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THE

ABC

POULTRY BOOK.

M. A. WILSON.

^irtf ©tfition.

CASSELL & COMPANY, Limited:

LONDON, FARIS & NEW YORK.

[all eights beserved.]

434. vS"

PREFACE.

Various circumstances have contributed during the last
few years to direct the attention of English people to an
industry which has been only too long neglected in this
country. The rearing of poultry and the production of eggs,
from being a mere fashionable amusement or adjunct to
a farm, form already a commercial enterprise of some
importance, to which the introduction of improved incu-
bators and artificial chicken rearers has given an impetus
altogether unforeseen.

Questions week after week in the pages of the various
Live Stock and Farm Journals bear witness to the de-
mand which exists for knowledge on the most elementary
points connected with Poultry management; and some
work seemed much needed which should supply the desired
information in a cheap and accessible form.

In the following pages the Author has endeavoured

(iy)

to be concise and practical. They contain the results of
some years' experience; and by the kind permission of
the Publishers, free use has been made of Mr. Lewis
Wright's classical work on Poultry, to which the reader
is referred for more detailed information, when such is
required.

There will, doubtless, be faults both of omission and
commission, but it is hoped that this little work, with its
ABC arrangement, may prove usefiil not only as a
guide to the beginner, but as a handy book of reference
for the more advanced Poultry-keeper.

Westaly

Cheltenham,

THE

ABC POULTRY BOOK

Accidents. — Prevention, as
a general rule, is much better
than cure, seeing that the latter
process is costly and tedious.

BroJccn Leg. — The leg can be
bound round with stiff leather,
or tightly fixed in a cork splice
bound round with wool. If
placed in a shallow basket, with
linen cover sewed all round and
a hole made through which
the neck can move freely, this
will leave the leg in perfect
quiet, and give it time to set.
Food and water can be x)laced
within reach, and three days will
suffice for repairing the injury.
Let it take exercise little by little.
Ducklings spiked by a sharp gar-
den fork in the web of foot or bill
will soon recover, as the place
heals of itself ; if through the
neck, bind it carefully round
with diachylon plaster.

Broioning. — No water - tubs
or large pans of water, buckets
of pigs' wash, &c., should ever
be allowed to stand about un-
covered in the poultry- yard, as
young birds especially are very

inquisitive, and often fly or fall
in. If discovered in time, and
any sign of life is left, immerse
the bird at once in warm water,
dry it, and then wrap carefully in
cotton-wool or flannel, and place
near a good fire. Give from
half to a whole tea-spoonful of
port wine, and be careful not
to expose again to cold too sud-
denly.

Loss of Birds by Rail. — Ac-
cidents of this kind would be
less frequent if exhibitors and
breeders of poultry would print
their name and address in large
type on the holland covers of
their hampers. This insures the
safety of birds on return journeys
from exhibitions, where labels are
tied on somewhat hurriedly.

Loss of Sickle Feather. — This
occurs to exhibition birds at
times. It does not disqualify.
Should two birds be exhibited
equally good, the one with the
uninjured tail would no doubt
be the winner.

Faint on Feathers. — Rub care-

(2)

fully the way of the featters
with, turpentine or benzine.

Tar on Feathers. — Get it out
with butter or oil ; but prevention
is better than cure.

Torn Comh. — Of frequent oc-
currence, from the fighting of
cocks through wire partitions.
Should the wattles be much torn,
cut off hanging and jagged parts,
and cleanse with cold water.
Apply cobwebs or styptic colloid.
"\Vhen scabs form, zinc ointment
will help to soften them.

Aconite. — No. 1. Mother
tincture is the strong poisonous
chemists' tincture, and must be
used with discretion.

Adding Fresh Stock.— If

this has to be done into an estab-
lished, carefully re-bred, and fa-
mous strain, it must be looked
upon as a necessary evil, and the
buyer will do well to go to the
best known yards and spare no
expense in purchasing. A first
prize or cup bird at a show may
introduce much trouble and
disappointment into a pen of
choice birds, and it is only
when the antecedents of the cup
bird are first-rate that the intro-
duction is a safe one. By keep-
ing an accurate address - book
with notes, the fancier will be
able to see the names which stand
highest as prize - winners. The
number of honours taken is a
good test of the purity of the
stiain ; and it is well to ascer-
tain whether the prizes are won
b}" one solitary show bird or
pair, or whether the breeder's
resources are strong enough to
produce fresh winners at several

successive shows. If you can
trust the breeder from whose
yard you wish to purchase, it
may be noted that a bird that
has won no prize may yet be
superior to the winners as a stock
bird.

Addled Eggs. — Those which
have been sat upon, and which
have been clear from first day,
or "unfertile." Such eggs, if
taken out of the incubator or
nest on the fifth or sixth day,
are fit for cooking; if left in,
they will injure those that are
fertile, and eventually, when
broken, may explode and be very
offensive ; if incubation is con-
tinued with a " clear " e^g it will
beconie "addled." An egg be-
coming fluid shows that at some
time it must have been chilled.

Addresses . — When much
engaged in the sale or exchange
of poultry, careful notes should
be taken of all addresses, and
copies made of all business let-
ters ; also, if a study is made of
any particular breed at a show,
the addresses should be noted of
those exhibitors whose entries are
remarkable for any good qualities
— though not necessarily winners
— and of those whose birds have
marked defects. In buying fresh
stock such notes may assist the
fancier in avoiding such yards
as may be dangerous to cross
with his already good stock. The
Crystal Palace and Birmingham
Catalogues and lists of awards
are useful, as containing the
names of all exhibitors ; and a
study of the prize-hst for two
or three consecutive years may
be a fair guide to those who do

(3)

not frequent shows or visit the
great poultry-yards of England,
as to the most trustworthy runs
from -which to procure fresh
blood. The "Fanciers' Direc-
tory," published by Cassell,
Fetter, Galpin & Co., is useful in
many ways to the fanciers of
poultry, particularly in giving
addresses of broods kept by all
the poultry dealers in England.

Age of Hens and Pullets
to Lay. — Fullets lay at from
four and a half months to six
and a half ; their time for laying
is in the hands of the clever
poultry-woman or breeder. If
hatched for egg produce only,
and with intent to keep up a
succession of layers, eggs should
be incubated during almost every
month: January to April being
the best. If your object is to
secure eggs at the earliest moment,
take care not to move the pullets
about from place to place, as it
seriously delays and checks egg
production ; as soon as pullets
are over their fifth month they
should be mated, and, if possible,
in the same quarters in ■which
they have been brought up.
Chicks hatched in September
will not be so forward to lay
at five months in January as
those hatched in January are in
April. Hens, if they are old and
have laid on late into the season,
cannot be expected to lay before
February.

Age to Breed at. — Pullets,
on the contrary, meant for exhi-
bition and prize stock must be
hatched in the months of January
to March inclusive, and it is
wise to give the pullets a fre-

quent change to prevent laying,
and so lengthen the period for
growth. Pullets from which to
breed exhibition stock should be
quite seven to eight months old
before they are mated, and when
this is done an adult cock should
be in their run, while the
cockerels should be placed w^ith
the adult hens. Hens from two
to three years of age are more
valuable to breed from than
pullets : their chickens are
stronger as a rule.

Age to Fatten. — Cockerels
of from four to five months are
in prime order for fattening ; it is
little use commencing earlier if
size is an object, but birds of
this age should be ready for table
if well kept without special fat-
tening. {See Fattening Fowls.)

Age, To Judge, in Poultry.
— If for table, examine the feet
and legs ; the size and appear-
ance of the spur form an unfailing
guide in hens as well as cocks.
The skin of the pullet or cockerel
is smooth and fresh-looking, the
adult bird yearly grows coarser
and vslirivelled ; place the thumb
and forefinger on either side of
the back near the pope's nose or
oil receptacle, and press it ; in
young birds that part is supple, in
old birds it is difiicult to bend.
In ducks the age is very hard to
tell, even great judges find a
difficulty ; ducks of two or three
years' standing have, however,
a deep depression down the breast
feathers, and their waddle becomes
yearly more ungainly.

Age to Kill. — If you are

breeding for exhibition kill oiSE
any birds not fit for show pur-

(i)

poses, HOWEVER SMALL, unless
you have special runs for table
stock into which to draft all
false-feathered specimens. It is
"bad economy to keep them
crowding your prize birds pre-
paring for exhibition. Hens
should be killed in their second
year, the moment they cease lay-
ing their summer batch of eggs ;
do not let them get into moult,
or you will have to keep them
through it at a disadvantage. A
hen hatched, say, in March, 1878,
should lay up to the end of July in
1879, and then be fattened and
killed ; if well hung, she will be
excellent eating still. In case of
prize stock the rule is diif erent,
and the moment for killing must
"be decided by the value of the
specimen in question ; no valuable
stock bird should be discarded till
the completion of her third or
fourth year, as even a dozen or
two of her eggs may be invalu-
able for incubation.

Age to Shovtr. — The exhibi-
tor who wishes to be early in the
Held must hutch earlj-. Cockerels
for August and September shows
must be hatched out in January
and February. In from six to
seven months the plumage of the
cockerel is fairly perfected, and
pullets, if kept from laying till
six or seven months and then
paired, and exhibited when laying
has just commenced, will be in
perfect order. Adult birds miist
be exhibited when over moult, and
when laying re-commences ; the
cock bird is not in spirits and
will mope in his pen if shown
before the moult is over, and the
adult hen's comb will look dry

and shrivelled up till she lays. {See
Prize Birds : their Treatment.)

Air Bubble, or Air Cell,

in an egg, is at the round or
blunt end : it contains the air
which is to supply the chick
during the process of incubation
— it is known to contain a greater
proportion of oxygen than the
air we breathe. As the chick
increases in size the air bubble
grows larger, and when on the
point of hatching it occupies one-
fifth of the whole egg. The
slightest perforation of this air
chamber will prevent success in
hatching out. About the nine-
teenth day of incubation the air
cell is ruptured, and the chick
breathes with its lungs ; it is at
this date that the lively move-
ments seen in eggs placed in
water are observable.

Alarm. — The attendant in
the poultry-yard should by all
means try to make friends with
his ilock, and never alarm
them or drive them needlessly.
He should never shout at them
in an angry tone, and should
acquire a habit of calling them
always in a special manner when
coming to feed them at meal
hours. When laying hens are
alarmed soft eggs are the result ;
and if afraid of their keeper,
exhibition birds in being
caught and di'essed for shows
run the greatest risk of spoiling
combs and plumage by knock-
ing themselves about in their
fright.

Ale may be used with advan-
tage occasionally as a treat in
severe weather for laying stock.
Should a bird's comb turn blue,

(5)

from confinement at a show in
cold weather, a warm house and
bread soaked in ale once a day
will effect wonders. But ale
should not be used constantly, as
it is too stimulating.

Allowance of Food. {See
Food.) — No absolute scale can
possibly be given, and yet on the
proper allowance of food being
given to each fowl hangs the
question, "Does poultry pay or
not ? " Most fanciers' birds are
over-fed, and in this lies great
danger. The various breeds re-
quire more or less food according
to size and character, and the
only safe rule to lay down in case
of adult birds is to give at the
morning meal and supper time
only as much as they will pick up
greedily — never leave food on
the ground or in the pans — at
mid-day give only a few grains,
more as an occupation than as a
meal. I find a (lady's) handful
of grain to each bird is ample ;
while of soft food in the morn-
ing, ahotd as much as would go
into a gill measure is almost too
much for each bu'd. Green food
should be given ad lib., and should
never be forgotten, but too large a
supply of fresh-mown grass given
at rare intervals is injurious ;
birds are apt to eat too much, and
scouring is the result.

American Breeds. — [See
Danver's Whites, Jersey Blues,
Leghorns, Plymouth Eocks.)

American Bronze Tur-
key. — Eemarkable for great
weight. The cocks reach 35 to
40 lbs., the hens 24 lbs. They
attain their full weight at three

years of age, when they are at
their prime for breeding from ;
medium hens of 15 lbs. are best
to breed from, but cocks must
carry weight. They are obtained
by crossing the wild with the
domestic turkey of America; the
produce is superior in size to
others. First eggs are usually
set under hens, and the second
batch under turkeys. The mother
may be confined ; the young birds
require feeding constantly, very
little at a time, on hard eggs,
chopped dandelion, curds, chopped
chives, and onion-tops.

American Light Brah-
mas difiier from the English
strains, are less compact, long in
leg and back, larger and heavier,
but not so handsome ; in colour
of a pearly wliite. The long-
bodied hens of American type
crossed with an extra short-logged
specimen of one of our EngKsh
noted strains makes a grand cross.

Anconas originate from cross-
ing black and white Minorcas,
whose shape they bear. -In plu-
mage they are mottled-grey, or
cuckoo, or dominique in colour;
comb, face, and lobes follow
the Minorca. {See Mixorca.)
They are scarce, hardy, excellent
layers, non-sitters ; white, red,
yellow, or black in plumage
will disqualify in the show-pen.

Andalusians. — The origin of
this breed is somewhat obscure.
It has, however, been recognised
and cultivated in England since
the year 1846, when some blue
and speckled fowls were intro-
duced by Mr. Barber from Xeres
de la Frontei-a, in Andalusia.

(6)

These, by careful selection and
much, crossing-, have resulted in
the Blue Andalusian of to-day ;
but the constant occurrence of
black, speckled, and white chickens
in the purest strains make it
probable that the breed has at no
very distant date arisen from a
cross between the black and white
Minorca. The fowls originally
imported were noted for their
laying- qualities and the size of
their eggs, and these are now the
chief characteristics of the breed.
The eggs are large and of excel-
lent flavour. Andalusians do not
sit. They thrive well in confine-
ment, and are perfectly hardy.
The " points " have undergone
considerable modifications since
the year 1851, when Andalusians
began to be seen in the show-pen ;
but at present the tyjoical Blue
Andalusian should have a bold,
upright, and graceful carriage, a
fairly long, tliin leg, and a full-
flowing tail carried rather high.
The general contour should be
Spanish, but of the Minorca
rather than the white-faced type.
The head should be tapering- and
rather narrow ; the comb in the
cock large, but not coarse,
sti-aight and erect, evenly serra-
ted in bold spikes, rising from a
finn, broad base. In the hen the
comb should rise up appreciably
from a broadened base before
arching over in a graceful sweep.
The face in both sexes should bo
red (without any admixture of
white), with as little red skin as
possible over the eye ; the ear-
lobe flat, sharp cut, and of a pure,
satiny white. The cock's neck
is long, and the hackle rather
sh.ort ; the breast full and round ;

the legs long and grey ; the
plumage a bluish shade or slate
colour, clear all over the ground
colour, laced round the edges
with black ; the breast in cock
and hen well piled. Some lati-
tude is allowed in colour, which
may vary from a pale dove to a
deep slaty blue ; but fashion has
of late decidedly pronounced in
favour of the latter. The hackles
in the cock on neck and saddle,
which were at one time a grey
slate, are now generally of a rich,
lustrous purple, or nearly black.

The chief faults to be avoided
are large, coarse combs, with
thumb-marks, white on the face,
red on the ear-lobe, red, white,
or black feathers in the plumage,
a squirrel tail, and white legs.
The chickens are most precocious,
feather very rapidly, and the pul-
lets commence laying at five
months.

Animal Food. {See Food.)

— When fowls are kept without
gi-ass run or ample range, meat
is all but a necessity ; the number
of eggs in winter will be greatly
increased on meat diet. Bullock's
liver, slightly boiled, and chopped
in an American chopiDer, pep-
pered and mixed with pot-liquor,
and thickened with oatmeal,
warm, is much relished. Scraps
and cuttings from the butcher, at
3d. per lb., are well worth getting
for the same purpose. Tallow-
chandlers' greaves are not good;
they tend to make soft fat of
coarse flavour. The French give
horse-flesh to their poultry, in
the management of which they
are notably successful. During
moult and in severe weather

(7)

it is bad economy not to buy-
meat ; for breeding stock and
early supply of fertile eggs it is
essential It may be given chop-
ped small and mixed with, rice,
meal, Spratt, or other soft food;
or, for a change, a piece of meat
may be nailed or tied to the wall
of the pen for the fowls to peck
at on rainy days. For chicken
supply, cook the meat and chop
it fine. This may be given to
chickens at three days old and
upwards. A supply of maggots
is the best animal food for young
chickens. If in the country, a
dead lamb, or sheep, or a calf may
at times be procured, and pro-
vided that death was caused by
anything but a long and severe
illness, there is no reason why
these should not be used in the
poultry-yard. Attentions of this
kind in a poultry-run ward off
evils, such as egg and feather
eating.

Animal Food: Kinds to
procure. — Meat : Gravy-beef,
slightlj^ boiled, salted and pep-
pered and finely chopped, should
be got at 7d. per lb. Horse-flesh,
much used in Finance, can be had
at the kennels ; only fit for very
large establishments.

Earth-ivorms are excellent, but
some fowls will not eat them.

Scraps from table. — Very good ;
and if near a boarding-house or
school, arrangements should be
made to take the remnants.

Ants' Kcsts. — Excellent for
young chickens. School or vil-
lage children may be encouraged
to bring them in for a few pence.

Meal-worms. — These for chicks
are unsurpassed, and jDroduce

wild excitement. A regular sup-
ply can be procm-ed by expending
a little trouble and thought on the
matter, which is, however, not
an agreeable one. {See Meal-
worms.)

Cheap Winter Food. — Get a
sheep's or cow's head; boil it
down, after chopping it small
with an axe or a bone-crushing
machine. Boil in the stock, cab-
bage, potatoes, carrots, parsnips,
a handful of red cliilHes, and
thicken to a crumbling mass with
pollards or dry boiled rice.

Ants' ITests. — {See Aximal
Food.)

Apoplexy. — Generally the
consequence of over-feeding in
small pens or of injudicious diet,
such as unlimited feeds of maize.
There are seldom any premonitory
symptoms — birds go to roost and
drop dead from their perch ; but
at times a bird may show signs
of giddiness — unsteady walking,
in which case fasting or a dose
of 1 gr. calomel with 15 grs. of
jalap will be useful, or bleeding
may be resorted to by cutting
the large vein under the wing.
After free bleeding, stop the flow
with some strong styptic. [See
Styptics.)

Appetite. — To maintain birds

in a really healthy state appe-
tite must be kept up, and it is
good management to have the
poultry in such a state that they
will fly up to meet the poultry-
man, and scramble for their food.
Loss of appetite comes from un-
wise feedmg on over-spiced food.

Approval, Sending on. —
In purchasing new stock it is

(«)

best to make this arrangement
beforehand, as you are not then
bound to keep the birds sent
unless it suits you to do so. The
buyer must pay carriage to and
fro, and he is expected to return
the birds without delay if not
suitable. If " on approval " is
not bargained for, the intending
purchaser has no right to return
the birds ; they are understood
to be sold out and out.

April, Work for. — March

chicks are always more in demand
than later ones ; but April is the
month when the birds get on best,
and hatching should be vigorously
continued. If warm and dry,
nests should have very hot water
poured round the outer edge of
the straw — not on the eggs ;
avoid doing this so that the water
runs into the nest. The eggs
should not lie in the water for a
moment. Drench all the parts of
the nest except the eggs.

Chicken feeding becomes com-
plicated ; the elder broods of
January and February will be
growing large and very bold. If
it has not been done already,
separate them ; draft off the older
broods to open quarters as weather
permits, so that younger chicks
may have a better chance. Place
the food about in a number of
glazed saucers or tins, so that all
may have an equal share. Let
all eat until they will eat no
more, then clear away the re-
mains.

Continue constant disinfection
of chicken boxes and coops; eschew
hay beds — they breed vermin. If a
brood looks sickly, suspect vermin
— " lice " — and treat accordingly.

{See Enemies to Poultry — Lice.)
Show cockerels and pullets should
now be penned up separately and
receive especial care. Commence
to fatten early hatched January
chicks not fit for show or stock.
Feeding the young chicks at
10 p.m. may now be abandoned,
but soft sweet food and handfuls
of grain should be placed about
in the evening after the cliicks
are gone to bed, to be ready for
the early morning.

Artificial Incubation has

been practised from the earliest
times in the East, chiefly in
China, India, and Egypt. In
the latter country large mamals,
or ovens, holding from 40,000 to
80,000 eggs, are still used for the
purpose ; and the villagers bring
their eggs in the expectation oi
receiving, after a lapse of 21 days,
200 chicks for every 300 eggs
deposited. In 1851 Cantelo ex-
hibited a hydro-incubating ma-
chine in London, and the subject
of artificial incubation has oc-
cupied much attention in France
from that time to this. Eouillier's
and Voitellier's machines have
there taken the lead, while quite
recently in England the matter
has been taken up with more or
less success by several competitors
for public favour.

The chief desiderata in artificial
incubation are a regular tempera-
ture—from 100° to 106° Fahr. at
the upper surface of the eggs — ■
moisture, and after the tenth
day adequate ventilation (without
chilling) of the eggs. The source
of heat is immaterial so long
as these essentials are secured;
practically, however, a lamp,

(9)

or gas, and boiling -water are
utilised for the purpose. The
chief incuhators now in the mar-
ket are : —

i. A gas machine with an ex-
cellent regulator, patented by
Mr. Henry Boyle, of Amble-
side.
ii. Penman's Patent, worked
also by gas. The water is
separated from the eggs by
waterproof cloth, and thus
direct contact of the warm
surface is obtained,
iii. Cashmere's lamp machine,

with regulator.
iv. Watson's " Scotia."
Hydro-incubators are : —

i. Voitellier's nest, a favourite

in France. Agent in this

country, Miss May Arnold,

Acton, Middlesex.

ii. Chi'isty's, framed on the

Eouillier pattern.
iii. Howell's "Gem Hatcher."
The choice between a gas or
lamp machine and one worked
by boiling water will be probably
determined by the greater or
less facility with which boiling
water in quantity, say two to
three gallons, night and morn-
ing, can be olDtained. Excellent
results have been secured by
both systems, and 75 per cent.
and upwards may be hatched out
by either method with reasonable
care and attention to detail. The
chief points to be attended to in
artificial incubation are : —
i. Position of incubator : an
out-house, conservatory, or
room on the ground floor is
best, where there is an
equable temperature, good
ventilation, and no risk of
jar.

ii. Let the eggs be as fresh as
possible : allow travelled egga
to settle for twenty-four
hours, before placing in the
incubator.

iii. Avoid jDutting eggs in the
drawers by twos and threes,
as far as possible ; if unavoid-
able, warm the eggs well at
104^ to 105° Fahr.

iv. Aim at a regular tempera-
ture of 1 03*^, increasing after
the 9th day to 104° Fahr.;
with high-bred eggs a degree
higher is an advantage to-
wards the close of hatching.
Occasional extremes of 90*'
Fahr., or even 108'' Fahr.
have been borne with im-
punity, but safety lies be-
tween 100° and 106°. Over-
heating is more dangerous
than under-heating.

v. Clean the eggs well ; mark
them on one side with date,
&c., rather nearer the smaller
end, and place the eggs date
downwards, for the first
twenty-four hours ; your
marks will then be preserved
when the chick is hatched.

vi. Keep the trays of earth or
sand always moistened be-
neath the eggs, but avoid
sprinkling the eggs them-
selves with water.

vii. Turn the eggs slightly
every twelve hours. Air
them during the first ten
days for ten minutes at
night and a quarter of an
hour in the morning; for
the last eleven days allow
twenty minutes in the morn-
ing and fifteen minutes in
the evening.

viii. Sixth day examine all

(10)

eggs, and reject those whicli
do not show embryo and dis-
tinct veining ; the clear eggs
are still fresh for cooking,
even for custards.
ix. After the ninth day air is
required by the chicks, but
chills must be avoided, es-
pecially when nearing the last
stage of incubation,
X. When eggs at different
stages of development are in
the same drawer, it may be
well to reserve one portion
for those last put in, and
to cover them with a flannel,
whilst those in a more ad-
vanced stage are aired more
freely.
Cf. " Library of Entertain-
ing Knowledge," "Domestic
Habits of Birds" (Knight and
Co.^ ; "Practical Artificial Incu-
bation," by Edward Brown
(Fancier^s Chronicle Publishing
Co.j 317, Strand); « ' Hydi-o-Incu-
bation in Theory and Practice,"
by Thomas Christy, F.L.S. (loo,
Fenchurch Street, London) ; also
the various standard wox-ks on
Poultry.

At five or six weeks, according
to the weather, chicks do better
without artificial heat, and a run
on grass or dry earth beds when
the sun is shining will be found
most beneficial to health.

A late vinery with earth
floor is one of the best places for
rearing early chickens. Great
care, however, will be required if
many are bred, to keep the earth
fresh dug. Cleanliness also is
essential, especially in the
mothers, which should be well
aired daily, as well as being pro-
vided with a fresh earth floor. A

little disinfectant, such as car-
bolic acid or terebene, will often
be a useful addition.

Artificial Hearing. — The

chick, after leaving the egg in an
incubator, may be either placed
with a hen or be brought up
under one of the many artificial
mothers which have been invented
for the purpose. In the Boyle
and Penman machines the mothers
are attached to the incubator.
Christy's drying box and hydro-
rearers are warmed by boiling
water, like the incubator, and are
very eflective. A hot water
bottle suspended by flannel in an
open box forms a cheap and
useful arrangement for infant
broods. A well-sustained heat of
about 80° Fahr. is essential for
the first week at least, as a chill
is fatal ; after that time it may
be ten degrees lower. The run
should not be large at first, and
should be protected, by wire or
netting, from the access of older
birds. The broods should be
carefully sorted under different
mothers as to size, and the
greatest cleanliness insisted upon.
For twenty-four to thirty- six
hours after leaving the egg the
chick requires no food. It may
stand in the midst of plenty,
but it will not peck or do any-
thing but pipe. If healthy, it
will begin to pick when hungry ;
a little tapping on the floor, how-
ever, or showering crumbs on the
backs of the chicks will excite
the more backward ones to help
themselves.

The first food should be hard-
boiled egg, chopped fine, and milk,
to which may be added fine

(")

shreds of lean meat or bread-
crumbs.

Aseels, or Indian G-ame,

are shown in all colours : black,
black-reds, piled, whites, spangles,
the latter having none of the
regularity of the Hamburgh
spangle, but merely a general
mixture of white and coloured
feathers. In size they are to look
at like a Hamburgh, but are hard-
feathered. The cocks show less
comb than even a Malay, and the
hens no comb. Legs are short,
and they are strong in bone, of
low carriage, with compact form
and glossy plumage.

Asiatic Breeds comprise the
various kinds of Cochins, the
light and dark Brahmas, Malays,
Langshans, &c. They have, as
a rule, feathered legs, and lay
rich chocolate or yellow eggs,
small as compared with the
size of the birds. They bear
confinement well, have no taste
for roaming, and are of a phleg-
matic nature. They lay in
winter, but the supply is limited,
owing to their constant desire to
incubate. Of a contented turn of
mind, they are willing to keep
within the limits marked out by
a wire fence two feet high. As
mothers they are devoted, but
exceedingly clumsy, and woe
betide the newly-hatched chick
caught beneath their weighty
tread. One great advantage of the
Asiatic fowl as hatching-machines
is that they harbour no lice or
vermin ; they are gentle and
easy to handle. Chicks of these
breeds feather very slowly, es-
pecially if hatched late in season,

or the produce of young pullets'
eggs.

Asiatic Diseases.— Various
liver derangements, over-feeding
being the cause; Scaly Leg;
Apoplexy.

Aspect of Huns and Pens.

— Build them as " lean-to's "
against a wall where there is a
chimney running up, constantly
in use if possible ; this is far
better than stove heat, and let
the aspect bfc south. Catch every
ray of sun. Keep the roof as
high as possible in front, so as
to let in all the light ; shelter
by judicious use of boarding from
wind, and, above all from cold
draughts.

