +unfertile. If two hens have been sitting during the same time, and many +unfertile eggs are found in the two nests, all the fertile eggs should +be placed under one hen, and a fresh batch given to the other. The eggs +should not be moved after this time, except by the hen, more especially +when incubation has proceeded for some time, lest the position of the +chick be interfered with, for if taken up a little time before its exit, +and incautiously replaced with the large end lowermost, the chicken, +from its position, will not be able to chip the shell, and must +therefore perish. The forepart of the chicken is towards the biggest end +of the egg, and it is so placed in the shell that the beak is always +uppermost. When the egg of a choice breed has been cracked towards the +end of the period of incubation, the crack may be covered with a slip of +gummed paper, or the unprinted border that is round a sheet of postage +stamps, and the damaged egg will probably yet produce a fine chick. + +It is a good plan to set two hens on the same day, for the two broods +may be united under one if desirable, and on the hatching day, to +prevent the newly-born chickens being crushed by the unhatched eggs, all +that are hatched can be given to one hen, and the other take charge of +the eggs, which are then more likely to be hatched, as, while the +chickens are under the hen, she will sit higher from the eggs, and +afford them less warmth when they require it most. + +The hen of all kinds of gallinaceous fowls, from the Bantam to the +Cochin-China, sits for twenty-one days, at which time, on an average, +the chickens break the shell; but if the eggs are new laid it will often +lessen the time by five or six hours, while stale eggs will always be +behind time. For the purpose of breaking the shell, the yet soft beak of +the chicken is furnished, just above the point of the upper mandible, +with a small, hard, horny scale, which, from the position of the head, +as Mr. Yarrell observes, is brought in contact with the inner surface of +the shell. This scale may be always seen on the beaks of newly-hatched +chickens, but in the course of a short time peels off. It should not be +removed. The peculiar sound, incorrectly called "tapping," so +perceptible within the egg about the nineteenth day of incubation, which +was universally believed to be produced by the bill of the chick +striking against the shell in order to break it and effect its release, +has been incontestably proved, by the late Dr. F. R. Horner, of Hull, in +a paper read by him before the British Association for the Advancement +of Science, to be a totally distinct sound, being nothing more than the +natural respiratory sound in the lungs of the young chick, which first +begins to breathe at that period. Of course there is also an occasional +sound made by the tapping of the beak in endeavouring to break the +shell. + +The time occupied in breaking the shell varies, according to the +strength of the chick, from one to three hours usually, but extends +sometimes to twenty-four, and even more. "I have seen," says Reaumur, +"chicks continue at work for two days together; some work incessantly, +while others take rest at intervals, according to their physical +strength. Some, I have observed, begin to break the shell a great deal +too soon; for, be it observed, they ought, before they make their exit, +to have within them provision enough to serve for twenty-four hours +without taking food, and for this purpose the unconsumed portion of the +yolk enters through the navel. The chick, indeed, which comes out of the +shell without taking up all the yolk is certain to droop and die in a +few days after it is hatched. The assistance which I have occasionally +tried to give to several of them, by way of completing their +deliverance, has afforded me an opportunity of observing those which had +begun to break their shells before this was accomplished; and I have +opened many eggs much fractured, in each of which the chick had as yet +much of the yolk not absorbed. Some chicks have greater obstacles to +overcome than others, since all shells are not of an equal thickness nor +of an equal consistence; and the same inequality takes place in the +lining membrane, and offers still greater difficulty to the emergent +chick. The shells of the eggs of birds of various species are of a +thickness proportionate to the strength of the chick that is obliged to +break through them. The canary-bird would never be able to break the +shell it is enclosed in if that were as thick as the egg of a barn-door +fowl. The chick of a barn-door fowl, again, would in vain try to break +its shell if it were as thick and hard as that of an ostrich; indeed, +though an ostrich ready to be hatched is perhaps thrice as large as the +common chick, it is not easy to conceive how the force of its bill can +be strong enough to break a shell thicker than a china cup, and the +smoothness and gloss of which indicate that it is nearly as +hard--sufficiently so to form, as may be often seen, a firm +drinking-cup. It is the practice in some countries to dip the eggs into +warm water at the time they are expected to chip, on the supposition +that the shell is thereby rendered more fragile, and the labour of the +chick lightened. But, though the water should soften it, upon drying in +the air it would become as hard as at first. When the chick is entirely +or almost out of the shell, it draws its head from under its wing, where +it had hitherto been placed, stretches out its neck, directing it +forwards, but for several minutes is unable to raise it. On seeing for +the first time a chick in this condition, we are led to infer that its +strength is exhausted, and that it is ready to expire; but in most cases +it recruits rapidly, its organs acquire strength, and in a very short +time it appears quite another creature. After having dragged itself on +its legs a little while, it becomes capable of standing on them, and of +lifting up its neck and bending it in various directions, and at length +of holding up its head. At this period the feathers are merely fine +down, but, as they are wet with the fluid of the egg, the chick appears +almost naked. From the multitude of their branchlets these down +feathers resemble minute shrubs; when, however, these branchlets are wet +and sticking to each other, they take up but very little room; as they +dry they become disentangled and separated. The branchlets, plumules, or +beards of each feather are at first enclosed in a membranous tube, by +which they are pressed and kept close together; but as soon as this +dries it splits asunder, an effect assisted also by the elasticity of +the plumules themselves, which causes them to recede and spread +themselves out. This being accomplished, each down feather extends over +a considerable space, and when they all become dry and straight, the +chick appears completely clothed in a warm vestment of soft down." + +If they are not out in a few hours after the shell has been broken, and +the hole is not enlarged, they are probably glued to the shell. Look +through the egg then, and, if all the yolk has passed into the body of +the chicken, you may assist it by enlarging the fracture with a pair of +fine scissors, cutting up towards the large end of the egg, never +downwards. "If," says Miss Watts, "the time has arrived when the chicken +may with safety be liberated, there will be no appearance of blood in +the minute blood-vessels spread over the interior of the shell; they +have done their work, and are no longer needed by the now fully +developed and breathing chick. If there should be the slightest +appearance of blood, resist at once, for its escape would generally be +fatal. Do not attempt to let the chicken out at once, but help it a +little every two or three hours. The object is not to hurry the chicken +out of its shell, but to prevent its being suffocated by being close +shut up within it. If the chick is tolerably strong, and the assistance +needful, it will aid its deliverance with its own exertions." When the +chicken at last makes its way out, do not interfere with it in any way, +or attempt to feed it. Animal heat alone can restore it. Weakness has +caused the delay, and this has probably arisen from insufficient warmth, +perhaps from the hen having had too many eggs to cover thoroughly, or +they may have been stale when set. Should you have to assist it out of +the shell, take it out gently with your fingers, taking great care not +to tear any of its tender skin, when freeing the feathers from the +shell. + +Mr. Wright says: "We never ourselves now attempt to assist a chick from +the shell. If the eggs were fresh, and proper care has been taken to +preserve moisture during incubation, no assistance is ever needed. To +fuss about the nest frets the hen exceedingly; and we have always found +that, even where the poor little creature survived at the time, it never +lived to maturity. Should the reader attempt such assistance, in cases +where an egg has been long chipped, and no further progress made, let +the shell be cracked gently all round, without tearing the inside +membrane; if that be perforated, the viscid fluid inside dries and glues +the chick to the shell. Should this happen, or should both shell and +membrane be perforated at first, introduce the point of a pair of +scissors and cut up the egg towards the large end, where there will be +an empty space, remembering that, if blood flows, all hope is at end. +Then put the chick back under the hen; she will probably squeeze it to +death, it is true--it is so very weak; but it will never live if put by +the fire, at least we always found it so. Indeed, as we have said, we +consider it quite useless to make the attempt at all." + +The fact is, it is scarcely worth while to attempt to assist in the case +of ordinary eggs, but if the breed is valuable the labour may be well +bestowed. + +Some hens are reluctant to give up sitting, and will hatch a second +brood with evident pleasure; but it is cruel to overtask their strength +and patience, and they are sure to suffer, more or less, from the +unnatural exertion. + +Some breeders use a contrivance called an "artificial mother" for broods +hatched under the hen, and it may be employed very advantageously when +any accident has happened to her. It is made in various forms, such as a +wooden frame, or shallow box, open at both ends, and sloping like a +writing-desk, with a perforated lid lined with sheep or lamb's skin, +goose-down, or some similar warm fleecy material hanging down, under and +between which the chickens nestle, heat being applied to the lid either +by hot water or hot air, so as to imitate the warmth of the hen's +breast. When chickens are hatched by artificial means, such as by the +Hydro-Incubator, or the Eccaleobion, or in an oven according to the +method practised by the Egyptians, these protectors are essential; for +without a good substitute for the hen's natural warmth the chickens +would perish. Artificial incubators are now extensively used, and where +gas is laid on they are easily managed, but the chief difficulty is in +rearing the chickens. For information on the subject see the works of +Tegetmeier, Dickson, and Wright, on Poultry. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +REARING AND FATTENING FOWLS. + + +The first want which the chick will feel will be that of warmth, and +there is no warmth so suited for them as that of the hen's body. Some +persons remove the chicks from under the mother as soon as they are +hatched, one by one, placing them in a basket covered up with flannel, +and keep them there in a warm place, until the last chick is out, when +they are put back under the hen. But this is very seldom necessary +unless the weather is very cold and the hen restless, and is generally +more likely to annoy than benefit her. Nor should the hen be induced to +leave the nest, but be left undisturbed until she leaves of her own +accord, when the last hatched chickens will be in a better condition to +follow her than if she had been tempted to leave earlier. In a few hours +they are able to run about and follow their parent; they do not require +to be fed in the nest like most birds, but pick up the food which their +mother shows them; and repose at night huddled up beneath her wings. The +chicken during its development in the egg is nourished by the yolk, and +the remaining portion of the yolk passes into its body previous to its +leaving the shell, being designed for its first nourishment; and the +chicken, therefore, does not require any food whatever during the first +day. The old-fashioned plan, so popular with "practical" farmers' wives, +of cramming a peppercorn down the throat of the newly-hatched chick is +absurd and injurious. + +The first food must be very light and delicate, such as crumbs of bread +soaked in milk, the yolk of an egg boiled hard, and curds; but very +little of anything at first except water, for thirst will come before +hunger. The thirsty hen will herself soon teach the little ones how to +drink. If your chicks be very weakly, you may cram them with crumbs of +good white bread, steeped in milk or wine, but at the same time +recollect that their little craws are not capable of holding more than +the bulk of a pea; so rather under than over feed them. + +As soon as the hen leaves the nest, she should have as much grain as she +can eat, and a good supply of pure, clean water. In winter, or settled +wet weather, she should, if possible, be kept on her nest for a day, +and, when removed, be cooped in a warm, dry shed or outhouse; but in +summer, if the weather be fine, and the chickens well upon their legs, +they may be at once cooped out in the sun, on dry gravel, or if possible +on a nice grass-plot, with food and water within her reach. The hen is +cooped to prevent her from wearying the brood by leading them about +until they are over-tired, besides being exposed to danger from cats, +hawks, and vermin, tumbling into ditches, or getting wet in the high +grass. They can pass in and out between the bars of the coop, and will +come when she calls, or they wish to shelter under her wings. It is a +good plan to place the coop for the first day out upon some dry sand, so +that the hen can cleanse herself comfortably. The common basket coop +should only be used in fine weather, and some straw, kept down by a +stone, matting, or other covering, should be placed on the top, to +shelter them from the mid-day sun; otherwise a wooden coop should be +used, open in front only, about two and a half or three feet square; +well-made of stout, sound boards, with a gabled roof covered with felt; +and at night a thick canvas or matting should be hung over the front, +sufficient space being left for proper ventilation, but not to admit +cold draught, or to allow the chicks to get out. Mr. Wright describes an +excellent coop which is "very common in some parts of France, and +consists of two compartments, separated by a partition of bars, one +compartment being closed in front, the other fronted with bars like the +partition. Each set of bars should have a sliding one to serve as a +door, and the whole coop should be tight and sound. It is best to have +no bottom, but to put it on loose dry earth or ashes, an inch or two +deep. Each half of the coop is about two feet six inches square, and may +or may not be lighted from the top by a small pane of glass. The +advantage of such a coop is that, except in very severe weather, no +further shelter is required, even at night [if placed under a shed]. +During the day the hen is kept in the outer compartment, the chickens +having liberty, and the food and water being placed outside; whilst at +night she is put in the inner portion of the coop, and a piece of canvas +or sacking hung over the bars of the outer half. If the top be glazed, a +little food and the water-vessel may be placed in the outer compartment +at night, and the chicks will be able to run out and feed early in the +morning, being prevented by the canvas from going out into the cold air. +It will be only needful to remove the coop every two days for a few +minutes, to take away the tainted earth and replace it with fresh. There +should, if possible, be a grass-plot in front of the shed, the floor of +which should be covered with dry, loose dust or earth." The hen should +be kept under a coop until the brood has grown strong. Some breeders +object to cooping, on account of its preventing the hen from scratching +for worms and insects for her brood, and which are far superior to the +substitutes with which they must be supplied, unless, indeed, a good +supply of worms, ants' eggs, insects, or gentles can be had. The hen too +has not sufficient exercise after her long sitting. Cooping thus has its +advantages and disadvantages, and its adoption or not should depend upon +circumstances. If it is preferred not to coop the hen, and she should be +inclined to roam too far, a small run may be made with network, or with +the moveable wire-work described on page 21. + +Winter-hatched chickens must be reared and fed in a warm place, which +must be kept at an equal temperature. They return a large profit for the +great care they require in hatching and rearing. + +Chickens should be fed very often; every two hours is not too +frequently. The number of these meals must be reduced by degrees to +four or five, which may be continued until they are full grown. Grain +should not be given to newly-hatched chickens. The very best food for +them, after their first meal of bread-crumbs and egg, is made of two +parts of coarse oatmeal and one part of barley-meal, mixed into a thick +crumbly paste with milk or water. If milk is used, it must be fresh +mixed for each meal, or it will become sour. Cold oatmeal porridge is an +excellent food, and much liked by them. After the first week they may +have cheaper food, such as bran, oatmeal, and Indian meal mixed, or +potatoes mashed with bran. In a few days they may also have some whole +grain, which their little gizzards will then be fully able to grind. +Grits, crushed wheat, or bruised oats, should form the last meal at +night. Bread sopped in water is the worst food they can have, and even +with milk is still inferior to meal. For the first three or four days +they may also have daily the yolk of an egg boiled hard and chopped up +small, which will be sufficient for a dozen chicks; and afterwards, a +piece of cooked meat, rather underdone, the size of a good walnut, +minced fine, should be daily given to the brood until they are three +weeks old. In winter and very early spring this stimulating diet may be +given regularly, and once a day they should also have some stale bread +soaked in ale; and whenever chickens suffer from bad feathering, caused +either by the coldness of the season or delicacy of constitution, they +must be fed highly, and have a daily supply of bread soaked in ale. +Ants' eggs, which are well known as the very best animal diet for young +pheasants, are also excellent for young chickens; and when a nest can be +obtained it should be thrown with its surrounding mould into the run for +them to peck at. Where there is no grass-plot they should have some +grass cut into small pieces, or other vegetable food minced small, until +they are able to peck pieces from the large leaves. Onion tops and leeks +chopped small, cress, lettuce, and cabbage, are much relished by all +young poultry. The French breeders give a few dried nettle seeds +occasionally. Young growing fowls can scarcely have too much food, so +long as they eat it with a good appetite, and do not tread any about, or +otherwise leave it to waste. + +Young poultry cannot thrive if overcrowded. They should not be allowed +to roost on the branches of trees or shrubs, or otherwise out of doors, +even in the warmest weather, or they will acquire the habit of sleeping +out, which cannot be easily overcome; not that they would suffer much +from even severe weather, when once accustomed to roosting out of doors, +but from want of warmth the supply of eggs would decrease, and it would, +in many places, be unsafe and, in most, inconvenient. + +The sooner chickens can be fattened, of course the greater must be the +profit. They should be put up for fattening as soon as they have quitted +the hen, for they are then generally in good condition, but begin to +lose flesh as their bones develop and become stronger, particularly +those fowls which stand high on the leg. + +Fowls are in perfection for eating just before they are fully developed. +By keeping young fowls, especially the cockerels, too long before +fattening them for market or home consumption, they eat up all the +profit that would be made by disposing of them when the pullets have +ceased laying just before their first adult moult, and the cockerels +before their appetites have become large. Fowls intended to be fattened +should be well and abundantly fed from their birth; for if they are +badly fed during their growth they become stunted, the bones do not +attain their full size, and no amount of feeding will afterwards supply +these defects and transform them into fine, large birds. Poultry that +have been constantly fed well from their birth will not only be always +ready for the table, with very little extra attention and feeding, but +their flesh will be superior in juiciness and rich flavour to those +which are fattened up from a poor state. In choosing full-grown fowls +for fattening, the short-legged and early-hatched should be preferred. + +In fattening poultry, "the well-known common methods," Mowbray observes, +"are, first, to give fowls the run of the farmyard, where they thrive +upon the offals of the stables and other refuse, with perhaps some +small regular feeds; but at threshing time they become fat, and are +thence styled barn-door fowls, probably the most delicate and +high-flavoured of all others, both from their full allowance of the +finest corn and from the constant health in which they are kept, by +living in the natural state, and having the full enjoyment of air and +exercise; or secondly, they are confined during a certain number of +weeks in coops; those fowls which are soonest ready being drawn as +wanted." "The former method," says Mr. Dickson, "is immeasurably the +best as regards the flavour and even wholesomeness of the fowls as food, +and though the latter mode may, in some cases, make the fowls fatter, it +is only when they have been always accustomed to confinement; for when +barn-door fowls are cooped up for a week or two under the notion of +improving them for the table, and increasing their fat, it rarely +succeeds, since the fowls generally pine for their liberty, and, +slighting their food, lose instead of gaining additional flesh." + +To fatten fowls that have not the advantage of a barn-door, Mowbray +recommends fattening-houses large enough to contain twenty or thirty +fowls, warm and airy, with well-raised earth floors, slightly littered +down with straw, which should be often changed, and the whole place kept +perfectly clean. "Sandy gravel," he says, "should be placed in several +different layers, and often changed. A sufficient number of troughs for +both water and food should be placed around, that the stock may feed +with as little interruption as possible from each other, and perches in +the same proportion should be furnished for those birds which are +inclined to perch, which few of them will desire after they have begun +to fatten, but it helps to keep them easy and contented until that +period. In this manner fowls may be fattened to the highest pitch, and +yet preserved in a healthy state, their flesh being nearly equal in +quality to the barn-door fowl. To suffer fattening fowls to perch is +contrary to the general practice, since it is supposed to bend and +deform the backbone; but as soon as they become heavy and indolent from +feeding, they will rather incline to roost in the straw, and the +liberty of perching has a tendency to accelerate the period when they +wish for rest." + +The practice of fattening fowls in coops, if carried to a moderate +extent, is not objectionable, and may be necessary in many cases. The +coop may be three feet high, two feet wide, and four feet long, which +will accommodate six or eight birds, according to their size; or it may +be constructed in compartments, each being about nine inches by +eighteen, and about eighteen inches high. The floor should not consist +of board, but be formed of bars two inches wide, and placed two inches +apart. The bars should be laid from side to side, and not from the back +to the front of the coop. They should be two inches wide at the upper +part, with slanting or rounded sides, so as to prevent the dung from +sticking to them instead of falling straight between. The front should +be made of rails three inches apart. The