Asphalt. {See Concrete.) —
The original soil is as good as
anything for the flooring of a
poultry-house. H pulverised and
screened lime rubble from old
walls and buildings be thrown on
the earth, and all is kept clean,
and well dug over after cleansing
twice a week, it makes a soft,
dry, and deep bed of the best
possible dusting material ; but
asphalt is also useful: it keeps
out rats, and, if covered with
six inches of sand and rubble
screenings mixed, forms an ex-
cellent flooring ; it must, however,
be entirely cleared out every two
months or so, and fresh dusting
material supplied.

Atropine. — Used in severe
cases of roup. Apply a drop to the
eye if matter begins to accumulate.

August. — Many early birds
will be making their adult plum-
age now, and it will be possible
to estimate which are thg spe-

(12)

cimens to gain credit in tlie show-
pen. Proceed accordingly, and
remove such birds into the pre-
paring pens. Each cockerel
should have one to himself, with
ample room ; or if dull alone, put
with him a known companion
younger than he is, but not one
for show, just to keep him com-
pany. Kill or draft out of the
way all wasters, and devote all
energy to the prize birds and
those which will come for sale as
stock birds.

Pullets can be kept in small
flocks, as they never quarrel, but
not more than ten together, unless
the enclosed covered runs are
very extensive. Prize birds and
stock must not be allowed to
Bcuffle and scrimmage for their
food like farm-yard mongrels ;
full diet is necessary, and fight-
ing must not be tolerated when
birds are bred for feather, weight,
&c.

Early cases of moult in cocks
should be seen to, and the birds
isolated where hens do not worry.
If sudden moult and general loss
of feathers takes place there is no
cause for anxiety ; it is better
than a tedious moult later in the
year.

Continue weeding and kill-
ing; the more room gained the
better.

Take steps to procure ducks'
eggs to hatch in October. They
are always difficult to procure at
that time, and it is well to be-
speak them beforehand.

Awards, — The young poultry
fancier should not be discouraged
if he only gets honourable men-
tion ; true, it does not help, as do

prizes, to pay the entrance fees
and carriage, but it has been said,
with justice, that a run which
produces specimens which win
honours wherever shown is often
better than one which gains
several prizes with, it may be, the
same well-known bird. Let him
make up his mind to be beaten,
dress his birds with care, and
send the best he can ; and then,
expecting a beating, victory may
come as a pleasant surprise, an(3
defeat will not affect him other-.
wise than to urge him on to " try
again."

Aylesbury Ducks. — Hardi-

ness, great size, and early ma-
turity are their merits. They
have now formidable rivals in
the"Pekin" breed, which exceeds
them in apparent size, but does
not beat them in solid flesh
weight.

Their plumage must be spotless
white, yellow legs, and beaks of
flesh colour ; weight of adult
birds 6 and 7 lbs. They have been
exhibited up to 20 lbs. the pair.

For breeding, running water is
the best, and failing that, a pond
is indispensable. They commence
laying in December. The colour
of the egg varies from green to
cream colour.

At six weeks ducklings should
be 4 lbs. each and fit for table ;
their food should then have cost
about 2s. each, and if ready by
February or March they should
realise up to 21s. or 30s. the
couple in the London market.

The ducks should always have
gritty substance put into their
water, wherewith to purify their
bills and help them to digest

(13)

their food ; this is of great im-
portance. Ducklings for exhibi-
tion may be brought up with
more water to swim in than those
kept for fattening ; their houses
should be well bedded with clean
straw. Feed at first on chopped
eggs, milk, and oatmeal, warm ;
then with oatmeal, varied with
barley-meal and Spratt's food,
boiled with greaves quite stiff,
given as often as they are willing
to feed. As to green food, the
supply should be unlimited. It
is not well to let food remain
in the pans; however often you
feed the ducklings, remove what
remains, so that they may have
an appetite when the next meal
hour arrives. It is very necessary
to give ducklings the means of
collecting worms and slugs ; the
moment they are old enough to
roam for this, their natural food,
they will be the better for it.
Dry bedding is essential, and
warm night shelter; otherwise
ducklings will not bear the cold of
early spring days without injury.

Bahama Ducks. — Seldom
shown and rare. Colour is dark
brown pencilling on light brown
ground.

Bakies. — {See Dumpies.)

Bantams. — Miniature fowls
of various breeds, all very pretty
and good layers, though the eggs
are small. They can be kept in
a very limited space, and are
tame and easily managed. [See
Black-booted, Cochin, Cuckoo,
Game, Japanese, Laced, Nankin,
White, White-booted.)

Barley. {See Food.) — Good
uninjured barley should be

a staple article of diet in the
poultry-yard. Buckwheat is pre-
ferable, but not always to be
had, and barley is a safe and
favourite grain. Damaged cheap
grains must not be ventured
upon. Barley warmed in a tin
or pipkin in the oven, dry, and
given hot, as an evening meal
in cold weather, is very whole-
some ; and for a change, if with
water added and a little pepper
it is baked tiR it swells up to
twice the original bulk, it forms
a much relished dish.

Barn-door Fowls. — To the

present day many amateur poultry
lovers continue in the old and
popular error, that barn-door
fowls " pay " better than pure
breeds, and are less trouble to
rear. *' Fancy " fowls are, with-
out a thought, voted useless,
whereas many poultry -yards fail
of success owing to the mistake
of starting by buying up a lot
of mongrel birds, age unknown.
Every distinct breed has some
leading characteristic, for which
in the past it has been selected
and bred : it is prized, and, with
much care, bred for either
size or hardihood, for laying
qualities, as good mothers, or
as super-excellent table fowls ;
while the barn-door is not re-
markable for any speciality,
neither producing so many eggs
as the Andalusian or Leghorn,
nor being so well flavoured as the
Game, nor so white and full of
meat as the Dorking, the Houdan,
or any of the table breeds, nor so
content with small pens as the
Asiatics : in fact, even from a
commercial point of view they

(14)

are not to be recommended, and
are a mistake. For beauty cer-
tainly no one would select them.

Baskets for Exhibition. —

Prizes at many shows are given
for the purpose of improving- the
designs for these hampers, but
nothing has at present super-
seded the old-fashioned circular
wicker form, with a hinged
cover at top. Size must vary
according to the breed exhibited.
Birds travelling are charged by
weight, so the lightest basket
is the best, provided it is strong
enough. Thej'' should be twenty-
two inches in diameter by twenty-
six inches high for Asiatics and
Dorkings ; for Hamburgs and
lesser breeds, two or three inches
smaller. The size for all birds
must be judged by the exhibitor ;
if too small the plumage will
suffer, and birds will arrive
cramped. Good scrubbing flannel
should be used to Une the
hampers : it is much superior to
the holland generally employed,
being warmer, with, at the same
time, freer ventilation ; it also
turns off the rain more effectually.
On the top of the basket there
should be a fitting cover of
holland, or, best of all, water-
proof sheeting, with the exhib-
itor's address in full, also, " Live
Birds : to be returned without
delay," printed distinctly. To
complete the basket, attach a
pocket easy of access for the
prize ticket, or you will find it
under the bii-d's feet when they
return, unfit for use, or partially
eaten. {See Packing Eggs.)

Bedding for Chicks. —

Straw put through the chaff-

cutting machine is undoubtedly
the best, but on no account give
it uncut, or it will be the source
of broken legs. Care must be
taken to remove the soiled
straw and to replace it with
fresh every morning. A small
quantity changed daily is far
better than a deep bed left
uncleansed for a day or two.
Cleanliness is the first considera-
tion ; sprinkle the bed with
powdered sulphur three times a
week, to keep away vermin. No
bedding should be given to birds
put up for fattening. The coop
in this case should have a barred
fioor, so that the dirt shall not
rest upon it. Otherwise, in
such a small space the birds will
quickly suffer from bad air and
dirt.

Benzine. — Good for^ cleaning
accidental paint off the feathers,
which it will not injure.

Black Bantams. — One of the

hardiest and best laying of the
varieties ; the eggs are good-
sized, the hens are good sitters,
the pullets lay at seventeen and
eighteen weeks old {see Points
OF Black Hamburgh) ; the chicks
are delicate when making feather;
cockerels very precocious. Sepa-
rate at four months ; plumage
complete at three months. Hatch
in April, not earlier. September
is the best month if small size is
aimed at. {See White Bantams.)

Black East Indian Duck.

— Small, neat-shaped birds, round
heads, short bills and bodies,
pure black plumage, with metal-
lic green lustre. Drake's bill
olive-green, black bill for the

(15)

duck ; feet black. They throw
white feathers during the first
year, which will moult out.
Weight should not he ahove
2 lbs. or 2.^ Ihs. Excellent eat-
ing and good layers, hardy, and
will forage to a great extent for
themselves if allowed free range.

Black Game. — Splendid
black, metalHc shades of green
and purple ; coral-red face ; legs
dark willow or black. Subject to
brassy wings.

Black Hamburghs.— Of the
Hamburgh tribe the best, being
larger, and laying an egg of
more useful size. They are
non-sitters, being crossed with
Spanish ; white face crops up, and
is a difficulty in breeding. Chicks,
when hatched, are from the throat
downwards to the under part of
the body white, the rest black.
It is only after the second moult
that their glorious plumage of
green black glossy hue is per-
fected. These birds are delicate ;
damp, dirt, cold, and improper
food bring on liver disease.
They do not thrive in confined
pens, and it is unwise to attempt
breeding them unless you can
give a grass run.

Foints. — Beak black or horn ;
comb, face, and wattles rich
red ; deaf-ears white ; eyes red ;
legs blue lead colour ; plumage
deep black, brilliant gloss of met-
allic green or bluish purple : the
greener the better; comb double
and evenly serrated.

Black Hot. — A disease to
which Spanish fowls are subject,
but not often seen now. The
comb becomes black and the legs
swell, with general pining and

loss of spirits, flesh, and gloss.
Calomel and castor-oil should
first be given, and then generous
diet, with tonic and warmth,
may pull the bird through.

Bolton Greys. — An old name
for silver-pencilled Hamburghs,
which see.

Bone-dust. — Yery beneficial
for the feeding of growing birds
up to five or six months of age,
a preventive of weak legs and
diarrhoea ; an aid also in post-
poning the development of young
birds, while it provides materials
needful for continuous growth,
and gives strength and size to
the frame. It should be about
the fineness of coarse oatmeal, and
should be sifted into and with
the meals used, in the proportion
of 1 quartern to the cwt. Fresh
bones chopped and pounded, or
burnt bones, are not so useful for
the above purposes as they are
for laying stock or for birds of an
age for exhibition.

Books, Best, on Poultry.
—(1) " The Illustrated Book of
Poultry," by Lewis Wright
(Cassell, Fetter, Galpin & Co.).
(2) "The Poultry Book," by
Tegetmeier, F.Z.S. (George Rout-
ledge & Sons). (3) ''The Poultry
Book," by Rev. W. Wingfield
and Gr. W. Johnson, Esq. (William
S. Orr & Co.). (4) "The Poultry
Book " (Messrs. Orr & Co., Amen
Corner). (5) " The Practical
Poultry Keeper," by L. Wright
(Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co.).

(6) " The Brown Leghorn Fowl :
How to Rear, Manage, and
Breed," by Charles R. Harker
(Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co.).

(7) ''The Brahma Fowl," by L.

(16)

Wright (Cassell, Petter, Galpin
& Co.). (8) Prize Essay by
Tegetmeier on "Feeding Poul-
try"— American Standard of
Excellence. (9) " On Game," by
Dr. Cooper (Sampson Low & Co.) .

Borrowed Fowls for Ex-
hibition.— Borrowing for this
purpose is not allowed. Any one
exhibiting poultry not actually
his own property would be dis-
qualified if discovered.

Brahmas. — Light and dark
should in shape, size, and carriage
be alike, only differing in colour.
The weight of an adult cock bird
should be not under 12 lbs. to
14 lbs., hens 8 lbs. to 10 lbs.,
six months' cockerels 7 lbs. to
9 lbs., pullets 6 lbs. to 8 lbs. The
head of the Brahma should be
small, short and arched, with a
*' pea comb." [See Combs.) The
neck must be full of hackle ; the
back wide and flat; the saddle
rising from the neck and sloping
upwards to the tail ; saddle -
feathers must hang well over the
wing-points, being abundant and
flowing ; the short tail should re-
semble that of the black cock, and
should open out laterally, and the
sickles like a fan. The breast
should project, be deep, full, and
broad ; the shanks of moderate
length, and feathering as heavy
as possible to the tips of outer
and middle toes. The hen must
be short-legged, abundant in fluff,
broad in chest, deep, full in shape,
with a peculiarly small head.

Light Brahmas. — Beak yellow,
with or without a dark stripe ;
deaf-ears, face, comb, and wattles
red; eyes red; shanks orange in

both sexes. The cock : silver-
white head ; white hackle, black
stripe ; saddle ditto ; tail and
coverts glossy green-black ; body
pearl-white ; shank-feathers white,
mottled black. The hen : silver-
white head ; hackle white, deep
stripe black ; tail black, except
top pair of feathers, which should
be edged white ; body pure pearl-
white, no tinge of yellow.

Dark Brahmas. — Both sexes :
beak yellow, horn, or black, or
yellow with stripe black ; eyes red ;
comb, face, deaf-ears, and wattles
red. Cock : head silver- white ;
hackle white, heavy stripe of
black ; saddle ditto ; back and
shoulder silver- white, except be-
tween shoulders, where black
must be laced with white ; upper
wing-butts black; bow white,
end of every feather black;
breast, under-parts, and leg
glossy-black, or evenly mottled
with white, but best black; tail
pure black, glossed green ; shanks
orange. Hen : head and hackles
silver-white, deep stripe black;
black tail, top feathers edged
grey, rest silver-grey, dull grey,
or steel ; pencilled crescent form,
deep grey, black-grey, or black
breast pencilled, no streaks,
chestnut tinge allowed if bright
leg-feather to match body-pen-
cilling ; shanks yellow.

Bran. — A few handf uls should
be mixed with soft food, as it is
decidedly wholesome, though not
a favourite poultry diet.

Breast-bone Crooked or
Breaking. — This is caused by
perches being placed too high from
the ground when the roosting-place
is of small size. Objections are

(17)

made to letting chickens roost
early, but little harm will come
of it if the perches are at a proper
height. It is the perpendicular
sudden flight to the ground in a
confined space which injures and
breaks, or bends, the tender breast-
bone. In limited space, and with
chickens brought up in confine-
ment, shelves, sanded, and then
^-littered with chopped straw, are
safeguards against this evil.

Bredas. — A usef ulnon-sitting,
good-laying, hardy, and fair table
fowl, not equal to the Houdan,
being smaller. Shape is Polish ;
the crest very slight, just per-
ceptible, coloured like the body,
and in place of the comb there is
a depression just over the nostrils.
The legs are grey ; Cuckoo or
Dominique Bredas are called
Gueldres,' while the black variety
bear the name of the breed ; there
are also white sports. Birds
seldom exhibited, there being no
class for them at the shows.

Breeding Cocks must be
vigorous during December, Janu-
ary, and February. Feed them
extra well, andalone. They should
be examined when perching at
night, and if poor must be at
once fed up; they should not be
exhibited, and the breeding-pens
should be made up by Christmas
time, as the cocks become attached
to their special hens, and changes
affect the fertility of eggs. ,_

Breeding in and in, — Less

dangerous than a constant intro-
duction of fresh blood into an
already-formed prize strain ; but
judgment must be used, and in a
tolerably large establishment,

where the hens are kept away
from the cocks during moult, and
re-mated in December, arrange-
ments can be made not to mate
too nearly-related birds, without
recourse yearly to purchases from
a fresh yard. It is well to keep
a spare cockerel or two in stock,
and let them run on some farm,
and re-introduce them the follow-
ing year into your breeding-pen,
when the relationship cannot pro-
duce evil results. If only one
pen or yard of poultry is kept,
the results of mating the produce
from it may be most unsatisfac-
tory, and a fresh cock becomes
a necessity.

Breeding-pen for Ducks.

— Four diicks are ample to one
drake. Ducks may be bred in a
small pen, where there is merely
a tank of water 4 feet by 2, and
2 feet deep. Many of the eggs,
however, will be unfertile.
For success on a large scale a
good-sized pool of water is
essential. The birds should have
the run of a field. Care should
be taken not to overfeed breeding
ducks ; and if early eggs be re-
quired meat diet must be given,
and warm quarters at night.

Breeds best to keep. — For

Laying : Andalusians, Minorcas,
Leghorns, Hamburghs, Houdans,
Brahmas, Cochins, Spanish, La
Fleche, Polish, Dorkings,

For Choice Flavour of Meat. —
Dorkings, Creves, Malays, Hou-
dans, La Fleche, Game, Domi-
niques.

For Size. — Brahmas, Cochins,
Dorkings, Creves, La Fleche,

For Hardiness. — Leghorrs,

(18)

Andalusians, Minorcas, Brahmas,
Cochins.

As Mothers. — Dorkings, . Dum-
pies, Silkies, Asiatic breeds.

With a view to constant egg
supply and table produce, if
space will admit, and pure breeds
can be kept distinct, Andalu-
sians and Leghorns can be re-
commended for eggs, Brahmas
for laying the winter supply,
while Houdans and Brahma
Dorkings should be bred for fat-
tening purposes.

Breeds Crossed for Food.

— Houdan-Dorking, Game-and-
DorkingjBrahma-Dorking, Malay-
and-Minorca, Langshan-and-Dork-
ing, - Brahma - and - Andalusian.
Five toes are an advantage if
your birds go to the London
market, where the five-toed white-
legged breeds fetch higher prices
than others.

Breeds for Crossing. —

Never cross with a bird which is
already the production of a
crossed breed. First crosses are
the most satisfactory, and take
care that the cock chosen for the
cross is full-sized, symmetrical,
short-legged, with fine bones,
plump breast, and strong con-
stitution. The cock of the walk
should be pure-bred. White
Dorking with light Brahma, or
silver-grey with dark Brahma,
produce good large birds, and
well fitted for fatting for the
table, while the Dorking im-
proves the Cochin's laying power.
For laying purposes, the Brahma
crossed with an Andalusian cock
cannot be surpassed, and a pro-
pensity to sit is added to the
Andalusian' 8 laying qualities.

The Houdan crossed with Brahma
or Cochin matures early, and
becomes a prolific layer. For
table use the dark Brahma and
Creve-coeur are good. The
Creve-coeur is excellent as a
layer, and its size for table and
early maturity can hardly be sur-
passed ; but constitution and
hardihood may be added by the
Brahma or Cochin cross. The
flesh of Malay and Game fowls is
said to be of super-excellent
delicacy. To increase the amount
of flesh cross with grey Dorkings,
when an excellent plump table
fowl will be produced, the couple
weighing when fed up from 16
lbs. to 18 lbs. The advantage 'of
a cross is that the produce is
usually hardy and larger than the
parent birds.

Broken Bones. (See Food
and Fractures.) — Machines may
be had for breaking bones from
the kitchen into small pieces.
Such fare is excellent for the
growing stock, and will encourage
laying in the adult birds ; but it
does not take the place of bone
dust, mixed in meal, which re-
tards development and forms bone
and framework, while fresh bones
stimulate laying powers, etc.

Bronchitis shows itself by
a husky sound in the throat,
and cough ; no cold in the head
whatever. Eemove to a warm
place, and give 5 drops of dilute
sulphuric acid to 1 oz. of water ;
5 (hrops of nitric acid sweetened
with sugar to the drinking foun-
tain, and at the same time give
warm food seasoned with pepper
or ginger.

(19)

Broody Hens. — When
broody, i.e., ■wishing to sit, hens
go about clucking for several
days, sit longer and longer on
the nest after laying, cease laying
finally, and do not leave the nest.
If a sitting hen is not required,
remove her at once to a fresh
run and ne"w companions. Shut
her out for a few days where no
nests may tempt her. If, on the
other hand, she is required to
incubate, encourage her by false
eggs in the nest, and partially
protect the entrance to the nest
from other prying hens. All
Asiatics are much given to sitting,
and Dorkings and Silkies are
good mothers. No hen even
crossed vnih. Spanish, Leghorn,
Hamburgh, or Polish blood will in-
cubate satisfactorily. The broody
hen should be fed once daily on
sound grain, some grass or lettuce,
and a treat of scraps ; soft food
now and again keeps her in better
condition than an exclusively
grain diet. {See Sitting Hens.)
On no account deprive the broody
hen of her dust-bath, and if your
brood is valuable, take the trouble
to dredge her under wings, legs,
&c,, with powdered sulphur.

Brown Leghorns. — One

of the most stylish and orna-
mental breeds of poultry — noted
for egg production and hardihood
— originally taken from Leghorn
in Italy to America, where they
have been cultivated and brought
to their present standard. The
points especially to be aimed at
in breeding brown Leghorns are
an evenly serrated comb, firm,
upstanding well over back of
head, without thumb-marks or

creases — not coarse ; and the
snow-white ear-lobe must be
combined with a rich orange leg —
a gTcat difficulty, for as the ear-
lobe is perfected the leg will lose
colour, and shade off to pink. The
face must be smooth and brilliant
red, and any inclination to squirrel
tail must be bred out. The
colour of cock's head bay ; the
long neck with full hackle striped
black on golden bay ; back rich
dark red, striped golden brown;
breast and thighs black ; wings
compactly folded ; bows red,
touched golden bay; primaries
black, edged rich brown ; saddle
rich red-brown, with black stripe
narrowing to point ; tail lustrous
metallic black, with green glossy
sheen ; yellow legs and feet. Hen :
Head-feathers striped black ; neck
yellowish brown, minute black
pencilUng, leaving golden fringe ;
tail black ; breast salmon-brown,
lighter tint under body; thighs
ashy brown, firmly pencilled.
Other points as cock. If your
pullets are light in hackle, use a
dark-hackled cock.

These birds like to roam about,
and do not require much care ;
they bear severe cold well, and
seek their food diligently if
allowed free range. For farm
cross, Leghorn cockerels mated
with light Brahmas bring large,
but small-boned birds, light
buff in colour, excellent layers
and mothers. Brown Leghorns
are unsurpassed as layers, unless
perhaps by the Andalusians,
whose eggs are as numerous, and
much larger.

Brown-red Game may be

slightly larger than the black-

(20)

reds. Cock : starling-breasted ;
head and hackle deep red orange ;
shoulder coverts crimson ; saddle
maroon, shading to deep lemon ;
breast dark ; tail black ; sickles
narrow, with greenish bronze
gloss ; eyes black or brown ;
feathering hard and close ; face
clear dark red.

Hen : brown head ; face and
eyes same as cock ; neck, brassy
ground with black stripe ; legs
dark or willow ; body feathers
dark brown, almost to black, and
a brassy hackle.

Bucks County Poultry. —

An American breed entirely gone
out of fashion, supposed to have
been identical with Jersey blues ;
and these, there is good reason to
suppose, were the same as Anda-
lusians.

Buckwheat should be a
staple article of com diet. The
colour is a drawback till the birds
learn to recognise it as food, when
it is greedily devoured. It is not
fattening like maize, but good for
stimulating egg production. This
grain, as prepared in Eussia for
the use of the lower classes,
cleared of the husk, and split up
into coarse grit, is invaluable for
feeding chickens ; it is devoured
greedily at three days old, and
eaten in preference to the best
cutlings or grits. Baked in the
oven with water, it makes a most
valuable soft food, and is much
relished by old and young. {See
Corn.)

Buenos Ayres Ducks. —

Called also Black East Indian,
Labrador, or Black Brazilian.
For prize-winning they must be

very smaU, with neat round heads,
short bills, short bodies ; plumage
pure black, with brilliant lustrous
sheen of green all over. This
metallic green lustre cannot be
too great, or the size too small.
The bill olive green, the legs and
feet black. Easy to breed, for if
you do but start with a good
pair, the produce will be good ;
but the smaller you breed them
the more delicate they become,
and less prolific. They are most
excellent table birds, of delicious
flavour, and are often bred for
this purpose in numbers, though
they are also great favourites in
the exhibition pen.

Bumble Foot. — A disease to
which Dorkings are peculiarly
liatle. Houdans have lately
shown signs of the same com-
plaint, and it has been generally
traced to the effect of a Dorking
cross. It consists of a corn or
abscess at the bottom of the foot.
Best treated by the application of
lunar caustic or iodine ; if matter
forms it must be lanced.

Buttermilk is excellent for
poultry ; but do not let it stand
in the sun, as it is very unwhole-
some if sour.

Buying Poultry and Eggs.

{See Addresses and Adding
TO Stock.) — Buy none to mate
with prize strains without care-
ful investigation of the ante-
cedents of the yard and strain.
Have the birds on approval ;
even if the carriage both ways
costs ten shillings, it is well
spent if it saves an introduc-
tion which may bring nothing
but trouble, and spoil the strain.

(21)

Strangers to your poultry run
and your treedirig plans may,
without any dishonest}'- or un-
fair dealing, send what would
ruin your plans. Therefore see
your hirds before you buy. Be
careful how you feed newly-
bought birds ; give soft food
and sparingly of dry graia at
first, gradually increasing the
quantity ; eschew maize and new
wheat, which may bring on
various troubles. In bujang eggs
for incubation early in the season,
make special terms as to the date
by which eggs ordered are to
be delivered. Eggs offered and
ordered to be sent ia December
or January for ten-and-sixpence
or twenty-five shillings may not
be worth five or ten shillings if
not delivered for three or four
weeks, on the plea of " orders in
rotation," &c., &c. Do not pur-
chase eggs for incubation in the
two first months of the year
without some arrangement about
" clear " eggs being replaced by
others at one- half or one-third
price. Many eggs are then unfer-
tile, and most breeders will replace
at half-price if a decent number
of chicks do not hatch out. See
that your eggs, if valuable, come
from known respectable breeders,
remembering that one good shake
given to the q^^ when bringing
it from the nest may ruin every
hope of successful incubation.

Cabbage. — A useful vege-
table in winter for poultry. It
comes fourth on the list. Even
the outer leaves and stems will
be greedily picked up if they
are chopped up in an American
chopper. Stalks of cabbage

should not be left about, as they
give a very offensive smell when
rotting in the wet and sun.
Whole cabbages nailed or tied
to the walls of the pens give
amusement to poultry in con-
finement ; there is no better pre-
ventive for feather- eating, which
is often caused by the idleness of
an imprisoned life.

Call Ducks. — Two kinds, ex-
actly like the Pekin and Eouen
ducks respectively in miniature ;
more ornamental than useful.
So-called from the shrill and
constant " call" which they keep
up. This makes them useful as
decoys, and they are kept for the
purpose.

Cambridge Turkeys.— (*S'(?(9
Turkeys.)

Canada Geese. — {See

Geese.)

Canker. — An ulcerated state
of the eyes and head ; the disease
sometimes attacks the mouth and
throat. It comes from neglected
cold, and damp, improper housing.
No well-ordered poultry -yard
should suffer from such serious
ailments. They may be relieved,
however, by washing persever-
ingly with chlorinated soda
diluted with four parts of water,
and dabbing the throat and
tongue with the pure solution.
Put sulphur in the food, and do
not expect immediate cure.

Capons and Caponising.

— The weight and delicacy of
birds are greatly increased by
this operation, and it is only in
England that birds are fattened
for table without having recourse
to it. The proper age for the

(22)

operation is four montlis ; it is
not considered dangerous — about
one in forty succumbs. (For full
particulars see Mr. L. Wright's
book on " Poultry," pp. 84, 85.)
Capons will remain tender for
table up to eighteen months of
age, and may be utilised during
that time by bringing up broods
of chickens, to which they be-
come as devoted as mothers.

Carbolic Acid. {See Disin-
fectants.) — One of the best.
Prepare thin lime-wash, and into
two gallons put two ounces of
acid crystals, with which let all
be whitewashed. On a real hot
summer's day, if the poultry pens
are crowded and any fear of
vermin should arise, it is well
to turn the birds into the open
grass run, and with a fine rose
water-pot to sprinkle the floors,
nests, and perches, after
thoroughly sweeping all out, with
the same mixture made of double
strength.

Care of Birds at Show.

{See Exhibiting Birds. ) — Do
not send to insignificant shows.
Note who are the judges, and
whether the rules of the poultry
club are carried out, and if so
you may trust your birds to the
care of the committee, whose
object is to please exhibitors and
to return birds safely, that they
may be tempted to show again.
No one need travel with the birds,
proper addresses are sent in
return for entry fees, and mistakes
seldom arise if the exhibitors
carry out the rules well and
clearly.

Care of E^laibition Birds

at home. {See Exhibiting.) —
Protect their plumage from
every risk of injury through
rough or broken wires, from high
perches, from shelves too near
the wall or roof of the roosting-
house ; see that your trap-doors
are smooth at the bottom,
and large enough to admit adult
birds without touching their
sickle feathers ; never let the pen
remain uncleaned even for half a
day. Give plenty of clean straw,
and see that the dusting material
is quite clean and dry. Do not
let birds be exposed to a fierce
sun, and never to rain. Prevent
any fights or sparring between
neighbours in pens. Give all the
run and freedom you can in fine
weather. Feed well with the
best and most nourishing food.
Give meat and green food, but
beware of excess, and never leave
food on the ground. Give iron
in the water, it produces brilliant
combs, and is a tonic ; avoid
spices and condiments. Hemp now
and then, linseed boiled to a jelly
and thickened with Spratt or oat-
meal three times a week for about
three weeks before showing, will
add to gloss on plumage ; the last
two meals before showing should
be of rice boiled stiff in milk, with
meat chopped up in it. {See
Washing for Show.) Prepare
your bird for the confinement of
a small pen and its trials by
gradually penning him up, and
getting him accustomed to small
quarters, and never send the
birds off crammed with hard
grain for a long journey. Get
the pair to be exhibited ac-
quainted with each other during
the last twenty-four hours, lest

23)

they should fight in the hamper
and disfigure their combs ; but
do not pen the exhibition pullet
with the cockerel till the last day.
Rather give him any other bird
as a companion, so as to accustom
him to ladies' society, and save
the wear and tear of plumage to
the show pullet in a small pen.

Carolina Duck. — These
birds, with their brilliant plum-
age, bear confinement well, and
will breed satisfactorily under
favourable circumstances and
when used to their home. They
should be about the size of
widgeons, and when exhibited
brilliance of plumage wins the
day. The drake should be red
in bill, margined with black ;
orange-red eyes; head bronze-
green shading to violet, and a
remarkable line of intense white
runs from behind and over the
eye, mixing with the long
green-and- violet coloured feathers
of the crest. The neck and
collar are white ; breast claret,
specked with white, size of specks
Increasing downwards. The sides
of the body under the wings are
marked with black lines on yellow,
and the flanks with stripes of black
shaded white ; tail-coverts black
tinged with yellow. The back
is a bronze with greenish hue,
while the wings are adorned with
spots or marks of blue and green.
Legs and feet a reddish-yellow.
The duck is much more sombre
than its mate ; crest smaller ; the
eye-bar, chin, and tkroat all
white ; head, neck, and breast
shading from dark drab to brown,
spotted white ; back and wings
bronze, with gold and

green reflections, and less bril-
liant wing-spots than the drake.
All these brilliant colours and
sti'ong contrasts become more
vivid with advanced age.

Catalogues. — These, contain-
ing the awards and list of ex-
hibitors, should be applied and
paid for when the entry forma
are sent to the secretary of the
show; they are then forwarded
as soon as the awards are made-
Catarrh. — The moment cold
in the head exhibits itself by
the usual signs of sneezing and
running at the nose, the bird
should be removed to a dry,
draughtless place, nostrils washed
with vinogar-and-water, giving
every third day two tea-spoonfuls
of castor-oil; diet — oatmeal and
bread in hot beer, and plenty of
grass. If not soon cured, see
Roup.

Cayuga Ducks. — Large
ducks of American breed, prolific
and hardy. May be fed up to
20 lbs. the pair, and are more
gamy in flavour than wild ducks.
They are jet-black, with brilliant
green or purple lustrous gloss. In
shape and size they are like the
Aylesbury. Their legs are dark,
dull orange, with network of
black over them. These ducks
are not often seen, but are in-
valuable for table purposes.

Chalybeate Spring Water.

— This is a splendid tonic for
poultry, and may be given with
advantage, where convenient,
three times a week in drinking
fountains.

Change of Place.— Poultry

(24

are truly domestic and love their
homes. If eggs are an ohject, it
is most important birds should
not be moved from pen to pen,
as it will delay egg production,
and diminish it greatly. Pullets
for early laying should, if pos-
sible, be brought up in or within
sight of their future laying run,
pen, or paddock ; if, on the other
hand, it is wished to delay the lay-
ing of a pullet, and to encourage
growth for prize purposes, her
home must be changed often. A
sitting or broody hen may be
best cured by removing her to a
new scene with fresh companions
— a more reasonable and humane
way of checking her maternal
instincts than that of half drown-
ing her, or shutting her up in
darkness and dirt.

Chemical Food, Parrish's.

— An excellent tonic, highly to be
recommended. If some valuable
chicks should need extra help in
fledging, or in supporting an
early and heavy development of
feather, half or a whole tea-spoon-
ful, with as much water, twice
daily to a weak chick, according
to size, or one table-spoonful in a
pint of water to small brood daily,
is a great help. It is, however,
expensive, and available for prize
stock only. In breeding Creves,
Hamburghs, La Fleche, and
breeds known to fail in stamina,
this s^Tup of phosphates is most
advantageous.

Chickens, General Treat-
ment of. — During the first
twenty-four hours give no food,
and remove, till all are hatched,
from the hen or incubator to a
box, having ventilating holes

bored in the side, and a hot
water-bottle slung, by means of
coarse flannel, so that the chicks
may feel the warmth and the
least pressure on their backs.
When all are hatched, cleanse
the nest completely, and well
dredge the hen's body with sul-
phur powder ; give her the chicks,
and place chopped egg and bread-
crumbs within reach. The less
they are disturbed during the
first two or three days the better.
Warmth is essential, and a con-
stantly brooding hen is a better
mother than one which fusses
the infant chicks about and keeps
calling them to feed. Pen the
hen in a coop and let the chicks
have free egress. The best place
to stand the coops is under shel-
tered runs, guarded from cold
winds, the ground dry, and
deep in sand and mortar sif tings.
Further warmth is unnecessary ^
if the mothers are good ; and if
the roof is of glass, so as to secure
every ray of sun, so much the
better. Cleanliness of coops,
beds, flooring, water- vessels, and
food-tins must be absolute. The
oftener the chicks are fed the
better, but food must never be
left; water must be made safe,
or death from drowning and
chills may be expected. The
moment weather permits, free
range on grass for several hours
daily is desirable, but shelter
should always be at hand.

Diet. — The longer the supply
of hard-boiled eggs chopped fine
is kept up, the better. As the
birds get on, every kitchen-scrap
is invaluable, and the following
mixtures may be given for meals
in turn as convenient, variety

(25)

being essential for success. 1st
meal : as early as possible —
6 a.m. — egg chopped, mixed
bread-crumbs and Spratt's food.
2nd meal : Spratt and a few
grains of Scotch groats. These
can be bought at the corn-dealer's,
their place being taken by good
wheat as birds get on, or by
crushed barley. 3rd meal :
kitchen-scraps chopped fine in
an Ameiican chopper, given
warm, and mixed to a
crumbling mass with pollards or
gurgeons. 4th meal : rice boiled
in milk, and dried up crumbly
with Scotch oatmeal. 6th meal :
Spratt's food,^ with a little
' ' crissel " mixed in. 6th meal :
barley-meal mixed crimibly with
the liquor in which meat has
been boiled. 7th meal : meat
chopped fine and pollard reduced
to crumbs (not necessary daily).
These preparations given in turn
and with judgment will, with oc-
casional handfuls of small, dry
grain, and barley and buckwheat
baked with water in the oven,
give the chickens all that is
necessary for building up the
strong framework which is so
essential to a finely-developed
bird. The use of bone-dust must
not be omitted, and a constant
supply of green food, together
with mortar, oyster-shell, gravel,
and all manner of grit and dust
should be ensured. Pure water,
not left to stagnate or freeze or
to get hot in the sun, and, if
possible, milk occasionally, will
render the diet perfect ; chicks so
kept, the quantity given being
increased with their size and
appetite, will be found at four
months, or, at any rate, at five,

to be fit for table without the
unhealthy and unpleasant process
of cramming; if destined for
the show-pen, they will be readj^
to " go in " for the further care
and preparation needed for exhi-
bition. At this age cockerels
must be divided from pullets, and
the chicken period may be con-
sidered over. {See Age to Sepa-
rate, BoNE-DTJST, List of Foods.)

Chilled Eggs. {See Eggs.)—
The moment at which an egg is
fatally chiUed is not certain. If
a hen is ofE her nest for twenty
minutes in cold February weather
the eggs will be chilled, but not
to death. Endeavour to get the
hen on in ten minutes on a frosty
day, or cover the eggs with a
layer of cotton-wool, flannel, or
even hay. Some hens will not
be hurried, and to try it will
only bring trouble. A shorter
period of chilling will destroy
vitality in eggs during the first
stages of incubation than a longer
period when the chicks are nearer
perfection. The first thing to do if
the eggs are chilled is not at once
to force the hen on to her nest,
but to immerse the eggs in warm
water at 105" or even 107°.
Meantime get the hen back on to
some false eggs; and when the
chilled ones are thoroughly
warmed through, replace them
under the mother. Valuable eggs
should not be despaired of even if
the hen has been oiS for some
hours, but should be treated as
above, and next day, if examined
with aid of the egg-tester {see
Tools), their vitahty, if it is
not destroyed, will be clearly seen.

ChineseG-eese. — {See Geese.)

(26)

Chittagongs. — A breed of
poultry exhibited in America in
1850, apparently a cross between
Malays and Dorkings ; a large,
coarse, grey bird, said to have
been seen in India and Ceylon,
not now exhibited.

CMttaprats in Yorkshire,
Bolton Grey& in Lancashire, and
known all over England as
Silver-pencilled Hambnrghs. {See
Silver-pencilled Hamburghs.)

Choice between Defects.

— In breeding-pens it is at times
necessary and politic to breed
from a bird which may have a
marked defect as a show-bird.
If unable to procure perfec-
tion, choose a cock which is
quite free from that particular
defect from which the hens may
be suffering. If, i.e., the hens,
black Hamburghs or Andalusians
have red splashes on their ear-
lobes or -white on their faces,
choose a cockerel of very good
strain and entirely free from
these evils to mate with them —
even though his colour, his tail,
or his comb be imperfect — rather
than one perfect in all these
latter points and failing in the
former. If the hens are meagre
in comb, mate with a male bird
carrying a comb large to a fault.
If the cockerels' combs are
coarse and large, mate with hens
whose combs are extra small, and
so on, making use of defects to
produce perfection.

Cholera. — Caused by want
of fresh water and green food,
and means of sheltering from ex-
cessive sun. The symptoms are
those of aggravated diarrhoea,

great weakness, and constant
thirst. A tea-spoonful of castor-oil
with five drops of laudanum should
be given, or 5 grs. of Gregory's
powder, in place of the castor-oil,
with the same dose of laudanum,
every five hours till the diarrhoea
ceases. Soft food with cayenne
pepper, fresh green food, and as
little water as possible. The
bird must be sheltered from the
sun, also from damp. Such
severe diseases should not arise,
they come from mismanagement
and neglect.

Cleanliness.— Must be abso-
lute to ensure pleasure or success.
This is not difficult if daily atten-
tion is given. The daily routine
in the poultry-yard should be —
first, scrape the droppings from
all the boards under the perches
or from the ground beneath, and
lightly sweep them into a dust-
pan. Scatter fresh sand over the
boards (earth or dusting material
will do), rake and sweep the runs
over, and once or twice a week,
after cleaning, runs with soil
floors should he dug over after
cleaning. If straw is given be-
sides the rubble, dust, or soil,
shake it up to let the manure drop
through. This must be collected,
and the straw renewed every
week, or it will smell unplea-
santly. Remnants of food must
on no account be left about to get
sour, nor yet cabbage- stalks.
Water and food vessels must be
immersed if possible in hot water
daily, their perfect cleanliness
gTeatly adds to health. Twice a
year runs, if not of grass, should
be scattered with quickume and
double dug j twice a year, also,

(27)

several loads (according to number
of pens) of sand, fine gravel, and
screened old mortar rubbish,
should be added. These mixed
together make the most perfect
flooring for pens, and when an
open run is available for a cei"tain
number of hours only in the day
to each pen it makes the best
dusting medium, as it provides
the grit, lime, &c., necessary for
the healthy action of the diges-
tive organs in confinement. It
is important to collect the drop-
pings in a dustpan with a stiff
hand-brush rather than sweeping
or raking them out, or sifting
the top soil as elsewhere recom-
mended ; it mixes the manure
less with the dusting material,
and the whole ground is less im-
pregnated with offensive matter.
Whitewashing must be attended
to at least three times during the
six warmer months, and a warm
day in October should be chosen
for all to be made sweet and clean
ready for winter.

Clubs.— The Poultry Club;
Secretary, 0. E. Cresswell, Esq.,
Morney Cross, Hereford. The
Leghorn, Plymouth Rock, and
Andalusian Club ; Secretary, Mr.
S. L, Bradbury, London Road,
Gloucester, from whom all par-
ticulars may be had. The Lang-
shan Club ; Secretary, A. E.
Croad, Esq., Durrington Manor,
Worthing. The Sultan Club;
Rev. J. P. Wright, Newbury
Vicarage, Derby.

Clucking. — The noise which
a hen makes when she is broody,
and in calling her chickens to-
gether. If not wanted for incu-
bating purposes, any hen be-

ginning to " cluck " should at
once be given change of scene,
which will divert her ideas and
prevent a tedious spell of broody
idleness.

Cocliins. — A cock should
weigh from eleven to fifteen
pounds ; comb single, upright,
not excessive ; comb, face, wattles,
and lobes all red and of fine
texture ; neck short, and thick,
and full; hackles flowing over
shoulders and back; very broad
across back ; chest prominent,
and the saddle should rise up
at once from base of neck and
gradually also rise up towards
tail ; the legs must be short, wide
apart, and well feathered ; the
hocks well covered with soft curl-
ing feathers and abundant fluff ;
the carriage is stately, quiet, and
slow. Hens should weigh seven
to eleven pounds ; the body deep
and wide, with neck bending
forward and hind-quarters carried
high ; the saddle must be raised
" cushioned," and fluff must be
abundant ; tail very short.

Varieties: Buff. — Beak rich yel-
low ; comb, face, ears, and wattles
brilliant red ; legs bright yellow ;
cock's breast and under parts any
shade of lemon buff, light buff,
or cinnamon : no mottled appear-
ance ; the head, hackle, back,
shoulders, wings, and saddle a
deeper shade of lemon colour,
or gold orange, or cinnamon ; tail
still darker, but free from black :
white or mealy colour would
disqualify. Hen must match
the cock in shade of colour and
in size.

Partridge Cochins. — Beak yel-
low or horn ; comb, wattles,

(28)

&c., as in Buffs; legs dusky.
Cock: hackle orange-red with
marked hlack stripe ; back, co-
verts, and wing-bow rich red,
darker than hackle ; the wing-
coverts metallic green-black,
making a sharp cut bar across
the wing ; secondaries rich bay-
outside web, black inside, every
feather tipped black ; saddle rich
orange-red; breast, under parts,
thighs, leg-feathers glossy black ;
tail ditto. Hen : broad striped
hackles, rich deep gold colour ;
plumage a pencilled brown, even
to leg-feathering.

White Cochin. — Beak yellow ;
comb, wattles, &c., as in Buffs;
legs yellow ; plumage snow-
white, straw colour to be bred
out at any expense.

Black Cochin. — Beak yellow, or
horn, or even black and yellow ;
comb, face, &c., as in Buffs ; eyes
very dark red ; legs dusky; plum-
age rich glossy black no reddish
or golden hue.

Cuckoo Cochin. — Beak, comb,
&c., as in Buffs ; eyes red ; legs
yellow ; plumage bluish grey,
pencilled with dark blue-grey.
Gold, red, black, or white feathers
disqualify. ^

Disqualifications. — Birds ■ not
matching, primaries twisted, ab-
sence of feather on legs, imper-
fect combs, legs other than yellow
or dusky, black feathers in buff,
or cuckoos, or white; any de-
formity, want of pencilling in
partridge hens.

General Eemarks. — If brought
up in confinement, for which
they are admirably adapted, great
care must be taken to give un-
limited green food, and on no

account to let them eat as much
food as they will, as they have
a great aptitude for laying on
internal fat, which brings disease
and death. They are good
winter layers, but not first-rate
for table purposes ; and they are
constantly broody. Good as
sitters and mothers, they, how-
ever, leave their young very
eaidy, and commence laying
about three weeks after hatch-
ing. Their large frame and
hardihood make cochins valu-
able for crossing purposes, but
the leg-feathers are a drawback
for table use. [See Breeds for
Food, Crosses for Table.)

Cockerels may at a very early
age be distinguished from pullets
by the incipient spur, the more
developed comb, and tail-cushion.
At from eight weeks to twelve re-
move the cockerels from the pul-
lets, and keep them separate for six
months at least. At four months
weed out into the fattening pens
or yard all those birds which do
not promise for exhibition or
prize stock, and treat the few
remaining accordingly. Any
very promising bird, if observed
to be shy and worried by more
advanced or pugnacious cock-
erels, should be given a run to
himself with a few companions
of whom he is not afraid. A
bully in the cockerel pen is a
soiirce of much mischief, as he
prevents valuable birds from
feeding, and thus getting on well.
Do not spare bone-dust, lime,
oyster-shell, green food, and
meat, and give unlimited range
to growing birds so as to get the
frame and bone well developed ;

(29)

the fat will be easily put on after-
wards. Sound grain of wheat,
barley, buckwheat, or Scotch
gToats — as much as will be picked
up clean — should be given, and
for soft food table scraps, Spratt's
food, oat and barley meal ; these
will keep birds in good health,
glossy and firm in plumage.

Cocks should not be kept
over their third year for breeding
unless of especial value. Early
in the season adult cocks are not
lively, and the eggs from their
pens are not as a rule fertile.
They should be mated with pul-
lets, not with adult hens. During
moult remove the cocks from the
hens. The former can then live
together, and will not fight if they
have free range, but care must be
taken that all food is well scat-
tered, or placed in many pans,
that all should feed well. To
insure fertile eggs, cocks must be
fed apart from their hens when
mated in December, till March,
as their gallantry often causes
them to go on short commons.
When once the breeding pens are
made up, do not change the cocks
about ; they become fond of the
hens, and it is a great risk dis-
turbing the family during the
hatching season. Some cocks are
very sulky and even savage to the
hens during moulting time ; if this
is perceived, at once remove the
bird and give him a pen to him-
self; he requires rest and good
stimulating food, and with new
plumage good temper will return.

Colds. — Generally caught by
birds kept in damp and ill-
ventilated houses. First symp-
toms must be taken in hand at

once, as an ordinary cold neglected
may turn to roup. The first sign is
sneezing and running at the nose.
Isolate the bird at once, place it in
a warm draughtless place, wash the
nostrils with vinegar and water,
give a table-spoonful of castor-oil
to a very large bird, less to a
smaller, feed on soft food, oat-
meal warmed in beer, or bread and
beer, with plenty of grass. An ex-
cellent thing to stop the running
at the nose is to fiU the nostril
with a pinch of Ferrier's snuif.
"Wash the face well in warm
strong tea, and put the fowl in an
exhibition basket, out of draughts.
A pinch of Epsom salts may also
help. Colds are most catching.

Cold Weather.— Frosty cold
is less dangerous than damp ;
to insure success in poultry
keeping, keep houses and covered
runs dry. Let the weather be
ever so frosty or wet the birds
will not suffer if allowed free run
in the day for some hours, provided
home shelter be perfectly dry and
free from draught. Breeds with
excessive comb development, i.e.y
Minorcas, Leghorns, &c., during
hard weather should have lots of
straw about in the covered run,
and mats should be nailed up to
shelter from keen east winds.
Do not allow birds to drink snow
water, and it is well to give prize
stock warm water in their tins in
severe frosts, it keeps unfrozen
longer, and is more comforting.
It saves much trouble to empty
out all water vessels in severe
frost at night. Soft food should
of course be given warm in
winter, and the grain at night
may with advantage be warmed

( 30

ttroiTgh in the oven dry, without
water ; the birds relish it, and it
is a source of warmth and comfort
through the long winter night.

Hampers for exhibition birds
should have an extra swathe of
scrubbing flannel put round
them in severe cold weather,
allowing, however, ventilation at
the top of the hamper, or the
birds will arrive at their destina-
tion with blue combs.

Vaseline rubbed on the combs
of breeds subject to frost-bite is
an excellent preventive. The
food should have a dash of red
chillies, black pepper, Brown's
Aromatic Compound, or some of
the many excellent condiments
advertised. Some stimulant in
severe weather may be used to
advantage.

Collecting Eggs. {See
Eggs.) — A basket filled with bran,
or chaff, should be kept for the
purpose, and every o.^^ as taken
from the nest must be marked
with date and number or name
of pen on the small end, and the
eggs should be placed with the
small end uppermost.

Columbian Fow^ls. — A

name once attached to Spanish
crossed with Malay, now extinct.
The produce was grand; large-
winged, heavy in breast, and the
plumage in lustrous sheen sur-
passed even the black Hamburgh.

Combs, their Diseases. —

{See White Comb, Shrivelled
Comb, Cankeked Comb, Scabby
Spots on.)

Combs, their Varieties. —
Double or Eose Comb, as in

burghs, (S:c., &c., a flat square
comb, wide in front and narrowing
to a peak, pointing backwards,
evenly serrated, presenting an even
surface free from hollows or eleva-
tions. Pea Comb, as in Brahmas, a
triple or ridged comb, the middle
higher, longer, and thinner
than the side ridges, the whole
being firm, of moderate size, and
firm on the head. Single and
Pendent Comb, as in Spanish,
jMinorcas, Andalusians, Leghorns,
&c., &c. The single comb is up-
right, quite straight, free from
any excrescences, fine in textui'e,
having no thumb-marks, and
evenly and regularly serrated.
Pendant combs are seen in hens
only of the last-named breeds; fine,
smooth, evenly serrated, without
side sjDrigs, they must fall grace-
fully over the side of the head
and face, taking a slight curve to
one side before falling over on'the
other.

Common Fow^ls. — If a pay-
ing poultry-yard is desired, do
not run into the error of j)nrchas-
ing a " few common fowls ; "
and if poultry are kept " for
pleasure," this will not be at-
tained with barndoor mongrels.
Should ' ' a few common fowls for
eggs " be desired, a cock and five
pullets of Andalusian, IMinorca,
or Hamburgh breed are the best,
and such birds can be purchased
young in July from any of the well-
known breeders, pure and true to
breed, but set aside by them as
not perfect enough for prize-stock
or exhibition. If time allows,
get a first-class sitting of eggs,
and hatch them in March; you

(31)

will then have a pen giving
pleasure to the eye, and more
paying too than any barndoor
deteriorated cross-breeds. A
cheap coop for the common cock
and five pullets can be made out
of a very large sugar hogshead,
whitewashed inside, with split
pine-tree top inserted across for
a perch, and a pot basket hung at
the side on two strong hooks for
the laying nest. Cover the cask
with tarred felt, coming over the
top and down the sides ; it will
give dryness and warmth. If
. expense is no object a dry outer
shelter is to be desired, and free
range. {See Aspect of Runs.)

Concrete. — Nothing is so
good for the flooring of all houses
as the original soil over which
they are built, dug up and mixed
with screened mortar rubble. If
rats abound, it is advisable to con-
crete the floors of roosting places,
but they must then be covered
deep in screened dusting material
of some sort. Birds kept on con-
crete flooring without these pre-
cautions, however well swept and
cleaned, will not flourish.

Condimeiits, their Use
and Abuse. — Only needful
where the poultry-keeper is
struggling against the dithculties
of producing first-class bii-ds in
confined space and without grass
range. Birds kept in condition
as directed above will never re-
quire them, unless the season is
an especially damp or severe one.
The necessity for spiced foods
or condiments bespeaks a low
state of health and want of
vigour. A handful of red chillies
boiled and chopped into the food

in winter is as much spice as is
needed, and this certainly does
good to early laying stock. No
doubt condiments should be used
as medicine and not as food,
and our doing it brings on an
unnatural, forced, and weakly
stock which will not bear any
tear and wear in the way of ex-
hibitions, bad seasons, or any
other drawbacks.

Condition Paste or Pills.
— A resort to these tells of mis-
management somewhere, over-
crowding, breedmg in and in, &c.
Walton's Paste is a great help
when birds are in low condition,
and will be necessary after roup.
Is. tins with full directions may
be had from any chemist.

Condition to keep Birds

in. — This depends on constant
attention to a thousand small
details : proper diet, clean water,
and perfect cleanliness, of course ;
abundant sand and mortar,
always pure and dry ; grass runs,
which must be kept mown if for
feathered-legged Asiatics ; perches
arranged so that the cocks' tails do
not rub and get injured against
the walls; entry trap -doors not
too low or narrow ; covered runs
available so that in wet weather
the birds have light, air, and
space to scratch amongst dust and
straw without roaming out in the
wet, and shelter for some breeds
from the scorching midday sun ;
water-tins arranged so that they
cannot upset ; paint, tar, and
large water-tubs kept out of
reach; ducks kept out of the
poultry runs ; fights and spar-
ring through wire jjartitions pre-
vented ; cleaning of the poultry-

( 32 )

houses done first thing every
morning, and not left till the hirds
have trampled the droppings
about all over the place. If birds
are to be caught for any purpose,
or counted, it must be done at
night to save beating about. If
necessarily done in daylight, a
piece of dark cloth drawn over
the window will enable the
poultry-man to catch the birds
without injury or fright. When
whitewashing, put grease in the
wash, or it will be likely to come
off and soil the plumage. Laying
boxes, or hampers, and nests of
all kinds should be constantly
replenished with clean short
straw, and should never be so
small that the tail and breast
feathers rub as the hen turns
about. All partitions and wire-
work to be kept free of jagged
crooks or points. Injured feathers
cannot be replaced till the yearly
moult.

Condy's Fluid. — Useful,
diluted half-and-half with water,
for rinsing all feeding and water-
vessels w^hen colds or roup have
appeared in the yard. For
a cold it is useful to wash the
beak, eyes, and face, and for
cough or noise in the throat dip
a camel' s-hair brush in it and well
swab out the throat and mouth.

Confinement, Best Breeds
for. — Decidedly Andalusians and
Minorcas. They can be kept in
high condition, lay splendidly,
produce fertile eggs, and win
prizes in the most confined space,
all conditions of health being
attended to ; but the smaller the
space the greater must be the
labour and care to be expended

upon it to produce any great
results. Leghorns are good,
but their spirits are more de-
pressed than the Andalusians by
penning up. Brahmas and
Cochins of all classes will be
content to squat all their lives in
a pen a few feet square, but they
are apt to grow fat and diseased,
and lose all gloss ; and when not
eating they are brooding, and
neither occupation fills the egg-
basket ; they are, however, most
tractable, and nothing looks
handsomer than a pen of Light
Brahmas confined in a villa-
garden by a wire two feet high
strained round a portion of lawn-
grass : it will effectually keep
within bounds these models of
contented domesticity. Andalu-
sians and Minorcas require wire-
fencing, without woodwork at the
top to rest their feet on, at least
seven feet high.