house in which the coops are +placed should be properly ventilated, but free from cold draughts, and +kept of an even temperature, which should be moderately warm. The fronts +of the coops should be covered with matting or other kind of protection +in cold weather. The coop should be placed about two inches from the +ground, and a shallow tray filled with fresh dry earth should be placed +underneath to catch the droppings, and renewed every day. + +When fowls are put up to fat they should not have any food given to them +for some hours, and they will take it then more eagerly than if pressed +upon them when first put into the coop. But little grain should be given +to fowls during the time they are fattening in coops; indeed the chief +secret of success consists in supplying them with the most fattening +food without stint, in such a form that their digestive mills shall find +no difficulty in grinding it. Buckwheat-meal is the best food for +fattening; and to its use the French, in a great measure, owe the +splendid condition of the fowls they send to market. If it cannot be +had, the best substitute is an equal mixture of maize-meal and +barley-meal. The meal may be mixed with skim milk if available. Oatmeal +and barley-meal alternately, mixed with milk, and occasionally with a +little dripping, is good fattening food. Milk is most excellent for all +young poultry. A little chopped green food should be given daily, to +keep their bowels in a proper state. + +The feeding-troughs, which must be kept clean by frequent scouring, +should be placed before the fowls at regular times, and when they have +eaten sufficient it is best to remove them, and place a little gravel +within reach to assist digestion. Each fowl should have as much food as +it will eat at one time, but none should be left to become sour. A +little barley may, however, be scattered within their reach. A good +supply of clean water must be always within their reach. If a bird +appears to be troubled with vermin, some powdered sulphur, well rubbed +into the roots of the feathers, will give immediate relief. The coops +should be thoroughly lime-washed after the fowls are removed, and well +dried before fresh birds are put up in them. + +It is a common practice to fatten poultry in coops by a process called +"cramming," by which they are loaded with greasy fat in a very short +time. But it is evident that such overtaxing of the fowls' digestive +powers, want of exercise and fresh air, confinement in a small space, +and partial deprivation of light, without which nothing living, either +animal or vegetable, can flourish, cannot produce healthy or wholesome +flesh. "Indeed," as Mowbray observes, "it seems contrary to reason, that +fowls fed upon such greasy, impure mixtures can possibly produce flesh +or fat so firm, delicate, high-flavoured, or nourishing, as those +fattened upon more simple and substantial food; as for example, meal and +milk, and perhaps either treacle or sugar. With respect to grease of any +kind, its chief effect must be to render the flesh loose and of a coarse +flavour. Neither can any advantage be gained, except perhaps a +commercial one, by very quick feeding; for real excellence cannot be +obtained but by waiting nature's time, and using the best food. Besides +all this, I have been very unsuccessful in my few attempts to fatten +fowls by cramming; they seem to loathe the crams, to pine, and to lose +the flesh they were put up with, instead of acquiring flesh; and when +crammed fowls do succeed, they must necessarily, in the height of their +fat, be in a state of disease." Mr. Muirhead, poulterer to Her Majesty +in Scotland, says: "With regard to _cramming_, I may say that it is +_wholly_ unnecessary, provided the fowls have abundance of the best food +at regular intervals, fresh air, and a free run; in confinement fowls +may gain fat, but they lose flesh. None but those who have had +experience can form any idea how both qualities can be obtained in a +natural way. I have seen fowls reared at Inchmartine (which had never +been shut up, or had food forced upon them), equal, if not superior, to +the finest Surrey fowl, or those fattened by myself for the Royal +table." + +If "cramming" is practised it should be done in the following manner: +The feeder, usually a female, should take the fowl carefully out of the +fatting-coop by placing both her hands gently under its breast, then sit +down with the bird upon her lap, its rump under her left arm, open its +mouth with the finger and thumb of the left hand, take the pellet with +the right, dip it well into water, milk, or pot liquor, shake the +superfluous moisture from it, put it into the mouth, "cram" it gently +into the gullet with her forefinger, then close the beak and gently +assist it down into the crop with the forefinger and thumb, without +breaking the pellet, and taking great care not to pinch the throat. When +the fowl has been "crammed" it should be carefully carried back to its +coop, both hands being placed under its breast as before. Chickens +should be "crammed" regularly every twelve hours. The "cramming" should +commence with a few pellets, and the number be gradually increased at +each meal until it amounts to about fifteen. But always before you begin +to feed gently feel the fowl's crop to ascertain that the preceding meal +has been digested, and if you find it to contain food, let the bird wait +until it is all digested, and give it fewer pellets at the next meal. If +the "crams" should become hardened in the crop, some lukewarm water must +be given to the bird, or poured down its throat if disinclined to +drink, and the crop be gently pressed with the fingers until the +hardened mass has become loosened so that the gizzard can grind it. + +The food chiefly used in France for "cramming" fowls is buckwheat-meal +bolted very fine and mixed with milk. It should be prepared in the +following manner: Pour the milk, which should be lukewarm in winter, +into a hole made in the heap of meal, mixing it up with a wooden spoon a +little at a time as long as the meal will take up the milk, and make it +into the consistency of dough, keep kneading it until it will not stick +to the hands, then divide it into pieces twice as large as an egg, which +form into rolls generally about as thick as a small finger, but more or +less thick according to the size of the fowls to be fed, and divide the +rolls into pellets about two and a half inches in length by a slanting +cut, which leaves pointed ends, that are easier to "cram" the fowls with +than if they were square. The pellets should be rolled up as dry as +possible. + +The operation of caponising as performed in England is barbarous, +extremely painful, and dangerous. In France it is performed in a much +more scientific and skilful manner. But the small advantage gained by +this unnatural operation is more than counterbalanced by the unnecessary +pain inflicted on the bird, and the great risk of losing it. Capons +never moult, and lose their previously strong, shrill voice. In warm, +dry countries they grow to a large size, and soon fatten, but do not +succeed well in our moist, cold climate. They are not common in this +country, and most of the fowls sold in the London markets as capons are +merely young cockerels well crammed. If capons are kept they should have +a separate house, for the other fowls will not allow those even of their +own family to occupy the same roosting-perch with them. The hens not +only show them indifference, but decided aversion. Hen chickens, +deprived of their reproductive organs in order to fatten them sooner, +are common in France, where they are styled poulardes. + +Fattening ought to be completed in from ten to twenty days. When fowls +are once fattened up they should be killed, for they cannot be kept fat, +but begin to lose flesh and become feverish, which renders their flesh +red and unsaleable, and frequently causes their death. + +Great cruelty is often ignorantly inflicted by poulterers, higglers, and +others, in "twisting the necks" of poultry. An easy mode of killing a +fowl is to give the bird a very sharp blow with a small but heavy blunt +stick, such as a child's bat or wooden sword, at the back of the neck, +about the second or third joint from the head, which will, if properly +done, sever the spine and cause death very speedily. But the knife is +the most merciful means; the bird being first hung up by the legs, the +mouth must be opened wide, and a long, narrow, sharp-pointed knife, like +a long penknife, which instrument is made for the purpose, should be +thrust firmly through the back part of the roof of the mouth up into the +brain, which will cause almost instant death. Another mode of killing is +to pluck a few feathers from the side of the head, just below the ear, +and make a deep incision there. Some say that fowls should not be bled +to death like turkeys and geese, as, from the loss of blood, the flesh +becomes dry and insipid. But when great whiteness of flesh is desired, +the fowl should be hung up by its legs immediately after being killed, +and if it has been killed without the flow of blood, an incision should +be made in the neck so that it may bleed freely. + +Fowls that have been kept without food and water for twelve hours before +being killed will keep much better than if they had been recently fed, +as the food is apt to ferment in the crop and bowels, which often causes +the fowl to turn green in a few hours in warm weather. If empty they +should not be drawn, and they will keep much better. Fowls are easiest +plucked at once, while warm; they should afterwards be scalded by +dipping them for a moment in boiling water, which will give a plump +appearance to any good fowl. Fowls should not be packed for market +before they are quite cold. Old fowls should not be roasted, but boiled, +and they will then prove tolerably good eating. + +The feathers are valuable and should be preserved, which is very easily +managed. "Strip the plumage," says Mr. Wright, "from the quills of the +larger feathers, and mix with the small ones, putting the whole loosely +in paper bags, which should be hung up in the kitchen, or some other +warm place, for a few days to dry. Then let the bags be baked three or +four times for half an hour each time, in a cool oven, drying for two +days between each baking, and the process will be completed. Less +trouble than this will do, and is often made to suffice; but the +feathers are inferior in crispness to those so treated, and may +occasionally become offensive." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +STOCK, BREEDING, AND CROSSING. + + +Keep only good, healthy, vigorous, well-bred fowls, whether you keep +them to produce eggs or chickens, or both. The ill-bred mongrel fowls +which are so commonly kept, are the most voracious, and consume larger +quantities of food, without turning it to any account; while well-bred +fowls eat less, and quickly convert that into fat, flesh, and eggs. +"Large, well-bred fowls," says Mr. Edwards, "do not consume more food +than ravenous, mongrel breeds. It is the same with fowls as with other +stock. I have at this moment two store pigs, one highly bred, the other +a rough, ill-bred animal. They have, since they left their mothers, been +fed together and upon the same food. The former, I am confident (from +observation), ate considerably less than the latter, which was +particularly ravenous. The former pig, however, is in excellent +condition, kind, and in a measure fat; whereas the latter looks hard, +starved, and thin, and I am sure she will require one-third more food to +make bacon of." + +For the amateur who is content with eggs and chickens, and does not long +for prize cups, excellent birds possessing nearly all the best +characteristics of their breeds, but rendered imperfect by a few +blemishes, may be purchased at a small cost, and will be as good layers +or chicken-producers, and answer his purpose as well as the most +expensive that can be bought. + +The choice of breed must depend upon the object for which the fowls are +kept, whether chiefly for eggs or to produce chickens, or for both; the +climate, soil, and situation; the space that can be allotted to them; +and the amount of attention that can be devoted to their care. If fowls +are to be bred for exhibition, you must be guided by your own taste, +pocket, and resources, as well as by the suitability of the situation +for the particular breed desired. The advantages, disadvantages, and +peculiarities of the various breeds will be described under their +respective heads. + +In commencing poultry-keeping buy only young and healthy birds. No one +sign is infallible to the inexperienced. In general, however, the legs +of a young hen look delicate and smooth, her comb and wattles are soft +and fresh, and her general outline, even in good condition (unless when +fattened for the table), rather light and graceful; whilst an old one +will have rather hard, horny-looking shanks; her comb and wattles look +somewhat harder, drier, and more "scurfy," and her figure is well filled +out. But any of these signs may be deceptive, and the beginner should +use his own powers of observation, and try and catch the "old look," +which he will soon learn to know. + +All authorities agree that a cock is in his prime at two years of age, +though some birds show every sign of full vigour when only four months +old. It is agreed by nearly all the greatest authorities that the ages +of the cocks and hens should be different; however, good birds may be +bred from parents of the same age, but they should not be less than a +year old. The strongest chickens are obtained from two-year old hens by +a cockerel of about a year old; but such broods contain a disproportion +of cocks, and, therefore, most poultry-keepers prefer to breed from +well-grown pullets of not less than nine months with a cock of two years +of age. The cock should not be related to the hens. It is, therefore, +not advisable to purchase him from the same breeder of whom you procure +the hens. Do not let him be the parent of chickens from pullets that are +his own offspring. Breeding in-and-in causes degeneracy in fowls as in +all other animals. Some birds retain all their fire and energy until +five or even six years of age, but they are beyond their prime after the +third, or at the latest their fourth year; and should be replaced by +younger birds of the same breed, but from a different stock. + +Poultry-breeders differ with respect to the proper number of hens that +should be allowed to one cock. Columella, who wrote upon poultry about +two thousand years ago, advised twelve hens to one cock, but stated that +"our ancestors did use to give but five hens." Stephanus gave the same +number as Columella. Bradley, and the authors of the "Complete Farmer," +and the article upon the subject in "Rees's Cyclopaedia," give seven or +eight; and those who breed game-cocks are particular in limiting the +number of hens to four or five for one cock, in order to obtain strong +chickens. If fine, strong chickens be desired for fattening or breeding, +there should not be more than five or six hens to one cock; but if the +supply of eggs is the chief consideration, ten or twelve may be allowed; +indeed, if eggs are the sole object, he can be dispensed with +altogether, and his food saved, as hens lay, if there be any difference, +rather better without one. + +The russet red is the most hardy colour, white the most delicate, and +black the most prolific. General directions for the choice of fowls, as +to size, shape, and colour, cannot be applicable to all breeds, which +must necessarily vary upon these points. But in all breeds the cock +should, as M. Parmentier says, "carry his head high, have a quick, +animated look, a strong, shrill voice (except in the Cochins, which have +a fuller tone), a fine red comb, shining as if varnished, large wattles +of the same colour, strong wings, muscular thighs, thick legs furnished +with strong spurs, the claws rather bent and sharply pointed. He ought +also to be free in his motions, to crow frequently, and to scratch the +ground often in search of worms, not so much for himself, as to treat +his hens. He ought, withal, to be brisk, spirited, ardent, and ready in +caressing the hens, quick in defending them, attentive in soliciting +them to eat, in keeping them together, and in assembling them at night." + +To prevent cocks from fighting, old Mascall, following Columella, says: +"Now, to slacke that heate of jealousie, ye shall slitte two pieces of +thicke leather, and put them on his legges, and those will hang over his +feete, which will correct the vehement heate of jealousie within him"; +and M. Parmentier observes that "such a bit of leather will cause the +most turbulent cock to become as quiet as a man who is fettered at the +feet, hands, and neck." + +The hen should be of good constitution and temper, and, if required to +sit, large in the body and wide in the wings, so as to cover many eggs +and shelter many chickens, but short in the legs, or she could not sit +well. M. Parmentier advises the rejection of savage, quarrelsome, or +peevish hens, as such are seldom favourites with the cocks, scarcely +ever lay, and do not hatch well; also all above four or five years of +age, those that are too fat to lay, and those whose combs and claws are +rough, which are signs that they have ceased to lay. Hens should not be +kept over their third year unless very good or choice. Hens are not +uncommon with the plumage and spurs of the cock, and which imitate, +though badly, his full-toned crow. In such fowls the power of producing +eggs is invariably lost from internal disease, as has been fully +demonstrated by Mr. Yarrell in the "Philosophical Transactions" for +1827, and in the "Proceedings of the Zoological Society" for 1831. Such +birds should be fattened and killed as soon as observed. + +By careful study of the characteristics of the various breeds, breeding +from select specimens, and judicious crossing, great size may be +attained, maturity early developed, facility in putting on flesh +encouraged, hardiness of constitution and strength gained, and the +inclination to sit or the faculty of laying increased. + +Sir John Sebright, speaking of breeding cattle, says: "Animals may be +said to be improved when any desired quality has been increased by art +beyond what that quality was in the same breed in a state of nature. The +swiftness of the racehorse, the propensity to fatten in cattle, and to +produce fine wool in sheep, are improvements which have been made in +particular varieties in the species to which these animals belong. What +has been produced by art must be continued by the same means, for the +most improved breeds will soon return to a state of nature, or perhaps +defects will arise which did not exist when the breed was in its natural +state, unless the greatest attention is paid to the selection of the +individuals who are to breed together." + +The exact origin of the common domestic fowl and its numerous varieties +is unknown. It is doubtless derived from one or more of the wild or +jungle fowls of India. Some naturalists are of opinion that it is +derived from the common jungle fowl known as the _Gallus Bankiva_ of +Temminck, or _Gallus Ferrugineus_ of Gmelin, which very closely +resembles the variety known as Black-breasted Red Game, except that the +tail of the cock is more depressed; while others consider it to have +been produced by the crossing of that species with one or more others, +as the Malay gigantic fowl, known as the _Gallus giganteus_ of Temminck, +Sonnerat's Jungle Fowl, _Gallus sonneratii_, and probably some other +species. At what period or by what people it was reclaimed is not known, +but it was probably first domesticated in India. The writers of +antiquity speak of it as a bird long domesticated and widely spread in +their days. Very likely there are many species unknown to us in Sumatra, +Java, and the rich woods of Borneo. + +The process by which the various breeds have been produced "is simple +and easily understood," says Mr. Wright. "Even in the wild state the +original breed will show some amount of variation in colour, form, and +size; whilst in domestication the tendency to change, as every one +knows, is very much increased. By breeding from birds which show any +marked feature, stock is obtained of which a portion will possess that +feature in an _increased degree_; and by again selecting the best +specimens, the special points sought may be developed to almost any +degree required. A good example of such a process of development may be +seen in the 'white face' so conspicuous in the Spanish breed. White ears +will be observed occasionally in all fowls; even in such breeds as +Cochins or Brahmas, where white ear-lobes are considered almost fatal +blemishes; they continually occur, and by selecting only white-eared +specimens to breed from, they might be speedily fixed in any variety as +one of the characteristics. A large pendent white ear-lobe once firmly +established, traces of the white _face_ will now and then be found, and +by a similar method is capable of development and fixture; whilst any +colour of plumage or of leg may be obtained and established in the same +way. The original amount of character required is _very_ slight; a +single hen-tailed cock will be enough to give that characteristic to a +whole breed. Any peculiarity of _constitution_, such as constant laying, +or frequent incubation, may be developed and perpetuated in a similar +manner, all that is necessary being care and time. That such has been +the method employed in the formation of the more distinct races of our +poultry, is proved by the fact that a continuance of the same careful +selection is needful to perpetuate them in perfection. If the very best +examples of a breed are selected as the starting-point, and the produce +is bred from indiscriminately for many generations, the distinctive +points, whatever they are, rapidly decline, and there is also a more or +less gradual but sure return to the primitive wild type, in size and +even colour of the plumage. The purest black or white originally, +rapidly becomes first marked with, and ultimately changed into, the +original red or brown, whilst the other features simultaneously +disappear. If, however, the process of artificial selection be carried +too far, and with reference _only to one_ prominent point, any breed is +almost sure to suffer in the other qualities which have been neglected, +and this has been the case with the very breed already mentioned--the +white-faced Spanish. We know from old fanciers that this breed was +formerly considered hardy, and even in winter rarely failed to afford a +constant supply of its unequalled large white eggs. But of late years +attention has been so _exclusively_ directed to the 'white-face,' that +whilst this feature has been developed and perfected to a degree never +before known, the breed has become one of the most delicate of all, and +the laying qualities of at least many strains have greatly fallen off. +It would be difficult to avoid such evil results if it were not for a +valuable compensating principle, which admits of _crossing_. That +principle is, that any desired point possessed in perfection by a +foreign breed, may be introduced by crossing into a strain it is desired +to improve, and every other characteristic of the cross be, by +selection, afterwards bred out again. Or one or more of these additional +characteristics may be also retained, and thus a _new variety_ be +established, as many have been within the last few years." + +Size may be imparted to the Dorking by crossing it with the Cochin, and +the disposition to feather on the legs bred out again by judicious +selection; and the constitution may be strengthened by crossing with the +Game breed. Game fowls that have deteriorated in size, strength, and +fierceness, by a long course of breeding in-and-in, may have all these +qualities restored by crossing with the fierce, powerful, and gigantic +Malay, and his peculiarities may be afterwards bred out. The size of the +eggs of the Hamburg might very probably be increased without decreasing, +or with very slightly decreasing, the number of eggs, by crossing with a +Houdan cock; and the size would also be increased for the table. The +French breeds, Creve-Coeur, Houdan, and La Fleche, gain in size and +hardiness by being crossed with the Brahma cock. The cross between a +Houdan cock and a Brahma hen "produces," says the "Henwife," "the finest +possible chickens for market, but not to breed from. Pure Brahmas and +Houdans alone must be kept for that purpose; I have always found the +second cross worthless." + +In crossing, the cockerels will more or less resemble the male, and the +pullets the hen. "Long experience," says Mr. Wright, "has ascertained +that the male bird has most influence upon the colour of the progeny, +and also upon the comb, and what may be called the 'fancy points,' of +any breed generally; whilst the form, size, and useful qualities are +principally derived from the hen." + +Breed only from the strongest and healthiest fowls. In the breeding of +poultry it is a rule, as in all other cases of organised life, that the +best-shaped be used for the purpose of propagation. If a cock and hen +have both the same defect, however trifling it may be, they should never +be allowed to breed together, for the object is to improve the breed, +not to deteriorate it, even in the slightest degree. Hens should never +be allowed to associate with a cock of a different breed if you wish to +keep the breed pure, and if you desire superior birds, not even with an +inferior male of their own variety. "No time," says Mr. Baily, "has ever +been fixed as necessary to elapse before hens that have been running +with cocks of divers breeds, and afterwards been placed with their +legitimate partners, can be depended upon to produce purely-bred +chickens; I am disposed to think at least two months. Time of year may +have much to do with it. In the winter the escape of a hen from one run +to the other, or the intrusion of a cock, is of little moment; but it +may be serious in the spring, and destroy the hopes of a season." Many +poultry-keepers separate the cocks and hens after the breeding season, +considering that stronger chickens will be thereby obtained the next +season. Where there is a separate house and run for the sitting hen this +can be conveniently done when that compartment is vacant. In order to +preserve a breed perfectly pure, it will be necessary, where there is +not a large stock of the race, to breed from birds sprung from the same +parents, but the blood should be crossed every year by procuring one or +more fowls of the same breed from a distance, or by the exchange of eggs +with some neighbouring stock, of colour and qualities as nearly allied +as possible with the original breed. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +POULTRY SHOWS. + + +A few years ago poultry shows were unknown. In 1846, the first was held +in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, in the Regent's Park; Mr. +Baily being the sole judge. It was a very fair beginning, but did not +succeed, and it was not till the Cochin-China breed was introduced into +this country, and the first Birmingham show was held, that these +exhibitions became successful. + +In 1849, "the first poultry show that was ever held in 'the good old +town of Birmingham,' was beset with all the untried difficulties of such +a scheme, when without the experiences of the present day, then +altogether unavailable, a few spirited individuals carried to a +successful issue an event that has now proved the foster-parent of the +many others of similar character that abound in almost every principal +town of the United Kingdom. It is quite essential, that I may be clearly +understood, to preface my narrative by assuring fanciers that in those +former days poultry amateurs were by no means as general as at the +present time; few and far between were their locations; and though even +then, among the few who felt interest in fowls, emulation existed, +generally speaking, the keeping of poultry was regarded as 'a useless +hobby,' 'a mere individual caprice,' 'an idle whim from which no good +result could by possibility accrue'; nay, sometimes it was hinted, 'What +a pity they have not something better to employ them during leisure +hours!' and they were styled 'enthusiasts.' But have not the records of +every age proved that enthusiasts are invariably the pioneers of +improvement? And time, too, substantiated the verity of this rule in +reference to our subject; for, among other proofs, it brought +incontestable evidence that the raising of poultry was by no means the +unremunerative folly idlers supposed it to be, and hesitated not rashly +to declaim it; likewise, that it simply required to be fairly brought +under public notice, to prove its general utility, and to induce the +acknowledgment of how strangely so important a source of emolument had +been hitherto neglected and overlooked." + +At the Birmingham Show of 1852, about five thousand fowls were +exhibited, and the specimens sold during the four days of the show +amounted to nearly two thousand pounds, notwithstanding the high prices +affixed to the pens, and that many were placed at enormous prices +amounting to a prohibition, the owners not wishing to sell them. The +Birmingham shows now generally comprise from one to two thousand pens of +fowls and water-fowls, arranged in nearly one hundred classes; besides +an equal proportion of pigeons. This show is the finest and most +important, but there are many others of very high character and great +extent. Poultry is also now exhibited to a considerable extent at +agricultural meetings. + +Any one may see the wonderful improvement that has been made in +poultry-breeding by visiting the next Birmingham or other first-class +show, and comparing the fowls there exhibited with those of his earliest +recollections, and with those mongrels and impure breeds which may still +be seen in too many farmyards. Points that were said to be impossible of +attainment have been obtained with comparative ease by perserverance and +skill, and the worst birds of a show are now often superior to the chief +prize fowls of former days. Indeed, "a modern prize bird," says the +"Henwife," "almost merits the character which a Parisian waiter gave of +a melon, when asked to pronounce whether it was a fruit or a vegetable, +'Gentlemen,' said he, 'a melon is neither; it is a work of art.'" + +Such shows must have great influence on the improvement of the breeds +and the general management of poultry, though like all other prize +exhibitions they have certain disadvantages. "We cannot but think," says +Mr. Wright, "that our poultry shows have, to some extent, by the +character of the judging, hindered the improvement of many breeds. It +will be readily admitted in _theory_ that a breed of fowls becomes more +and more valuable as its capacity of producing eggs is increased, and +the quantity and quality of its flesh are improved, with a small amount +of bone and offal in proportion. But, if we except the Dorking, which +certainly is judged to some extent as a table fowl, all this is +_totally_ lost sight of both by breeders and judges, and attention is +fixed exclusively upon colour, comb, face, and other equally fancy +'points.' Beauty and utility might be _both_ secured. The French have +taught us a lesson of some value in this respect. Within a comparatively +recent period they have produced, by crossing and selection, four new +varieties, which, although inferior in some points to others of older +standing, are all eminently valuable as table fowls; and which in one +particular are superior to any English variety, not even excepting the +Dorking--we mean the very small proportion of bone and offal. This is +really useful and scientific breeding, brought to bear upon _one_ +definite object, and we do trust the result will prove suggestive with +regard to others equally valuable. We should be afraid to say how much +might be done if English breeders would bring _their_ perseverance and +experience to bear in a similar direction. Agricultural Societies in +particular might be expected in _their_ exhibitions to show some +interest in the improvement of poultry regarded as _useful stock_, and +to them especially we commend the matter." + +The rules and regulations relating to exhibitions vary at different +shows, and may be obtained by applying to the secretary. Notices of +exhibitions are advertised in the local papers, and in the _Field_ and +other London papers of an agricultural character. + +In breeding birds for exhibition the number of hens to one cock should +not exceed four or five, but if only two or three hens of the breed are +possessed, the proper number of his harem should be made up by the +addition of hens of another breed, those being chosen whose eggs are +easily known from the others. + +If it is intended to rear the chickens for exhibition at the June, +July, or August shows, the earlier they are hatched the better, and +therefore a sitting should be made in January, if you have a young, +healthy hen broody. Set her on the ground in a warm, sheltered, and +quiet place, perfectly secure from rain, or from any flow of snow water. +Feed her well, and keep water and small quantities of food constantly +within her reach, so that she may not be tempted to leave the nest in +search of food; for the eggs soon chill in winter. Mix the best oatmeal +with hot water, and give it to her warm twice a day. A few grains of +hempseed as a stimulant may be given in the middle of the day. The great +difficulty to overcome in rearing early chickens is to sustain their +vital powers during the very long winter nights, when they are for so +many hours without food, the only substitute for which is warmth, and +this can only be well got from the hen. Consequently a young +Cochin-China with plenty of "fluff" will provide most warmth. The hen +should not be set on more than five, or at most seven eggs; for if she +has more, although she may sufficiently cover the chickens while very +small, she will not be able to do so when they grow larger, and the +outer ones will be chilled unless they manage to push themselves into +the inside places, and then the displaced chickens being warm are sure +to get more chilled than the others; and so the greater number of the +brood, even if they survive, will probably be weakly, puny things, +through the greedy desire to rear so many, while if she hatch but five +chickens she will probably rear four. The hen should be cooped until the +chickens are at least ten weeks old, and covered up at night with +matting, sacking, or a piece of carpet. + +Give them plenty of curd, chopped egg, and oatmeal, mixed with new milk. +Stiff oatmeal porridge is the best stock food. Some onion tops minced +fine will be an excellent addition if they can be had. They should have +some milk to drink. Feed the hen well. The best warmth the chickens can +have is that of their mother, and the best warmth for her is generated +by generous, but proper, food, and a good supply of it. Early chickens +rearing for show should be fed twice after dark, say at eight and +eleven o'clock, and again at seven in the morning, so that they will not +be without food for more than eight hours. The hen should be fed at the +same times, and she will become accustomed to it, and call the chickens +to feed; it will also generate more warmth in her for their benefit. +Yolk of egg beaten up and given to drink is most strengthening for +weakly chickens; or it may be mixed with their oatmeal. The tender +breeds should not be hatched till April or May, unless in a mild +climate, or with exceptional advantages. + +For winter exhibition, March and April hatched birds are preferable to +those hatched earlier. Not more than seven eggs should be set, for a hen +cannot scratch up insects and worms and find peculiar herbage for more +than six chickens. If the chickens have not a good grass run, they must +be supplied with abundance of green food. + +They should not be allowed to roost before they are three months old, +and the perches must be sufficiently large. Mr. Wright recommends a bed +of clean, dry ashes, an inch deep, for those that leave the hen before +the proper age for roosting, and does not allow his chickens, even while +with the hen, to bed upon straw, considering the ashes to be much +cleaner and also warmer. + +The chickens intended to be exhibited should be distinguished from their +companions by small stripes of different coloured silks loosely sewn +round their legs, which distinguishing colours should be entered in the +poultry-book. A few good birds should always be kept in reserve to fill +up the pen in case of accidents. + +Weight is more important in the December and later winter shows than at +those held between August and November, but at all shows feather and +other points of competitors being equal weight must carry the day, Game +and Bantams excepted. It is not safe to trust to the apparent weight of +a bird, for the feathers deceive, and it is therefore advisable to weigh +the birds occasionally. Each should be weighed in a basket, allowance +being made for the weight of the basket, and they should if possible be +weighed before a meal. But fowls that are over-fattened, as some judges +very improperly desire, cannot be in good health anymore than "crammed" +fowls, and are useless for breeding, producing at best a few puny, +delicate, or sickly chickens; thus making the exhibition a mere "show," +barren of all useful results. + +Pullets continue to grow until they begin to lay, which almost or quite +stops their growth; and therefore if great size is desired for +exhibition, they should be kept from the cockerels and partly from +stimulating food until a month before the show, when they will be +required to be matched in pens. During this month they should have extra +food and attention. + +If fowls intended for exhibition are allowed to sit, the chickens are +apt to cause injury to their plumage, and loss of condition, while if +prevented from sitting, they are liable to suffer in moulting. Their +chickens may be given to other hens, but the best and safest plan is to +set a broody exhibition hen on duck's eggs, which will satisfy her +natural desire for sitting, while the young ducklings will give her much +less trouble, and leave her sooner than a brood of her own kind. + +All the birds in a pen should match in comb, colour of their legs, and +indeed in every particular. Mr. Baily mentions "a common fault in +exhibitors who send two pens composed of three excellent and three +inferior birds, so divided as to form perhaps one third class and one +highly commended pen: whereas a different selection would make one of +unusual merit. If an amateur who wishes to exhibit has fifteen fowls to +choose from, and to form a pen of a cock and two hens, he should study +and scan them closely while feeding at his feet in the morning. He +should then have a place similar to an exhibition pen, wherein he can +put the selected birds; they should be raised to the height at which he +can best see them, and before he has looked long at them defects will +become apparent one after the other till, in all probability, neither of +the subjects of his first selection will go to the show. We also advise +him rather to look for defects than to dwell on beauties--the latter +are always prominent enough. The pen of which we speak should be a +moveable one for convenience' sake, and it is well to leave the fowls in +it for a time that they may become accustomed to each other, and also to +an exhibition pen." Birds that are strangers should never be put into +the same hamper, for not only the cocks but even the hens will fight +with and disfigure each other. + +Some give linseed for a few days before the exhibition to impart lustre +to the plumage, by increasing the secretion of oil. A small quantity of +the meal should be mixed with their usual soft food, as fowls generally +refuse the whole grain. But buckwheat and hempseed, mixed in equal +proportions, if given for the evening meal during the last ten or twelve +days, is healthier for the bird, much liked, and will not only impart +equal lustre to the plumage, but also improve the appearance of the comb +and wattles. + +Spanish fowls should be kept in confinement for some days before the +show, with just enough light to enable them to feed and perch, and the +place should be littered with clean straw. This greatly improves their +condition; why we know not, but it is an established fact. Game fowls +should be kept in for a few days, and fed on meal, barley, and bread, +with a few peas, which tend to make the plumage hard, but will make them +too fat if given freely. Dark and golden birds should be allowed to run +about till they have to be sent off. Remove all scurf or dead skin from +the comb, dry dirt from the beak, and stains from the plumage, and wash +their legs clean. White and light fowls that have a good grass run and +plenty of clean straw in their houses and yards to scratch in, will +seldom require washing, but town birds, and country ones if not +perfectly clean, should be washed the day before the show with tepid +water and mild white soap rubbed on flannel, care being taken to wash +the feathers downwards, so as not to break or ruffle them; afterwards +wiped with a piece of flannel that has been thoroughly soaked in clean +water, and gently dried with soft towels before the fire; or the bird +may be entirely dipped into a pan of warm water, then rinsed thoroughly +in cold water, wiped with a flannel, and placed in a basket with soft +straw before a fire to dry. They should then be shut up in their houses +with plenty of clean straw. They should have their feet washed if dirty, +and be well fed with soft nourishing food just before being put into the +travelling-basket, for hard food is apt to cause fever and heat while +travelling, and, having to be digested without gravel or exercise, +causes indigestion, which ruffles the plumage, dulls its colour, darkens +the comb, and altogether spoils the appearance of the bird. Sopped or +steeped bread is excellent. + +The hampers should always be round or oval in form, as fowls invariably +creep into corners and destroy their plumage. They should be high enough +for the cocks to stand upright in, without touching the top with their +combs. Some exhibitors prefer canvas tops to wicker lids, considering +that the former preserve the fowls' combs from injury if they should +strike against the top, while others prefer the latter as being more +secure, and allowing one hamper to be placed upon another if necessary, +and also preserving the fowls from injury if a heavy hamper or package +should otherwise be placed over it. A good plan is to have a double +canvas top, the space between being filled with hay. A thick layer of +hay or straw should be placed at the bottom of the basket. Wheaten straw +is the best in summer and early autumn, and oat or barley straw later in +the year and during winter. A good lining also is essential; coarse +calico stitched round the inside of the basket is the best. Ducks and +geese do not require their hampers to be lined, except in very cold +weather; and the best lining for them is made by stitching layers of +pulled straw round the inside of the basket. Turkeys should have their +hampers lined, for although they are very hardy, cold and wet damage +their appearance more than other poultry. Take care that the geese +cannot get at the label, for they will eat it, and also devour the +hempen fastenings if within their reach. + +Be very careful in entering your birds for exhibition; describe their +ages, breed, &c., exactly and accurately, and see yourself to the +packing and labelling of their hampers. + +Mr. F. Wragg, the superintendent of the poultry-yard of R. W. Boyle, +Esq., whose fowls have a sea voyage from Ireland besides the railway +journey, and yet always appear in splendid condition and "bloom," ties +on one side of the hamper, "near the top, a fresh-pulled cabbage, and on +the other side a good piece of the bottom side of a loaf, of which they +will eat away all the soft part. Before starting, I give each bird half +a tablespoonful of port wine, which makes them sleep a good part of the +journey. Of course, if I go with my birds, as I generally do, I see that +they, as well as myself, have 'refreshment' on the road."[A] The cabbage +will always be a treat, and the loaf and wine may be added for long +journeys. + +Birds are frequently over-fed at the show, particularly with barley, +which cannot be properly digested for want of gravel and exercise; and +therefore, if upon their return their crops are hard and combs look +dark, give a tablespoonful of castor oil; but if they look well do not +interfere with them. They should not have any grain, but be fed +sparingly on stale bread soaked in warm ale, with two or three mouthfuls +of tepid water, for liquid is most hurtful if given in quantity. They +should not be put into the yard with the other fowls which may treat +them, after their absence, as intruders, but be joined with them at +night when the others have gone to roost. On the next day give them a +moderate allowance of soft food with a moderate supply of water, or +stale bread sopped in water, and a sod of grass or half a cabbage leaf +each, but no other green food; and on the following day they may have +their usual food. + +When the fowls are brought back, take out the linings, wash them, and +put them by to be ready for the next show; and after the exhibition +season, on a fine dry day, wash the hampers, dry them thoroughly, and +put them in a dry place. Never use them as quiet berths for sick birds, +which are sure to infect them and cause the illness of the next +occupants; or as nesting-places for sitting hens, which may leave +insects in the crevices that will be difficult to eradicate. + +In our descriptions of the various Breeds, we have given sufficient +general information upon the Exhibition Points from the best +authorities; but considerable differences of opinion have been expressed +of late years, and eminent breeders dissent in some cases even from the +generally recognised authority of the popular "Standard of Excellence." +We, therefore, advise intending exhibitors to ascertain the standards to +be followed at the show and the predilections of the judges, and to +breed accordingly, or, if they object to the views held, not to compete +at that exhibition. + + +TECHNICAL TERMS. + +_Coverts._--The _upper_ and _lower wing coverts_ are those ranges of +feathers which cover the primary quills; and the _tail coverts_ are +those feathers growing on each side of the tail, and are longer than the +body feathers, but shorter than those of the tail. + +_Dubbing._--Cutting off the comb and wattles of a cock; an operation +usually confined to Game cocks. + +_Ear-lobe._--The small feathers covering the organ of hearing, which is +placed a little behind the eye. + +_Flight._--The last five feathers of each wing. + +_Fluff._--The silky feathers growing on the thighs and hinder parts of +Cochin-China fowls. + +_Hackles._--The _neck hackles_ are feathers growing from the neck, and +covering the shoulders and part of the back; and the _saddle hackles_ +those growing from the end of the back, and falling over the sides. + +_Legs._--The _legs_ are properly the lower and scaly limbs, the upper +part covered with feathers and frequently mis-called legs, being +correctly styled the _thighs_. + +_Primary Quills._--The long, strong quills, usually ten in number, +forming the chief portion of each wing, and the means of flight. + +_Vulture-hocked._--Feathers growing from the thigh, and projecting +backwards below the knee. + +[Illustration: Buff and White Cochin-China. Malay Cock. Light and Dark +Brahmas.