Consumption. — Its signs
are constant cough, pale hue
about the face, and wasting
away in spite of ample food. A
bird so affected should be killed,
being dangerous for stock and
miserable to look at. The fully-
developed disease is incurable,
but if suspected when a bird is
young it should have Parrish's
Chemical Food, and the sur-
roundings should be as sanitary
as possible. The disease comes
from cold, damp, dark, and un-
clean housing; it is hereditary.
Dorkings and Hamburghs are
very liable to it.

Contagious Diseases.—

Colds, roup, diphtheria are highly
catching, and such cases should at
once be isolated. Birds suffering

(33)

from diarrhoea or cholera should
be parted also, as they make the
ground very imhealthy for the
other stock. The slightest ail-
ment should he at first treated as
contagious, and isolation effected ;
when the nature of the complaint
is discovered, treat accordingly.
Doctoring poultry is most trouble-
some and very expensive ; pre-
vention is better than cure.

Cooking for Poultry.— A

little trouble in this respect will be
amply repaid in the poultry-yard.
Every establishment where 100
head of poultry are kept should
have its lock-up food store room,
and if a gas-stove can be put up
its help is invaluable. House-
scraps can be regularly brought
out to the food-house hot from
the kitchen by 8 a.m., and with
boiling (not cold) water let meals
of all sorts in turn be mixed
with the scraps till it forms a
crumbling mass. All food for
ducklings is better given warm
than cold, chickens also appreciate
their milk and their porridge
with the chill off. Liver given
raw is not palatable, but if put in
water over the gas-stove for ten
minutes, and chopped, hot with
Spratt or pollard, and thrown to
the birds in pellets, it is greedily
devoured, and more good is got
out of it. Grain baked in the oven
dry, and given warm to the birds,
is very good in the winter-time.

Cooking Old Hens.— An

old hen is a very difficult thing
to dispose of. The Live Stock
Journal gives a recipe for making-
old birds tender : Wrap the bird
in vine-leaves and bury it, for two

or three days, deep in pure soil ;
when boiled slowly it will be as
tender as possible.

Coops for Chickens.— One

of the delights of artificial incu-
bation is that the poultry- keeper
can dispense with all trouble-
some coops, each with its
quarrelsome maternal occupant.
For broods of chicks hatched in
an incubator, the covered run
rearers, Christy's and others, are
indispensable out of doors for the
first month, at least. As the
chicks advance use one of Rey-
nolds's wooden hen-coops, with
sliding floors, but fitted with a
hot- water tin, raised at the further
end at a proper height from the
floor by movable screws for the
chicks to creep under ; a small
run should be attached, say four
feet long and as wide as the
hen-coop, made with fine wire,
rat-proof, and roofed so as to
shoot the rain, with door to let
the brood out when dry enough.
Coops on the same principle made
larger could be used as the birds
increase in size. Every coop
with young stock should be
cleaned out daily. Renew the
floor with sand and rubble sifted,
and over this chopped straw
makes an excellent bed, but the
latter is worse than useless if not
renewed daily ; coops should be of
a size to move easily from place
to place, the runs being hooked
on so as to give fresh ground or
grass. All chicken- coops, after
having the dirt scraped out,
should be powdered from a
large dredger with sulphur, in
which M'Dongairs, or Tere-
bcne, or Fcrralum disinfectant

(34)

has been mixed ; this purifies the
air and destroys insect life.
Finally, the less chickens are
cooped the better ; give complete
freedom, but make provision for
cleanliness and Avarmth, and
shelter on wet days and cold
or damp nights.

Corn. — The best staple foods
are, 1st, buckwheat; 2nd, wheat;
3rd, barley; 4th, dari-. Hemp
may be given occasionally ; and
as for Indian corn, it is better to
give none than to give constantly,
it is much too fattening for laying
or breeding stock. It is of great
advantage to give a change.
Buckwheat proniotes laying, and
is also good if birds are poor and
out of condition ; for young birds
it is excellent, and being smaller
and more fattening, it comes
before barley. Dari is a favourite
with i)oultry, and wholesome,
although not so nourishing as
the grains previously mentioned.
Hemp must not be given regu-
larly, being too heating ; if per-
severed with it will cause loss of
feathers, but it is a necessary
help in preparing bii'ds for
shows. {See Pkize Bikds, their
Treatment.) Do not be per-
suaded to buy " sweepings," or
" poultry mixtures," or " poul-
try grain ; " these jjreparations
are simply injured grain of all
sorts mixed up together, som.e a
little and some very seriously
damaged, so as to be unfit for food,
but in the bulk it is liard to find
this out. It has another disad-
vantage : you cannot give your
fowls change of grain, which is
most boneiicial. Sound, good
grain is always economical

in the end, care being taken not
to leave it on the ground, but to
feed in moderation, so that not a
grain is lost. It is a great saving
of expense to buy it by the quar-
ter rather than by the bushel.
Scotch groats are the best to be
had, and for exhibition stock
(young) much to be recommended,
and worth the carriage ; it is very
fattening, and can be used dry, or
boiled like rice, in water or milk,
and dried to proper consistence
with oat or barley meal or pol-
lards. Oats are not much relished
by poultrj-, having too much
husk; they are altogether the
least profitable grain, though
cheapest. {See Sunflower.)

Courtes Pattes, or short-
legged fowls. — Prolific layers,
and splendid sitters and mothers.
Very wide in breast, with very
short legs, which prevent their
scratching or doing harm in gar-
dens. A pure breed is hard to get,
and a doubt exists as to whether
it is possible to breed them true,
though the pen may be perfect
in itself. They come from the
department of La Sarthe. Pullet
a la Peine is another name often
given to the breed.

Craniniing. — Any one who

purposes fattening poultry for
market should study in detail tho
chapter on cramming in Mr.
Lewis Wright's " Poultry Book."
Ordinary cramming or fattening
such as it is possible for the
amateur to carry out is simple.
In a shady and cool outhouse or
shed, the stall of a disused stable
or cow-house, or a poultiy -house,
confine the birds for fattening.

(35)

six or eig'lit, according- to the size
of tlie enclosure. Sand the floor
deeply, keep clean, give little
light, and feed with soft food
three times daily, with as much as
the hirds will consume without
lea\'ing any behind. In this
case liquid food cannot be given,
though highly thought of. Buck-
wheat, maize, oatmeal, and bar-
ley-meal are all excellent mixed
with half-and-half milk and
water, not too dry. Birds for
this purpose should be about
four months old, and they
should be ready in a month at the
outside. Perfect quiet and clean-
liness are needful, and as soon as
fattening is completed they
should, after twelve hours' fast,
be killed. If kept too long after
the process is complete, emacia-
tion and sickness set in, and the
work is undone. The French
process of cramming by ma-
chinery is too comjplex and
lengthy to enter upon here, and
any one intending to carry it
out should study some of the
larger works on poultry.

Another simple mode of cram-
ming consists of confining the
birds each in a coop, with floor
of round bars, through which
the droppings fall and can be
cleared away daily ; three
times a day take them out and
force j)eUets of milk-mixed meal
dipped in water till the crop
is full. If digestion has not
cleared the crop out a meal must
be missed. Do not confine the
birds where they can see or hear
theii' fellows. Perfect coolness,
quiet, and shade to semi-darkness
is needful. {Sec Fattening
t'owLS.)

Cramp. — No. 1. If in the

legs, foment or stand the bird in
hot water, bandage with flannel
strips half an inch or one inch
wide, according to size, and put it
in a dry, warm greenhouse, with
a sandy, gravel bed, and straw-
chaif litter. Give tonics in the
water, or in bad cases a tea-spoon-
ful of Parish's food twice daily.

No. 2. Eub the legs with hot
oil, turpentine, or camphor.

No. 3. Wrap in flannel, and
keep by a fire at night ; give free
dry run by day ; diet ample and
nutritious, with meat. For a
chick three months old, opium
(quarter grain) three times daily
is a help. {See Eheumatism.)

Cramped Sitting Hen.—

Rheumatic or gouty hens only
are subject to this ; they cannot
stand when they get off the nest.
Give four drops of sal-volatile
occasionally ; rub legs with tur-
pentine and oil daily.

Crests. — The head-ornament,
or top-knot of feathers, with
which the Polish, Crevecoeur,
and sundry other breeds are
decorated.

Crevecoeur. — A French
breed, of large, fully-developed
make, brilliant glossy black
plumage, flowing tail, with crest,
beard, and two-horned comb.
Non- sitters, good for table, of
very white meat, and large, but
poor layers, though their eggs are
large. In constitution somewhat
delicate, as they are liable to
roup and colds, and quite unfit
for clay soil or damp districts.
In a dry place, splendid birds to
keep for table purposes. If

(36)

crossed with Minorca or Anda-
lusian would become more useful
as egg- producers, and more
constitutional vigour might he at-
tained. Creves occasionally hatch
hlue, and white specimens have
been seen very handsome.

General Characteristics. — Head
and neck like Polish ; beak,
medium in size ; comb, two-
horned, no tynes or hranchlets ;
rounded moderate wattles ; deaf-
ears hidden by muffling, which
must be so full as to hide throat
and cheeks ; neck carried upright,
with flowing hackles ; body mas-
sive and neat ; deep, prominent
breast ; broad, flat back ; short
shank, no feather ; large tail ;
Yexy lively and important, of
noble carriage. Colour : glossy
brilliant black ; legs slate ; black
beak ; red eyes denote a better
constitution than other shades.

Crissel. — A preparation made
by Spratt, of Bermondsey, Lon-
don, containing animal food ;
very useful for mixing with food
when birds are confined, and when
the supply of meat is a difficult
matter.

Crooked Breasts. — The

usual theory as to crooked breast-
bones is that they are caused by
giving perches to chickens too
early in life, or by the perch being
too large or too narrow. Ex-
iperience shows, however, that
crooked breast-bones are found
if the strain is a weakly one and
wanting in constitutional vigour,
or if the bii'ds are pampered
and brought up at high pressure,
in confined and over-crowded
pens, where stimulating condi-

ments and excess of feeding take
the place of free range, fresh
air, and ample, nutritious food.
White Dorkings brought up with
and treated in all respects like
their companions, Andalusians,
suft'ered (under my care) with
this weakness, while the An-
dalusians, treble their number,
showed not a single example
of this evil. High perches in a
small roosting-house, where birds
have no space to make the sweep
which they would in freedom
take from the highest tree without
injury, are highly mischievous,
and cannot be condemned too
strongly ; but these, though they
injure the breasts and ruin the
birds, do not account for the
peculiar bend in the ordinary
"crooked breast-bone." Birds
so formed should not be bred
from for prize stock. {See
Perch ; Boosting.)

Crop. — The crop is the re-
ceptacle into which the food goes
before it passes on to the main
digestive organs. It may easily
be felt, especially after feeding,
just in front of the merry-thought
bone.

Crop-bound. — One of the
most common of crop ailments,
caused by improper and exces-
sive feeding, by lack of gravel,
mortar, lime, and gritty rubbish,
which l3irds eat so greedily, and
which are necessary for digestion.
The crop becomes choked up
and distended with a solid
mass, often very hard; the
bird cannot eat, mopes about,
and ' loses flesh. Pour warm
water down the throat if a

(37)

slight c'lso, and work the mass
about with your hand, starve
the bird and give no water. A
tea-spoonful of gin now and
again is good ; when softened
give castor oil, a dessert-spoonful
to an adult. After recovery feed
very little for a few days. If
these measures fail cut the crop
open at upper part, and with the
handle of a tea-spoon remove
the contents, oil the finger, and
feel that the outlet to the stomach
is free, then sew the parts up,
the crop and ih.e skin being sewn
separately. Horsehair is better
than silk, which does well, how-
ever. The bird will soon want
to feed ravenously ; give bread
and milk, not too wet, and keep
the bird quiet for a few days,
on short commons of soft food.

Crop Soft or Swelled.—

Contents feel like liquid, and the
crop sways about as the bird
walks ; this does not affect health
or spirits. Puncture the crop and
let the fluid out, feed very slightly,
with soft food, and hardly any
water. The worst months for
these diseases are August and
September or October. When
wheat newly thrashed is given
to poultry they eat greedily,
and as new wheat swells in the
crop, the whole mass hardens,
and closes up the outlet into
stomach, bringing on a disease
which must prove fatal unless
properly treated. Exhibition
birds kept for a week in a pen
eighteen inches square and over-
fad on whole maize, often return
with the crop overcharged ; soft
food only should be given if this
is the case, and a tea-spoonful

of gin, brandy, or port wine, to
stimulate digestion.

Cross Breed. — A cross-
bred fowl is, accurately speak-
ing, the produce of one pure-bred
bird mated with another pure-
bred bird of an entirely different
breed. The barndoor fowl, as
seen in most farmyards, cannot
accurately be called a cross-bred
fowl, but is a mongrel of low
degree. It is the first cross of two
pure and first-class breeds which
is valuable for egg produce or
table purposes, as the case may
be.

Crosses for Table. — {See
Breeds Crossed for Food.)

Crowding. — One of the com-
monest of evils, and fatal to suc-
cess. Most amateurs go in for
several breeds of poultry ; this,
unless a park or farm is available,
is very unwise. The birds may
be kept in comparative comfort
during the winter months, but in
the breeding season, when the
chickens begin to come, and in
August, when pullets have to be
separated from cockerels, and
these again in October kept sepa-
rate from adult hens — when
these also have to be parted
from their mates, and exhibition
birds require each their roomy
and separate pen, it is impossible
to rear many breeds successfully,
each having its perfect exhibition
specimens ; for this, space is a
matter of necessity.

Cuckoo Bantam s. —

Miniature Scotch Greys in every
point.

(38)

Custard. — Recommended for
chickens hj some authorities, but
not preferable to hard-boiled eggs
chopped and mixed with bread-
crumbs, and milk given as
drink. It is, however, a good
medium wherewith to stir in
oatmeal, or barley-meal, or
Spratt's Food ; and it is greedily
devoured.

Damaged Grain. — The use

of refuse or injured grain for
poultry food is bad economy.
Sound food should always be
purchased. Much of the grain
advertised is injured by salt
water, and in other ways. In-
tending purchasers should apply
for samples. {See Grain.)

Damp in poultry-houses is
especially injurious to health.
Care should be taken to stop all
leakage, and to ensure dry
sleeping-places. Birds v»ill bear
being out on a grass-run on the
wettest of days better than
being housed in a damp place.
Carelessness in this respect is the
source of colds, inflammation of
the stomach, and liver disease,
and is apt to develop scrofulous
deposits should the strain be
weakly in any way. [See Diiv
Buns.)

Damping Eggs. — Should
the sitting lien's nest be in a dry
place, this is necessary for suc-
cess. About the twelfth day,
when the hen is off feeding, and
just ready to return, pour hot
water round the nest, moistening
the surrounding straw, without
wetting the eggs. In hot and
dr\' weather it is well during the
last week to sprinkle the eggs

from a fine rose water-pot, with
water at 105'', but on no account
neglect to replace the hen at
once after this is done, or the
eggs will be chilled. {See
Sitting Hens ; Artificial In-
cubation.)

Danvers White. — Cross
between Buff Cochin and White
Dorking : an American breed,
superseded by White Leghorns.

Dark Brahma. — {See Brah-

MAS.)

Dead Poultry. — (6'^^ Crosses
FOR Table; Fattening Poultry ;

Caponising.)

Deaf-ears, or ear-lobes, are
the folds of skin which hang from
the true ear ; the colour varies in
different breeds, from white to
red, blue to cream.

December. — If the weather
is dry and the run small, this is a
good month in which thoroughly
to renew and cleanse your poultry-
yard. Pen up your birds in
their covered runs, place un-
slacked lime in heaps over the
ground, and water it, digging it
in as it crumbles ; it is a great
purifier. Do not let choice birds
out too early in the day, when
the grass is wet, but wait till
eleven or twelve. Birds which
are not yet showing signs of
moulting should be removed to a
dry place, rather warm ; this will
hasten the process, which com-
mences on their being again
tui^ned out; but care must be
taken to avoid chill. {See
Moulting; Food during
Moult.) Look well to birda
penned up for shows, and in hard

(39)

weather secure large- combed
birds from frost, especially when
just returned from exhibition, as
they are then unusually tender.
{See Vaseline.) Pullets should
be in full laying. G-ive tonics
occasionally in the drinking-water.
{See Tonic.) All notes for
November apply here. Add
more animal food to diet. Be
energetic in procuring green
food, if you have no grass-runs.
Mate your breeding pens, and for
early eggs leave them in peace.
Show other birds. Study the
matching of the bii^ds well,
don't put them together hap-
hazard. Next year's success is
being founded now. Care and
thought are well repaid. Early
lajang stock should be kept warm,
and should get meat, and egg-
producing stimulants. Feed
brood cocks extra well. Set
about hatching. Now the incu-
bator is invaluable and ready at
any moment, whereas broody
hens are worth their weight in
silver. Pullets hatched early,
which have laid early, should now
sit, but hens sit best. If you
have none, study advertisements
of poultry papers and the Bazaar,
where they can always be heard
of. But home-bred sitters are
always preferable. See that
every needless bird is sold.

Deformities {see Hereditary
Evils). — Squirrel Tail. — This is a
common fault, and difficult to
breed out. The tail projects in
front of a line drawn perpendicu-
larly to the end of the back,
sloping, in a marked way, towards
the neck.

Sl>p2)cdiring, or Tii.nedWinj. —

An accident to which some breeds
are peculiarly liable when making
their adult plumage. The primary
feathers, instead of being tucked
in when the wing is closed, pro-
trude, appear twisted outwards
and in disorder, the inside of the
feather coming outside. Where
this is the case, a cockerel has
little chance in any good com-
petition; it is incurable, and,
moreover, hereditary. When the
flight feathers only hang down,
as if too weak to be compactly
tucked up, but not otherwise
disordered, cure is possible when
taken in time. As soon as dis-
placement is seen, tuck the wing
up every night at roosting-time,
and when the bird is more
advanced the ^ving should be
bound near the shoulder as
tight as possible. From the out-
side centre of this ligature a cord
must be passed round the shoulder,
and fastened to the inside centre
to prevent its slipping off. Stout
whipcord may be used, or tape,
and every care taken to have
each feather in exact position
before tying up. From six weeks
to two months will be required to
effect the cure, and even expert
hands have some difficulty in
putting on the bandage satis-
factorily. Night is the best time
to operate, for the sake of quiet-
ness.

Vulture HocJc. — This is caused
by the feathers projecting con-
siderably beyond the hock joint
in a stiff, awkward manner.
Asiatic breeds are particularly
subject to it, and if a bird has this
deformity strongly marked, it
would be useless for breeduig or
for exhibition purposes.

(40)

Wry Tail. — A sign of hereditary
weakness; occasionally conies from
a bird being kept in a small pen,
carrying its tail habitually on one
side as it walks round. If a
habit only, it may be cured by
snipping out a portion of skin on
the side from which the tail in-
clines, and the scar in contracting
draws the tail back to its proper
position.

Crooked Breast-lone. — Gene-
rally from hereditary weak con-
stitution ; sometimes caused by
young birds perching too soon.
This should be avoided, as also
having perches so high that the
birds in alighting come down
heavily on the floor. It is unwise
to use a bird with this fault for
breeding purposes.

Diarrhoea. — Caused usually
by cold and wet weather; in
chickens, often due to improper
diet. First try boiled rice mixed
with powdered chalk. If the case
is severe, which it should not be
in a well-ordered yard, try any of
the following : — Two to three
drops of chlorodyne in water oc-
casionally, half a tea- spoonful of
brandy twice daily in water. A
pill containing five grains of
chalk, five grains of rhubarb,
three grains of cayenne, half a
grain of opium. For food, rice
boiled in milk, only if the case is
bad. Barley is the first grain
used on recovery for hens, pearl
barley for chickens. Bone-dust
is an excellent preventive ; young
chickens should always have it.
{See Bone-dust.) Ample green
food should ever be at hand.

Diph.th.eria. — Its treatment :

Most contagious ; the appearance
is that of severe cold with fever,
and in the throat white spota
are seen filling the glottis ;
the windpipe is inflamed and
there is cough. Apply to
the throat with a paint-brush
1 drachm of carbolic acid, 3
drachms of sulphurous ~ acid, \
ounce of glycerine, \ ounce of
tincture of perchloride of iron,
three times daily. Internally,
brandy is useful ; iron and
quinine tonic {see Tokics) ; feed
very carefully. Unless the
bird is very valuable, it will
be better to kill at once, on
account of the great danger of
infection.

Dirt and Droppings. —

These left on the ground or under
the roosting-places, are most pre-
judicial to health. They should
be collected daily, and not swept
or raked about in clearing them
away, so as to become mixed
up with the soil, but carefully
shovelled up sej)arately. It is
advisable to have a large covered
box or tub, into which you can
throw the droppings, without
other rubbish. This manure,
if kept dry, is equal to guano,
invaluable for garden and farm
land. The produce of vegetables
and strawberries, when it is judi-
ciously used, is trebled. If earth
or ashes are sprinkled over the
manure, there will be no un-
pleasant smell. Fifty hens are
said to produce in the roosting
place about ten cwt. per annum.
It is best to use it at home when
possible, as gardeners object to
pay for the rubbish which is
mixed with it. In large towns

(41)

leathor-dressers will give a low
price for it.

Disease. — Fowls are subject
to as many diseases as human
beings. They can, however, be
kept in perfect health even in
confined runs with care, whereas
in some cases, after an enormous
outlay in houses and extensive
paddocks, failure and sickness are
the result. Almost all poultry
diseases come from mismanage-
ment, neglect, or ignorance of the
simple laws of health, which are
the same for birds as for men.
Overcrowding, want of ventilation,
and of cleanliness, of pure water,
of good food and sufficient exercise
are some of the evils to which
poultry kept for table purposes
and profit succumb. It is, per-
haps, unfortunate thatthe diseases
brought on by neglect and ignor-
ance are not always fatal, as the
produce of birds kept under such
adverse circumstances lack con-
stitutional vigour, and strains are
produced containing the seeds of
hereditary disease such as con-
sumption, leg-weakness, crooked
breasts and backs, rheumatism and
general debility. To breed from
such for table or for the show pen
is equally useless.

As soon as a bird is ailing,
isolate it until you can decide
whether the attack is contagious.
{See list of Contagious
Diseases.) Many diseases are so,
and whatever the attack may be,
a sick bird is best alone. Every
establishment where even 100
chickens are raised in a season
should have its hospital, and the
coops for infectious cases should
be entirely away from others.

They should be 3 to 4 feet square,
facing south, whitewashed, and
placed so that no draught can
reach them. It must be borne in
mind that prevention oi disease
is comparatively easy, but that
curing sick birds is uncertain and
troublesome, and should only be
attempted on such specimens as
are peculiarly valuable for breed-
ing or exhibition.

The various well - defined
diseases will be described under
their various headings. {See
Asiatics, Diseases of ; Apo-
plexy ; Brain and Nerves ;
Brahma, Diseases op, see
Asiatics ; Bronchitis ; Can-
kered Beak ; Cankered Comb ;
Catarrh ; Chickens, Diseases
OF, under Mother; Cholera;
Cramp; Consumption; Crop-
bound ; Crop Soft or Dis-
tended ; Croup ; Debility ;
DiARRHCEA ; Dorkings, Diseases
of ; Dysentery ; Egg-bound ;
Feather-eating ; Fractures ;
Frostbite; Gapes ; Gout ;
Inflammation of the Stomach ;
Leg -WEAKNESS ; Liver Com-
plaint ; Lungs , Paralysis ;
Pip ; Polish, Diseases of ;
Roup ; Shell-less Eggs ; Span-
ish.) Other diseases which are
less accurately defined — varying
slightly under various conditions,
which may, however, be danger-
ous if not promptly relieved —
are given below. They are apt
to puzzle the amateur and novice,
as they are generally unnoticed
in works on the subject.

Swelling of the Eyes. — If
this occurs without other ailment,
search for any cause of local
irritation, and if this fails, apply
a solution of nitrate of silver.

(42)

tliree grains to one ounce of
water, with, a capsule internally,
of copaiba five drops, from time
to time.

• Swelled Foot with Discharge. —
Foment and let it discharge well,
dress with Wright's Liquor Car-
bonis diluted with fifteen parts
water as long as matter forms,
and then soothe with zinc oint-
ment.

Inflamed Legs, and Loss of Leg-
feather. — Caused by improper
food ; apply vaseline or zinc oint-
ment, and give no maize. Diet
on Spratt's Food, the best meal,
plenty of green food, and a small
tea- spoonful of Epsom salts occa-
sionally.

Dark Comb and Dulness is
often a sign of disordered liver,
the bird will remain inactive, and
not have much appetite. Give a
tea-spoonful of castor oil, and a
grain of calomel on the following
day, later on a small tea-spoonful
of Epsom salts, in water or in the
food. Feed on Spratt's and soft
foods only.

Drooping Wings and Depression
of the tail in a cockerel. This, even
if there is good appetite, generally
shows need of a few days' rest,
apart from the hens. Give him
extra good food, with meat, green
food in plenty, and twice a day
a small tea-spoonful'of hypophos-
phite of soda in his food or made
into a bolus.

Inflammation of the Mucous
Membrane, known by blood in
the evacuations ; it is aggravated
diarrhoea, produced by careless
feeding, damp, dirt, and want
of ventilation. First give a tea-
spoonful of castor oil, next morn-

ing in' a spoonful of gruel, 3
grs. of grey-powder, 2 or 3 grs,
rhubarb, and two to four drops
of laudanum twice daily, or if
preferred after the oil, 3 or 4
grs. of Dover's powder.

Moping Chickens, with crops
full, dull looks, and diarrhoea-
like evacuations. These symptoms
show that a chill has been taken,
and that a certain amount of
inflammation exists which may at
any time increase. This may
occur in spite of care in diet and
housing; cold and damp or
draught will bring it on. Isolate
such chicks at once and treat as
for diarrhoea. {See Dtarrhgea.)
When the evil is continuous,
wasting away sets in, and in spite
of a voracious appetite the chicks
will sit about, their heads drawn
into their breasts, dull and in-
active. Give extra warmth, lots
of green food, and four grains
of compound rhubarb piU.

Sen Out of Condition, in spite
of good food and appetite. Keep
her as warm and snug as may
be,- tempt with delicate food,
meat and bread and beer. Hemp-
seed occasionally. Linseed boiled
to jelly and mixed with good oat-
meal. It comes from the laying
powers having been over-taxed.

Hen Weak. — After protracted
sitting a hen becomes light, thin
and pale, lies about, pecks at grit
and green-stuif, but rejects food.
This shows neglect and over-
sitting. Slip a raw e^g daily
down her throat, with half a tea-
spoonful of quinine wine, give
generous diet as for want of con-
dition, and no grain.

Laying of small Yulkless Eggs,

(43)

— This is caused by over-doing
the soft food meals. Give meat
for a time and sound grain, no
Indian corn.

Comh Cut or Injured. — Wash.
thoroughly with Condy's Fluid
and dress with zinc ointment
daily ; apjjly a cohweb if bleeding
is profuse, or colloid styptic.

Torn Wattles. — In some breeds
these are very large and get torn
in fighting. Do not fear cutting
away any loose or torn pieces of
flesh. Stop bleeding with styptic
colloid, a cobweb, or a little
tincture of iron, and dress with
zinc oiutment. Isolate the bird,
as the hens may be tempted to
peck the injured place. {See
Wattles. )

Cold in the Bye. — This need not
be roup. If it is a mere cold keep
the iuvalid in a warm place, and
bathe the eye with green tea.

Scales on Feet and legs, followed
by lameness. Get Foster's Oint-
ment, and follow his directions on
the pot.

Rattling Noise in the Throat,
without symptoms of cold or ia-
disposition. Ten drops of dilute
nitric acid and one tea-spoonful
of glycerine to 2 ozs. of water.
Let this be prepared for the bird
to drink in place of clear water.

Excessive Fat. — {See Apoplexy.)

Feathers appearing Worm-eaten.
— Happily a rare complaint.
Hamburghs are most subject to
it ; caused by damp and want of
proper dusting baths. To be
cured by attention to these two
points in particular and better
management all round.

Severe Cold, not amounting
D

to roup. — ^Neglect not an hour.
Wash the face with warm water,
in which one-hundredth part of
carbolic acid is dissolved, give
one drop of tincture of aconite,
night and morning, and middle-
day one tea-spoonful of quinine
and iron mixture. {See Tonics.)

Should a hen be seen moping
about, with tail depressed, in
a penguin-like position, it is a
sure sign of disorder in the laying
organs. Most probably she will
be found too fat ; give tea-spoon-
ful of castor- oil, followed by
quinine and iron tonic daily {see
Tonics), and less food ; no Indian
com.

Scurfy Heads, due to para-
sites, will cause loss of feathers
if allowed to continue. Apply
sulphiir ointment, with a tea-
spoonful of petroleum to the
ounce. Zinc ointment is also
good, if a slight case.

Sickness, Vomiting, — The crop
will be found distended. Starve
the hen for twelve to eighteen
hours, and feed sparingly,
giving twice daily for a while
boluses of powdered charcoal and
dripping. If this does not cure
at once, see Inflammation of
THE Stomach ; Liver ^Disease ;
Debility.

Disinfectants. — For houses
and sheds one of the best is
smoke from a wood fire.

Sulphur. — Close every oiDening
and chink where air can escape,
place a pound or two of brim-
stone, in small pieces, into an
iron pan, and let it gently burn,
leaving the house shut up for
the day if possible. Hang up

(44)

your exhibition hampers, nests,
baskets, or boxes, and all chicken
coops, shelters, &c., from the
ceiling ; do not spare the
sulphur nor open too soon.
No vermin will stand this, and
it is one of the best of disin-
fectants.

Fowdered Sulphur. — Valuable
if kept handy in a large
dredger; and when all chickens'
coops, nests, and appliances in
use are cleaned for the day, go
round, say twice a week, and
dredge in the sulphur every-
where. Do not fear getting it
upon the chickens or mother
hens ; both will be the better
for it, if made even as yellow as
canary-birds. Large expenditure
on this and other disinfectants,
such as M'Dougall's powder or
cupralum powder, will repay the
poultry-keeper.

Carbolic Acid. — This in the
neight of summer is excellent.
Thoroughly turn out the poultry-
houses ; brush and cleanse them,
together with all empty nests,
hampers, boxes, coops, and ap-
pliances. Water everything with
carbolic acid in boiling water
from a coarse rose ; every crevice
must be saturated. Place all
movables to dry in the noon-
day Sim. Leave the poultry-
house doors and windows open.
Do not attempt this except on a
Bettled sunny day, bearing in mind
that damp is fatal.

Douglas's Mixture.^ Terehene, and
Condys Fluid are all used with
boiling water, and should be at
hand once daily to wash all
pans for food and water, it

being important to keep these
clean.

Eardiman'' s Beetle and Insect
Powder or Persian Powder.—
These are the best possible 'dis-
infectants and purifiers to use
if the plague of lice appears
in your stock. Take a dredger,
a narrow long one, with fine
holes ; fill it with half and
half insect powder and sulphur.
Get the chickens into a dark
roosting-house and shut them
in, this makes them easier to
catch and prevents buffeting
about, which destroys good looks.
Have a table close by in the
light. One by one place the
chickens on their backs and
dredge well in between the legs,
under the wings, and about the
tail and head; put them in another
roosting-house as finished. The
lice will crawl out on the sur-
face and drop off ; be sure in an
hour or so to restore the birds
to their run, which meantime will
have been thoroughly disinfected
and cleansed, and treat the
roosting-house to disinfection as
advised above.

Disqualificatioii. — In the

several breeds of poultry there
are special points which are a
sine qud non for the show pen ;
the want of them means disquali-
fication in that i^articular breed.
{See Disqualification, under
various breeds of poultry.) Be-
sides these, certain defects will
disqualify, whatever the breed
may be. {See Crooked Breast ;
"Wry Tail ; Trimming ; Sickle
Feathers, Loss of ; False
Sickles; Want of Condition;
Painting Feathers ; Dyed Legs ;

(45

Plucked Vulture Hock ; Pin
OR Wire Supports to the
Comb ; Varnished Legs.)

Doraestie Fowl. — The date
of its origm seems still a moot
point; but that the Gallus
Bankiva, or wild jungle fowl,
is the one sole progenitor seems
settled by Darwin ; it is a bird
resembling the Game and Game
Bantam in appearance, midway
between them in size, of lower
carriage, and with tail borne
rather horizontally. This fowl
breeds with the domestic poultry
of India, is alike in voice, and
capable of domestication.

Dominiques. — An American
breed. Good layers, hardy, good
for table. Eesemble Cuckoo
Dorking, but have bright yellow
legs, and four toes only. Face,
wattle, and deaf-ear, red ; beak,
yellow ; plumage, cuckoo colour,
i.e., bluish ground crossed with
bars of darker blue-grey ; hackles
and saddle in the cock same
colour ; shape and carriage that of
a Dorking. Cocks weigh 7 lbs.
to 8 lbs. ; hens, 6 lbs.

Disqualification. — Legs other
than yellow, or feathered, combs
other than rose, red feathers in
hackle or saddle, white in breast
or back.

Dorking.— Probably a direct
descendant of the Eoman fowl
described by Columella, which
had the fifth toe. There are
four varieties : dark-coloured,
silver-grey, white, and cuckoo.
Very superior fowls as sitters and
for table, not the best layers.
Require a dry soil, extensive
range. Easily knocked up by

showing. Early -hatched chickens
difficult tc rear ; A.pril is early
enough, and May is even better.

General Characteristics. — Cock :
shape, square ; carriage, quiet and
stately; breast, weU forward;
beak, short ; head, large, but
neat; comb, single or rose. If
single, large, erect, and straight,
evenly serrated, free from side-
growths ; if rose, square in front,
free from hollows in the middle,
and ending in a sharp peak be-
hind, inclining slightly upwaids.
Wattles large and pendant ; deaf-
ears, moderate, hanging about
one-third of depth of wattles ;
neck, short, taper, with full
hackle ; body, large and deep
when viewed sideways, forming a
square ; the breast-bone deep ;
back broad ; tail full, neat, not
" squirrel," sickles broad and well
arched ; thighs, large and ftdl ;
legs, white or pinky-white,
straight, strong, short, free from
feathers, and also from any red,
inflamed appearance; toes, large
and well spread, extra fifth toe
well developed, distinctly sepa-
rated from the others, and point-
ing rather upwards. Size of
full-grown exhibition bird, 10 lbs.
to 14 lbs. Hen : shape, plump
and deep ; carriage, staid; comb,
if rose, as in the cock ; if single,
falling over pendent to one side of
face. Body, legs, and feet, Hke
the cock ; tail, large and ex-
panded, feathers broad. Comb,
deaf-ears, and wattles red in both
sexes of all varieties. Size, 8 lbs.
to 10 lbs.

Disqualification. — Absence of
fifth toe, legs any colour but
pinky-white.

(46)

VARIETIES.

Bar'k Dorkings. — Cock : hackle,
white or straw, more or less
striped with black ; saddle, like
hackles; back, various shades of
white, black and white, or gTcy
with red ; wing- coverts, black
glossed with green ; secondaries,
white on outer, black on inner
web ; breast, either black or
mottled with white ; tail, the
same. Hen: hackle as in the
cock ; breast, salmon-red, each
feather tipped with dark grey,
verging on black ; rest of body
nearly black, with shaft of feather
showing"^ cream- white; tail, nearly
black, with outer feathers slightly
pencilled. Single comb preferred
in cock and hen. Birds in pen
must match ; not doing so would
disqualify, as also would the want
of the fifth toe, or legs otherwise
than white.

Silver-grey. — Inferior in size to
the dark coloured. Cock : white
hackle and saddle; back and
shoulder-coverts, silverj^-wliite ;
wing-bow, silvery- white ; wing-
coverts, metallic green ; secon-
daries, clear white on outer,
black on inner web and at the
end of the feathers ; breasts and
thigh, glossy black ; tail, rich
black. Hen : head, silvery-grey ;
hackle, silvery -white, striped
black; breast, salmon-red to
fawn shading to ash-grey, with
no tinge of red ; tail, dark grey,
inside feathers black. Comb,
rose in both sexes. Birds in pen
must match, have five toes and
white legs, or they will be dis-
qualified. The cock's breast and
tail, also, must have no speck of
white.

White. — Plumage, snowy-
white, free from any touch of
straw colour; combs, rose.
Cocks, 8 lbs. to 10 lbs. ; hens,
6| lbs. to 8 lbs. Any speck of
colour in plumage will disqualify,
as also will absence of any of
those points which are considered
absolutely imperative in the other
varieties.

CucTcoo. — Comb, rose or single ;
plumage, blue-grey, pencilled
with bars of darker grey. Black,
red, or white feathers disqualify.

Dorking Diseases.

— Bumble foot and consumption
catarrh.

Drainage. — Where the
ground is wet this is very im-
portant ; damp is fatal to poultry.
A proper fall should be arranged
in the ground, and a small ex-
penditure on drain-pipes and the
making of dry wells will be
amply repaid by freedom from
disease. Drainage from roofs
may be very useful if collected
in a water-tub with a tap for
washing out feeding tins and
water fountains. If the roofing
be made of any material to
which tar is applied, care must
be taken never to use the water
for drinking purposes ; it is most
unwholesome for poultry. {See
Water.)

Drink. — The feeding of
poultry, though too often done in
a careless and senseless manner,
is, perhaps, not so grossly neg-
lected as their water supply.
Many poultry fanciers seem to
think there is no occasion for a
regular, still less for a clean,

(47)

supply. When water-tins are
refilled th.e remaining sediment
of dirt is too often left to taint
tlie fresh supply. Birds are left
for long hours without water,
then supplied in excess and allowed
to gorge themselves, much to their
hurt. Properly, water should he
supplied fresh twice in twenty-
four hours; it should he fresh
spring water, not rain [see
Water) ; and the vessels should
he emptied and rinsed well out in
a hucket. A green slime often
coats vessels in which water is
continually standing ; this should
be scrubbed off daily. The
attendant should go round with
a bucket of hot water in which
all fountains should be scrubbed,
and care must be taken to stand
water out of the sun, as the heat
renders it unwholesome. On
return from a show, give but a
very little water on first re-
turning to the home pen ; if taken
in large quantities it is apt to
turn the comb to a dull blue
colour. A regular and pure
supply of water is more impor-
tant than is generally supposed.
If ducks are kept means must be
taken to prevent their polluting
the fountains by washing in them,
and if standing in a crowded pen
it is a good plan to place the
water vessel on a stand, or to
have tins supplied with two hooks
by which they can be hung up on
the wire partitions of the pens,
out of the reach of the dust and
droppings which will otherwise
be scratched into them. Snow
water is injurious, and rain also
if out of tubs drained off a tarred
roof. Water in which potato
parings have been boiled is in-

jurious, and should not he used for
mixing meals. A good water-
vessel for hot weather is an
earthenware saucer with a slate
over it, in which a hole has
been cut to allow the bird's
head to go in. A flower-pot
with a cork in the drain-hole,
filled with water and then
reversed in a saucer, is an ex-
cellent water vessel, keeping
the water cool by refrigeration.
Tonics in water are a great help
in the raising of prize poultry.
Fattening ducklings must have
very little water to drink. [See
Ducks.) Adult fowls should
have it at discretion. Whether
chickens should have a constant
supply is a moot point. Some
declare that they 7iever give
any, and that the chicks are
extra healthy, others allow it to
be always at hand. Chickens
running with their mothers in a
state of nature drink when they
come to a puddle, apparently
without much attention to rule
or theory ; but those hatched in
artificial rearers are certainly
somewhat too much addicted to
drinking, and as long as water is
supplied they will go on imbibing.
The best plan with these is to
give milk once a day (in the
forenoon), a reasonable allow-
ance, and to remove it when all
have had some. Water middaj^,
and water with tonic at night,
removing these also when the
thirst is quenched.

Dropping Eggs. — This is
caused by a too stimulating diet,
also by want of mortar, oyster-
shell, or grit for shell formation,
also by the hens being too fat.

(48)

Feed less, give no meat for a time,
vary the diet with rice, potatoes,
sharps, dari, and wheat. Give a
dose or two of castor oil, and iron
tonic in the water. Should this not
cure the evil, give one gr. calomel,
one-tweKth gr. of tartar emetic.

Dry Runs. — However good
the roosting-house may be, and
however extensive the grass-runs,
a place should he provided where
the poultry can congregate during
wind and rain and- he perfectly
dry and sheltered. This dry
run should face south and he pro-
tected from east winds. [See Runs,
Covered.)

Dubbing. — This operation
consists in the removal with a
sharp knife of the comb, ear-lobes,
and wattles in game birds. In
the days of cock-fighting this was
done to save the combs of the
fighting birds from injury, and to
remove what afforded a good
hold for the enemy. Now it is
merely a fancy point for the
show pen. Cocks should be
dubbed vrhen getting their adult
plumage and when their combs
are well formed. Game and
Game Bantams are the only breeds
on which this cruel operation is
now practised. [See Game and
Bantams.)

Ducks. — The farmyard duck
is probabl)'- the lineal descendant
of the mallard, or wild duck.
Ducks sit twenty-eight days.
Tor a breeding pen, keep only
two ducks to one di'ake, or five
ducks to two drakes. A stream
or pond is essential to success-
ful breeding ; it need not be
large. The favourite breeds

are {see) Aylesbury ; Cayugas ;
East Indian ; Mandarin ;
EouENs; and Pekins. Rearing
and fattening ducklings is very
remunerative. In March they
sell for table at 21s. to 25s. the
couple, and up to the beginning of
May, after which they go down
in price. {8ee Prices of Poul-
try.) Eggs are costly for hatch-
ing, but can be had at 12s. a
dozen in November and Decem-
ber. At seven or eight weeks
ducklings should weigh 4 lbs. to
5 lbs. Do not allow ducklings
while fattening access to water,
except for drinking. Food should
be hard-boiled eggs chopped fine,
with boiled rice, Spratt's Food,
and bullock's liver several times
daily for a fortnight. When
older, give barley, oat, and pea-
meal, also pollards, mixed hot
■odth chandlers' greaves and the
water in which they have been
boiled. Any meat is good, and
free range where the young birds
can hunt for woniis and grubs is
next to indispensable. For show-
birds, allow access to water after
the third week. Always put sand
and grit into the water which
ducklings drink ; it aids diges-
tion and keeps their bills of a
fine colour. It is also necessary
to keep ducklings on dry beds ;
a wooden or brick floor which
can be washed is the best sleeping-
place, on which put a good bed of
straw cut to short lengths.

Duclalr Ducks. — A new

French breed, fast coming into
favour in England, said to fatten
quicker and attain a larger size
than the Rouen.

Dumpies, or American

(49)

Creepers.— Out of fashion, but
especially good as layers and
mothers; peculiar in the short-
ness of the leg ; combs are erect,
tail ample ; buif is the ground
colour, with a white tinge about
the wings. These birds have no
beauty to recommend them.

Dusting. — Poultry are in the
habit of cleansing themselves in
dry dust, mortar, rubbish, or
ashes by scratching the dust up
into their feathers. This keeps
them in health, and prevents ver-
min. Provide a dust bath for
the purpose, a good large box
with sides about a foot high filled
with dust, dry screened mortar
refuse, road scrapings, fine gravel
or sand, or let the whole shel-
tered run be covered deep in the
above, in which case no special
bath is necessary. Hens are
wretched if this absolute necessity
for their comfort is not studied.
The dust bath, however, has its
dangers in the case of hens with
newly hatched broods. {See
BiiooDY Hens Dusting.)

Dutch., or " Everyday
Layers." — {See Hamburgs.)

Dyeing Legs. — (xS'ee Painting
Feathers, &c.)

Dysentery follows upon
neglected diarrhoea, of which it is
but an aggravated form. The
evacuations are coloured with
blood. Prevention is easy, cure
difficult. Give 5 droj)s laudanum
with three drops of M-Dougall's
fluid carbolate in water every
three houi's. Food should be
rice well boiled in milk, no
grain, and the bird must be
kept in a snug and dry place.

Ear-lobe, sometimes called
" deaf -ear," a more or less pendent
ornament to the face, just below
the real ear, varying from pure
kid-like white to red and blue.

Early Birds, Advantages
of Rearing. — The poultrj^-
keeper should be thoroughly con-
vinced of the absolute need for
early hatching, to ensure success
in the poultry-yard. If profit is
looked for, the bulk of the laying
— or the prize stock — must be
hatched by the 15th April. It is
supposed that a pullet will lay at
five or six months of age. This
is true of early hatched specimens ;
but birds hatched in May wiU
not lay, as a rule, in October or
November, when eggs are dearest,
but will often keep the owner in
disappointed expectation over
Christmas, and even up to Feb-
ruary. Food meanwhile is being
consumed by full-grown birds
through November, December,
and January without the return
of a penny, and this causes the
balance to be on the wrong side.
In February and March broody
hens are scarce and dear, in May
they abound, and all the ordinary
poultry -keepers hatch then,
whereas half the number produced
in March would repay the extra
labour and care. For those who
intend exhibition and the culture
of perfect prize stock, energy in
early hatching is a necessity. The
later the chicks come after the
end of March, the less size will
they attain. May birds are often
stunted in growth, and are too
late for shows. They are also
worthless for breeding stock, as
ThQ

(50)

eggs of a pullet hatched in Feb-
ruary may be trusted to produce
vigorous chickens the following-
February. She will have laid one
batch of eggs about August, and
will be in full lay during Feb-
ruary. When mated with an adult
cock her eggs will be as valuable
as those of the adult hen. If
table birds are in view the case is
the same, or even stronger. By
using an incubator, and having
chicks out in December and
January, a long price should be
obtained for real spring chickens
in March and April, when they are
dearest. The exhibitor who can
produce prize-takers for the early
shows of August and September
has a double advantage, in
getting some of his prizes 'early,
and being able to keep those
birds peacefully at home after-
wards in November and Decem-
ber, preparatory to the hatching
time, a matter of the highest
importance, for it is futile to
attempt to hatch from birds
travelling about from place to
place ; and yet not to make use
of 3^our prize-winners to breed
from must be fatal to the im-
provement of stock. The diffi-
culties of rearing early stock
are greatly reduced by the use of
incubators, which render one in-
dependent of the sitting hen,
which would cost in December
almost her weight in silver. Incu-
bators should be filled and started
into working order on the 1st of
December, at any rate, and the
first eggs put in so as to hatch
out the 1st of the new year. The
next difficulty at that season will
be to secure fertile eggs. {See
Eggs.) This done, and the

chickens to hand, the first object
will be, if with hens, to lodge
them in perfectly dry sheds — or
poultry-houses — and shelter from
east winds. The food should be
given often, and warm, and
should never be neglected ;
punctual feeding every two
hours will be imperative in cold
weather, and a late meal at
10. p.m.; warm milk, meat, and
tonics will be an assistance. Do
not coop up the hen in a room ;
fresh air, however cold, is better.
With the incubator^ chicks , the
best place, if available, is a large
and late vinery, where from
January to April the vines are at
rest, and frost merely kept out.
Temperature about 50^, windows
open, and the door too on fine
days, so that the elder chicks may
wander out if they choose. Here
the rearing mothers may stand.
For a few days new broods should
be kept round their mother within
the bounds of a park — or wire
enclosure — till they learn to seek
their own rearer for warmth,
then the enclosure may be raised
on bricks, and the Httle ones
have free range. They should
always be fed in the enclosure,
and this should just be raised off
the ground enough to let the
little ones in to extra delicate food
while the elders feed outside.

The soil of the vinery may be
raked and dug over daily, and a
heap of sand and mortar siftinga
kept supplied. G-reen food should
be given daily. Brought up in
this way, whatever the weather,
the chickens will be vigorous. No
cases of diarrhoea or roup ever
occur, and cramp will be a rare
ailment. The vinery should not

(51)

be over-heated, and with eyen a
low degree of artificial heat air
must be given freely. In this
way, without trouble, every ray
of sunshine is secured, and damp
utterly excluded. Any one rear-
ing early chickens would be amply
repaid the expense of erecting a
glass house for the purpose. It
should have hot water pipes
and ample ventilating arrange-
ments, with large windows. The
sale of winter-hatched broods,
even for table purposes, would
soon pay a high percentage on the
outlay.

Early Opening of Houses.

— This has much to do with
health, and if birds who rise with
the sun are stived up in close, ill-
ventilated roosting-placestillT and
8 a.m., no success will attend the
mismanaging owner. The roost-
ing-house should open into a
covered run which the birds can
enter at their own free will, to
find a little food and to amuse
themselves till the attendant
comes his rounds, which he must
do in summer at 6 a.m.

Early Roosting.— Chickens
of some breeds even two and
three weeks old are very fond of
roosting. Care should be taken
to remove anything high, for the
danger is great to the breast-bone
if they come down from a height
when very young. But it is well
to provide roosting-places, such
as reversed boxes, covered with
sand or straw, or broad perches
very near the ground, as the ex-
ercise and amusement of hopping
up and down is good, and if
placed in the sun, the chicks will
delight to congregate upon them

and preen themselves after meals.
For night roosts perches are not
desirable; shelves sanded and
covered with chopped straw are
best. {See Crooked Breasts.)
Under any circumstances, perches
should be broad, so that fowls can
conveniently stand up and walk
along their length, without any
diihculty in balancing them-
selves, and not too high.

Earth Deodoriser. — A sup-
ply of sifted earth and sand
should be at hand (where the
birds cannot taint it) for the
purpose of deodorising and re-
earthing the floors of all arti-
ficial mothers and sleeping
shelves. Nothing destroys offen-
sive smell better than earth, and
if freely used, with occasional
dredgings of sulphur, bad air
and vermin will be avoided.
The earth should be sifted or
screened. If small chicks sleep
on lumpy beds of earth, the
delicate and fragile breast-bone
may be injured by the pressure
of even one night's lodging on an
improperly made bed.

East Indian Ducks. — {See
Black East Indian.)

Economy in food may be
secured by buying the best un-
injured grain, and seeing that
not more than one woman's
handful of grain is given to each
fowl for a meal ; this is enough,
and none will remain on the
ground. In building houses it is
an economy to remember that at
timber yards wood is sold cheaper
in short lengths than in long,
and that if the length for parti-
tions, &c., be fixed on at first a

(52)

saving is effected "by ordering all
to be sawn to lengths at the
timber yard ; by this labour and
material are economised. The
price of boarding also varies as
much as does the silk for a lady's
dress. Accurate measurements
should be made, so as to avoid
cutting up to waste.

Eggs. — Addled are those
v»^hich, being unfertile, get jarred
or chilled, and are then sat upon
to the end of the incubation
period, and become decomposed.
They exude an offensive moisture,
and if broken, explode with noise
and smell. Remove such eggs as
soon as detected, as their presence
in the incubator or nest is fatal
to success in hatching.

Barren or Unfertile Eggs may
be taken out of the nest a week
or five days after they have been
sat upon. They should be ex-
amined with an ovoscope by the
aid of a candle or lamp ; those
which are barren wiU be found
perfectly devoid of veining, and
the yolk will be seen to sway
about from side to side with the
least movement of the hand ;
such eggs are fit for cooking,
and perfectly wholesome.

Blood-stained Eggs. — The first
laid by a pullet or hen after
moulting may be slightly so, and
it need not give any cause for
alarm.

BroJcen Eggs in the JSfest. —
Plunge those remaining unbroken
into warm water at 105°, and
wash them clean while the straw
of the nest is replaced and all
made sweet. If any of the eggs
are only cracked, at once appl}^

sticking-plaster or gold-beater's
skin, and patch the crack up
firmly to exclude all air. The
chicks will hatch out in most
cases quite well.

Chilled in Hatching. — The time
at which the chill becomes fatal
seems to vary according to cir-
cumstances, weather, position,
period of incubation, and so on.
Twenty minutes' exposure in cold
weather, and in a draughty
place, will addle a sitting, and
yet chicks have come out when
the hen has been absent an hour
or two and even more, and the
eggs have been quite cold. Eggs
are more liable to chill after two
or tliree days' incubation than to-
wards the close. If a hen leaves
her nest, and the eggs are found
chilled, place them at once in
water at 105*^ while you secure and
settle or replace the hen, and
then let her sit on to the end of
her time ; the ovoscope will here
be useful, as it will enable you
to see if life still exists, and if
not time may be saved by re-
setting the hen.

Colour of DucJcs' Eggs. — Varies
from pure white to cream-colour
and to bright green. Pekin and
Aylesbury ducks are no exception
to this rule ; it does not affect the
produce in any way, nor can it be
accounted for.

Colour of Hens' Eggs. — Asiatic
breeds lay eggs from deep
chocolate through every shade
of coffee colour, while the
Spanish, Hamburg, and Italian
breeds are known for the
pure white of the eggshell. A
cross, however remote, with
Asiatics will cause even the last-

(53)

named breeds to lay an egg-
slightly tinted.

Egg-bound. — The best cure for
this is a table-spoonful of warm
treacle, into which chopped
groundsel is mixed, giving it
warm.

Fertility of Eggs depends on
the number of hens to each cock,
on the space allowed for the
run, if any, and on the age of
the male birds; all efforts to
ensure it are negatived by im-
proper and over feeding. The
eggs of very large exhibition
birds, bred for size and feather,
are very often imfertile, and
eggs from pens where the birds
are constantly travelling to
shows are, as a rule, less fertile
than others. Leghorns seem to
suffer less from this than some
other breeds. Changing cocks
about in the midst of the breed-
ing season will make the eggs
unfertile, though it may be only
to exchange them from one
home pen to another.

Foretelling Sex of Chick. — No
rule can be laid down about
this, and the shape of the egg-
has nothing to do with it. Early
broods bring most cocks, late
broods the pullets. This is
generally the case, but no rule
is reliable.

To Satch Early. — An incu-
bator is a great advantage for
this purpose : in November and
December, January and February,
sitting hens are hardly to be got,
and the incubator can be worked
independently of weather. Chills
must be guarded against, and
are specially dangerous early,
the fertility of the eggs being

less vigorous than it is later
on, and a batch of eggs may be
easily addled, Brahma hens
kex^t in a warm place are the
most likely to sit early. Nests
should be made in a sheltered
warm situation, as excessive cold
will cause a hen to leave her
nest; and if she is comfortably
housed and her food given warm
(baked grain dry) in severe
weather she will be more likely
to keep steady. While the hen
is off feeding pour boiling water
roimd the nest daily during- the
third week. In severe frost a
handful of dry hay cast over
the eggs while the hen feeds
keeps them from too severe a
chill.

Increasing Egg -production. —
Mark those hens in your flock
remarkable for the size or the
number of their eggs, and hatch
their eggs in preference for lay-
ing stock. Choose breeds which
do not sit. Do not over-feed or
fatten, and keep laying hens in
an active hungry state ; do not,
however, run into extremes and
under-feed them ; they must
have plenty and yet always be
ready for food. Do not keep
old hens, two years is the out-
side limit. Birds hatched, say,
in March, 1880, should, on an
egg-farm, be killed for table on
the first signs of moult in
autumn, 1881 ; they are then
quite young and fetch a good
price, and will not be so valu-
able in 1882. Laying hens
should not have too much fat-
tening soft food; sound grain
in variety is the best diet, and
plenty of green food, oyster-
shell, and mortar rubbish.