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +COCHIN-CHINAS, OR SHANGHAES. + + +Like many other fowls these possess a name which is incorrectly applied, +for they came from Shanghae, not Cochin-China, where they were +comparatively unknown. Mr. Fortune, who, from his travels in China, is +well qualified to give an opinion, states that they are a Chinese breed, +kept in great numbers at Shanghae; the real Cochin-China breed being +small and elegantly shaped. But all attempts to give them the name of +the port from which they were brought have failed, and the majority of +breeders persist in calling them Cochins. In the United States both +names are used, the feather-legged being called Shanghaes, and the +clean-legged Cochins. + +The first Shanghae fowls brought to this country were sent from India to +Her Majesty, which gave them great importance; and the eggs having been +freely distributed by the kindness of the Queen and the Prince Consort, +the breed was soon widely spread. They were first introduced into this +country when the northern ports of China, including Shanghae, were +thrown open to European vessels on the conclusion of the Chinese war in +1843; but some assign the date of their introduction from 1844 to 1847, +and say that those called Cochins, exhibited by the Queen in 1843, were +not the true breed, having been not only entirely without feathers on +the shanks, but also altogether different in form and general +characteristics. A pair which were sent by Her Majesty for exhibition at +the Dublin Cattle Show in April, 1846, created such a sensation from +their great size and immense weight, and the full, loud, deep-pitched +crowing of the cock, that almost every one seemed desirous to possess +some of the breed, and enormous prices were given for the eggs and +chickens. With his propensity for exaggeration, Paddy boasted that they +laid five eggs in two days, each weighing three ounces, that the fowls +equalled turkeys in size, and "Cochin eggs became in as great demand as +though they had been laid by the fabled golden goose. Philosophers, +poets, merchants, and sweeps had alike partook of the mania; and +although the latter could hardly come up to the price of a real Cochin, +there were plenty of vagabond dealers about, with counterfeit crossed +birds of all kinds, which were advertised to be the genuine article. For +to such a pitch did the excitement rise, that they who never kept a fowl +in their lives, and would hardly know a Bantam from a Dorking, puzzled +their shallow brains as to the proper place to keep them, and the proper +diet to feed them on." Their justly-deserved popularity speedily grew +into a mania, and the price which had been from fifteen to thirty +shillings each, then considered a high price for a fowl, rose to ten +pounds for a fine specimen, and ultimately a hundred guineas was +repeatedly paid for a single cock, and was not an uncommon price for a +pair of really fine birds. "They were afterwards bred," says Miss Watts, +"for qualities difficult of attainment, and, as the result proved, +little worth trying for," and "fowls with _many_ excellent qualities +were blamed for not being _perfect_," and they fell from their high +place, and were as unjustly depreciated as they had been unduly exalted. + +"Had these birds," wrote Mr. Baily many years since, "been shy +breeders--if like song birds the produce of a pair were four, or at most +five, birds in the year, prices might have been maintained; but as they +are marvellous layers they increased. They bred in large numbers, and +consequently became cheaper, and then the mania ended, because those who +dealt most largely in them did so not from a love of the birds or the +pursuit, but as a speculation. As they had over-praised them before, +they now treated them with contempt. Anything like a moderate profit was +despised, and the birds were left to their own merits. These were +sufficient to ensure their popularity, and now after fluctuating in +value more than anything except shares, after being over-praised and +then abused, they have remained favourites with a large portion of the +public, sell at a remunerating price, and form one of the largest +classes at all the great exhibitions." This has proved to be a perfectly +correct view, and the breed is now firmly established in public +estimation, and unusually fine birds will still sell for from five to +twenty pounds each. The mania did great service to the breeding and +improvement of poultry by awakening an interest in the subject +throughout the kingdom which has lasted. + +They are the best of all fowls for a limited space, and not inclined to +wander even when they have an extensive run. They cannot fly, and a +fence three feet high will keep them in. But if kept in a confined space +they must have an unlimited supply of green food. They give us eggs when +they are most expensive, and indeed, with regard to new-laid eggs, when +they are almost impossible to be had at any price. They begin to lay +soon after they are five months old, regardless of the season or +weather, and lay throughout the year, except when requiring to sit, +which they do twice or thrice a year, and some oftener. Pullets will +sometimes lay at fourteen weeks, and want to sit before they are six +months old. Cochins have been known to lay twice in a day, but not again +on the following day, and the instances are exceptional. Their eggs are +of a pale chocolate colour, of excellent flavour, and usually weigh +2-1/4 ounces each. They are excellent sitters and mothers. Pullets will +frequently hatch, lay again, and sit with the chickens of the first +brood around them. Cochins are most valuable as sitters early in the +year, being broody when other fowls are beginning to lay; but unless +cooped they are apt to leave their chickens too soon, especially for +early broods, and lay again. They are very hardy, and their chickens +easy to rear, doing well even in bleak places without any unusual care. +But they are backward in fledging, chickens bred from immature fowls +being the most backward. Those which are cockerels show their flight +feathers earliest. They are very early matured. + +A writer in the _Poultry Chronicle_ well says: "These fowls were sent +to provide food for man; by many they are not thought good table fowls; +but when others fail, if you keep them, you shall never want the luxury +of a really new-laid egg on your breakfast table. The snow may fall, the +frost may be thick on your windows when you first look out on a December +morning, but your Cochins will provide you eggs. Your children shall +learn gentleness and kindness from them, for they are kind and gentle, +and you shall be at peace with your neighbours, for they will not wander +nor become depredators. They have fallen in price because they were +unnaturally exalted; but their sun is not eclipsed; they have good +qualities, and valuable. They shall now be within the reach of all; and +will make the delight of many by their domestic habits, which will allow +them to be kept where others would be an annoyance." They will let you +take them off their roost, handle and examine them, and put them back +without struggling. + +The fault of the Cochin-Chinas as table birds is, that they produce most +meat on the inferior parts; thus, there is generally too little on the +breast which is the prime part of a fowl, while the leg which is an +inferior part, is unusually fleshy, but it must be admitted that the leg +is more tender than in other breeds. A greater quantity of flesh may be +raised within a given time, on a certain quantity of food, from these +fowls than from any other breed. The cross with the Dorking is easily +reared, and produces a very heavy and well-shaped fowl for the table, +and a good layer. + +"A great hue and cry," says Miss Watts, "has been raised against the +Cochin-Chinas as fowls for the table, but we believe none have bestowed +attention on breeding them with a view to this valuable consideration. +Square, compact, short-legged birds have been neglected for a certain +colour of feather, and a broad chest was given up for the wedge-form at +the very time that was pronounced a fault in the fowl. It is said that +yellow-legged fowls are yellow also in the skin, and that white skin and +white legs accompany each other; but how pertinaciously the yellow leg +of the Cochin is adhered to! Yet all who have bred them will attest +that a little careful breeding would perpetuate white-legged Cochins. +Exhibitions are generally excellent; but to this fowl they certainly +have only been injurious, by exaggerating useless and fancy qualities at +the expense of those which are solid and useful. Who would favour, or +even sanction, a Dorking in which size and shape, and every property we +value in them, was sacrificed to an endeavour to breed to a particular +colour? and this is what we have been doing with the Cochin-China. Many +breeders say, eat Cochins while very young; but we have found them much +better for the table as fowls than as chickens. A fine Cochin, from five +to seven months old, is like a turkey, and very juicy and fine in +flavour." + +A peculiar characteristic of these birds, technically called "fluff," is +a quantity of beautifully soft, long feathers, covering the thighs till +they project considerably, and garnishing all the hinder parts of the +bird in the same manner, so that the broadest part of the bird is +behind. Its quality is a good indication of the breed; if fine and downy +the birds are probably well-bred, but if rank and coarse they are +inferior. The cocks are frequently somewhat scanty in "fluff," but +should be chosen with as much as possible; but vulture-hocks which often +accompany the heaviest feathered birds should be avoided, as they now +disqualify at the best shows. "The fluff," says a good authority, "in +the hen especially, should so cover the tail feathers as to give the +appearance of a very short back, the line taking an upward direction +from within an inch or so of the point of junction with the hackle." The +last joint of the wings folds up, so that the ends of the flight +feathers are concealed by the middle feathers, and their extremities are +again covered by the copious saddle, which peculiarity has caused them +to be also called the ostrich-fowl. + +A good Cochin cock should be compact, large, and square built; broad +across the loins and hind-quarters; with a deep keel; broad, short back; +short neck; small, delicately-shaped, well-arched head; short, strong, +curved beak; rather small, finely and evenly serrated, straight, single, +erect comb, wholly free from reduplications and sprigs; brilliant red +face, and pendant wattles; long hanging ear-lobe, of pure red, white +being inadmissible; bright, bold eye, approaching the plumage in colour; +rich, full, long hackle; small, closely-folded wings; short tail, +scarcely any in some fine specimens, not very erect, with slightly +twisted glossy feathers falling over it like those of the ostrich; stout +legs set widely apart, yellow and heavily feathered to the toe; and +erect carriage. The chief defect of the breed is narrowness of breast, +which should therefore be sought for as full as possible. + +The hen's body is much deeper in proportion than that of the cock. She +resembles him upon most points, but differs in some; her comb having +many indentations; the fluff being softer, and of almost silky quality; +the tail has upright instead of falling feathers, and comes to a blunt +point; and her carriage is less upright. + +Cochins lose their beauty earlier than any other breed, and moult with +more difficulty each time. They are in their greatest beauty at from +nine to eighteen months old. The cocks' tails increase with age. In +buying Cochins avoid clean legs, fifth toes, which show that it has been +crossed with the Dorking, double combs that betray Malay blood, and long +tails, particularly taking care that the cock has not, and ascertaining +that he never had, sickle feathers. The cock ought not to weigh less +than ten or eleven pounds, and a very fine bird will reach thirteen; the +hens from eight to ten pounds. + +The principal colours now bred are Buff, Cinnamon, Partridge, Grouse, +Black, and White. The Buff and White are the most popular. + +Buff birds may have black in the tails of both sexes, but the less there +is the better. Black-pencilling in the hackle is considered +objectionable at good shows. The cock's neck hackles, wing coverts, +back, and saddle hackles, are usually of a rich gold colour, but his +breast and the lower parts of his body should match with those of his +hens. Buff birds generally produce chickens lighter than themselves. +Most birds become rather lighter at each moult. In making up an +exhibition pen, observe that Grouse and Partridge hens should have a +black-breasted cock; and that Buff and Cinnamon birds should not be +placed together, but all the birds in the pen should be either Buff or +Cinnamon. The Cinnamon are of two shades, the Light Cinnamon and the +Silver, which is a pale washy tint, that looks very delicate and pretty +when perfectly clean. Silver Cinnamon hens should not be penned with a +pale Yellow cock, but with one as near to their own tint as can be +found. Mr. Andrews's celebrated strain of Cochins sometimes produced +both cocks and hens which were Silver Cinnamon, with streaks of gold in +the hackle. + +In Partridge birds the cock's neck and saddle hackles should be of a +bright red, striped with black, his back and wings of dark red, the +latter crossed with a well-defined bar of metallic greenish black, and +the breast and under parts of his body should be black, and not mottled. +The hen's neck hackles should be of bright gold, striped with black, and +all the other portions of her body of a light brown, pencilled with very +dark brown. The Grouse are very dark Partridge, have a very rich +appearance, and are particularly beautiful when laced. They are far from +common, and well worth cultivating. The Partridge are more mossed in +their markings, and not so rich in colour as the Grouse. Cuckoo Cochins +are marked like the Cuckoo Dorkings, and difficult to breed free of +yellow. + +The White and Black were introduced later than the others. Mr. Baily +says the White were principally bred from a pair imported and given to +the Dean of Worcester, and which afterwards became the property of Mrs. +Herbert, of Powick. White Cochins for exhibition must have yellow legs, +and they are prone to green. The origin of the Black is disputed. It is +said to be a sport from the White, or to have been produced by a cross +between the Buff and the White. By careful breeding it has been fixed as +a decided sub-variety, but it is difficult, if not almost impossible, to +rear a cock to complete maturity entirely free from coloured feathers. +They keep perfectly pure in colour till six months old, after which age +they sometimes show a golden patch or red feathers upon the wing, or a +few streaks of red upon the hackle, of so dark a shade as to be +imperceptible except in a strong light, and are often found on close +examination to have white under feathers, and others barred with white. + +The legs in all the colours should be yellow. Flesh-coloured legs are +admissible, but green, black, or white are defects. In the Partridge and +Grouse a slight wash, as of indigo, appears to be thrown over them, +which in the Black assumes a still darker shade; but in all three yellow +should appear partially even here beneath the scales, as the pink tinge +does in the Buff and White birds. + +Cochin-Chinas being much inclined to accumulate internal fat, which +frequently results in apoplexy, should not be fed on food of a very +fattening character, such as Indian corn. They are liable to have +inflamed feet if they are obliged to roost on very high, small, or sharp +perches, or allowed to run over sharp-edged stones. + +They are also subject to an affection called White Comb, which is a +white mouldy eruption on the comb and wattles like powdered chalk; and +if not properly treated in time, will spread over the whole body, +causing the feathers to fall off. It is caused by want of cleanliness, +over-stimulating or bad food, and most frequently by want of green food, +which must be supplied, and the place rubbed with an ointment composed +of two parts of cocoanut oil, and one of turmeric powder, to which some +persons add one half part of sulphur; and six grains of jalap may be +given to clear the bowels. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +BRAHMA-POOTRAS. + + +It is a disputed point among great authorities whether Brahmas form a +distinct variety, or whether they originated in a cross with the Cochin, +and have become established by careful breeding. When they were first +introduced, Mr. Baily considered them to be a distinct breed, and has +since seen nothing to alter his opinion. Their nature and habits are +quite dissimilar, for they wander from home and will get their own +living where a Cochin would starve, have more spirit, deeper breasts, +are hardier, lay larger eggs, are less prone to sit, and never produce a +clean-legged chicken. Whatever their origin, by slow and sure degrees, +without any mania, they have become more and more popular, standing upon +their own merits, and are now one of the most favourite varieties. + +"The worst accusation," says Miss Watts, "their enemies can advance +against them is, that no one knows their origin; but this is applicable +to them only as it is when applied to Dorkings, Spanish, Polands, and +all the other kinds which have been brought to perfection by careful +breeding, working on good originals. All we have in England are +descended from fowls imported from the United States, and the best +account of them is, that a sailor (rather vague, certainly) appeared in +an American town (Boston or New York, I forget which) with a new kind of +fowl for sale, and that a pair bought from him were the parents of all +the Brahmas. Uncertain as this appears, the accounts of those who +pretend to trace their origin as cross-bred fowls is, at least, equally +so, and I believe we may just act towards the Brahmas as we do with +regard to Dorkings and other good fowls, and be satisfied to possess a +first-rate, useful kind, although we may be unable to trace its +genealogical tree back to the root. Whatever may be their origin, I find +them distinct in their characteristics. I have found them true to their +points, generation after generation, in all the years that I have kept +them. The pea-comb is very peculiar, and I have never had one chicken +untrue in this among all that I have bred. Their habits are very unlike +the Cochins. Although docile, they are much less inert; they lay a +larger number of eggs, and sit less frequently. Many of my hens only +wish to sit once a year; a few oftener than that, perhaps twice or even +three times in rare instances, but never at the end of each small batch +of eggs, as I find (my almost equal favourites) the Cochins do. The +division of Light and Dark Brahmas is a fancy of the judges, which any +one who keeps them can humour with a little care in breeding. My idea of +their colour is, that it should be black and grey (iron grey, with more +or less of a blue tinge, and devoid of any brown) on a clear white +ground, and I do not care whether the white or the marking predominates. +I believe breeders could bear me out, if they would, when I say many +fowls which pass muster as Brahmas are the result of a cross, employed +to increase size and procure the heavy colour which some of the judges +affect." + +For strength of constitution, both as chickens and fowls, they surpass +all other breeds. Brahmas like an extensive range, but bear confinement +as well as any fowls, and keep cleaner in dirty or smoky places than any +that have white feathers. They are capital foragers where they have +their liberty, are smaller eaters and less expensive to keep than +Cochins, and most prolific in eggs. They lay regularly on an average +five fine large eggs a week all the year round, even when snow is on the +ground, except when moulting or tending their brood. Mr. Boyle, of Bray, +Ireland, the most eminent breeder of Dark Brahmas in Great Britain, says +he has "repeatedly known pullets begin to lay in autumn, and _never +stop_--let it be hail, rain, snow, or storm--for a single day till next +spring." They usually lay from thirty to forty eggs before they seek to +sit. The hens do not sit so often as Cochins, and a week's change of +place will generally banish the desire. They put on flesh well, with +plenty of breast-meat, and are more juicy and better shaped for the +table than most Cochins; though, after they are six months old, the +flesh is much inferior to that of the Dorking. A cross with a Dorking or +Creve-Coeur cock produces the finest possible table fowl, carrying +almost incredible quantities of meat of excellent quality. + +The chickens are hardy and easy to rear. They vary in colour when first +hatched, being all shades of brown, yellow, and grey, and are often +streaked on the back and spotted about the head; but this variety gives +place, as the feathers come, to the mixture of black, white, and grey, +which forms the distinguishing colour of the Brahma. Mr. Baily has +"hatched them in snow, and reared them all out of doors without any +other shelter than a piece of mat or carpet thrown over the coop at +night." They reach their full size at an early age, and the pullets are +in their prime at eight months. Miss Watts noticed that Brahmas "are +more clever in the treatment of themselves when they are ill than other +fowls; when they get out of order, they will generally fast until eating +is no longer injurious," which peculiarity is corroborated by the +experienced "Henwife." The feathers of the Brahma-Pootra are said to be +nearly equal to goose feathers. + +The head should have a slight fulness over the eye, giving breadth to +the top; a full, pearl eye is much admired, but far from common; comb +either a small single, or pea-comb--the single resembling that of the +Cochin; the neck short; the breast wide and full; the legs short, +yellow, and well-feathered, but not so fully as in the finest Cochins; +and the tail short but full, and in the cock opening into a fan. They +should be wide and deep made, large and weighty, and have a free, noble +carriage, equally distinct from the waddle of the Cochin, and the erect +bearing of the Malay. Unlike the Cochins, they keep constantly to their +colour, which is a mixture of black, white, and grey; the lightest being +almost white, and the darkest consisting of grey markings on a white +ground. The colour is entirely a matter of taste, but the bottom colour +should always be grey. + +"After breeding Brahmas for many years," says Miss Watts, "through many +generations and crosses (always, however, keeping to families imported +direct from America), we are quite confirmed in the opinion that the +pea-comb is _the_ comb for the Brahma; and this seems now a settled +question, for single-combed birds never take prizes when passable +pea-combed birds are present. The leading characteristic of the peculiar +comb, named by the Americans the pea-comb, is its triple character. It +may be developed and separated almost like three combs, or nearly united +into one; but its triple form is always evident. What we think most +beautiful is, where the centre division is a little fluted, slightly +serrated, and flanked by two little side combs. The degree of the +division into three varies, and the peculiarities of the comb may be +less perceptible in December than when the hens are laying; but the +triple character of the pea-comb is always evident. It shows itself in +the chick at a few days old, in three tiny paralleled lines." It is +thick at the base, and like three combs joined into one, the centre comb +being higher than the other, but the comb altogether must be low, +rounded at the top, and the indentations must not be deep. Whether +single or triple, all the combs in a pen should be uniform. + +The dark and light varieties should not be crossed, as, according to Mr. +Teebay, who was formerly the most extensive and successful breeder of +Brahmas in England, the result is never satisfactory. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +MALAYS. + + +This was the first of the gigantic Asiatic breeds imported into this +country, and in height and size exceeds any fowl yet known. The origin +of the Malay breed is supposed to be the _Gallus giganteus_ of Temminck. +"This large and very remarkable species," says Mr. W. C. L. Martin, "is +a native of Java and Sumatra. The comb is thick and low, and destitute +of serrations, appearing as if it had been partially cut off; the +wattles are small, and the throat is bare. The neck is covered with +elongated feathers, or hackles, of a pale golden-reddish colour, which +advance upon the back, and hackles of the same colour cover the rump, +and drop on each side of the base of the tail. The middle of the back +and the shoulders of the wings are of a dark chestnut, the feathers +being of a loose texture. The greater wing-coverts are of a glossy +green, and form a bar of that colour across the wing. The primary and +secondary quill feathers are yellowish, with a tinge of rufous. The tail +feathers are of a glossy green. The under surface uniformly is of a +glossy blackish green, but the base of each feather is a chestnut, and +this colour appears on the least derangement of the plumage. The limbs +are remarkably stout, and the robust tarsi are of a yellow colour. The +voice is a sort of crow--hoarse and short, and very different from the +clear notes of defiance uttered by our farmyard chanticleer. This +species has the habit, when fatigued, of resting on the tarsi or legs, +as we have seen the emu do under similar circumstances." + +In the "Proceedings of the Zoological Society" for 1832, we find the +following notice respecting this breed, by Colonel Sykes, who observed +it domesticated in the Deccan: "Known by the name of the Kulm cock by +Europeans in India. Met with only as a domestic bird; and Colonel Sykes +has reason to believe that it is not a native of India, but has been +introduced by the Mussulmans from Sumatra or Java. The iris of the real +game bird should be whitish or straw yellow. Colonel Sykes landed two +cocks and a hen in England in June, 1831. They bore the winter well; the +hen laid freely, and has reared two broods of chickens. The cock has not +the shrill clear pipe of the domestic bird, and his scale of note +appears more limited. A cock in the possession of Colonel Sykes stood +twenty-six inches high to the crown of the head; but they attain a +greater height. Length from the tip of the bill to the insertion of the +tail, twenty-three inches. Hen one-third smaller than the male. Shaw +very justly describes the habit of the cock, of resting, when tired, on +the first joint of the leg." + +It is a long, large, heavy bird, standing remarkably upright, having an +almost uninterrupted slope from the head to the insertion of the tail; +with very long, though strong, yellow legs, quite free from feathers; +long, stout, firm thighs, and stands very erect; the cock, when full +grown, being at least two feet six inches, and sometimes over three feet +in height, and weighing from eight to eleven pounds. The head has great +fulness over the eye, and is flattened above, resembling that of the +snake. The small, thick, hard comb, scarcely rising from the head, and +barely as long, like half a strawberry, resembles that of a Game fowl +dubbed. The wattles are very small; the neck closely feathered, and like +a rope, with a space for an inch below the beak bare of feathers. It has +a hard, cruel expression of face; a brilliant bold eye, pearled around +the edge of the lids; skinny red face; very strong curved yellow beak; +and small, drooping tail, with very beautiful, though short, sickle +feathers. The hen resembles the cock upon all these points, but is +smaller. + +Their colours now comprise different shades of red and deep chestnut, in +combination with rich browns, and there are also black and white +varieties, each of which should be uniform. The feathers should be hard +and close, which causes it to be heavier than it appears. + +Malays are inferior to most other breeds as layers, but the pullets +commence laying early, and are often good winter layers. Their eggs, +which weigh about 2-1/2 ounces each, are of a deep buff or pale +chocolate colour, surpass all others in flavour, and are so rich that +two of them are considered to be equal to three of ordinary fowls. They +are nearly always fertile. + +Their chief excellence is as table fowls, carrying, as they do, a great +quantity of meat, which, when under a year old, is of very good quality +and flavour. Crossed with the Spanish and Dorking, they produce +excellent table fowls; the latter cross being also good layers. + +Malays are good sitters and mothers, if they have roomy nests. Their +chickens should not be hatched after June, as they feather slowly, and +are delicate; but the adult birds are hardy enough, and seem especially +adapted to crowded localities, such as courts and alleys. "Malays," says +Mr. Baily, "will live anywhere; they will inhabit a back yard of small +dimensions; they will scratch in the dust-hole, and roost under the +water-butt; and yet not only lay well, but show in good condition when +requisite." Like the Game fowl, it is terribly pugnacious, and in its +native country is kept and trained for fighting. This propensity, which +is still greater in confinement, is its greatest disadvantage. When +closely confined they are apt to eat each other's feathers, the cure for +which is turning them into a grass run, and giving them a good supply of +lettuce leaves, with an occasional purgative of six grains of jalap. The +Chittagong is said to be a variety of the Malay. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +GAME. + + +This is the kind expressly called the English breed by Buffon and the +French writers, and is the noblest and most beautiful of all breeds, +combining an admirable figure, brilliant plumage, and stately gait. It +is most probably derived from the larger or continental Indian species +of the Javanese, or Bankiva Jungle Fowl--the _Gallus Bankiva_ of +Temminck--which is a distinct species, distinguished chiefly from the +Javanese fowl by its larger size. (_See_ page 124.) Of this continental +species, Sir W. Jardine states that he has seen three or four specimens, +all of which came from India proper. The Game cock is the undisputed +king of all poultry, and is unsurpassed for courage. The Malay is more +cruel and ferocious, but has less real courage. Game fowls are in every +respect fighting birds, and, although cock-fighting is now very properly +prohibited by law, Game fowls are always judged mainly in reference to +fighting qualities. But their pugnacious disposition renders them very +troublesome, especially if they have not ample range, although it does +not disqualify them for small runs to the extent generally supposed. A +blow with his spur is dangerous, and instances have been recorded of +very severe injuries inflicted upon children, even causing death. An old +newspaper states that "Mr. Johnson, a farmer in the West Riding of +Yorkshire, who has a famous breed of the Game fowl, has had the great +misfortune to lose his little son, a boy of three years old, who was +attacked by a Game cock, and so severely injured that he died shortly +afterwards." High-bred hens are quite as pugnacious as the cocks. The +chickens are very quarrelsome, and both cocks and hens fight so +furiously, that frequently one-half of a brood is destroyed, and the +other half have to be killed. + +Game fowls are hardy when they can have liberty, but cannot be well kept +in a confined space. They eat little, and are excellent for an +unprotected place, because by their activity they avoid danger +themselves, and by their courage defend their chickens from enemies. The +hen is a prolific layer, and, if she has a good run, equal to any breed. +The eggs, though of moderate size only, are remarkable for delicacy of +flavour. She is an excellent sitter, and still more excellent mother. +The chickens are easily reared, require little food, and are more robust +in constitution than almost any other variety. + +The flesh of the Game fowl is beautifully white, and superior to that of +all other breeds for richness and delicacy of flavour. They should never +be put up to fat, as they are impatient of confinement. "They are in no +way fit for the fattening-coop," says Mr. Baily. "They cannot bear the +extra food without excitement, and that is not favourable to obesity. +Nevertheless, they have their merits. If they are reared like pheasants +round a keeper's house, and allowed to run semi-wild in the woods, to +frequent sunny banks and dry ditches, they will grow up like them; they +will have little fat, but they will be full of meat. They must be eaten +young; and a Game pullet four or five months old, caught up wild in this +way, and killed two days before she is eaten, is, perhaps, the most +delicious chicken there is in point of flavour." + +The Game-fowl continues to breed for many years without showing any +signs of decay, and in this respect is superior to the Cochin, Brahma, +and even to the Dorking. + +The cock's head should be long, but fine; beak long, curved, and strong; +comb single, small, upright, and bright red; wattles and face bright +red; eyes large and brilliant; neck long, arched, and strong; breast +well developed; back short and broad between the shoulders, but tapering +to the tail; thighs muscular, but short compared to the shanks; spur +low; foot flat, with powerful claws, and his carriage erect. The form of +the hen should resemble the above on a smaller scale, with small, fine +comb and face, and wattles of a less intense red. The feathers of both +should be very hard, firm, and close, very strong in the quills, and +seem so united that it should be almost impossible to ruffle them, each +feather if lifted up falling readily into its original place. Size is +not a point of merit, from four to six pounds being considered +sufficient, and better than heavier weights. Among the list of +imperfections in Game cocks, Sketchley enumerates "flat sides, short +legs, thin thighs, crooked or indented breast, short thin neck, +imperfect eye, and duck or short feet." + +"It is the custom," says Miss Watts, "consequently imperative, that all +birds which are exhibited should have been dubbed, and this should not +be done until the comb is so much developed that it will not spring +again after the dubbing. This will be safe if the chicken is nearly six +months old, but some are more set than others at a certain age. A keen +pair of scissors is the best instrument with which to operate. Hold the +fowl with a firm hand, cut away the deaf ears and wattles, then cut the +comb, cutting a certain distance from the back, and then from the front +to join this cut, taking especial care not to go too near the skull. +Some operators put a finger inside the mouth to get a firm purchase. We +should like to see dubbing done away with, leaving these beautiful fowls +as nature makes them; but since amateurs and shows will not agree to +this, it is best to give directions for dubbing, as an operation +bunglingly performed is sure to give unnecessary pain." To save the bird +from excessive loss of blood his wattles are usually cut off a week +later. Every superfluous piece of flesh and skin should be removed. + +The "Henwife" well says: "Why these poor birds are condemned to submit +to this cruel operation is a mystery, unfathomable, I suspect, even by +the judges themselves. Cock-fighting being forbidden by law, the cocks +should, on principle, be left undubbed, as a protest against this brutal +amusement. The comb of the Game male bird is as beautifully formed as +that of the Dorking; why then rob it of this great ornament? It is +asserted that it is necessary to remove the comb to prevent the cocks +injuring each other fatally in fighting; but this is not true; a Dorking +will fight for the championship as ardently as any Game bird, and yet +his comb is spared. Cockerels will not quarrel if kept apart from hens +until the breeding season, when they should be separated, and put on +their several walks. If pugnaciously inclined I do not believe that the +absence of the comb will save the weaker opponent from destruction; +therefore I raise my voice for pity, in favour of the beautiful Game +cock." + +The colours are various, and they are classed into numerous varieties +and sub-varieties, of which the chief are--Black-breasted Red; +Brown-Red; Silver Duck-wing Greys, so called from the feathers +resembling those of a duck; Greys; Blues; Duns; Piles, or Pieds; Black; +White; and Brassy-winged, which is Black with yellow on the lesser wing +coverts. Colours and markings must be allowed a somewhat wide range in +this breed; and figure, with courage, may be held to prove purity of +blood though the colour be doubtful. Mr. Douglas considers the +Black-breasted Red the finest feathered Game, and states that he never +found any come so true to colour as a brood of that variety. White in +the tail feathers is highly objectionable, though not an absolute +disqualification. White fowls should be entirely white, with white legs. +The rules for the coloured legs are very undecided. Light legs match +light-coloured birds best. No particular colour is imperative, but it +should harmonise with the plumage, and all in a pen must agree. + +The best layers are the Black-breasted Reds with willow legs, and the +worst the Greys. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +DORKINGS. + + +This is one of the finest breeds, and especially English. A pure Dorking +is distinguished by an additional or fifth toe. There are several +varieties, which are all comprised in two distinct classes--the White +and the Coloured. The rose-combed white breed is _the_ Dorking of the +old fanciers, and most probably the original breed, from which the +coloured varieties were produced by crossing it with the old Sussex, or +some other large coloured fowl. "That such was the case," says Mr. +Wright, "is almost proved by the fact that only a few years ago nothing +was more uncertain than the appearance of the fifth toe in coloured +chickens, even of the best strains. Such uncertainty in any important +point is always an indication of mixed blood; and that it was so in this +case is shown by the result of long and careful breeding, which has now +rendered the fifth toe permanent, and finally established the variety." +Mr. Brent says: "The _old_ Dorking, the _pure_ Dorking, the _only_ +Dorking, is the _White_ Dorking. It is of good size, compact and plump +form, with short neck, short white legs, five toes, a full rose-comb, a +large breast, and a plumage of spotless white. The practice of crossing +with a Game cock was much in vogue with the old breeders, to improve a +worn-out stock (which, however, would have been better accomplished by +procuring a fresh bird of the same kind, but not related). This cross +shows itself in single combs, loss of a claw, or an occasional red +feather, but what is still more objectionable, in pale-yellow legs and a +yellow circle about the beak, which also indicates a yellowish skin. +These, then, are faults to be avoided. As regards size, the White +Dorking is generally inferior to the Sussex fowl (or 'coloured +Dorking'), but in this respect it only requires attention and careful +breeding. The pure White Dorking may truly be considered as fancy stock, +as well as useful, because they will breed true to their points; but the +grey Sussex, Surrey or Coloured Dorking, often sport. To the breeders +and admirers of the so-called 'Coloured Dorkings' I would say, continue +to improve the fowl of your choice, but let him be known by his right +title; do not support him on another's fame, nor yet deny that the +rose-comb or fifth toe is essential to a Dorking, because your +favourites are not constant to those points. The absence of the fifth +claw to the Dorking would be a great defect, but to the Sussex fowl +(erroneously called a 'Coloured Dorking') it is my opinion it would be +an improvement, provided the leg did not get longer with the loss." + +The fifth toe should not be excessively large, or too far above the +ordinary toe. + +The White Dorking must have the plumage uniformly white, though in the +older birds the hackle and saddle may attain a light golden tint. The +rose-comb is preferable, and the beak and legs should be light and +clear. + +The Coloured Dorking is now bred to great size and beauty. It is a +large, plump, compact, square-made bird, with short white legs, and +should have a well-developed fifth toe. The plumage is very varied, and +may have a wide range, and might almost be termed immaterial, provided a +coarse mealy appearance be avoided, and the pen is well matched. This +latitude in respect of plumage is so generally admitted that the +assertion "you cannot breed Dorkings true to colour," has almost +acquired the authority of a proverb. They may be shown with either rose +or single combs, but all the birds in a pen must match. + +The Dorking is the perfection of a table bird, combining +delicately-flavoured white flesh, which is produced in greatest quantity +in the choicest parts--the breast, merry-thought, and wings--equal +distribution of fat, and symmetrical shape. Mr. Baily prefers the +Speckled or Grey to the White, as "they are larger, hardier, and fatten +more readily, and although it may appear anomalous, it is not less true +that white-feathered poultry has a tendency to yellowness in the flesh +and fat." Size is an important point in Dorkings. Coloured prize birds +weigh from seven to fourteen pounds, and eight months' chickens six or +seven pounds. The White Dorking is smaller. + +They are not good layers, except when very young, and are bad winter +layers. The eggs are large, averaging 2-3/4 ounces, pure white, very +much rounded, and nearly equal in size at each end. The hen is an +excellent sitter and mother. The chickens are very delicate, requiring +more care when young than most breeds, and none show a greater +mortality, no more than two-thirds of a brood usually surviving the +fourth week of their life. They should not be hatched before March, and +must be kept on gravel soil, hard clay, or other equally dry ground, and +never on brick, stone, or wooden flooring. + +This breed will only thrive on a dry soil. They are fond of a wide +range, and cannot be kept within a fence of less than seven feet in +height. When allowed unlimited range they appear to grow hardy, and are +as easily reared as any other breed if not hatched too early. If kept in +confinement they should have fresh turf every day, besides other +vegetable food. Dorkings degenerate more than any breed by +inter-breeding, and rapidly decrease in size. + +Dorkings are peculiarly subject to a chronic inflammation or abscess of +the foot, known as "bumble-foot," which probably originated in heavy +fowls descending from high perches and walking over sharp stones. The +additional toe may have rendered them more liable to this disease. It +may now arise from the same cause, and is best prevented by using broad, +low perches, and keeping their runs clear of sharp, rough stones, but it +also appears to have become hereditary in some birds. There is no cure +for it when matured except its removal, and this operation fails oftener +than it succeeds; but Mr. Tegetmeier states, that he has in early cases +removed the corn-like or wart-like tumours on the ball of the foot with +which the disease begins, and cauterised the part with nitrate of silver +successfully. + +[Illustration: Golden-pencilled and Silver-spangled Hamburgs. Black +Spanish] + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +SPANISH. + + +This splendid breed was originally imported from Spain, and is +characterised by its peculiar white face, which in the cock should +extend from the comb downwards, including the entire face, and meet +beneath in a white cravat, hidden by the wattles; and in the hen should +be equally striking. The plumage is perfectly black, with brilliant +metallic lustre, reflecting rich green and purple tints. The tail should +resemble a sickle in the cock, and be square in the hen. The comb should +be of a bright red, large, and high, upright in the cock, but pendent in +the hen; the legs blue, clean, and long, and the bearing proud and +gallant. + +With care they will thrive in a very small space, and are perhaps better +adapted for town than any other variety. They are tolerably hardy when +grown, but suffer much from cold and wet. Their combs and wattles are +liable to be injured by severe cold, from which these fowls should be +carefully protected. If frost-bitten, the parts should be rubbed with +snow or cold water, and the birds must not be taken into a warm room +until recovered. + +The Spanish are excellent layers, producing five or six eggs weekly from +February to August, and two or three weekly from November to February, +and also laying earlier than any other breed except the Brahma, the +pullets beginning to lay before they are six months old. Although the +hens are only of an average size, and but moderate eaters, their eggs +are larger than those of any other breed, averaging 3-1/2 ounces, and +some weighing 4-1/2 ounces, each. The shells are very thin and white, +and the largest eggs are laid in the spring. + +The flesh is excellent, but the body is small compared to that of the +Dorking. They very seldom show any inclination to sit, and if they hatch +a brood are bad nurses. The chickens are very delicate, and are best +hatched at the end of April and during May. They do not feather till +almost three-parts grown, and require a steady mother that will keep +with them till they are safely feathered, and therefore the eggs should +be set under a Dorking hen, because that breed remains longer with the +chicks than any other. They almost always have white feathers in the +flight of the wings, but these become black. + +"In purchasing Spanish fowls," says an excellent authority, "blue legs, +the entire absence of white or coloured feathers in the plumage, and a +large white face, with a very large, high comb, which should be erect in +the cock, though pendent in the hen, should be insisted on." Legginess +is a fault that breeders must be careful to avoid. + +The cockerels show the white face earlier than the pullets, and a blue, +shrivelly appearance in the face of the chickens is a better sign of +future whiteness than a red fleshiness. Pullets are rarely fully +white-faced till above a year old. "The white face," says an excellent +authority, "should always extend well around the eye, and up to the +point of junction with the comb, though a line of short black feathers +is there frequently seen to intrude its undesired presence. It is +certainly objectionable, and the less of it the better; but any attempt +to remove or disguise this eyesore should be followed by immediate +disqualification." Some exhibitors of Spanish shave the down of the +edges of the white-face, in order to make it smooth and larger. This +disgraceful practice is not allowed at the Birmingham Show. + +"One test of condition," says Mr. Baily, "more particularly of the +pullets, is the state of the comb, which will be red, soft, and +developed, just in proportion to the condition of the bird. While +moulting--and they are almost naked during this process--the comb +entirely shrivels up." + +The White-faced WHITE SPANISH is thought to be merely a sport of the +White-faced Black Spanish. But, whatever their origin may have been, +they possess every indication of common blood with their Black +relatives, and their claims to appear by their side in the exhibition +room are as good as those of the White Cochins and the White Polish. The +plumage is uniformly white, but in all other respects they resemble the +Black breed. From the absence of contrast of colour shown in the face, +comb, and plumage of the Black Spanish, the White variety is far less +striking in appearance. + +The ANDALUSIAN are so called from having been brought from the Spanish +province of Andalusia. This breed is of a bluish grey, sometimes +slightly laced with a darker shade, but having the neck hackles and tail +feathers of a glossy black, with red face and white ears. The chickens +are very hardy, and feather well, and earlier than the Spanish. + +The MINORCA is so called from having been imported from that island, and +is a larger and more compactly-formed breed, resembling the Spanish in +its general characteristics; black, with metallic lustre, but with red +face, and having only the ear-lobes white; showing even a larger comb, +and with shorter legs. They are better as table fowls than the Spanish, +but the Andalusian are superior to either. The Minorca is the best layer +of all the Spanish breeds, its chickens are tolerably hardy, and it is +altogether far superior to the White-faced breed. + +ANCONA is a provincial term applied to black and white mottled, or +"cuckoo," which on all other points resemble Minorcas, but are smaller. + +The "Black Rot," to which Spanish fowls are subject, is a blackening of +the comb, swelling of the legs and feet, and general wasting of the +system; and can only be cured in the earlier stages by frequent purgings +with castor oil, combined with warm nourishing food, and strong ale, or +other stimulants, given freely. They are also subject to a peculiar kind +of swelled face, which first appears like a small knob under the skin, +and increases till it has covered one side of the face. It is considered +to be incurable. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +HAMBURGS. + + +This breed is medium-sized, and should have a brilliant red, +finely-serrated rose-comb, terminating in a spike at the back, taper +blue legs, ample tail, exact markings, a well-developed white deaf-ear, +and a quick, spirited bearing. They are classed in three varieties, the +Pencilled, Spangled, and Black varieties, with the sub-varieties of Gold +and Silver in the two former. + +The Pencilled Hamburg is of two ground colours, gold and silver, that +is, of a brown yellow or white, and very minutely marked. The hens of +both colours should have the body clearly pencilled across with several +bars of black. The hackle in both sexes should be free from dark marks. +In the Golden-pencilled variety the cock should be of one uniform red +all over his body without any pencilling whatever, and his tail copper +colour; but many first-class birds have pure black tails and the sickle +feathers should be shaded with a rich bronze or copper. In the +Silver-pencilled variety the cock is often nearly white, with yellowish +wing-coverts, and a brown or chestnut patch on the flight feathers of +his wing. The tail should be black and the sickle feathers tinged with a +reddish white. + +The Speckled or Spangled Hamburg, also called Pheasant Fowl, from the +false idea that the pheasant was one of its parents, is of two kinds, +the Golden-speckled and Silver-speckled, according to their ground +colour, the marking taking the form of a spot upon each feather. They +have very full double and firmly fixed combs, the point at the end +turning upwards, a dark rim round the eyes, blue legs, and mixed hackle. +They were also called Moss Fowls, and Mooneys, the latter probably +because the end of every feather should have a black rim on the yellow +or white ground. In the Golden-spangled some judges prefer cocks with a +pure black breast, but others desire them spangled. + +"One chief cause of discussion," says Miss Watts, "relating to the +Hamburg, regarded the markings on the cocks. The Yorkshire breed, which +had been a favourite in that county for many years, produced henny +cocks--_i.e._ cocks with plumage resembling that of a hen. The feathers +of the hackle were not narrow and elongated like those of cocks +generally, but were short and rounded like those of the hen; the +saddle-feathers were the same, and the tail, instead of being graced +with fine flowing sickle feathers, was merely square like that of a hen. +The Lancashire Mooneys, on the contrary, produce cocks with as fine +flowing plumage as need grace any chanticleer in the land, and +tails with sickle-feathers twenty-two inches long, fine flowing +saddle-feathers, and abundant hackle. The hen-tail cocks had the +markings, as well as the form, of the hen; the long feathers of the +others cannot, from their form, have these markings. On this question +party-spirit ran high: York and Lancaster, Cavalier and Roundhead, were +small discussions compared with it; but the hen-cocks were beaten, and +we now seldom hear of them. A mixture of the two breeds has been tried; +but by it valuable qualities and purity of race have been sacrificed." + +The Black Hamburg is of a beautiful black with a metallic lustre, and is +a noble-looking bird, the cocks often weighing seven pounds. There is +little doubt that it was produced by crossing with the Spanish, which +blood shows itself in the white face, which is often half apparent, and +in the darker legs. But it is well established as a distinct variety, +and good birds breed true to colour and points. The cocks' combs are +larger, and the hens' legs shorter, than the other varieties. + +Bolton Bays and Greys, Chitteprats, Turkish, and Creoles or Corals, +Pencilled Dutch fowls, and Dutch every-day layers, are but incorrect +names for the Hamburgs, with which they are identical. + +The Hamburgs do not attain to their full beauty until three years old. +"As a general rule," says Mr. Baily, "no true bred Hamburg fowl has +top-knot, single comb, white legs, any approach to feather on the legs, +white tail, or spotted hackle." The white ear-lobe being so +characteristic a feature in all the Hamburgs, becomes most important in +judging their merits. Weight is not considered, but still the Pencilled +cock should not weigh less than four and a half pounds, nor the hen than +three and a half; and the Spangled cock five pounds and the hen four. + +The Hamburgs are most prolific layers naturally, without +over-stimulating feeding, surpassing all others in the number of their +eggs, and deserve their popular name of "everlasting layers." Their eggs +are white, and do not weigh more than 1-1/2 ounce to 1-3/4 ounce each; +and the hens are known to average 240 eggs yearly. Not being large +eaters, they are very profitable fowls to keep. The eggs of the +Golden-spangled are the largest, and it is the hardiest variety, but the +Pencilled lay more. The Black variety produces large eggs, and lays a +greater number than any known breed. + +They very seldom show any desire to sit except when they have a free +woodland range, for even if free it must be wild to induce any desire to +perpetuate the species, and they never sit if confined to a yard. The +chickens should not be hatched earlier than May, but in the South of +England they will do very well if hatched by a Cochin-China hen at the +beginning of March. They are small birds for table, but of excellent +quality. + +Hamburgs do not bear confinement well, and will not thrive without a +good run; a grass field is the best. Being small and light, even a +ten-feet fence will not keep them within a small run. They may indeed be +kept in a shed, but the number must be very few in proportion to its +size, and they must be kept dry and scrupulously clean. They +are excellent guards in the country, for if disturbed in their +roosting-place they will make a great noise. The breed has improved in +this country, and British bred fowls are much stronger than the imported +birds. + +[Illustration: White-crested Black. Golden and Silver-spangled. + +POLISH.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +POLANDS. + + +This breed might with good reason be divided into more families, but it +is usual to rank as Polands all fowls with their chief distinguishing +characteristic, a full, large, round, compact tuft on the head. The +breed "is quite unknown in Poland, and takes its name," says Mr. +Dickson, "from some resemblance having been fancied between its tufted +crest and the square-spreading crown of the feathered caps worn by the +Polish soldiers." It is much esteemed in Egypt, and equally abundant at +the Cape of Good Hope, where their legs are feathered. Some travellers +assert that the Mexican poultry are crested, and that what are called +Poland fowls are natives of either Mexico or South America; but others +believe that they are natives of the East, and that they, as well as all +the other fowls on the Continent of America, have been introduced from +the Old World. + +The Golden-spangled and Silver-spangled are the most beautiful +varieties, the first being of a gold colour and the second white, both +spangled with black. The more uniform the colour of the tuft is with +that of the bird, the higher it is valued. + +The Black Poland is of a deep velvety black; has a large, white, round +tuft, and should not have a comb, but many have a little comb in the +form of two small points before the tuft. The tuft to be perfect should +be entirely white, but it is rare to meet with one without a slight +bordering of black, or partly black, feathers round the front. + +There are also Yellow, laced with white, Buff or Chamois, spangled with +white, Blue, Grey, Black, and White mottled. All the sub-varieties +should be of medium size, neat compact form, plump, full-breasted, and +have lead-coloured legs and ample tails. + +The top-knot of the cock should be composed of straight feathers, +growing from the centre of the crown, and falling over outside, but not +so much as to intercept the sight, and form a circular crest. That of +the hen should be formed of feathers growing out and turning in at the +extremity, so as to resemble a cauliflower, and it should be even, firm, +and as nearly round as possible. Large, uneven top-knots composed of +loose feathers do not equal smaller but firm and well-shaped crests. The +white ear-lobe is essential in all the varieties. + +"Beards" in Polands were formerly not admired. Among the early birds +brought from the continent, not one in a hundred was bearded, and those +that were so were often rejected, and it was a question of dispute +whether the pure bird should have them or not. Bearded birds at shows +were the exceptions, but an unbearded pen of Polands is now seldom or +ever seen. + +There was formerly a breed of White, with black top-knots, but that is +lost, although it seems to have been not only the most ornamental, but +the largest and most valuable of all the Polish varieties. The last +specimen known was seen by Mr. Brent at St. Omer in 1854, and it is +possible that the breed may still exist in France or Ireland. + +The SERAI TA-OOK, or FOWL OF THE SULTAN, is the latest Polish fowl +introduced into this country. They were imported in 1854 by Miss Watts, +who says: "With regard to the name, Serai is the name of the Sultan's +palace; Tae-ook is Turkish for fowl; the simplest translation of this is, +Sultan's fowls, or fowls of the Sultan; a name which has the double +advantage of being the nearest to be found to that by which they have +been known in their own country, and of designating the country from +which they came. In general habits they are brisk and happy-tempered, +but not kept in as easily as Cochin-Chinas. They are very good layers; +their eggs are large and white; they are non-sitters, and small eaters. +A grass run with them will remain green long after the crop would have +been cleared by either Brahmas or Cochins, and with scattered food they +soon become satisfied and walk away. They are the size of our English +Poland fowls. Their plumage is white and flowing; they have a full-sized +compact Poland tuft on the head, are muffed, have a good flowing tail, +short well-feathered legs, and five toes upon each foot. The comb is +merely two little points, and the wattles very small. We have never seen +fowls more fully decorated--full tail, abundant furnishing, in hackle +almost touching the ground, boots, vulture-hocks, beards, whiskers, and +full round Poland crests. Their colour is pure white." + +They are prolific layers during spring and summer. Their eggs are white, +and weigh from 2 ounces to 2-1/4 ounces each, the Spangled varieties +producing the largest. They rarely sit, and generally leave their eggs +after five or six days, and are not good mothers. The chickens require +great care for six weeks. They should never be hatched by heavy hens, as +the prominence in the skull which supports the top-knot is never +completely covered with bone, and very sensible to injury. Like the Game +breed they improve in feather for several years. Polands never thrive on +a wet or cold soil, and are more affected by bad weather than any other +breed; the top-knots being very liable to be saturated with wet. +They are easily fattened, and their flesh is white, juicy, and +rich-flavoured, but they are not sufficiently large for the market. + +Mr. Hewitt cautions breeders against attempting to seize birds suddenly, +as the crest obscures their sight, and, being taken by surprise, they +are frequently so frightened as to die in the hand. They should, +therefore, always be spoken to, or their attention otherwise attracted +before being touched. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +Bantams. + + +Of this breed one kind is Game, and resembles the Game fowl, except in +size; another is feathered to the very toes, the feathers on the tarsi, +or beam of the leg, being long and stiff, and often brushing the ground. +They are peculiarly fancy fowls. There are several varieties, the White, +Black, Nankin, Partridge, Booted or Feather-legged, Game, and the +Golden-laced and Silver-laced, or Sebright Bantam. All should be very +small, varying from fourteen to twenty ounces in the hen, and from +sixteen to twenty-four in the cock. The head should be narrow; beak +curved; forehead rounded; eyes bright; back short; body round and full; +breast very prominent; legs short and clean, except in the Booted +variety; wings depressed; and the carriage unusually erect, the back of +the neck and the tail feathers almost touching; and the whole bearing +graceful, bold, and proud. + +[Illustration: Black. Sebright's Gold and Silver-laced. White. Game. + +BANTAMS.] + +"The Javanese jungle-fowl" (_Gallus Bankiva_), says Mr. W. C. L. Martin, +"the Ayam-utan of the Malays, is a native of Java; but either a variety +or a distinct species of larger size, yet very similar in colouring, is +found in continental India. The Javanese, or Bankiva jungle-fowl, is +about the size of an ordinary Bantam, and in plumage resembles the +black-breasted red Game-bird of our country, with, a steel-blue mark +across the wings. The comb is high, its edge is deeply serrated, and the +wattles are rather large. The hackle feathers of the neck and rump are +long and of a glossy golden orange; the shoulders are chestnut red, the +greater wing-coverts deep steel-blue, the quill feathers brownish black, +edged with pale, reddish yellow, or sandy red. The tail is of a black +colour, with metallic reflections of green and blue. The under parts are +black the naked space round the eyes, the comb, and wattles are +scarlet. The hen closely resembles a brown hen of the Game breed, except +in being very much smaller. That this bird, or its continental ally, is +one of the sources--perhaps the main source--of our domestic race, +cannot be doubted. It inter-breeds freely with our common poultry, and +the progeny is fertile. Most beautiful cross-breeds between the Bankiva +jungle-fowl and Bantam may be seen in the gardens of the Zoological +Society." + +"That the Bankiva jungle-fowl of Java, or its larger continental +variety, if it be not a distinct species (and of which Sir W. Jardine +states that he has seen several specimens), is one of the sources of our +domestic breeds, cannot, we think, be for a moment doubted. It would be +difficult to discover any difference between a clean-limbed, +black-breasted red Bantam-cock, and a cock Bankiva jungle-fowl. Indeed, +the very term Bantam goes far to prove their specific identity. Bantam +is a town or city at the bottom of a bay on the northern coast of Java; +it was first visited by the Portuguese in 1511, at which time a great +trade was carried on by the town with Arabia, Hindostan, and China, +chiefly in pepper. Subsequently it fell into the hands of the Dutch, and +was at one time the great rendezvous for European shipping. It is now a +place of comparative insignificance. From this it would seem that the +jungle-fowls domesticated and sold to the Europeans at Bantam continued +to be designated by the name of the place where they were obtained, and +in process of time the name was appropriated to all our dwarfish +breeds." + +Game Bantams are exact miniatures of real Game fowls, in Black-breasted +red, Duck-wing, and other varieties. The cocks must not have the strut +of the Bantam, but the bold, martial bearing of the Game cock. Their +wings should be carried closely, and their feathers be hard and close. +The Duck-wing cock's lower wing-coverts should be marked with blue, +forming a bar across each wing. + +The SEBRIGHT, or GOLD AND SILVER-LACED BANTAM, is a breed with clean +legs, and of most elegantly spangled plumage, which was bred and has +been brought to great perfection by Sir John Sebright, after whom they +are named. The attitude of the cock is singularly bold and proud, the +head being often thrown so much back as to meet the tail feathers, which +are simple like those of a hen, the ordinary sickle-like feathers being +abbreviated and broad. The Gold-laced Sebright Bantams should have +golden brownish-yellow plumage, each feather being bordered with a +lacing of black; the tail square like that of the hen, without sickle +feathers, and carried well over the back, each feather being tipped with +black, a rose-comb pointed at the back, the wings drooping to the +ground, neither saddle nor neck hackles, clean lead-coloured legs and +feet, and white ear-lobes; and the hen should correspond exactly with +him, but be much smaller. The Silver-laced birds have exactly the same +points except in the ground feathering, which should be silvery, and the +nearer the shade approaches to white the more beautiful will be the +bird. Their carriage should resemble that of a good Fantail pigeon. + +The BLACK BANTAMS should be uniform in colour, with well-developed white +ear-lobes, rose-combs, full hackles, sickled and flowing tail, and deep +slate-coloured legs. The WHITE BANTAMS should have white legs and beak. +Both should be of tiny size. + +The NANKIN, or COMMON YELLOW BANTAM, is probably the nearest approach to +the original type of the family--the "Bankiva fowl." The cock "has a +large proportion of red and dark chestnut on the body, with a full black +tail; while the hen is a pale orange yellow, with a tail tipped with +black, and the hackle lightly pencilled with the same colour, and clean +legs. Combs vary, but the rose is decidedly preferable. True-bred +specimens of these birds being by no means common, considerable +deviations from the above description may consequently be expected in +birds passing under this appellation." + +The BOOTED BANTAMS have their legs plumed to the toes, not on one side +only like Cochin-Chinas, but completely on both, with stiff, long +feathers, which brush the ground. The most beautiful specimens are of a +pure white. "Feathered-legged Bantams," says Mr. Baily, "may be of any +colour; the old-fashioned birds were very small, falcon-hocked, and +feathered, with long quill feathers to the extremity of the toe. Many of +them were bearded. They are now very scarce; indeed, till exhibitions +brought them again into notice, these beautiful specimens of their tribe +were all neglected and fast passing away. Nothing but the Sebright was +cultivated; but now we bid fair to revive the pets of our ancestors in +all their beauty." + +The PEKIN, or COCHIN BANTAMS, were taken from the Summer Palace at Pekin +during the Chinese war, and brought to this country. They exactly +resemble the Buff Cochins in all respects except size. They are very +tame. + +The JAPANESE BANTAM is a recent importation, and differs from most of +the other varieties in having a very large single comb. It has very +short well-feathered legs, and the colour varies. Some are quite white, +some have pure white bodies, with glossy, jet-black tails, others are +mottled and buff. They throw the tail up and the head back till they +nearly meet, as in the Fantailed pigeon. They are said to be the +constant companions of man in their native country, and have a droll and +good-natured expression. + +All the Bantam cocks are very pugnacious, and though the hens are good +mothers to their own chickens, they will attack any stranger with fury. +They are good layers of small but exquisitely-flavoured eggs. But no +breed produces so great a proportion of unfertile eggs. June is the best +month for hatching, as the chickens are delicate. They feather more +quickly than most breeds, and are apt to die at that period through the +great drain upon the system in producing feathers. When fully feathered +they are quite hardy. The hens are excellent mothers. The chickens +require a little more animal food than other fowls, and extra attention +for a week or two in keeping them dry. Bantams are very useful in a +garden, eating many slugs and insects, and doing little damage. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +FRENCH AND VARIOUS. + + +The French breeds are remarkable for great weight and excellent quality +of flesh, with a very small proportion of bones and offal; their +breeders having paid great attention to those important, substantial, +and commercial points instead of devoting almost exclusive attention to +colour and other fancy points as we have done. As a rule they are all +non-sitters, or sit but rarely. + +[Illustration: Houdans. La Fleche, cock. Creve-Coeur, hen. + +FRENCH.] + +The CREVE-COEUR has been known the longest and most generally. This +breed is said to derive its name from a village so called in Normandy, +whence its origin can be distinctly traced; but others fancifully say, +from the resemblance of its peculiar comb to a broken heart. It is +scarce, and pure-bred birds are difficult to procure. The Creve-Coeur +is a fine large bird, black in plumage, or nearly so, with short, clean +black legs, square body, deep chest, and a large and extraordinary crest +or comb, which is thus described by M. Jacque: "Various, but always +forming two horns, sometimes parallel, straight, and fleshy; sometimes +joined at the base, slightly notched, pointed, and separating at their +extremities; sometimes adding to this latter description interior +ramifications like the horns of a young stag. The comb, shaped like +horns, gives the Creve-Coeur the appearance of a devil." It is +bearded, and has a top-knot or crest behind the comb. They are very +quiet, walk slowly, scratch but little, do not fly, are very tame, +ramble but little, and prefer seeking their food on the dunghill in the +poultry-yard to wandering afar off. They are the most contented of all +breeds in confinement, and will thrive in a limited space. They are +tame, tractable fowls, but inclined to roup and similar diseases in our +climate, and therefore prosper most on a dry, light soil, and can +scarcely have too much sun. They are excellent layers of very large +white eggs. + +The chickens grow so fast, and are so inclined to fatten, that they may +be put up at from ten to twelve weeks of age, and well fattened in +fifteen days. The Creve-Coeur is a splendid table bird, both for the +quantity and quality of its flesh. The hen is heavy in proportion to the +cock, weighing eight and a half pounds against his nine and a half, and +the pullets always outweigh the cockerels. + +LA FLECHE is thus described by M. Jacque: "A strong, firm body, well +placed on its legs, and long muscular feet, appearing less than it +really is, because the feathers are close; every muscular part well +developed; black plumage. The La Fleche is the tallest of all French +cocks; it has many points of resemblance with the Spanish, from which I +believe it to be descended by crossing with the Creve-Coeur. Others +believe that it is connected with the Breda, which it does, in fact, +resemble, in some particulars. It has white, loose, and transparent +skin; short, juicy, and delicate flesh, which puts on fat easily." + +"The comb is transversal, double, forming two horns bending forward, +united at their base, divided at their summits, sometimes even and +pointed, sometimes having ramifications on the inner sides. A little +double 'combling' protrudes from the upper part of the nostrils, and +although hardly as large as a pea, this combling, which surmounts the +sort of rising formed by the protrusion of the nostrils, contributes to +the singular aspect of the head. This measured prominence of the comb +seems to add to the characteristic depression of the beak, and gives the +bird a likeness to a rhinoceros." The plumage is jet black, with a very +rich metallic lustre; large ear-lobe of pure white; bright red face, +unusually free from feathers; and bright lead-coloured legs, with hard, +firm scales. They are very handsome, showy, large, and lively birds, +more inclined to wander than the Creve-Coeur, and hardier when full +grown; but their chickens are even more delicate in wet weather, and +should not be hatched before May. They are easily reared, and grow +quickly. They are excellent layers of very large white eggs, but do not +lay well in winter, unless under very favourable circumstances, and +resemble the Spanish in the size and number of their eggs, and the time +and duration of laying. Their flesh is excellent, juicy, and resembles +that of the Game fowl, and the skin white and transparent, but the legs +are dark. This breed is larger and has more style than the Creve-Coeur, +and is better adapted to our climate; but the fowls lack constitution, +particularly the cocks, and are very liable to leg weakness and disease +of the knee-joint, and when they get out of condition seldom recover. +They are found in the north of France, but are not common even there. + +The HOUDAN has the size, deep compact body, short legs, and fifth toe of +the Dorking. They are generally white, some having black spots as large +as a shilling, are bearded, and should have good top-knots of black and +white feathers, falling backwards like a lark's crest; and the +remarkable comb is thus described by M. Jacque: "Triple, transversal in +the direction of the beak, composed of two flattened spikes, of long and +rectangular form, opening from right to left, like two leaves of a book; +thick, fleshy, and variegated at the edges. A third spike grows between +these two, having somewhat the shape of an irregular strawberry, and the +size of a long nut. Another, quite detached from the others, about the +size of a pea, should show between the nostrils, above the beak." + +Mr. F. H. Schroeder, of the National Poultry Company, considered that +this surpassed all the French breeds, combining the size, shape, and +quality of flesh of the Dorking with earlier maturity; prolific laying +of good-sized eggs, which are nearly always fertile, and on this point +the opposite of the Dorking; and early and rapid feathering in the +chickens, which are, notwithstanding, hardier than any breeds except the +Cochin and Brahma. They are very hardy, never sick, and will thrive in a +small space. They are smaller than the Creve-Coeur or La Fleche, but +well shaped and plump; and for combining size and quality of flesh with +quantity and size of eggs nothing can surpass them. + +SCOTCH DUMPIES, GO LAIGHS, BAKIES, or CREEPERS, are almost extinct; but +they are profitable fowls, and ought to be more common, as they are very +hardy, productive layers of fine large eggs, and their flesh is white +and of excellent quality. They should have large, heavy bodies; short, +white, clean legs, not above an inch and a half or two inches in length. +The plumage is a mixture of black or brown, and white. They are good +layers of fine large eggs. They cannot be surpassed as sitters and +mothers, and are much valued by gamekeepers for hatching the eggs of +pheasants. The cocks should weigh six or seven and the hen five or six +pounds. + +The SILKY fowl is so called from its plumage, which is snowy white, +being all discomposed and loose, and of a silky appearance, resembling +spun glass. The comb and wattles are purple; the bones and the +periosteum, or membrane covering the bones, black, and the skin blue or +purple; but the flesh, however, is white and tender, and superior to +that of most breeds. It is a good layer of small, round, and excellent +eggs. The cock generally weighs less than three, and the hen less than +two, pounds. It comes from Japan and China, and generally thrives in our +climate. The chickens are easily reared if not hatched before April nor +later than June. They are capital foster mothers for partridges, and +other small and tender game. + +The RUMPKIN, or RUMPLESS fowl, a Persian breed, not only lacks the +tail-feathers but the tail itself. It is hardy, of moderate size, and +varies in colour, but is generally black or brown, and from the absence +of tail appears rounder than other fowls. The hens are good layers, but +the eggs are often unfertile. They are good sitters and mothers, and the +flesh is of fair quality. + +The FRIESLAND, so named from confounding the term "frizzled" with +Friesland, is remarkable from having all the feathers, except those of +the wings and tail, frizzled, or curled up the wrong way. It is small, +very delicate, and a shower drenches it to the skin. + +BARN-DOOR fowl are a mongrel race, compounded by chance, usually of the +Game, Dorking, and Polish breeds. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +TURKEYS. + + +Turkeys are not considered profitable except on light, dry soils, which +is said to be the cause of their success in Norfolk. They prosper, +however, in Ireland; but although the air there is moist, the soil is +dry, except in the boggy districts. Miss Watts believes that "any place +in which turkeys are properly reared and fed may compete with Norfolk. +Very fine birds may be seen in Surrey, and other places near London." +The general opinion of the best judges is, that they can barely be made +to repay the cost of their food, which is doubtless owing to the usual +great mortality among the chicks, which loss outbalances all profit; but +others make them yield a fair profit, simply because, from good +situation and judicious management, they rear all, or nearly all, the +chicks. A single brood may be reared with ease on a small farm or +private establishment without much extra expense, where sufficient +attention can be devoted to them; but to make them profitable they +should be bred on a large scale, and receive exclusive attention. They +should have a large shed or house, with a boarded floor, to themselves. + +[Illustration: Turkey and Guinea-fowls.] + +Turkeys must have space, for they are birds of rambling habits, and only +fitted for the farmyard, or extensive runs, delighting to wander in the +fields in quest of insects, on which, with green herbage, berries, +beech-mast, and various seeds, they greedily feed. The troop will ramble +about all day, returning to roost in the evening, when they should have +a good supply of grain; and another should be given in the morning, +which will not only induce them to return home regularly every night, +but keep them in good store condition, so that they can at any time be +speedily fattened. Peas, vetches, tares, and most sorts of pulse, are +almost poisonous to them. Their feeding-place must be separate from +the other poultry, or they will gobble up more than their share. Turkeys +will rarely roost in a fowl-house, and should have a very high open +shed, the perches being placed as high as possible. They are extremely +hardy, roosting, if allowed, on the highest trees in the severest +weather. But this should be prevented, as their feet are apt to become +frost-bitten in severe weather. The chickens are as delicate. Wet is +fatal to them, and the very slightest shower even in warm weather will +frequently destroy half a brood. + +The breeding birds should be carefully selected, any malformation almost +invariably proving itself hereditary. The cock is at maturity when a +year old, but not in his prime till he has attained his third year, and +is entering upon his fourth, and he continues in vigour for three or +four years more. He should be vigorous, broad-breasted, clean-legged, +with ample wings, well-developed tail, bright eyes, and the carunculated +skin of the neck full and rapid in its changes of colour. The largest +possible hen should be chosen, the size of the brood depending far more +upon the female than the male. One visit to the male is sufficient to +render all the eggs fertile, and the number of hens may be unlimited, +but to obtain fine birds, twelve or fifteen hens to one cock is the best +proportion. The hen breeds in the spring following that in which she was +hatched, but is not in her prime till two or three years old, and +continues for two or three years in full vigour. + +The hen generally commences laying about the middle of March, but +sometimes earlier. When from her uttering a peculiar cry and prying +about in quest of a secret spot for sitting, it is evident that she is +ready to lay, she should be confined in the shed, barn, or other place +where the nest has been prepared for her, and let out when she has laid +an egg. The nest should be made of straw and dried leaves, in a large +wicker basket, in a quiet secluded place, and an egg or nest-egg of +chalk should be placed in it to induce her to adopt it. Turkeys like to +choose their own laying-places, and keep to them though their eggs are +removed daily, provided a nest-egg is left there. They will wander to a +distance in search of a secluded spot for laying, and pay their visits +to the nest so cleverly that sometimes they keep it a secret and hatch a +brood there, which, however, does not generally prove a strong or large +one as in the case of ordinary fowls. When a hen has chosen a safe, +quiet, and sheltered place for her nest, it is best to give her more +eggs when she shows a desire to sit, and let her stay there. The hen +generally lays from fifteen to twenty eggs, sometimes fewer and often +many more. As soon as seven are produced, they should be placed under a +good common hen, a Cochin is the best, and the remainder can be put +under her when she wants to sit. The best hatching period is from the +end of March to May, and none should be hatched later than June. The +broody hens may be placed on their eggs in any quiet place, as they are +patient, constant sitters, and will not leave their eggs wherever they +may be put. A hen may be allowed from nine to fifteen eggs, according to +her size. During the time the hen is sitting she requires constant +attention. She must occasionally be taken off the nest to feed, and +regularly supplied with fresh water; otherwise she will continue to sit +without leaving for food, till completely exhausted. In general, do not +let the cock go near the sitting hen, or he will destroy the eggs or +chicks; but some behave well, and may be left at large with safety. She +should not be disturbed or visited by any one but the person she is +accustomed to be fed by, and the eggs should not be touched +unnecessarily. + +The chickens break the shell from the twenty-sixth to the twenty-ninth +day, but sometimes as late as the thirty-first. Let them remain in the +nest for twenty-four hours, but remove the shells, and next morning +place the hen under a roomy coop or crate, on boards, in a warm +outhouse. Keep her and her brood cooped up for two months, moving the +coop every fine day into a dry grass field, but keep them in an outhouse +in cold or wet weather. The chicks having a great tendency to diarrhoea, +the very best food for the first week is hard-boiled eggs, chopped +small, mixed with minced dandelion, and when that cannot be had, with +boiled nettles. They may then have boiled egg, bread-crumbs, and +barley-meal for a fortnight, when the egg may be replaced by boiled +potato, and small grain may soon be added. Do not force them to eat, but +give them a little food on the tip of your finger, and they will soon +learn to pick it out of the trough. A little hempseed, suet, onion-tops, +green mustard, and nettle-tops, chopped very fine, should be mixed with +their food. Curds are excellent food, and easily prepared by mixing +powdered alum with milk slightly warmed, in the proportion of one +teaspoonful of alum to four quarts of milk, and, when curdled, +separating the curds from the whey. They should be squeezed very dry, +and must always be given in a soft state. Water should be given but +sparingly, and never allowed to stand by them, but when they have had +sufficient it should be taken or thrown away. The water must be put in +pans so contrived or placed that they cannot wet themselves. (_See_ page +38.) Fresh milk is apt to disagree with the young chicks, and is not +necessary. If a chick shows weakness, or has taken cold, give it some +carraway seeds. + +In their wild state the turkey rears only one brood in a season, and it +is not advisable to induce the domesticated bird by any expedients to +hatch a second, for it would be not only detrimental to her, but the +brood would be hatched late in the season, and very difficult to rear, +while those reared would not be strong, healthy birds. + +The coop should be like that used for common fowls, but two feet broad, +and higher, being about three feet high in front and one foot at the +back; this greater slant of the roof being made in order to confine her +movements, as otherwise she would move about too much, and trample upon +her brood. When they have grown larger they must have a larger coop, +made of open bars wide enough apart for them to go in and out, but too +close to let in fowls to eat their delicate food, and the hen must be +placed under it with them. A large empty crate, such as is used to +contain crockery-ware, will make a good coop for large poults; but if +one cannot be had, a coop may be made of laths or rails, with the bars +four inches apart; it should be about five feet long, four feet broad, +and three feet high. + +Keep her cooped for two months, moving the coop every fine, dry day into +a grass field, but on cold or wet days keep them in the outhouse. If she +is allowed her liberty before they are well grown and strong, she will +wander away with them through the long grass, hedges, and ditches, over +highway, common, and meadow, mile after mile, losing them on the road, +and straying on with the greatest complacency, and perfectly satisfied +so long as she has one or two following her, and never once turning her +head to see how her panting chicks are getting on, nor troubled when +they squat down tired out, and implore her plaintively to come back; and +all this arises from sheer heedlessness, and not from want of affection, +for she will fight for her brood as valiantly as any pheasant will for +hers. When full grown they should never be allowed to roam with her +while there is heavy dew or white frost on the grass, but be kept in +till the fields and hedgerows are dry. They will pick up many seeds and +insects while wandering about in the fields with her, but must be fed by +hand three or four times a day at regular intervals. + +They cease to be chicks or chickens, and are called turkey-poults when +the male and female distinctive characteristics are fairly established, +the carunculated skin and comb of the cock being developed, which is +called "shooting the red," or "putting out the red," and begins when +they are eight or ten weeks old. It is the most critical period of their +lives--much more so than moulting, and during the process their food +must be increased in quantity, and made more nourishing by the addition +of boiled egg-yolks, bread crumbled in ale, wheaten flour, bruised +hempseed, and the like, and they must be well housed at night. When this +process is completed they will be hardy, and able to take care of +themselves; but till they are fully fledged it will be advisable to keep +them from rain and cold, and not to try their hardness too suddenly. + +Vegetables, as chopped nettles, turnip-tops, cabbage sprouts, onions, +docks, and the like, boiled down and well mixed with barley-meal, +oatmeal, or wheaten flour, and curds, if they can be afforded, form +excellent food for the young poults; also steamed potatoes, boiled +carrots, turnips, and the like. With this diet may be given buckwheat, +barley, oats, beans, and sunflower seeds. + +When they are old enough to be sent to the stubble and fields, they are +placed in charge of a boy or girl of from twelve to fifteen years old, +who can easily manage one hundred poults. They are driven with a long +bean stick, and the duties of the turkey-herd is to keep the cocks from +fighting, to lead them to every place where there are acorns, +beech-mast, corn, wild fruit, insects, or other food to be picked up. He +must not allow them to get fatigued with too long rambles, as they are +not fully grown, and must shelter them from the burning sun, and hasten +them home on the approach of rain. The best times for these rambles are +from eight to ten in the morning, when the dew is off the grass, and +from four till seven in the evening, before it begins to fall. + +Turkeys are crammed for the London markets. The process of fattening may +commence when they are six months old, as they require a longer time to +become fit for the market than fowls. The large birds which are seen at +Christmas are usually males of the preceding year, and about twenty +months old. All experienced breeders repudiate "cramming." To obtain +fine birds the chickens must be fed abundantly from their birth until +they are sent to market, and while they are being fattened they should +be sent to the fields and stubble for a shorter time daily, and their +food must be increased in quantity and improved in quality. Early +hatched, well fed young Norfolk cocks will frequently weigh twenty-three +pounds by Christmas of the same year, and two-year-old birds will +sometimes attain to twenty pounds. When two or more years old they are +called "stags." + +The domesticated turkey can scarcely be said to be divided into distinct +breeds like the common fowl, the several varieties being distinguished +by colour only, but identical in their form and habits. They vary +considerably in colour--some being of a bronzed black, others of a +coppery tint, of a delicate fawn colour, or buff, and some of pure +white. The dark coloured birds are generally considered the most hardy, +and are usually the largest. The chief varieties are the Cambridge, +Norfolk, Irish, American, and French. + +The Cambridge combines enormous size, a tendency to fatten speedily, and +first-rate flavour. The tortoiseshell character of its plumage gives the +adult birds a very prepossessing appearance around the homestead, and a +striking character in the exhibition room. The colours may vary from +pale to dark grey, with a deep metallic brown tint, and light legs. The +legs should be stout and long. + +The Norfolk breed is more compact and smaller-boned, and produces a +large quantity of meat of delicate whiteness and excellent quality. The +cocks are almost as heavy as the Cambridge breed, but the hens are +smaller and more compact. The Norfolk should be jet, not blue black, and +free from any other colour, being uniform throughout, including the legs +and feet. + +All the birds in a pen must be uniform. + +The American wild turkey has become naturalised in this country, but +being of a very wandering disposition is best adapted to be kept in +parks and on large tracts of wild land. It is slender in shape, but of +good size, with uniform metallic bronze plumage, the flight feathers +being barred with white, and the tail alternately with white, rich dark +brown, and black, and with bright pink legs. The wattles are smaller +than in the other breeds, and of a bluish tinge. They are very hardy, +but more spiteful than others, and are said to be also more prolific. +Crosses often take place in America between the wild and tame races, and +are highly valued both for their appearance and for the table. Eggs of +the wild turkey have also often been taken from their nests, and hatched +under the domesticated hen. The flavour of the flesh of the American +breed is peculiar and exceedingly good, but they do not attain a large +size. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +GUINEA-FOWLS. + + +The Guinea-fowl, Gallina, or Pintado (_Numida Meleagris_), is the true +meleagris of the ancients, a term generically applied by Belon, +Aldrovandus, and Gesner to the turkey, and now retained, although the +error is acknowledged, in order to prevent confusion. It is a native of +Africa, where it is extensively distributed. They associate in large +flocks and frequent open glades, the borders of forests, and banks of +rivers, which offer abundant supplies of grain, berries, and insects, in +quest of which they wander during the day, and collect together at +evening, and roost in clusters on the branches of trees or shrubs. +Several other wild species are known, some of which are remarkable for +their beauty; but the common Guinea-fowl is the only one domesticated in +Europe. The Guinea-fowl is about twenty-two inches long, and from +standing high on its legs, and having loose, full plumage, appears to be +larger than it really is, for when plucked it does not weigh more than +an ordinary Dorking. It is very plump and well-proportioned. The +Guinea-fowl is not bred so much as the turkey in England or France, is +very rare in the northern parts of Europe, and in India is bred almost +exclusively by Europeans, although it thrives as well there as in its +native country. It "is turbulent and restless," says Mr. Dickson, +"continually moving from place to place, and domineering over the whole +poultry-yard, boldly attacking even the fiercest turkey cock, and +keeping all in alarm by its petulant pugnacity"; and the males, although +without spurs, can inflict serious injury on other poultry with their +short, hard beaks. The Guinea-fowls make very little use of their wings, +and if forced to take to flight, fly but a short distance, then alight, +and trust to their rapid mode of running, and their dexterity in +threading the mazes of brushwood and dense herbage, for security. They +are shy, wary, and alert. + +It is not much kept, its habits being wandering, and requiring an +extensive range, but as it picks up nearly all its food, and is very +prolific, it may be made very profitable in certain localities. The +whole management of both the young and the old may be precisely the same +as that of turkeys, in hatching, feeding, and fattening. This "species," +says Mr. Dickson, "differs from all other poultry, in its being +difficult to distinguish the cock from the hen, the chief difference +being in the colour of the wattles, which are more of a red hue in the +cock, and more tinged with blue in the hen. The cock has also a more +stately strut." + +They mate in pairs, and therefore an equal number of cocks and hens must +be kept, or the eggs will prove unfertile. To obtain stock, some of +their eggs must be procured, and placed under a common hen; for if old +birds are bought, they will wander away for miles in search of their old +home, and never return. They should be fed regularly, and must always +have one meal at night, or they will scarcely ever roost at home. They +will not sleep in the fowl-house, but prefer roosting in the lower +branches of a tree, or on a thick bush, and retire early. They make a +peculiar, harsh, querulous noise, which is oft-repeated, and not +agreeable. The hens are prolific layers, beginning in May, and +continuing during the whole summer. Their eggs are small, but of +excellent flavour, of a pale yellowish red, finely dotted with a darker +tint, and remarkable for the hardness of the shell. The hen usually lays +on a dry bank, in secret places; and a hedgerow a quarter of a mile off +is quite as likely to contain her nest as any situation nearer her home. +She is very shy, and, if the eggs are taken from her nest, will desert +it, and find another; a few should, therefore, always be left, and it +should never be visited when she is in sight. But she often contrives to +elude all watching, and hatch a brood, frequently at a late period, +when the weather is too cold for the chickens. As the Guinea-fowl seldom +shows much disposition to incubate if kept under restraint, and +frequently sits too late in the season to rear a brood in this country, +it is a general practice to place her eggs under a common fowl--Game and +Bantams are the best for the purpose. About twenty of the earliest eggs +should be set in May. The Guinea-hen will hatch another brood when she +feels inclined. They sit for twenty-six to twenty-nine or thirty days. +When she sits in due season she generally rears a large brood, twenty +not being an unusual number. + +The chickens are very tender, and should not be hatched too early in +spring, as a cold March wind is generally fatal to them. They must be +treated like those of the turkey, and as carefully. They should be fed +almost immediately, within six hours of being hatched, abundantly, and +often; and they require more animal food than other chickens. Egg boiled +hard, chopped very fine, and mixed with oatmeal, is the best food. They +will die if kept without food for three or four hours; and should have a +constant supply near them until they are allowed to have full liberty +and forage for themselves. They will soon pick up insects, &c., and will +keep themselves in good condition with a little extra food. They are +very strong on their legs, and those hatched under common hens may be +allowed to range with her at the end of six weeks, and be fed on the +same food and at the same times as other chickens. + +The Guinea-fowl may be considered as somewhat intermediate between the +pheasant and turkey. After the pheasant season, young birds that have +been hatched the same year are excellent substitutes for that fine game, +and fetch a fair price. They should never be fattened, but have a good +supply of grain and meal for a week or two before being killed. The +flesh of the young bird is very delicate, juicy, and well-flavoured, but +the old birds, even of the second year, are dry, tough, and tasteless. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +DUCKS. + + +Ducks will not pay if all their food has to be bought, except it is +purchased wholesale, and they are reared for town markets, for their +appetites are voracious, and they do not graze like geese. They may be +kept in a limited space, but more profitably and conveniently where they +have the run of a paddock, orchard, kitchen garden, flat common, green +lane, or farmyard, with ditches and water. They will return at night, +and come to the call of the feeder. Nothing comes amiss to them--green +vegetables, especially when boiled, all kinds of meal made into +porridge, all kinds of grain, bread, oatcake, the refuse and offal of +the kitchen, worms, slugs, snails, insects and their larvae, are devoured +eagerly. Where many fowls are kept, a few ducks may be added profitably, +for they may be fed very nearly on what the hens refuse. + +Ducks require water to swim in, but "it is a mistake," says Mr. Baily, +"to imagine that ducks require a great deal of water. They may be kept +where there is but very little, and only want a pond or tank just deep +enough to swim in. The early Aylesbury ducklings that realise such large +prices in the London market have hardly ever had a swim; and in rearing +ducks, where size is a desideratum, they will grow faster and become +larger when kept in pens, farmyards, or in pastures, than where they are +at and in the water all day." Where a large number of geese and ducks +are kept, water on a sufficient scale, and easily accessible, should be +in the neighbourhood. + +[Illustration: Toulouse Goose. + +Rouen and Aylesbury Ducks.] + +Ducks, being aquatic birds, do not require heated apartments, nor roosts +on which to perch during the night. They squat on the floors, which must +be dry and warm. They should, if possible, be kept in a house separate +from the other poultry, and it should have a brick floor, so that it +can be easily washed. In winter the floor should be littered with a thin +layer of straw, rushes, or fern leaves, fresh every day. The +hatching-houses should be separated from the lodging apartments, and +provided with boxes for the purpose of incubation and hatching. + +In its wild state the duck pairs with a single mate: the domestic duck +has become polygamous, and five ducks may be allowed to one drake, but +not more than two or three ducks should be given to one drake if eggs +are required for setting. + +Ducks begin laying in January, and usually from that time only during +the spring; but those hatched in March will often lay in the autumn, and +continue for two or three months. They usually lay fifty or sixty eggs, +and have been known to produce 250. The faculty of laying might be +greatly developed, as it has been in some breeds of fowls; but they have +been hitherto chiefly bred for their flesh. They require constant +watching when beginning to lay, for they drop their eggs everywhere but +in the nest made for them, but as they generally lay in the night, or +early in the morning, when in perfect health, they should therefore be +kept in every morning till they have laid. One of the surest signs of +indisposition among them is irregularity in laying. "The eggs of the +duck," says Mr. Dickson, "are readily known from those of the common +fowl by their bluish colour and larger size, the shell being smoother, +not so thick, and with much fewer pores. When boiled, the white is never +curdy like that of a new-laid hen's egg, but transparent and glassy, +while the yolk is much darker in colour. The flavour is by no means so +delicate. For omelets, however, as well as for puddings and pastry, duck +eggs are much better than hen's eggs, giving a finer colour and flavour, +and requiring less butter; qualities so highly esteemed in Picardy, that +the women will sometimes go ten or twelve miles for duck eggs to make +their holiday cakes." + +A hen is often made to hatch ducklings, being considered a better nurse +than a duck, which is apt to take them while too young to the pond, +dragging them under beetling banks in search of food, and generally +leaving half of them in the water unable to get out; and if the fly or +the gnat is on the water, she will stay there till after dark, and lose +part of her brood. Ducks' eggs may be advantageously placed under a +broody exhibition hen. (_See_ page 88.) A turkey is much better than +either, from the large expanse of the wings in covering the broods, and +the greater heat of body; but if the duck is a good sitter, it is best +to let her hatch her own eggs, taking care to keep her and them from the +water till they are strong. The nest should be on the ground, and in a +damp place. Choose the freshest eggs, and place from nine to eleven +under her. Feed her morning and evening while sitting, and place food +and water within her reach. The duck always covers her eggs upon leaving +them, and loose straw should be placed near the house for that purpose. + +They are hatched in thirty days. They may generally be left with their +mother upon the nest for her own time. When she moves coop her on the +short grass if fine weather, or under shelter if otherwise, for a week +or ten days, when they may be allowed to swim for half an hour at a +time. When hatched they require constant feeding. A little curd, +bread-crumbs, and meal, mixed with chopped green food, is the best food +when first hatched. Boiled cold oatmeal porridge is the best food for +ducklings for the first ten days; afterwards barley-meal, pollard, and +oats, with plenty of green food. Never give them hard spring water to +drink, but that from a pond. Ducklings are easily reared, soon able to +shift for themselves, and to pick up worms, slugs, and insects, and can +be cooped together in numbers at night if protected from rats. An old +pigsty is an excellent place for a brood of young ducks. + +Ducklings should not be allowed to go on the water till feathers have +supplied the place of their early down, for the latter will get +saturated with the water while the former throws off the wet. "Though +the young ducklings," says Mr. W. C. L. Martin, "take early to the +water, it is better that they should gain a little strength before they +be allowed to venture into ponds or rivers; a shallow vessel of water +filled to the brim and sunk in the ground will suffice for the first +week or ten days, and this rule is more especially to be adhered to when +they are under the care of a common hen, which cannot follow them into +the pond, and the calls of which when there they pay little or no regard +to. Rats, weasels, pike, and eels are formidable foes to ducklings: we +have known entire broods destroyed by the former, which, having their +burrows in a steep bank around a sequestered pond, it was found +impossible to extirpate." If the ducklings stay too long in the water +they will have diarrhoea, in which case coop them close for a few +days, and mix bean-meal or oatmeal with their ordinary food. + +A troop of ducks will do good service to a kitchen garden in the summer +or autumn, when they can do no mischief by devouring delicate salads and +young sprouting vegetables. They will search industriously for snails, +slugs, woodlice, and millipedes, and gobble them up eagerly, getting +positively fat on slugs and snails. Strawberries, of which they are very +fond, must be protected from them. Where steamed food is daily prepared +for pigs and cattle, a portion of this mixed with bran and barley-meal +is the cheapest mode of satisfying their voracious appetites. They +should never be stinted in food. + +To fatten ducks let them have as much substantial food as they will eat, +bruised oats and peameal being the standard, plenty of exercise, and +clean water. Boiled roots mixed with a little barley-meal is excellent +food, with a little milk added during fattening. They require neither +penning up nor cramming to acquire plumpness, and if well fed should be +fit for market in eight or ten weeks. Celery imparts a delicious +flavour. + +The Aylesbury is the finest breed, and should be of a spotless white, +with long, flat, broad beak of a pale flesh colour, grey eyes, long head +and neck, broad and flat body and breast, and orange legs, placed wide +apart. As it lays early, its ducklings are the earliest ready for +market. They have produced 150 large eggs in a year, and are better +sitters than the Rouen. + +The Rouen is hardy and easily reared, but rarely lay till February or +March. They thrive better in most parts of England than the Aylesburys, +and care less for the water than the other varieties. They are very +handsome, and weigh eight or nine pounds each, and their flesh is +excellent. + +The Muscovy duck is so called, says Ray, "not because it comes from +Muscovy, but because it exhales a somewhat powerful odour of musk." +Little is known of its origin, which is generally thought to be South +America; nor has the date of its introduction into Europe been +ascertained. "This species," says Mr. W. C. L. Martin, "will inter-breed +with the common duck, but we believe the progeny are not fertile. The +Musk duck greatly exceeds the ordinary kind in size, and moreover, +differs in the colours and character of the plumage, in general contour, +and the form of the head. The general colour is glossy blue-black, +varied more or less with white; the head is crested, and a space of +naked scarlet skin, more or less clouded with violet, surrounds the eye, +continued from scarlet caruncles on the base of the beak; the top of the +head is crested, the feathers of the body are larger, more lax, softer, +and less closely compacted together than in the common duck, and seem to +indicate less aquatic habits. The male far surpasses the female in size; +there are no curled feathers in his tail." The male is fierce and +quarrelsome, and when enraged has a savage appearance, and utters deep, +hoarse sounds. The flesh is very good, but the breed is inferior as a +layer to the Aylesbury or Rouen. + +The Buenos Ayres, Labrador, or East Indian, brought most probably from +the first-named country, is a small and very beautiful variety, with the +plumage of a uniform rich, lustrous, greenish-black, and dark legs and +bills; the drake rarely weighing five pounds, and the duck four pounds. +Their eggs are often smeared over with a slatey-coloured matter, but the +shell is really of a dull white. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +GEESE. + + +Geese require much the same management as ducks. They may be kept +profitably where there is a rough pasture or common into which they may +be turned, and the pasturage is not rendered bare by sheep, as is +generally the case; but even when the pasturage is good, a supply of +oats, barley, or other grain should be allowed every morning and +evening. Where the pasturage is poor or bad, the old geese become thin +and weak, and the young broods never thrive and often die unless fully +fed at home. A goose-house for four should not be less than eight feet +long by six feet wide and six or seven feet high, with a smooth floor of +brick. A little clean straw should be spread over it every other day, +after removing that previously used, and washing the floor. Each goose +should have a compartment two feet and a half square for laying and +sitting, as she will always lay where she deposited her first egg. The +house must be well ventilated. All damp must be avoided. A pigsty makes +a capital pen. Although a pond is an advantage, they do not require more +than a large trough or tank to bathe in. + +For breeding not more than four geese should be kept to one gander. +Their breeding powers continue to more than twenty years old. It is +often difficult to distinguish the sexes, no one sign being infallible +except close examination. The goose lays early in a mild spring, or in +an ordinary season, if fed high throughout the winter with corn, and on +the commencement of the breeding season on boiled barley, malt, fresh +grains, and fine pollard mixed up with ale, or other stimulants; by +which two broods may be obtained in a year. The common goose lays from +nine to seventeen eggs, usually about thirteen, and generally carries +straws about previously to laying. Thirteen eggs are quite enough for +the largest goose to sit on. They sit from thirty to thirty-five days. +March or early April is the best period for hatching, and the geese +should therefore begin to sit in February or early March; for goslings +hatched at any time after April are difficult to rear. Food and water +should be placed near to her, for she sits closely. She ought to leave +her nest daily and take a bath in a neighbouring pond. The gander is +very attentive, and sits by her, and is vigilant and daring in her +defence. When her eggs are placed under a common hen they should be +sprinkled with water daily or every other day, for the moisture of the +goose's breast is beneficial to them. (See page 50.) A turkey is an +excellent mother for goslings. + +She should be cooped for a few days on a dry grass-plot or meadow, with +grain and water by her, of which the goslings will eat; and they should +also be supplied with chopped cabbage or beet leaves, or other green +food. They must have a dry bed under cover and be protected from rats. +Their only dangers are heavy rains, damp floors, and vermin; and they +require but little care for the first fortnight; while the old birds are +singularly free from maladies of all kinds common to poultry. When a +fortnight old they may be allowed to go abroad with their mother and +frequent the pond. "It has been formerly recommended," says Mowbray, "to +keep the newly-hatched gulls in house during a week, lest they get cramp +from the damp earth; but we did not find this indoor confinement +necessary; penning the goose and her brood between four hurdles upon a +piece of dry grass well sheltered, putting them out late in the morning, +or not at all in severe weather, and ever taking them in early in the +evening. Sometimes we have pitched double the number of hurdles, for the +convenience of two broods, there being no quarrels among this sociable +and harmless part of the feathered race. We did not even find it +necessary to interpose a parting hurdle, which, on occasion, may be +always conveniently done. For the first range a convenient field +containing water is to be preferred to an extensive common, over which +the gulls or goslings are dragged by the goose, until they become +cramped or tired, some of them squatting down and remaining behind at +evening." All the hemlock or deadly nightshade within range should be +destroyed. When the corn is garnered the young geese may be turned into +the stubble which they will thoroughly glean, and many of them will be +in fine condition by Michaelmas. Green geese are young geese fattened at +about the age of four months, usually on oatmeal and peas, mixed with +skim-milk or butter-milk, or upon oats or other grain, and are very +delicate. In fattening geese for Christmas give oats mixed with water +for the first fortnight, and afterwards barley-meal made into a +crumbling porridge. They should be allowed to bathe for a few hours +before being killed, for they are then plucked more easily and the +feathers are in better condition. Their feathers, down, and quills are +very valuable. + +Geese are very destructive to all garden and farm crops, as well as +young trees, and must therefore be carefully kept out of orchards and +plantations. Their dung, though acrid and apt to injure at first, will, +when it is mellowed, much enrich the ground. + +The Toulouse or Grey Goose is very large, of uniform grey plumage, with +long neck, having a kind of dewlap under the throat; the abdominal pouch +very much developed, almost touching the ground; short legs; flat feet; +short, broad tail; and very upright carriage, almost like a penguin. The +Toulouse lays a large number of eggs, sometimes as many as thirty, and +even more, but rarely wishes to sit, and is a very bad mother. + +The Emden or pure White is very scarce. The bill is flesh-colour, and +the legs and feet orange. They require a pond. The Toulouse, crossed +with the large white or dark-coloured common breed, produces greater +weight than either, and the objection to the former as indifferent +sitters and mothers is avoided; but is not desirable for breeding stock, +and must have a pond like the White. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +DISEASES. + + +It is more economical to kill at once rather than attempt to cure common +fowls showing symptoms of any troublesome disease, and so save trouble, +loss of their carcases, and the risk of infection. But if the fowls are +favourites, or valuable, it may be desirable to use every means of cure. + +See to a sick fowl at once; prompt attention may prevent serious +illness, and loss of the bird. When a fowl's plumage is seen to be +bristled up and disordered, and its wings hanging or dragging, it should +be at once removed from the others, and looked to. Pale and livid combs +are as certain a sign of bad health in fowls, as the paleness or +lividness of the lips is in human beings. Every large establishment +should have a warm, properly ventilated, and well-lighted house, +comfortably littered down with clean straw, to be used as a hospital, +and every fowl should be removed to it upon showing any symptoms of +illness, even if the disease is not infectious, for sick fowls are often +pecked at, ill treated, and disliked by their healthy companions. Bear in +mind that prevention is better than cure, and that proper management and +housing, good feeding, pure water and greens, cleanliness and exercise, +will prevent all, or nearly all, these diseases. + +APOPLEXY arises from over-feeding, and can seldom be treated in time to +be of service. The only remedy is bleeding, by opening the large vein +under the wing, and pouring cold water on the head for a few minutes. +Open the vein with a lancet, or if that is not at hand, with a +sharp-pointed penknife; make the incision lengthways, not across, and +press the vein with your thumb between the opening and the body, when +the blood will flow. If the fowl should recover, feed it on soft, low +food for a few days, and keep it quiet. It occurs most often in laying +hens, which frequently die on the nest while ejecting the egg; and is +frequently caused by too much of very stimulating food, such as +hempseed, or improper diet of greaves, and also by giving too much pea +or bean meal. + +HARD CROP, or being CROP-BOUND, is caused by too much food, especially +of hard grain, being taken into the crop, so that it cannot be softened +by maceration, and is therefore unable to be passed into the stomach. +Although the bird has thus too large a supply of food in its crop, the +stomach becomes empty, and the fowl eats still more food. Sometimes a +fowl swallows a bone that is too large to pass into the stomach, and +being kept in the crop forms a kernel, around which fibrous and other +hard material collects. Mr. Baily says: "Pour plenty of warm water down +the throat, and loosen the food till it is soft. Then give a +tablespoonful of castor-oil, or about as much jalap as will lie on a +shilling, mixed in butter; make a pill of it, and slide it into the +crop. The fowl will be well in the morning. If the crop still remain +hard after this, an operation is the only remedy. The feathers should +be picked off the crop in a straight line down the middle. Generally +speaking, the crop will be found full of grass or hay, that has formed a +ball or some inconveniently-shaped substance. (I once took a piece of +carrot three inches long out of a crop.) When the offence has been +removed, the crop should be washed out with warm water. It should then +be sewn up with coarse thread, and the suture rubbed with grease. +Afterwards the outer skin should be served the same. The crop and skin +must not be sewed together. For three or four days the patient should +have only gruel; no hard food for a fortnight." The slit should be made +in the upper part of the crop, and just large enough to admit a blunt +instrument, with which you must gently remove the hardened mass. + +DIARRHOEA is caused by exposure to much cold and wet, reaction after +constipation from having had too little green food, unwholesome food, +and dirt. Feed on warm barley-meal, or oatmeal mashed with a little warm +ale, and some but not very much green food, and give five grains of +powdered chalk, one grain of opium, and one grain of powdered +ipecacuanha twice a day till the looseness is checked. Boiled rice, with +a little chalk and cayenne pepper mixed, will also check the complaint. +When the evacuations are coloured with blood, the diarrhoea has become +dysentery, and cure is very doubtful. + +GAPES, a frequent yawning or gaping, is caused by worms in the windpipe, +which may be removed by introducing a feather, stripped to within an +inch of the point, into the windpipe, turning it round quickly, and then +drawing it out, when the parasites will be found adhering with slime +upon it; but if this be not quickly and skilfully done, and with some +knowledge of the anatomy of the parts touched, the bird may be killed +instead of cured. Another remedy is to put the fowl into a box, placing +in it at the same time a sponge dipped in spirits of turpentine on a hot +water plate filled with boiling water, and repeating this for three or +four days. Some persons recommend, as a certain cure in a few days, half +a teaspoonful of spirits of turpentine mixed with a handful of grain, +giving that quantity to two dozen of chickens each day. A pinch of salt +put as far back into the mouth as possible is also said to be effectual. + +LEG WEAKNESS, shown by the bird resting on the first joint, is generally +caused by the size and weight of the body being too great for the +strength of the legs; and this being entirely the result of weakness, +the remedy is to give strength by tonics and more nourishing food. The +quality should be improved, but the quantity must not be increased, as +the disease has been caused by over-feeding having produced too much +weight for the strength of the legs. Frequent bathing in cold water is +very beneficial. This is best effected by tying a towel round the fowl, +and suspending it over a pail of water, with the legs only immersed. + +LOSS OF FEATHERS is almost always caused by want of green food, or +dust-heap for cleansing. Let the fowls have both, and remove them to a +grass run if possible. But nothing will restore the feathers till the +next moult. Fowls, when too closely housed or not well supplied with +green food and lime, sometimes eat each other's feathers, destroying the +plumage till the next moult. In such cases green food and mortar rubbish +should be supplied, exercise allowed, the injured fowl should be removed +to a separate place, and the pecked parts rubbed over with sulphur +ointment. Cut or broken feathers should be pulled out at once. + +PIP, a dry scale on the tongue, is not a disease, but the symptom of +some disease, being only analogous to "a foul tongue" in human beings. +Do not scrape the tongue, nor cut off the tip, but cure the roup, +diarrhoea, bad digestion, gapes, or whatever the disease may be, and +the pip will disappear. + +ROUP is caused by exposure to excessive wet or very cold winds. It +begins with a slight hoarseness and catching of the breath as if from +cold, and terminates in an offensive discharge from the nostrils, froth +in the corners of the eyes, and swollen lids. It is very contagious. +Separate the fowl from the others, keep it warm, add some "Douglass +Mixture" (see "Moulting") to its water daily, wash its head once or +twice daily with tepid water, feed it with meal, only mixed with hot ale +instead of water, and plenty of green food. Mr. Wright advises half a +grain of cayenne pepper with half a grain of powdered allspice in a +bolus of the meal, or one of Baily's roup pills to be given daily. Mr. +Tegetmeier recommends one grain of sulphate of copper daily. Another +advises a spoonful of castor-oil at once, and a few hours afterwards one +of Baily's roup pills, and to take the scale off the tongue, which can +easily be done by holding the beak open with your left hand, and +removing the scale with the thumbnail of your right hand; with a pill +every morning for a week. If not almost well in a week it will be better +to kill it. + +THE THRUSH may be cured by washing the tongue and mouth with borax +dissolved in tincture of myrrh and water. + +PARALYSIS generally affects the legs and renders the fowl unable to +move. It is chiefly caused by over-stimulating food. There is no known +remedy for this disease, and the fowl seldom if ever recovers. Although +chiefly affecting the legs of fowls, it is quite a different disease +from LEG WEAKNESS. + +VERTIGO results from too great a flow of blood to the head, and is +generally caused by over-feeding. Pouring cold water upon the fowl's +head, or holding it under a tap for a few minutes, will check this +complaint, and the bird should then be purged by a dose of castor-oil or +six grains of jalap. + + +MOULTING. + +All birds, but especially old fowls, require more warmth and more +nourishing diet during this drain upon their system, and should roost in +a warm, sheltered, and properly-ventilated house, free from all draught. +Do not let them out early in the morning, if the weather is chilly, but +feed them under cover, and give them every morning warm, soft food, such +as bread and ale, oatmeal and milk, potatoes mashed up in pot-liquor, +with a little pepper and a little boiled meat, as liver, &c., cut small, +and a little hempseed with their grain at night. Give them in their +water some iron or "Douglass Mixture," which consists of one ounce of +sulphate of iron and one drachm of sulphuric acid dissolved in one quart +of water; a teaspoonful of the mixture is to be added to each pint of +drinking water. This chalybeate is an excellent tonic for weakly young +chickens, and young birds that are disposed to outgrow their strength. +It increases their appetite, improves the health, imparts strength, +brightens the colour of the comb, and increases the stamina of the +birds. When chickens droop and seem to suffer as the feathers on the +head grow, give them once a day meat minced fine and a little +canary-seed. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + +[Footnote 1: Piper on Poultry: their Varieties, Management, Breeding, +and Diseases; Price 1s. Groombridge & Sons, 5, Paternoster Row, London.] + +[Footnote 2: The Practical Poultry Keeper. By Mr. L. Wright. Cassell, +Petter & Galpin.] + +[Footnote 3: The Practical Poultry Keeper. By Mr. L. Wright. Cassell, +Petter & Galpin.] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Poultry, by Hugh Piper + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POULTRY *** + +***** This file should be named 38606.txt or 38606.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/6/0/38606/ + +Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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