( 5i )

Preserving Eggs for Sitting. —
If the eggs are from prize stock,
each, egg should be marked with
the date or number of the prize
pen ; the mark should be placed
on the small end of the egg,
otherwise the chick in peck-
ing out is apt to obliterate all
traces of it. The eggs should be
collected in a basket containing
bran or hay chaff, and afterwards
placed in a box (with a lid), in
bran, small end tip ; they should
be entirely covered up in the
bran. Perfectly new-laid eggs
)m(st be used for incubator work ;
under hens staler eggs will hatch.
I have known eggs hatch when
placed under the hen at fourteen
days old, and this after the
railway journey from Aylesbury
to St. Petersburg ; but new-laid
eggs are always to be preferred. .

Iloistening Eggs. — In hot dry
summer weather watering the
hatching nest with water at 105*^
from a fine rose water-pot while
the hen eats her daily meal is
a good practice ; in cold weather
pour boiling water round the
nest. In an incubator do not
water the eggs, but get the
moisture required from wet earth
trays.

Taching Eggs. — The greatest
care should be used if the eggs
are for hatching. Hampers of a
fair size should be selected, lined
well with moss or soft broken
hay. Every egg_ should be
gently enveloped in soft news-
paper with a wisp of hay out-
side each egg (moss is better if
to be had) ; the eggs should
then be bedded, small end up,
in the moss-lined basket as firmly

as may be, with plenty of moss
or hay between each egg to
prevent shaking ; and a good
wad of moss must be put on the
top of all ; the basket-lid must
then be sewed on with a packing
needle and twine, and very dis-
tinct directions should be added
to "Deliver at Once; Eggs for
Hatching; Not to be Shaken."
Eggs should on no account be
wrapped in paper and then put
in sawdust, cork chips, or bran ;
all these materials shake away
from the eggs during a railway
journey, and the jars then re-
ceived ruin ' all hope of a good
hatch. Another mistake is nailing
down the lid of the box (in
which eggs are packed) ; the
blows of a hammer are fatal.
The size of the little hampers
and baskets sent is often too
small, they are very natty to
look at, but a laiger hamper
would allow of more packing
medium, and the extra weight
would be willingly paid for by
those who expend pounds on
prize eggs and find them too
often ruined by bad packing.

Preserving Eggs for Winter Use.
— To ensure success, whatever
the keeping medium, place the
eggs into it as fast as collected
from the nest. If they lie
about here and there, exposed
to air and sun and movement
even for a day, the result will not
be satisfactory. The ways to
preserve eggs for winter are
various : —

No. 1. Dissolve quicklime in
water, and add a little cream of
tartar, put in as laid, and see that
the water quite covers the eggs.

No. 2. Rub the eggs with

(55)

lard, or butter, or oil, and im-
merse in bran.

No. 3. Bury the eggs in
powdered unslaked lime.

No. 4. Bed in salt.

No. 5. The French, method:
Varnish the eggs with varnish of
linseed-oil and beeswax.

No. 6. Smear the eggs over
with, linseed-oil, and place them
in dry sand.

No. 7. Eub in butter, and
store the eggs in boxes well
closed down, pasting paper over
the cracks so as to exclude air ;
keep in a cold place.

Bound and Long Eggs. — Round
eggs are said to produce pullets ;
long eggs, cockerels — a fallacy,
and proved to be incorrect.

To secure Eggs all year round.
— Keep an incubator going ; and
if your runs are on a small scale,
hatch out, say, twelve chickens
every month, beginning in De-
cember and continue till May.
These should provide pullets
enough to keep the egg-basket
full all the year round for a small
family.

Selecting Eggs for Sitting. —
Very round and very pointed eggs
should be rejected, also very
sruall and extra large ones.
Double eggs never hatch well, they
produce deformities. Medium-
sized eggs are more vigorously
fertile than others. Eggs that
are rough-shelled or brittle are
bad, and crooked, misshapen eggs
bespeak a delicate, consumptive
strain of fowls. Never place
dii'ty eggs in a nest : wash in
tepid water with a sponge till
clean. Ducks' eggs, particularly,
should always be cleansed. In

an inctibator, where so much
depends upon the purity of the
air, this is doubly important.
Water for washing should be
105" F.

Soft Eggs. — Hens often lay
soft eggs, devoid of shell. This
arises from several causes, the
most common being the want of
material to form shell where
birds have only earth or grass
or a paved yard. Another
cause is 'over-feeding with
rich, soft, stimulating diet. Re-
duce the qualit)^ and quantity;
give more ^dry dari and wheat
grain, less of soft food, and
add' powdered oyster- shells, mor-
tar-gravel, grit, or the cleaning
and chippings of lime from
boilers. Nests dirty and in-
sufficient in number will cause
hens to drop their eggs pre-
maturely ; the eg^ gets broken,
and then not unfrequently the
juicy morsel is eaten up, and a
taste for egg-eating is formed.
If proper management does not
soon avert or cure the evil, try
physic :

No. 1. Diet on rice and pota-
toes sparingly given, and a pill of
one grain of calomel, with one-
twelfth of grain of tartar emetic.

No. 2. Dose well with castor
oil ; put old nails or old keys in
the water-tin, or two lumps (size
of filberts) of sulphate of iron to
the gallon of water.

Test of Fresh Eggs. — The
fresher the eggs, the smaller the
air-chamber. This can be seen
at the broad end of the egg
if it be held up against a
strong light in a dark room.
Stale eggs have a mottled, greyish

(56)

look a"boiit fhem ; and a new-
laid egg will always give a
feeling of warmtli if the tongue
is pressed to the large end.

Small TolMess Eggs. — This,
again, is a sign of over-feeding
— and most likely an exclusive
diet of Indian com, with little
exercise and no green food.

Egg-eaters. — Such hens must be
sharply looked after. Where only
a few fowls are kept near the
house, the evil has been overcome
by taking the eggs as soon as
laid, but this is impossible in
large runs; and unless very
valuable for prize breeding, the
offender should be killed at once :
it is a fault easily taught to other
hens. A good plan for finding
out the culprit is to put some
eggs about the yard, or run, and
to let the hens out ; the offender
will rush at the egg and com-
mence breaking it, and in a
moment will swallow it down.
Next, place some stone eggs
about, and one real egg, blow)),
and filled with mustard and
cayenne pepper ; the offender will
peck away at the stone eggs, and
at last seize on the hot one.
This lesson is sometimes, but
not always, successful, Nests
adapted to save the eggs of
egg-eating hens are advertised
in the poultry-journals, and are
useful should it be necessary to
keep birds which have contracted
this very objectionable habit.

Number and Weight of Eggs. —
Andalusians, Minorcas, and Leg-
horns vie with each other and
with the Hamburgs as layers, and
contest the right to the title of
everlasting layers. Their egg-

prodaction is enormous, and the
size of the eggs of the two first-
named breeds is very large in
proportion to the size of the
hens.

Light Brahma and Partridge
Cochin lay 7 eggs to lb., about
130 per ann, ; Cochins — Buff,
White, and Black, 8 to lb., about
125 per ann.; Houdans, 8 to lb.,
about 150 per ann. ; Dark Brah-
ma, 8 to lb., about 120 per ann. ;
La Fleche, 7 to lb., about 130 per
ann.; Black Spanish, 7 to lb.,
about 140 per ann. ; Leghorns,
9 to lb., about 160 per ann. ;
Hamburgs, 10 to lb., about 160
per ann. ; Polish, 9 to lb., about
125 per ann. ; Bantams, 16 to lb.,
about 90 per. ann. ; Andalusians,
6 to lb., about 180 to 200 per
ann. ; Minorcas, 8 to lb., about
180 per ann.

The Andalusian egg has an
advantage over others in that
over-boiling does not render the
albumen, or white, tough ; and it
may be remarked that though the
egg is large, the hen is small, and
by no means a greedy feeder.
The Andalusian and Minorca,
therefore, seem well adapted for
farm purposes.

Egyptian G-eese.— Grey and
black upper bodies, with buff or
yellow underneath ; eye orange,
bill purple, and legs yellow.
Very ornamental, and will breed
in confinement, but they are
pugnacious and quarrelsome.
They lay about six eggs during
the breeding season when in con-
finement.

Elephantiasis. — An accu-
mulation of scurf and scales on"
the legs of Asiatics, and especially

57)

Wliite Coclims. Exposure to cold
brings it on, and standing about
in wet grounds. If neglected,
scale collects upon scale nearly
an inch thick. The affection is
sometimes hereditary. A good
scrubbing when it is first seen
with hot water and soap, and a
subsequent rubbing with sulphur
ointment will prevent its accu-
mulating ; sulphur taken in-
ternally is also good; cocoanut-
oil and tumeric ointment rubbed
into the legs is also excellent.

Erabden G-eese. — Pure
white; flesh-coloured bills, and
deep orange feet ; of erect car-
riage, very low down behind,
almost touching the ground. Prize
young birds weigh up to 27 lbs.,
and old Birmingham prize ganders
have reached 32.i lbs. 20 lbs. is a
fair average weight. The eggs are
white ; four can be put to hatch
under a large Cochin or Brahma
or a Turkey hen, sprinkled
with warm water daily, as they
dry up very easily, the shell
being rough and thick. In-
cubation takes thirty days. Gos-
lings are reared like ducklings,
but green food is an absolute
necessity, and chives or green
onion-tops are excellent. When
fledged, goslings will find their
own keep in a large orchard or
field, and a few weeks' feeding on
meals and wheat or oats will, if
shut up at the beginning of Nov-
ember, get them ready for the
Christmas table. Large ponds are
not necessary; even a good
large tub will suffice. The breast
down of the Embden goose is
very valuable.

Enemies to the Poultry-

yard. — Foxes must be locked
out of roosting-places, or they
will kill all the birds, however
numerous, and bury what they
cannot at once consume. Wire
fencing, however high, will not
exclude them ; it is best to
padlock the doors, and if per-
forated zinc is nailed over windows
and ventilating openings all will
be secure. Valuable fowls should
always have a wired-in covered
run, into which they should have
free access whenever they feel
disposed, and where they can
remain till the attendant imlocks
the door to the grass -runs.

Eats must be exterminated at
any cost ; they carry eggs away
bodily, kill chickens, and have
been known to lame ducks by
biting their feet. Oil of rhodium
is an infallible bait for rats ; drop
it on poisoned bread and butter
(being careful to exclude every
bird and animal first), place the
pieces about on the groimd not less
than two yards from a hole. Get
poison that will kill almost instan-
taneously before the rat can reach
the hole, such as Battle's vermin-
Idller. Be sure to count the
pieces of poisoned bread, and
collect very carefully. Kat-holes
should be filled in with broken
glass, and hot tar should be
poured in wherever there is any
trace of their visits. Traps should
be kept baited, and a terrier dog
or a good cat should be kept on
the premises.

Cats. — Strange cats are danger-
ous to young chickens only. These
must, however, be carefully
penned up at night in covered
wire runs attached to the hen-

(58)

coops. A large "box-trap baited
with fried meat or toasted
herring will gradually help to
reduce the evil if persevered with.
If every cat is not killed many-
may he, and the rest get such a
fright as will prevent their haunt-
ing that particular run again.

Hawks and Carrion Crows are
dangerous to chicks ; pen near the
dwelling-house when very small.

Lice. — Hot lime whitewashing
thrice yearly of all poultry-houses
and appliances, while the floors,
dust-heap, dusting-boxes, nest-
places, and every corner are well
watered through a coarse rose
waterpot with hot lime, in which
carbolic acid (a wine-glassful to the
gallon) has been dissolved, will
effectually destroy and keep the
places free from these pests.
Should they attack the chicks
themselves, powder them till
yellow as canary-bu'ds with
sulphur, in which M'Dougall's
disinfecting powder has been
mixed, or use Persian insect
powder from a fine dredger ; the
effect is instantaneous, and sickly
chicks will make rapid strides
towards vigorous health in a day
or two.

Mice do no bodily injury, but
disturb the sleep of poultry at
night and worry sitting hens.
They eat up valuable food.

Traps of all sorts should be
kept set, and an occasional
bout of poisoning when pens are
empt^" is most effectual. A cat
which can be trusted amongst
chickens is of the highest value.

Entry for Shows must be
made on the proper forms sent
with the schedules.

Epsom Salts. — A small
quantity given occasionally,
mixed into the soft food, en-
courages laying, but care must be
taken not to give much^ as it will
produce scouring ; one table-
spoonful to 25 birds is enough.

Eruptions. — Scurfy heads,
or scurfy scabs on the ear-lobes.
This state of things indicates want
of green food, and that the birds
are kept in ill-managed dirty
yards. Castor oil two or three
times at intervals of two to three
days, and powdered sulphur in
the food. Turmeric and cocoanut-
oil ointment may be rubbed on
the scurfy parts, and all will soon
be well.

Excessive Feeding. — One

of the most common causes of
disease and loss in the poultry-
yard. No food should ever be
left on the ground; any so left
shows that the birds are getting
more than is good for them. A
good plan for the inexperienced
poultry-feeder to go by is this :
At the morning meal, which is of
soft food, place it in pans or tins,
several, according to the number
of the fowls, so that all may have
a fair chance of feeding without
overcrowding ; leave the birds
for twenty minutes, after which
return and remove any remnants
left, leaving none behind. The
birds will have eaten as much as
they require, and over that mark
there is danger of bringing on
internal disorders of the liver
and stomach, loss of feathers,
laying of soft eggs, unfertile eggs,
and every poultry ailment under
the sun.

(59)

Exhibiting. — {See Prize
Birds.)

Face.— The face of a bird
IS the bare skin round the eye ;
in the Spanish breeds it should
be pure opaque, white in colour ;
and in all others brilliant coral
red, splashes or specks of white
on the red being- a drawback,
and for showing a disqualifi-
cation.

Failures in Poultry -keep-
ing.— Chiefly due to a mistaken
idea that poultry can be made
profitable and a source of wealth
or income without any outlay,
everything being expected from
Avhilst nothing is done for
the birds. Some of the most
common causes of failure seem
to be from want of cleanli-
ness, over-feeding, and that
on injudiciously arranged diet,
from trjang to keep too large a
stock of fowls for the space
available, and, perhaps, too many
varieties. Want of dry shelter
is a common cause of disease.
It is not enough for the roosting-
house to be dry ; there must be
a space where air and light can
enter freely, where the birds will
resort on wet days to dust and
preen themselves. If poultry is
kept for sale of eggs and chickens,
&c., a railway near at hand is
indispensable ; and the soil should
be dry and sandy rather than
clay, with plenty of shelter in
the way of orchards or
shrubberies. Want of know-
ledge as to trussing and pre-
paring poultry for market is
one cause of the low prices paid
to amateurs for their produce,
E

and another drawback is that
so many start poultry- work with
old barn-door birds, of very in-
ferior type, and poor both as
layers and fatteners.

False Sickles These have

been known to have been arti-
ficially fixed on to a cock's taU,
and the bird so fraudulently
decorated has actually won prizes
until the deceit was discovered,
and the exhibitor's practices
very rightly made public.

Fancy Points.— It is a usual
remark that fanciers " breeding
for feather " or for " fancy
points " are really doing harm,
inasmuch as the breeds de-
teriorate in their hands for all
economic purposes ; and yet it
is very certain that the improve-
ment in useful farm poultry of
late years is due to the fancier,
for it is from his runs that birds
kept for commercial purposes
only are crossed and resusci-
tated. Birds kept for table pur-
poses, and as egg-producers, are
seldom of pure breed ; the first
cross is sought for, and it is
out of the hundreds raised by
the breeders of pure strains
that the crosses are obtained,
and the race improved for
economic purposes. Had the
fancier no high standard of
feather, 8cc., to breed to, and
that difficult of attainment,
there would be no object in his
hatching and feeding with such
scrupulous care the hundreds of
pure birds he now produces
yearly. To enable him to pick
out three or four, or even
one, ideal bird, true to fancy

(60)

points and fit to win at large
shows, some hundreds must be
hatched and fed extra well from
the first, and it is those that
fail of perfection which give
the useful first cross for economic
purposes.

Farm Poultry. — The present
system of keeping farm poul-
try cannot answer, hut great
strides are heing made towards
an improved state of things, and
the subject is heing thoroughly
ventilated. There is no doubt
that on a farm there are special
advantages for poultry-keeping
on a large scale. Barns and ex-
tensive sheds for sheltering carts,
&c., &c., are at hand, which,
without building especially for
the fowls, can be adapted to
supply admirable poultry ac-
commodation. The ricks of hay
and wheat, &c., if properly
raised from the ground to avoid
harbouring rats and damp, also
give shelter; and even if the
farm is small it should be capable
of supplying the greater part
of the corn and meal used, for
birds, with ample range and
the gleanings of the rick-yard at
command, forage largely on their
own account. System and at-
tention are wanted, and common
sense, which the women of the
farm, to whose management the
poultry are left, as a rule, do not
possess. Old birds are kept year
after year, from which supply of
eggs must be small, and, as a
rule, the hens are fattened and
the chickens under-fed. No
pains are taken to hatch early,
and thus eggs are not to be
had during those months when

they gain the highest price.
Feeding is irregular, and the
food given is seldom varied,
whereas we know that variety
is specially good for poultry.
The farmer's wife seems unable
to name any other grains but
Indian corn and cuUen wheat ;
whereas she should grow, besides
these, a small patch of barley,
buckwheat, and sunflowers, also
oats for grinding to meal.
Fresh water is never supplied,
the birds usually drinking from
the drainings of the manure-
heap, and the poultry roosting-
house is cleaned out, perhaps,
twice a year ; the manure is
supposed " to keep the fowls
warm." The number of birds,
too, as compared with the acres
at command of grass, mangold,
turnip, and other fields, is ab-
sui'dly small; and whereas the
fancier with love for poultry will
within the space of seventy feet
by fifty produce and rear over
200 birds for table, egg, and
show purposes, the farm poultry
on some seventy acres will not
count over 100 head, if so
much. The farmer will care-
fully breed from his best stock,
the best milkers, and the best
fatteners, in cattle and pigs, the
sheep producing most lambs, all
are carefully perpetuated, but no
trouble is taken about the pro-
geny of the best laying hen.
Mongrels are started with, and
bred in-and-in year after year;
the race deteriorates in egg-pro-
duction and in size ; whereas a
pure breed, or at least a first
cross, should be started with, and
these birds should be mated with
a pure-bred cock of another breed

(61)

— fresh blood should be intro-
duced from time to time. With aU
his blind neglect and ignorant
mismanagement going on, it is
no wonder that farm poultry
pay shillings only where they
should bring pounds. Many
farmers consider that poultry
injure the crops. It must be
said that some thirty or forty
head roaming over a mangold
field do forage and trample on
the leaves pretty freely ; but the
question is whether the amount
of good they do in killing insects
of all kinds, especially slugs and
wire-worms, does not compensate
for the leaves they consume and
destroy. It is the opinion of
many high authorities that the
good they do in this way exceeds
the evil.

Farmyard Duck. — Here,
again, the farmer as a rule is
content with the veriest mongrels
— small ducks, shallow in breast
and of narrow shape, bearing no
resemblance to the grand Eouen
or Aylesbury, from which in
times gone by they possibly have
sprung. It is the rarest thing to
find pure a Rouen, Aylesbury, or
Pekin on any farm, and it is a
great mistake ; for the young of
these well-known breeds will fat-
ten up for table to 5 lbs. or 6 lbs.
weight, without their feathers, in
six or seven weeks with good
management ; whereas the farm
duck can seldom be induced to lay
on more than 3 lbs., and this at a
larger cost of food, for the mon-
grel duckhngs from a farm or
elsewhere are of the greediest,
and possess a most insatiable
appetite. For egg-production,

too, the mongrel duck is useless.
The eggs are small; and in
November and December, when
the early-hatched Aylesbuiy is
hard at work, the complaint at
the farm is that the ducks " don't
lay." The laying farm ducks
are supposed to require no food,
and if it were not for slugs and
worms and grazing would pick
up a scanty living.

Fattening Ducks. — To

fatten quickly, ducks should be
fed on hard-boiled egg, like
chickens, and with bread soaked
in milk. After that time
the quality of the food is not
of moment, but an excellent
diet is made by varying
the following kinds of food : —
Oatmeal mixed with skimmed
milk ; rice boiled and thinned
with ditto , barley- meal stin-ed
into liquor made by boiling down
ox-liver, or meat-scraps from the
butcher. Spratt's Food is excel-
lent, and pollards also for change.
Many recommend chandlers'
greaves, but it is a coarse kind
of food, and I prefer utilising the
grease and dripping and fat
which can be saved in a large
housekeeping. A sheep's head,
price 6d., boiled down, and mixed
with sharjDS or other meals, is
excellent food. But with the
best of food by aU means give
free range, as nothing will supply
the stamina and vigour or press
the young birds on so well as
a free range and early roaming-
after slugs and worms, which
abound at daybreak. In the
daytime, between 11 a.m. and
4 p.m., ducklings should be
penned up, after a good feed,

(62

in a cool house, with brick
or asphalte floor, covered with
straw bed. Here they will
appreciate a rest during the heat
of the da)^, and be ready to
forage again in the cool of the
evening. Water should always
be at hand for drinking purposes,
but not for swimming in. Gravel
with lime and chalk in it should
.be kept at hand, and a few
handfuis cast into the drinking-
trough ; it aids digestion. Should
there be no field or garden for
the ducklings to roam in, care
must be taken to give plenty of
mown grass, lettuce, turnip-tops,
or cabbage. And it would pay
well to get small boys to collect
worms for food ; ducklings get
on much faster when they can
get this animal food. Cleanli-
ness must be strictly attended
to, and the beds and night-
quarters must be dry and sweet.

Fattening Fo-wls. — This
subject is described in great
detail in many books and papers.
The following hints may be
useful to the novice in poultry-
work. When a bird is to be put
up for fattening it must be
starved for some hours till very
hungry. It must be fed during
the whole fattening period very
regularly at stated times ; no food
should be left after a meal ; the
coop must be very clean, and
kept out of the sun, in a darkish
place ; the bird must not
be allowed to see other birds
running about, as this will make
it uneasy, and retard the fatten-
ing process; the water must be
kept pure and fresh.

No. 1. Fattening from the

shell : Give the little chiclrs
chopped hard-boiled eggs and
bread-crumbs, then Spratt's Food,
for the first fortnight ; after
which add cooked moat chopped
fine, and mixed with oatmeal
and treacle. Corn steeped in
milk is good later on.

No. 2. Take the birds when
they have done growing, say, at
four months, put them singly
into fattening pens with barred
floors, through which the drop-
pings can fall, and feed them
with any of the following
foods : — Oatmeal and chopped
suet ; boiled potatoes ; rice
boiled in milk and treacle; or
Sussex fashion, soft food of oat-
meal mixed with milk or pot-
liquor, pig's-fat, malt and sugar ;
suet is added the last week, and
the birds are kept in faggot
sheds, aiiy, but not cold.

Ordinary Fattening of Chicles.
— For the amateur, the penning
up and cramming system is
not an absolute necessity.
When the birds are from three
to four months old, isolate them
from all other stock in healthy
quarters, with a moderate, but
wholesome, run. Feed them
every three hours with all the
above foods in turn, and any
other kinds of food you can con-
coct likely to tempt the appetite.
Let them eat as much as they
will, and be careful to remove
what is left. Let the tins be
kept sweet and clean. Give
ample green food, fresh air and
sunshine, with means of seeking
shelter from its rays as well.
Birds so treated will make
healthy, firm flesh, and fatten
quickly, but will not be laden

(63)

with tlie soit fat which is laid
on in the unhealthy air of the
fattening pen. (See Cramming.)

Fattening a la Br esse. — The
birds are kept on dry gravel,
and fattened on buckwheat and
maize meals ground fino as flour,
and made into light porridge
•with milk.

Chicks should be ready without
special feeding at four months
old to kill, at from 3 lbs. to 4 lbs.
weight.

Fattening Geese. — No

amount of good food will fatten
birds originally of a mongrel
type. The quickest and best to
lay on sound flesh are the pro-
duce of Embden geese crossed
by a Toulouse gander. Do not
proceed to fatten suddenly.
After giving free range of stubble
and grass fields, confine gradu-
ally, and at last wholly, in a
partially dark place. Wheat and
barley grain, and barley-meal
with brewers' grains, fatten well.
Goslings may be put up to fatten
at five or six weeks ; seven weeks
should bring them to perfection.
Maize is also good, and turnip
and mangold-tops are greatly
relished. Ponds are not required,
but large troughs of water should
Btand about in the shade.

Fattening Turkeys. — Far-
mers' wives consider this a dan-
gerous matter to deal with. The
birds are said to be very delicate,
and to require a peculiarly dry
climate for success "Why this
should be the case is a puzzle,
seeing that the great turkey-
producing counties of England
— Norfolk and Cambridge — are

not remarkable for an extra drtj
climate. An April brood is the
best. Fifteen is a good number,
and they will fatten well on
meal-food mixed warm, with
milk, potatoes, barley, and wheat.
Turnips chopped are good, and
plenty of rubble and brick- dust
should be at command. The
larger the Turkey, the higher its
value per poxmd. Turkeys must
have shelter from rain : wet is
their greatest foe.

Feathers are very valuable ;
and where over a hundred head of
poultry are kept, should be looked
after as a source of income.

Feather-eating. — A horrid
practice, one might almost call it
a disease, to which fowls brought
up in confinement are liable.
Malays and Houdans seem pecu-
liarly apt to contract this habit,
which dirt and crowding en-
courages. Idleness is one cause :
poultry are often kept in a pen
where they have no means of
scratching about or amusing
themselves. The earth should be
forked up, thrown into heaps, and
straw scattered over it ; this will
give occupation and tend to arrest
the evil. Want of fresh water is
another source of the disease ; the
water should be replenished
often, and kept in the shade.
Cabbages tied up whole and
tightly to the walls of pens will
amuse and serve to pass the
time, and a piece of meat
hung just within reach will be
useful. Should any birds be so
injured as to have the stumps of
feathers bleeding these must be
pulled out by the roots, and the

(64)

tender places anointed with a
salve of vaseline mixed with
carbolic acid, 10 grs. to the ounce.
This will be healing, and at the
same time unpalatable to the
offending birds. Lettuce in large
quantities should be given. Lin-
seed made into a mash with
pollards, boiled to a jelly, is ex-
cellent for the deranged system.
If the case is desperate give daily
I to ^ gr. of acetate of morphia.
The offending bird should be
removed from the run.

Feathers, Loss of. — Pro-
bably proceeds from deficient or
unclean dusting arrangements.
Fowls must have dust baths, and
one pound of black sulphur now
and then mixed with the rubble
or sand is excellent for keeping
feathers in good order. A few
grains of carbonate of potass in
water twice daily, and the applica-
tion of petroleum ointment vdll
produce a cure. Proper food is
necessary for the preservation of
plumage. Food without husk,
such as dari, Indian corn, soaked
bread, if given exclusively, will
bring on loss of feather; barley,
buckwheat, barley-meal, and pol-
lards should be added. If the
skin is bare and shows no growth
of feather, rub in oil and turpen-
tine in proportion of three to
one till the feathers break
through.

Feathering of the Legs
and Feet. — Perfection in this is
no mystery, as amateurs imagine ;
it is merely a matter of extreme
care. A bird to be shown with
perfect foot-feathering must not
once get into damp or mud, must

not walk on stubble or rough
earth ; if not kept on a lawn, it
must have soft straw to walk on
in the pen.

Feeding. — Sours for Feeding,
and Food for Adxdt Birds. — 6 a.m.
give warm soft food, as much as
will be picked up greedily ; let
the birds follow the feeder out of
the pens, asking for more ; leave
none on the ground. Food :
Scraps from the house chopped up
and mixed dry with pollards;
barley or oatmeal mixed with
hot water or pot liquor ; Spratt's
Food boiled up and allowed to
cool, not mixed too wet, but in a
crumbling mass. Potatoes, man-
golds, turnips, all are good boiled
down and mixed with pollards.
Midday, give a little grain, just
to amuse and occupy, thrown
amongst the straw. {8ee Corn.)
In the evening, the meal should
be timed so as to take place just
before roosting-time. It is most
important not to send the birds
to bed empty. Grain should be
given, about a woman's handful
to each bird, or even less if it is
not picked up clean. To produce
eggs give a cubic inch of bullock's
liver, sheep's pluck, or meat to
each fowl ; ground red chillies
also promote laying if mixed with
the food. Notice that birds always
refuse food which has fallen on or
near manure ; therefore avoid
crowding, and see that you have
a thoroughly clean spot on which
to spread the food. The adult
fowl, whether kept for breeding
or laying purposes, must not be
fattened.

Feeding Chickens. — The first
food must be hard-boiled egg

( c^- )

chopped fine, with two parts bread-
cruml)s, some dry, some soaked
in milk : second day, add meat
cut fine in shreds ; after this give
Spratt's Food and various meals
mixed with warm milk, or added
to rice previously boiled in milk
or water, with fat in it, or with
sugar. Variety is most advan-
tageous ; milk given warm at
10 p.m. and 6 a.m., is an im-
mense advantage. For early
chicks the first grain should be grits
ground, then the same whole, with
a little hemp ; after that, wheat,
, buckwheat, and barley ; all may
be given early if coarsely ground.
Leave food over night, but never
by day. Rice pudding warm, bits
of meat and suet cut fine, are a
great help to early chicks. All
food is best thrown into and
mixed in boiling water. Sugar
now and then is greatly relished
in rice food ; remember to add
bone-dust to all food. One peck
mixed into a hundred-w^eight of
oatmeal, or 1 oz. to pint, is about
enough. This keeps oS diarrhoea
and promotes the growth of large
solid frames, on which fat can be
easily added when growth is ac-
complished. Raw bones chopped
up or pounded do not attain these
objects, they tend to hasten
maturity and develop feather,
therefore let the early exhibitor
give it to his prize cockerels and
pullets, to bring them on rapidly.
Egg chopped, with canary-seed
and shreds of lettuce leaves, is a
nice mixture ; bread and milk
(boiled) and {rarely) bread and
beer. Hemp, canary-seed, and
meat crumbs are also good
feed. Cu.stards are not better
than chopped eg^, with milk

as a drink ; oatmeal is superior
to barley-meal or pollards.
First and second week feed
every two hours, then for a
month every three hours ; at two
months four times a day is enough.
The hours for feeding are from
6 a.m. to 10 p.m. — at intervals of
two hours ; then three ; and
lastly four — at 6, 11, 3, and 7 p.m.
Care should he taken not to omit a
meal (on favourite food) at 10
p.m., up to two months. Not to
give grain without grinding it to
about the size of large pins' heads.
Not to give barley-meal that has
stood mixed up some time, as it
is very apt to give diarrhoea.
Not to let water be drunk which
has stood long in the sun ; not to
give Indian meal or com ; not to
miss, even a day, giving green
food, chopped grass, lettuce,
spinach, endive (avoid cabbage if
possible). Wheat, oats, or barley,
sown in pans or boxes placed in
a stokehole, or some warm place,
soon spring up, and the chicks
greedily clean oif the green shoots
the moment it is put in reach;
chopped chives are excellent. If
there is great scarcity of green
food it is a good plan to throw
down daily a few handf uls of the
sweepings of a hay loft ; the seeds
are very wholesome and are
greatly relished by young
chickens. "Water should be kept
fresh and clean, and a tonic
should occasionally be added.
Parrish's Food, one tablespoonful
to the pint ; or tincture of iron,
one teaspoonful to the pint ; or
of sulphate of iron a piece the
size of a filbert in the shell,
and 10 drops of sulphuric acid
to the gallon of water.

(66)

Feeding for Exliibition.—

Birds for show should be
brought up as directed above,
and then about three weeks
before exhibition special diet
sjhould be given, fresh meat
ouse daily, a piece about the size
of a walnut; plenty of green
food, and twice a week linseed,
boiled in water to a jelly. This
mixed with Spratt and pollard is
much liked, and will lay on flesh,
and produce gloss on feathers.
Bread-and-milk is excellent for
birds that are going to or re-
turning from a show ; a few
handfuls of hemp at odd times,
and best wheat, will get the birds
into grand order.

Felt. — Tarred is useful for
covering roofs and buildings
made of wood; it effectually
keeps out wet, and if tan^ed and
sanded over now and then lasts
a considerable time.

Fencing Wire. — When put-
ting lip houses the lowest piece
of wire should be of smaller
mesh than the upper, so as to
confine small chicks if necessary
and to exclude rats. Care should
be taken not to nail the upper
part of wire fencing to strips
of wood ; though neater to the
eye, it is better avoided, as the
wooden strip, however light,
gives the birds a foot rest, and
they will attempt to fly on to it,
which they will not do if it is
merely strained wire at top.
Asiatics will be kejjt in by a two-
foot wire, other breeds require
it from five to seven feet high.

Fiffch Toe. —This bespeaks
Dorking origin or cross, and
London dealers give a better

price for birds with the fifth foe
for table use. In the Houdan the
fifth toe is now almost invariably
perpetuated.

FigMing. — Extreme care
should be taken to prevent this
amongst prize birds, as five
minutes' sparring may upset all
chance of a cup or prize by in-
jury to comb or feathers. Nail up
tiffany to all partitions eighteen
to twenty -four inches high; this
prevents all danger. In cold
weather a severe fight may be
serious. If the birds are ailing
after it, put nitric acid in the
water sufficient to taste it, and
give "a capsule of cod-Hver oil
with quinine thrice daily. Slip
a raw Q%g down the bird's throat
now and then till vigour is re-
stored.

Fleas . — A not infrequent
but most unnecessary and dis-
graceful pest of the poultry yard.
Whitewash three to four times a
year, keep the places daily well
cleaned, and such a visitation wiU
seldom occur. :

To Destroy them, in an empty
pen, paste up all cracks and
holes, and burn a poimd or two
of broken sulphur in an iron
vessel supported over water :
let the fumes remain to do
their work in the hen house
all day, water the floor with car-
bolic acid solution, a winegiass-
ful to a gallon, or pour turpen-
tine in bad places.

Fleas get about the nests and
building, rather than in the
birds.

Flesh. — A decided aid to e^g
production, and dui'ing the
winter months especially neccs-

(67)

savy, as there is no insect life.
Scraps from the butcher at three-
pence a pound without bone can
be procured, these parboiled, and
chopped fine, with pollards mixed
in with the stock, makes an ex-
cellent meat dish. An exclusively
meat diet on horseflesh, or the
tainted carcases of animals unfit
for human food, cannot improve
the flavour of the eggs, and must
be prejudicial to the health of
birds. The French use horse-
flesh and a meat diet very
largely. It woxild be an interest-
ing experiment to try the effect
of such feeding in England on a
poultry farm where eggs are the
chief object in view ; this might
easily be done by any one living
near hunting kennels. {See
Animal Food.)

Floors. — Boards are not good,
especially if chickens are to
be brought up upon them, as they
produce cramp. Concrete or brick
is better, but nothing is so good
as deep well-pulverised dry soil,
which is also less expensive.

Food after Exhibition. —

When the show birds return
from their journey place them
in their own pen and give soft
food only, warm — Spratt or bread-
and-milk, with very little water, as
the birds (being possibly feverish
from long confinement) are apt
to drink without measure and to
a dangerous extent. Should the
crop be overcharged with whole
Indian corn or fresh wheat, a
teaspoonful of gin will perhaps
save an illness.

Food during Moult. —

Same as for ordinary adult

laying stock, only a little more
generous, and given warm; meat,
ale, milk, and a little pepper
(red chillies are cheapest and
best), may be added.

Food for Chickens. — {.See
Chickens; Feeding Chicks.)

Fountains. — One of the

cheapest and best home-made foun-
tains is an ordinary flower-pot, re-
versed into a glazed saucer ; fit a
cork into the hole of the pot, fill
it with water, and reverse it.
For adult fowls tins which will
hook on to the wire are excellent,
as the water keeps clean in them.
{See Water.)

Foxes. {See Enemies to
Poultry.)

French Breeds. {See

Crevecceur ; Houdan ; La
Fleche ; La Bresse ; Bredas ;
Le Mans; Courtes Pattes;
DucLAiR Duck.)

Fresh Blood. — If birds are
bred in and in to any great ex-
tent many evils will ensue — loss
of size, fewer eggs will be laid,
and a general want of stamina
will be observable. It is well,
therefore, occasionally to purchase
a cock from one of the best yards,
and if it is for prize purposes,
ascertain the pedigree, and if
possible see the pen from which
he was hatched. It is the
easiest thing in the world to in-
troduce a glaring defect into
your flock, and one of the most
difficult to breed a fault out.
Where birds are kept in separate
runs and pens the produce for
the following year or two will
not be so nearly related as to

(68)

require invigorating "by fresh
blood ; in fact, any large breeder
of a ■well-known strain will be
very sby of introducing new
stock for any purpose. By a
wise sj^stem of crossing and
separation, thoroughly unrelated
birds should be kept ready to
hand for the mating season.
[See Buying Fowls.)

Friglit. — Sudden fright or
much hunting about is the fre-
quent cause of soft eggs. With
prize birds it must be avoided,
as beating about may cause irre-
parable mischief.

Frizzled Fo^wls. — Their
name describes their curled and
crumpled-like plumage, which is
in colour white, brown, or
black. Small-boned birds, giving
delicate meat. Some strains sit
well, others are not good
sitters. They lay early in the
autumn, and are hardy. The
chickens require long nursing,
and fledge slowly.

Frost-bite. — Spanish, Anda-
lusians, Minorcas, Leghorns, and
all large-combed breeds, are
specially subject to this. To
prevent it, rub oil or vaseline
over the comb with a sponge ;
but an}^ fairly-kept birds should
not be subject to this danger.
Rub, if frozen, with snow or
cold water, and apply zinc
ointment or vaseline.

G a 1 88 n a . [See Guinea
Fowls.)

Game Fowls. — Qualities :
most delicate table fowls, re-
quiring no fattening, reaching
6 to 8 lb. weight when taken

off the run. The hens of good
laying strains average 200 eggs
per annum. They require exten-
sive range, and are very quarrel-
some ; as mothers they are excel-
lent. The chickens are easy
to rear if dry shelter can be
given ; but eggs and custard
must not be s]paringiy given at
first, with chives and green food.
Damp is very fatal. At seven-
teen weeks the dubbing operation
is carried out — that is, the comb,
wattles, and ear - lobes are re-
moved. Birds recover from this,
and are fit to exhibit in six weeks.
No special feeding is necessary
for show unless out of condition,
when bread- and-milk boiled, and
sound grain, will do w^onders.
Their use for cock-fighting is
quite a thing of the past.
Characteristics : a long, thin,
keen head ; smooth, fine face ;
if undubbed, upright combs ;
deaf - ears, wattles, and lobes
very thin, fine, and red ; neck
long and arched ; short hackle ;
body slight ; broad shoulder,
tapering to tail; breast full,
firm ; saddle narrow ; tail a
nice length, not spread; sickles,
shortish but firm, hard, sound,
compact, as all plumage should
be ; 4 to 8 lbs. weight ; slim,
elastic, vigorous, alert, courage-
ous carriage. The varieties
are Duckwings, Black, Black-
breasted Eed, Brown-breasted
Red, Indian, "Wheaten.

Game Bantams.— Produced
by crossing Game with Bantams,
and breeding in and in. All
Game varieties have their fac-
similes in miniature in the Ban-
tam breeds : there are also Piles

(69)

or White-breasted Eeds, as well
as White, Black, and Wheaten
Game Bantams. They are chiefly
ornamental ; though good layers,
the eggs are too small to be valu-
able. Nothing can be prettier
than a thorough-bred Bantam
with a brood of its own pro-
geny. They are faithful mothers,
and highly courageous.

G-apes. — Caused by pale
reddish worms lodged in the
windpipe, from two to twelve
in number, and about half an
inch long; each worm has a
parasite worm attached to it.
They kill the chick by at last
crowding the windpipe till
breathing is impossible. Dirt
and damp is, as usual, the cause
of this, as of most diseases. If
cleanliness and carbolic-acid dis-
infection is freely carried out
gapes will be unknown. If
cases occur, at once put fluid
carbolate, camphor, or lime, in
the water. If there are many
cases, place the chicks in a cold
pit (garden frame) and fumigate
with vapour of carbolic acid till
they are nearly suffocated by
its fumes. Care must be taken
to liberate the chicks at the
right moment, or death will en-
sue, but if well done this is an
effectual cure.

No. 2. Introduce an oiled
feather into the windpipe, turn
it twice and draw it out, when
the worms will sometimes come
■with it.

Kg. 3. Give 1 gr. calomel, or
2 to 3 grs. of Plummer's pill ;
make tbe food hot with sulphur
and ginger, and wash the mouth
out with chloride of lime.

Geese. {See Embptsix; Egyp-
tian ; Chinese ; Danubian ;
Toulouse.)

Griddiness .— Producc:d
usually by over-feeding ; reduce
diet, and give aperient.

Gondooks. — An extinct breed
of peculiar penguin-like poultry ;
tailless, and of very active lively
carriage, five - toed, crested,
bearded, with strikingly lustrous
black plumage.

Gout. — Swelled, hot, and in-
flamed feet betoken gout. Eub
the legs with oil, keep in warm
quarters, and give aperient medi-
cine, and then half a grain of
extract of colchicum twice a
day.

Grain. {See Corn.)

Grains. — Not a very favourite
diet, but good for a change.

Grass. — If free range in grass
fields is an impossibility, arrange-
ments should be made with some
country children to bring in sup-
plies for a few pence weekly, as it
is very necessary for health and
egg-production, not to mention
that on its abundance d 'spends the
metallic lustre or gloss and firm-
ness of feather which bespeak
robust health and successful
poultry management.

Grass Run. — It is a good
plan to combine hay-making with
poultry-keeping. For six weeks
before cutting the birds must be
removed to another field, or put
up in other quarters. This gives
time for the run to rest and be
purified, and the birds so kept
wiU be in more robust health

(70)

than if kept from year's end to
year's end on the same gTound,
where only a limited space of
grass is available, and several
pens open out upon it. Each pen
of birds must be let out in suc-
cession for a few hours' run, but
at some period of the year the
grass must have perfect rest.
Grass runs are a luxury — not an
essential — but the less grass the
more care and work will be re-
quired to produce ^vize stock.

Gravel. — A lime gravel is the
best, and it should be screened to
remove any large pebbles which
prevent the birds from dusting
with comfort. Every load of
gT-avel should be mixed with fine
sand, or with fine mortar screen-
ings.

G-reaves can be procured of
grocers and candle-makers — a
coarse and unsavoury diet, re-
commended for fattening duck-
lings, but it should not be given,
at any rate, during the last
fourteen days, as it gives a coarse
flavour to the fat. In winter it
may be given boiled to adult
birds if better animal food is not
to be had. But it is coarse, ill-
fiavoured food.

Green Food. — The best is
grass, cut fresh daily; 2nd,
lettuce ; 3rd, spinach ; 4th, cab-
bage, chopped in a chopper, or
tied ujD to the wall or to a post
for the birds to peck at. Swedes,
mangolds, prickly comfrey, and
every kind of green refuse from
the kitchen garden, are invaluable,
and a daily supply muat be found.
If on a free run of turf, poultry
will be seen to graze, like a
flock of sheep. Hay refuse — out

of a hay-loft, full of seeds — gives
much amusement in winter time,
and is a good substitute when
green stuff is low. Chickens
should have grass, lettuce, and
hay seeds, in preference to other
green stuff.

Grey Dorking. {See Silver-
grey.)

Ground, Cleanliness of. —

Fowls will never touch food, if
they can help it, which lies near
any droppings or on an unclean
place. Special care should be
taken, therefore, to cleanse the
ground of all pens and runs
daily. The smaller the runs the
greater must be the cleanliness
and the labour spent on it.

Guinea Fowls are usually
grey, having white spots on the
grey ground ; they are also pure
white (more rare). If hatched
on the land, they will remain and
roost with the poultry or in
neighbouring trees ; but adult
birds should never be bought, as
they will inevitably fly away.
The hens lay 100 eggs per annum,
are very spiteful to the other
poultry, and noisy early in the
morning. They sit about August,
and therefore it is wise to raise
the chicks by artificial incubation,
or by setting the eggs under a
hen. Good chicken diet will suit
the young ones, but more meat is
necessary. The hens like con-
cealed nests, which should be
provided, or they will lay away.
They are quarrelsome, and it
is only when an extensive range
is available that keeping the
Gala3na is found to answer.

Hackle. — The flowing

(71)

feathers on the neck. Those on
the saddle of the cock are also
called hackles, hut are distin-
guished as " saddle " hackles.

Hamburglis. — The varieties
are Black, Gold-pencilled and
spangled, Silver-pencilled and
spangled, and Redcaps. The
latter are like poorly-spangled
Hamhurghs, hut they are very
hardy and good layers, almost
gone out, and seldom seen. All
Hamhurghs require free range,
and are subject, if ill-kept in con-
finement, to colds and roup. They
are said to lay 200 eggs per
annum. They forage to a great
extent for themselves, and are
non-sitters. Chicks are easily
reared under favourable circum-
stances, hut sometimes suffer from
leg- weakness. They want grass,
frequent feeding, shelter from
wet, and a run where they can he
free from old birds. They require
very careful breeding, and the
competition in showing is enor-
mous.

Their genei-al characteristics :
General look, smart, lively ; grace-
ful ; double rose comb, tapering to
a spike pointing backwards, full
of points, even ; deaf-ear, flat
and white ; wattles, neat ; neck,
long, arched; full hackles;
large wings, neatly tucked up;
breast, full and forward; tail,
very full ; curved sickles ; about
5 lbs. in weight. In all varieties
rose comb and leaden legs, no
feathers.

In the Black variety the plu-
mage of lustrous metallic black,
with green sheen , the more lustrous
the better. In size the largest of
all varieties.

Gold- spangled : Ground-colour
of red gold-bay, each feather
heavily spangled with rich round
marks of black. In the gold-pen-
cilled the colour is a gold orange,
with less heavy markings of
black.

The Silver-pencilled and Silver-
spangled have the same variety
of the heavy and light black
markings, but both on pure silver
white. {See Pexcilled Fea-
thers.)

Single combs or lopping ones,
red lobes, any but leaden legs,
and irregularity of pencilling or
spangling would disqualify. {See
Black Hamburghs.)

Hampers. {See Baskets for
Exhibition.)

Handling Fowls. — If you

catch a bird leaving its wings
free, a desperate struggle will
ensue, likely to injure exhibition
plumage, or to distract the broody
hen from her vocation. Approach
the bird from behind, place
both hands firmly and quickly
right over the wing- joints, then
slip the right hand down and
secure the legs firmly. All
fluttering will thus be avoided,
and the bird, held by the legs,
with the left hand under the
breast, will not offer resistance.
All catching and handling of birds
should be done at night, or after
first making the pen dark, if this
is feasible.

Hard Feather means the
close, firm appearance of a well-
kept Game bird. To produce,
feed on more grain than meal,
and give plenty of run and green
food.

(72)

Hardiman's Beetle Pow-
der. {See Lice.)

Hardiness. — Hamburghs
and Dorkings are supposed to be
delicate, and perhaps are rather
more so than others ; but with due
care and shelter most breeds will
do well. Prevent overcrowding,
damj) lodging, and the necessity
of standing about in mud and
rain without shelter, and no
breed need be considered too deli-
cate. Leghorns and Andalusians
seem very robust and fear
nothing, except frost so severe
as to nip their large combs.

Harm to Crops. — Mechi,
who speaks with some authority
on farming, considers that poultry
do no harm to growing crops on
farm-land ; that, at any rate, the
damage to roots and seeds is
trifling in proportion to the good
they effect in destroying insect
life, and the wire-worm es-
pecially.

Hatching. — The best time is
March. If very good sheltered
runs, or well- ventilated slightly-
heated greenhouses are available,
January and February are equally
good, but it is then more difficult
to get fertile eggs. Birds hatched
in the three first months of the
year are of more value, and pay
better in every way, than those
hatched later. {See Sitting Hen ;
Artificial Incubation.)

Hay. — Must not be used for
poultry, as it generates A'-ermin
more readily than straw. {See
Green Food.)

Heat. — More dangerous
roosting-places than cold ;

artificial heat is given, it must be
with thorough ventilation, or
consumption will ensue, roup,
and loss of stamina. Heating of
artificial mothers is much over-
done, and too little ventilation
given. The heat should not rise
above 1b° when all are asleep, or
suffocation wiU cause losses ; for
the first three days, however,
chicks must be kept very warm,
and will repay particular care in
this respect. If birds are kept in
confined pens facing south, some
shelter from the sun must be
rigged up, tiffany or mats hung
up for the midday hours ; and
the pen should be sjTringed with
water; the fowls dust at once in
the cool sprinkled earth.

Heather. — A good material
for nests of all kinds. It is soft,
springy, and keeps away ver-
min. It far surpasses straw or
hay, and is only equalled by the
bracken fern.

Hemp. — A. great treat to all
poultry, but if used too freely
causes loss of feathers. A useful
addition if the bird is out of con-
dition, and where feeding up is
required preparatory to showing.

Henny G-ame. — A variety
known in Cornwall and Devon-
shire, its peculiarity being that
the cock's plumage resembles the
hen's. They are invincible
fighters. They reach 9 lbs. in
weight, and are in colour black,
red, and grey, with pink legs
and white skins ; excellent as
table-fowls.

Hens. {See Age to Lay ;
Egg-eaters ; Sitting Hen,

(73)

Treatment oi" and Setting;
Nests ; Nttmbek to Cock.)

Hereditary Diseases and
Evils. — Consumption {tvhich see)
is the disease most carefully to be
guarded against. A consumptive
strain will be a constant source
of care and disappointment.
Squirrel tail {which see) is sure to
be reproduced in many of the
yoimg birds. "Wry tail [ivh ich see)
is also hereditary. Crooked breasts
{which see). Thumb marks on
combs {which see), and any peculi-
arity in the spikes of the comb.
White face where red is the
proper colour, is dangerously
hereditary {see White Face).
Ear-lobes splashed or marked
with red where pure white is a
point {see Lobes). Vulture hock
{which see). All these defects
will be reproduced. Birds with
malformations or anything miss-
ing, such as beiag short of one
toe, or having any peculiarities,
should not be used for breeding.

Hoarseness. — Birds occa-
sionally, during a wet or hard
winter, become hoarse : the throat
is evidently rough. Warm
weather will remove this. Gly-
cerine and nitric acid in the
drinking water -will be benefi-
cial.

Hoppers. — Useful for soft
food if your runs and pens are
not in good order. It is fatal to
throw food on ground soiled by
manure ; birds avoid it, waste en-
sues, the ground becomes sour
and polluted, and a hotbed for
evils of many kinds. If hoppers
are used, they should be scraped
quite clean daily (a whitewasher's

ceiling-scraper is a good tool),
and should be scalded out every
other day.

Horseflesh.. {See Animai
Food.)

Hospital. — Every poultry-
yard in which, say, even 100
birds are reared yearly should be
provided with a place specially
devoted for penning sick birds,
where an invalid can be at once
isolated and properly doctored if
need be. This place must be
open to the sun, screened from
east wind, dust dry, freely ven-
tilated, yet free from draught,
and warm. The hospital should
be whitewashed with hot lime
frequently, and perfect cleanli-
ness maintained.

Houdans. — General Charac-
teristics : Birds of French breed,
of upright carriage, in shape
like a Polish Dorking ; large,
weighing 9 lbs. to 10 lbs.-; combs
large, like a butterfly with wings
spread, a serrated bunch of coral ;
lobes almost hidden by fuU muff-
ling beard, and a large, fiill
crest ; five toes, and foot like a
Dorking, with a flowing, ample
tail. Hens weigh 6 lbs. ; legs
are whitish-pink, and plumage
speckled evenly black and white.
Cock's tail, black ; crest, more
white than black. Excellent for
market and table purposes, small
bones, and fine white flesh ; ready
for table at four months, when
well-fed birds will weigh 4 lbs.
to 5 lbs. The hens do not sit,
and lay large white eggs. The
uneven marking makes them
very difficult to rear for feather.
Houdan chicks are very preco-

(74)

cious and active. The ap-
pearance of first-rate Houdan
chicks is mottled ; sides, white ;
also head, back, and back part of
wings, black ; five toes, and crest
light. The cocks are very vigo-
rous, and unfertile eggs rare.
They bear confinement well,
provided they do not contract the
vice of feather-eating, to which
the breed is addicted.

Hydro - Incubator. [See
Artificial Incubation.)

Hydro-Mother. {See Arti-
ficial Rearing of Chickens.)

Imported Poultry and
Eggs. — The fact that two
millions is paid yearly out of this
country for eggs, and some six
millions more for poultry for
table, must prove a great incentive
to energetic poultry keeping, and
is surely a proof that poultry can
be kejjt with profit if the subject
is treated with the seriousness
which it deserves.

In-breeding means mating
the birds of one pen together, and
these again with the cockerels and
pullets produced by their eggs.
This must be avoided, or the
fertility of the eggs wiU be un-
satisfactory, the produce will
diminish in size, and the health of
the strain will suffer. To avoid
it a cockerel or two should be
bought yearly from other yards,
or some pens must be kept so
thoroughly apart that relation-
ships will not be too close. {See
Buying New Stock.)

Incubators [See Artificial
Incubation.)

Indian Ducks. {See Black
East Indian.)

Indian Corn. — A favourite
grain with all poultry, but not
good food unless the birds are
on a wide range, being too
fattening.

Indian G-ame. — Grame with
a cross of the Malay. Cornwall
and Devonshire are noted for
producing the best. They are
larger than pure Game or
Malay, and much more elegant

Indigestion shows itself by
the birds going about moping,
and disliking plain food. Give
5 or 6 grs. of rhubarb and once
or twice a grain of calomel ;
feed on cooked soft food, and
let the bird walk about free,
in a garden if possible, where it
will pick up what is wholesome
for itself.

Inflammation of the
Bowels. {See Diarrhcea.)

Inflammation of the
Lungs. — A sudden chill is the
usual cause of this dangerous
malady, and it is especially
necessary to guard against it with
artificially-reared chicks very
early in the season. Going out
early in cold March winds, after
having nestled very warm (it may
be too warm) under a hot-water
mother is most productive of this
well-nigh incurable illness. A
healthy strain will not be subject
to this disease unless unduly ex-
posed.

Insect Food. — Wood-lice,
worms, ants' nests, and maggots,

(75)

are excellent food for young
chickens. Ants' nests can be
procured by country children;
and for a supply of maggots,
place some mealworms in an
open shed in a box with part
of an old mealbag ; put in a
dead bird now and then, and a
regular supply can be kept up.
{See Animal Food ; Feeding.)

Brewers' Grains thrown in a
heap and a dead bird or rat buried
in them will also produce a
supply of maggots.

Iron. {See Tonics.)

Jalap. — One tablespoonful to
twenty-five birds in the food pro-
motes laying.

January, "Work for. — Ex-
hibition work should now entirely
cease, unless the establishment is
so large that the show cocks are
not required for breeding, or
that the eggs from their pens
are not wanted before the end
of March. All pens should have
been settled and mated a month
ago. If wet or extra cold give
stimulants, but avoid these when
the weather is fine. Meat supply
should be given daily. The early
exhibitor must be busy. Hens
hatching should be set in a quiet
warm place ; a deep bed of finely-
sifted soil, quite wet and a foot
in depth, should be laid down
and the nest scooped out in it,
and if the place is a dry and
artificially warmed one, it should
be lined with chopped straw. {See
Sitting Hen : Hek Manage-
ment.) If very frosty put a
very deep bed of straw, and
mix fine ashes with the earth.

Hens will fidget and sit badly
if they feel the cold. A handful
of warm soft food is much relished
by the sitters in cold weather, and
helps to keep their blood warm.
Chickens arriving early must be
fed at 9 or 10 p.m., as darkness
soon comes on, and not being
able to feed till late, say 8 a.m.
in the morning, the time of fast-
ing is too long. Chopped eggs,
and crumbs of bread and meat,
make the best meal at night, with
a little milk. An unheated
vinery is the best place at this
season, with doors open by day
to let the broods out in fine
weather. .Birds not wanted for
laying stock should now be sold
or eaten, to free the pens and to
rest the ground, preparatory to
the advent of chickens. As re-
gards breeding cocks, the more
gallant they are to the hens
the more necessary is it to
feed them alone, otherwise they
grow thin and low, and clear
eggs will be the result. Keep
all houses and nests very clean,
for if cold or wet, the hens
will congregate in them for
warmth.

Japanese Bantams.

White bodies, with flowing black
tails ; very short yellow legs.

Jersey Blues. {See Bucks
County ; Andalusians.)

Journeys, if long, are best
accomplished by night. The
darkness conduces to sleep and
quiet, and an extra day of con-
finement and loss of food is not
incurred. Twenty-four hours
before the bird starts it is well
to write a line to advise the

^76)

recipient of ihe fact, as delay is
thus prevented.

July, Work for.— Notes for
June may be carried out. The
first shows now commence. Do
not exhibit at small shows birds
which may be fit for greater
things ; you will only stunt their
growth and injure them; some
exceptionally early birds, now
in fine feather, may be ex-
hibited. Vigorous weeding of
the stock must commence, num-
bers will be ready for fatten-
ing, even if exhibition stock
alone is kept. A bird with a
marked defect should at once go
to the condemned run, and be
killed for table as wanted, or
fattened, if crammed birds are
appreciated. Eggs for winter
should now be stored. Cleanli-
ness must be insisted upon in
every particular, for if neglected
diarrhoea and vermin of all sorts
will run riot. In a well-ordered
poultry establishment such worries
should be of the rarest occurrence.
Begin to sell adult stock if not
required for breeding, and kill
off adult hens, if for soup and
food, before any sign of moult
comes on. Put all your exhi-
bition baskets into a well-closed
house or shed, and bum sulphur
in_ a pan, leaving it for the day ;
this will kill any insects. Wash
the baskets dry, and re-line ready
for shows.

June, Work for. — "Warm
weather, with occasional wet,
starts daarrhoea with chickens.
Mix chalk with the food now
and again as a preventive,
and give boiled, instead of
merely warmed, milk, first al-

lowing it 'to cool; do not let it
stand about, or it will turn sour
in a short time and become
most prejudicial; give it as a
first drink in the morning, and
remove the pans when all are
satisfied. {See Diarrhoea.)
Hatching prize and breeding
stock will now have to be dis-
continued, the birds will not
attain full size if hatched so
late. Bantam and duck hatch-
ing may occupy the'; broody hens,
who will be the better for being
allowed to hatch a brood now,
as they will moult the earlier,
and so be sooner ready to lay.
See that the sleeping places are
well ventilated; the cooler
birds sleep in hot weather the
more healthy they are. Lime-
wash all the houses, roosts,
nests, and coops frequently, but
choose dry weather for the
operation. Water supply must
be carefully looked to; neglect
of this, dirty tins, sun-baked
water, &c., are very injurious.
Cleanse all receptacles once
with hot water, and re-fiill thrice
daily.

Jungle Fowls. — The wild
fowl of India, Gallus Bankiva :
there are several species, but this
is the most dispersed ; it is like the
Black-red Game. It is capable of
being bred in domestication, and
its flesh is excellent and very
gamy. In size it comes between
the Hamburgh and Bantams.

Keeping Birds in Con-
dition. [See Condition.)

Keeping Eggs. — {See Stor-
ing.)

Killing. — Kill all hens over

(77)

two years ; kill table chickens
at four to six months. If breed-
ing for prizes only, kill all
** wasters" {see Wasters);
whatever the age, banish to the
fattening pen the moment a
serious fault is detected. They
take the room and the delicate
food of prize stock which requires
every advantage.

Killing for Table.— This is
done in various ways, but what-
ever be the manner let the birds
fast for at least fourteen hours
before death. One of the most
humane methods is to tie up the
legs and bind the cord twice
or thrice round the wings, and
then with a very sharp axe to
chop off the head on a wooden
block. Draw the skin at once
over the stump after the bird has
been hung up by the heels to
bleed thoroughly. Another way
is to cut the jugular vein, and
bleed well.

Labels should be in large
print, and never omit to write on
them the hour at which the birds
are despatched ; it is a check on
railway delay. Labels are always
supplied properly numbered, &c.,
by the secretaries of shows. Some
send the labels as a receipt for
the entry fee ; others, about three
days before the day of despatch
to the show, till which day there
is no need to trouble about their
non-arrival. {See Baskets fok
Exhibition.)

La Bresse. — A writer in
the poultry journals calls these
after the French opinion,
" volailles de luxe " and " bi-
joux." Created by long selection,

very fertile and prolific ; they are
five-toed, and resemble Dorkings,
but are smaller ; they are one of
the best table fowls reared in
France.

Laced Bantams. {See
Sebright.)

Laced Feathers. — Have a
narrow border round .the edge
different in colour or shade from
the ground colour.

La Fleebe. — Large, tall, erect
birds, glossy green-black plumage,
red face, white ears, and the less
comb the better, but remarkable
for its distinct points. They are
fair layers, and very superior
table fowls, though their legs are
grey. For a damp climate — the
breed is delicate — chickens should
be reared with plenty of bone-
dust and Parrish's Food.

Lameness. — Examine the
feet, and if no cause can be dis-
covered, then consider whether
there are too few hens to each
cock. This will produce a lame
or feeble way of walking, and
should at once be prevented by
the addition of more hens to the
pen.

Lancashire Mooneys. {See
Silver-Spangled Hamburgh.)

Langshans. — A breed of
poultry over which much con-
troversy is now going on, and one
daily growing more fashionable.
To the eye of the ordinary
fancier they much resemble Black
Cochins. Splendid glossy black
metallic-hued birds of Asiatic
type, not veri/ heavily feathered
on legs, large, good layers and

(78)

mothers; first-rate for table
and Mghly ornamental. {See
Papers in Live Stock Journal for
1879 and 1880.)

Layers, Best. — Andalnsians,
Minorcas, Hamburghs, Leghorns.

Laying Early, To Secure.
— Hatch early, and do not move
pullets about to various runs
when they are maturing. Do not
depend on old hens ; but on
March pullets, kept in warm
quarters, fed on meat and plenty
of green food, besides grain ;
occasional treats of bread soaked
in ale, hot, and a few pounded
chillies mixed in the food, and
given hot at daybreak, will
hasten the filling of the winter
egg-basket.

Laying Stock, Age of.
[See Age of Hens and Pullets
TO Lay.)

Laying Mixtures.— There
are many mixtures and condi-
ments advertised in the poultry
journals daily which have the
effect of stimulating the hen's
laying powers if desired, but few
will be needed, and many are pre-
judicial ; and if the above diet is
kept to, the birds must lay ; if they
do not, either suspect and look
out for rats, or egg-eating hens
in the flock, or a need for pad-
locks to the laying-pens. A very
effective egg-producing mixture
is 1 oz. of Glauber salts given
in a meal of potatoes three or
four days running, 1 oz. to ten
fowls ; but this must only be
tried on common laying stock.
It is effective, but dangerous, and
must be used rarely and with
caution.

Laying, To Prevent. —

Birds for show have at times to
be kept back. They are in show
form just when they begin to lay,
and never look so well after. If
you are early and wish to delay
the laying and to prolong the
period of growth, move the pul-
lets about from one run to
another.

Leghorns. — Brown andWhite
varieties. They originally came
from Leghorn, and were taken
to America, where they seem to
have been made a speciality, and
from whence the best specimens
have lately been procured. They
are non-sitters, and most prolific
layers. The eggs are, however,
small. They are a vigorous
and hardy race, range extensively
for their food, and are very shy.
The chickens are no trouble
whatever ; whether hatched by
mothers or incubators, they are
hardy, active, and robust from
the first. The cockerels are
precocious and strong, and must
be early separated. In both
varieties the cocks have large,
upright combs, firmly set on the
head, evenly serrated ; they
should be as smooth as possible,
no creases or thumb-marks. The
ear-lobes should be of a pure
cream-like white, with no splash
of red. or tinge of yeUow. The
legs must be bright yellow, and
delicate in shape.

In the White variety the plu-
mage must be snow-white, with-
out any yellow tinge ; the neck
arched; ample hackle; tail, full
and upright. In the Brown the
cock's hackles should be golden-
bay, striped with black ; and the

(79)

back red, each feather with a
stripe of brighter bay ; breast,
full, forward, and black; wings,
large, of a dark red, striped
goldenish-bay, with a bar across
of green-black lustrous hue ;
sickles, very long, of green,
black, and glossy; carriage,
important and upstanding.

Hens have falling combs ; lobes,
feet, &c., as in the cock ; the
breast, a hght salmon-brown ;
neck-feathers, yellow, striped
with black ; back, soft brown,
pencilled lightly ; tail, black, pen-
cilled at the edge with brown ;
legs, slender and yellow ; appear-
ance, well tucked up, neat, quick,
and on the alert.

Leg -weakness. — Chickens
brought up on boarded floors,
without a free run or exercise,
are subject to this ; or if kept in
heated places, or on too stimulating
diet. To prevent it, from a week
old 'give free range, with beds at
night of dry, sandy earth to
sleep upon. Feed with bone-dust
mixed in meal, and give chemical
food in the drinking water {see
Tonics ; Drink), or thirty drops
twice daily of the syrup of
hypophosphite of soda.

Le Mans. — A French variety.
A sort of inferior Creve, with
less top-knot, and a look of the
Polish breed. By no means one
of the best French breeds.

Lice. {See Vermin; Para-
sites.)

Light-coloured Yolks. —

These show an insufficiency of
iron and sulphur in the food,
also absence of green food.

Lime. — An absolute necessity

for the formation of the egg-shell,
and for the proper action of the
digestive organs. No fowls
should be left without it. Any
builder will supply old mortar
and rubble for the cost of carting.
This must be screened, and placed
in dry covered runs.

Limit to Numbers.— It is

pretty well ascertained that fowls
do not succeed if kept in too
large flocks, however extensive
the range may be. If kept in
separate flocks of fifty or less,
they pay and answer better.

List of Foods. — Grains :
Barley, buckwheat, dari, hemp,
linseed, millet, maize, oats, Scotch
groats, wheat.

Meals. — Barley-meal, Indian
corn meal, linseed, oatmeal, sharps
or pollards.

Aids in Feeding. — Bone-dust,
Spratt's Food, rice, oyster-shell
(prepared), greaves, crissel, Thor-
ley's Spice, ground barleycorns,
salt, meat, house-scraps, bones,
liver, fat, fish, hay-seeds, sun-
flower-seeds, red chillies, &c. ;
green food of all sorts.

If feeding is carried out with
judgment, and changes are rung
upon the foods named above, the
poultry wiU be kept in health,
and wiU produce chicks with
good vigorous constitutions.

Liver Disease. — Indigestion
is often disregarded until it de-
velops into disease of the liver.
The birds mope about, show an
irregular appetite, and a bilious
yellow hue appears in place of
the coral-red which a thoroughly
healthy bird should show in face
comb, and wattles. Doses cf

(80)

aperient medicine, preceded by a
grain or two grains of calomel,
will at times effect a cure if the
case is not of long standing.

Lobes, or Deaf-ears, are

the folds of skin, either pure
white or red, cream colour or
blue, according to breed, which
hang from the true ear, large in
some races, as the Spanish, small
in others, as in Dorkings.
Whiteness is best preserved by
keeping the birds out of strong
sunshine. Fighting may pro-
duce an unsightly scar of the
lobe if cocks get together.
Oxide of zinc in powder dusted
over the lobe will preserve it
from the effects of hard weather,
and zinc ointment (benzoated)
will be found useful in softening
and preserving the texture in
show-birds. Should red ticks or
spots appear, give less exposure.
If brown spots appear on lobes
originally pure white, they may
be from too rich feeding. Eeduce
the diet, and doctor the lobes
with glycerine and carbolic acid
(5 grains to the ounce), or with
sulphurous acid in water, 2 5
drachms to the ounce.

Loss of Appetite. — When
this occurs suddenly, give half
a teaspoonf ul of Epsom salts ;
this will often start laying.

Maize. {See Indian Cokn).

Malays. — Of East Indian
origin. Tall, thin, and gaunt ;
very upstanding, with taper-
ing tail ; scanty in hackle ;
prominent breast; bony and
savage appearance; thick curved
neck, carried straight up ; long-
bare legs, very scaly ; head.

broad and long ; expression,
cruel ; beak and claws, strong,
like those of a wild bird ; plu-
mage, hard, firm, and lustrous.
The varieties are White, Black,
and Piled, some also like Red
G-ame. Hens very like their
mates ; the tail, however, carried
more upright. Weight, 6 lbs. to
8 lbs., or even 9 lbs. They make
savage mothers, but are good
sitters. Eggs, well flavoured.
When crossed with Dorlcings,
they make good table-fowls,
meaty in breast and wing.

Management of Chickens.

{See Chickens, G-eneral Treat-
ment OF.)

Mandarin Dueks, or
Chinese Teal. — Small com-
pact ducks of exquisite colouring
and gorgeous plumage; heads,
crested, of brilliant green, purple,
and chestnut. The ruff of
brownish-red lies on the breast
and sides of rich red purple, clear
white ' stripes run across the
shoulders. The wings have
peculiar shields or fans, erect and
projecting, of a chestnut tint, with
green edges. Bill, crimson ; legs,
pink ; eyes, red or black. After
May the drake drops his gorgeous
plumage and becomes like the
duck, of a mottled greenish brown,
with the lower part of the body
grey. They are very quarrelsome,
and difficult to show, more orna-
mental than useful. They can
be bred in confinement ; but
boxes for laying must be placed
almost in the water. They are
best hatched in an incubator.

Mangolds. — Poultry are fond
of the green leaves, and a root

(81)

chopped flue or left on the ground
to peck at is relished in winter
when green food is scarce.

Manure. — Poultry manure
should always be saved ; it is most
valuable if kept dry. A water-
tight tub with a cover should
stand at the door of each block of
poultry-houses, into which the
droppings can be thrown as free
from sand and extraneous matter
as possible. A little earth or
ashes sprinkled over it will effec-
tually deodorise, and do no harm.

Marcli, Work for. — Hatch-
ing must now be in full swing,
as it is important to get the bulk
of all valuable stock out before
the 31st. Stock for table may be
hatched throughout the year.
Allow chicks all the freedom
possible ; do not shut up in
small places, or cramp will re-
sult ; the more they run the
better. Eschew board floors.
Give plenty of milk. Chicks are
much helped by warm food. It
is of more importance to give
food warm, sweet, fresh, and
very frequently, than to pamper
the appetite with condiments and
luxuries. Stock pens should be
let out in the grass runs whenever
the weather is not really bad.
Stimulants should be dropped by
degrees if they have been resorted
to ; but the clever poultry-
keeper's account for these will be
small. Preserve eggs from frost
if for hatching. Put false eggs
into the nests to encourage laying
and sitting. Birds must be put
under restraint in wet and severe
cold ; our climate will not allow
of free range in winter. The

birds wiU not reaUy range, but
will stand about and get chilled
and wet; hence much of the
failure in English poultry-farms.
Supply large covered runs, open
to air and sun-gleams, but dry.

Marking Chickens. — It is

possible with the hot point of a
needle to perforate the wing
membrane with one, two, three,
or more holes, marking the
various hatches or strains.
Coloured cotton round the leg
answers, but must be changed as
the size of the leg increases, or it
will lame the chick by growing
into the flesh.

Mating. — If early chickens
are wanted, mating should be ar-
ranged by the end of November.
Pullets and hens over their moult
will begin laying about a month
after mating. Any great faults
in the hen must be counteracted
by the influence of the cock, or
the fault win be exaggerated in
the progeny. All birds with
marked defects must be excluded,
and only the best bred from.
When once mated the pens should
not be disturbed, as any change
may be the cause of unfertile

May, Work for.— Hatch on

still for late shows, and for
supplying successional puUets.
Do not spare the sulphur dredger,
and water the nests with hot
water frequently if the weather
is dry. Elder broods should all
be sorted, cockerels to one run,
pullets to another ; and more
air should be given at night,
while rain and v/et grass by

(82)

day are not so likely to hart
the chicks as the weather grows
warmer. Plumage of last year's
show birds will now grow
brittle ; guard birds intended for
show from storms, mud, and
strong sunshine. Dust heaps
and baths should be cleansed,
thoroughly renewed, and well
mixed with sulphur powder.
Unlimited green food should, as
usual, be given to old and young
stock. The food for Turkey
chicks should be frequent and
plentiful. Potatoes, barley,
wheat, oatmeal, turnips, Spratt,
milk, oatmeal, rice boiled; soft
food mixed with crissel and
plenty of lime and brick-dust
will fatten and keep them in
health. They are very suscep-
tible to damp during the first
week, and should be protected
from showers.

Meals. — Number in the day
for adult birds three. At day-
break in winter, at 6 a.m. in
summer ; at midday ; and at 5
p.m. For Chickens see Chickens,
General Treatment of.

Meat. {See Flesh; Animal
Food.")

Meat Producers. — For

delicacy only. Game is the first.
For delicacy and size, Dorking, La
Fleche, Crevecoeur, Houdan,
Langshan, Malay, and Brahma-
Dorking with their crosses.

Mice. {See Enemies to
Poultry.)

Milk for Chickens. — Boiled
milk given warm is decidediy
good for chickens, and prevents
diarrhoea. It is indispensable for

prize-bred chickens, and should
be given at least every night and
morning. Nothing is worse than
allowing milk to stand about and
get sour. All milk pans should
be scrubbed twice daily with hot
water. The Americans give milk
to laying hens, and hold that it
increases egg production.

Minorcas, Black and White,
supposed to come originally from
Minorca. Possibly the ancestors
of the Black Spanish, from which
they differ only in having the
very red face instead of the white
one, and being of a more robust
build. Magnificent specimens are
bred from the Blue Andalusian,
which they resemble in all points
save colour, as also do the White
Minorcas. This would be ac-
counted for on the supposition that
the Andalusian arose originally
from a cross of the Black and
White Spanish. {See Andalu-
siANS.) They are splendid layers,
and do not sit. The eggs from
adult birds are vert/ large, and pure
white; plumage, a lustrous green,
black, or purple-black. The
comb of the cock is very large
(apt to get coarse) and upright ;
should be finn, stiff, smooth, free
from thumb-marks and side
sprigs; the ear-lobes should be
perfectly smooth, like kid, opaque,
white, and large ; the face coral
red. The hen must have white
ear-lobes, red face, and a very
large falling comb, evenly ser-
rated, and no side sprigs; eyes,
dark ; legs, lead-colour ; splendid
fowls for farm purposes, very
hardy, and maturing early.

Moisture to Eggs. {See
Artificial Hatching ; Incu-

(83)

BATOR ; Sitting Hen, Manage-
ment OF.)

Mongrels. {See Bakndoor.)

M o o n e y s. {See Silver-
spangled Hamburgh.)

Mothers. {See Artificial
Bearing.)

Moulting. — This takes place
usually through, the months of
October, November, and De-
cember, according to the age of the
fowl. February, March and April
chicks obtain their adult plu-
mage in October and November.
They drop a few chicken feathers,
but do not moult outright till
the following August ; old birds
moult later and later each, year,
according to their age.

To Hasten Moult, pen up
cocks apart from hens in a warm
place, with deep sand and mortar
sif tings. Keep them very warm
at night; the older the bird the
warmer it should be kept. The
process of moulting takes about
two months, but at times much
less. Food should be given warm,
very little at a time, and not
stimulating when first penned up ;
then generous diet, with a touch
of red chiUies ia it ; and in the
gallon of drinking water put
sulphate of iron the size of two
filberts, and ten drops of sul-
phuric acid. Non- sitting hens
can be hurried on by taking
away all stimulating food and
placing them in a fresh house.
As soon as moult begins feed
well. Should birds moult too
slowly, and look ailing, give two
or three one-grain doses of ca-
lomel, a dose of jalap, soft food,

and meat. If the weather is
cold, a pill now and again of two
or three grains of cayenne is
useful. The Spanish tribes
moult late and hard ; birds with
shabby feathers in July cannot
be ready in time for September
exhibition. If required early they
must be preserved from injury,
for moult cannot be hurried on
so early in the season. Meat
green food, a little pepper, and
ale, with warm housing at night,
will bring all birds comfortably
through the moulting season. If
the shaft of the new feathers
seems to stick on for a long time,
not splitting open freely, more
stimulating diet should be al-
lowed : meat, linseed, and hemp.

Muscovy Ducks. — White is
the commonest colour ; they are
also parti-coloured, and black,
and brown ; they require little
or no water, and are very quarrel-
some. The red tubercles and skin
at base of the bill are peculiar.
Ducklings must be eaten young,
or they are rank and tough. The
eggs are not large. They prefer
roosting ia the poultry-house
to goiag on the water at night
and never lay away.

Nankin Bantams arc

difficult to breed as small as they
should be ; they are very tame
and friendly, lay large eggs, and
are splendid mothers. In ap-
pearance they resemble Cochin
(Buff) have single or rose combs,
and can be kept very well in con-
finement, beiag of contented
minds.

Negro Fowls. {See Silkies.)

(84)

Nest Eggs.— Should be ox
china or painted wood. It is a
very slovenly and bad plan to
put addled eggs about as nest
eggs ; if broken they will pollute
the nest and hen's feathers also,
and render her otherwise than
sweet and wholesome for the next
valuable eggs she may be re-
quired to incubate. {See Sitting
Hens.)

Nests for Laying. — Hens
like to be secluded when they
lay and sit: nests affording
shelter from the vulgar gaze will
therefore be preferred. The nest
should not be so formed that the
hen must jump into it ; this shakes
the eggs at times so violently
as to break them. A box with
the bottom and one side taken
out will form a snug nest, if put
next a wall and kept well sup-
plied with fresh straw chopped in
short lengths. If rats abound
raise the nests from the floor.
The wire basket nests sold in
various sizes suited to the dif-
ferent breeds are excellent. These
are hung on the walls of the
house, but if put high a board
must be fixed to the wall hard by
the basket, so that the hen can
get quietly into the nest without
jumpingin. For nest-making, use,
if you can procure it, dried
bracken fern or dried heather,
both excellent ; dried moss is the
next best, all these three being
insect proof; after these come
oat or wheat straw. On no ac-
count use barley straw or hay,
as both are apt to produce
vermin. Change the straw or
whatever be the material often —
hens appreciate cleanliness — but ,

do not change the position of the
nest, as it gives offence to laying
hens, and they may punish you
by laying no eggs for a day or
two.

Nests for Hatching. {See
Sitting Hen.)

New Breeds. — Duclair
Ducks and Courtes Pattes Fowls
are amongst the greatest novel-
ties. Andalusians, Plymouth
Rocks, and Langshans, seem
gaining in reputation daily.
Pekin Ducks have come into
vogue during the last three years.

Night Accommodation
for Chicks must be dry, warm,
ventilated, secure from rats, very
clean, and supplied with broad,
low perches or shelves, not touch-
ing a wall, covered with straw.

Norfolk Turkey Rearing.

— Norfolk and Cambridge are
the greatest Turkey raising
counties. Turkeys are supposed
to require a remarkably dry
climate, whether they find this
in the flats of Cambridgeshire
or whether it is the special
care given to their rearing in
these counties, is a question.
The Norfolk Turkey is black,
with a spot or two of white;
the Cambridge is bronze-grey.
An April Turkey should weigh
18 lbs., and hen 10 to 11 lbs. by
Christmas. April hatch is best.
Second lot of hatching comes in
June or July. A cock and three
or four hens will be sufficient
for a small farm.

November, Work for.—

The busiest showing month. Do
not over-show. Calculate care-

(85)

fully whea birds are to go and re-
turn, and always give a week at
least betweent wo shows. Applica-
tions come in for stock birds, settle
what your breeding stock is to
be, and avoid selling the best
birds, as failure of produce for
next year will be the result,
and your success as a breeder
will wane. Study the prepara-
tion of birds for show, and
carry out all directions to the
letter ; do not imagine that little
things are unnecessary. It is
not easy to gain prizes in the
present high competition. Birds
for the "Palace" or "Birming-
ham" should not have been
hacked about at small shows.
Feed generously ; do not pamper
with condiments unless your
stock is in any trouble, but let
the birds live a healthy life, as
free as may be, without injury
to feathers. Show birds must
be penned, however, to make
them tame, or they will be
distracted in the show-pen, and
will not show off to advantage.
Give cockerels a hen or wastrel
pullet three days before the
show, and just before starting,
say four hours, give the show
pidlet, that you may be assured
that the two will not fight on the
way ; it is not likely, but they
might do so. Sacrifice birds at
low price rather than over-stock
your accommodation. This applies
to show and farm birds.

ITumber of Hens to Coek.

— Five to one cock if the eggs
are being sold for prize stock
at prize stock price ; but if for
ordinary farm purposes, eight,
or even ten on a free range.

Number of Ducks to
Drake. — If there are twelve
ducks three drakes would bo
advisable, and so on in pro-
portion; but the eggs are more
fertile if a drake and four
or five ducks are kept in
separate . flocks, for in a large
flock the drakes are apt to be
quarrelsome and interfering.

Tfumber of Meals for
Chickens. [See Chickens.)

Number of Meals for
Hens. {See Feeding Adult
Birds; ^o««-5 /or Feeding.)

Oatmeal. — Scotch is the best ;
though expensive it pays for
prize poultry; the birds get on
wonder-fully when fed upon it as a
staple article of diet, either mixed
dry with rice boiled in milk till
it crumbles into a friable mass, or
boiled stiff and crumbled with
dry raw sharps.

Oats. — Too much husk to be a
favourite grain with poultry, but
very good in change with other
corn. [See Corn.)

October, Work for. — Showp
are coming on apace. "Write for
schedules, &c., in good time ;
make careful notes of days, and
hours, and prices of birds to
be sent; prepare birds as di-
rected. Give iron tonic in water
all round, for show birds and
moulting pens as well, and late
chickens. Young birds should
sleep on straw beds or straw-
littered shelves. Don't let your
man shake this up and leave
the droppings under the straw
for nights together. A good
shake up and a thorough daily

(86)

sweeping is "worth, tlie few
minutes required to do it.
Watch for roup, diarrhoea,
severe moult. Be ready for
returning show birds. Get
ducks' eggs in for hatching if
you can ; the ducklings are very
valuable fat in January, February,
and March.

Old Chicks.— The first brood
of the season is sure to get
especial and individual attention
in the way of constant feeding,
delicate diet, replenished hot-
water mothers, and various deli-
cate attentions. Care should be
taken as the numbers increase
that the interest does not flag,
and that younger chicks are not
left on short commons in the way
of food, tit-bits, warmth, and all
the care without which they will
not be a success.

Old Fowls for Table.— No-
thing is more trying than a
tough old hen for dinner. The
poultry papers give invaluable
receipts for rendering old members
of the poultry yard as tender
as the young ones. For this
very long and gentle stewing is
necessary. An old hen stiifPed
with watercress, seasoned with
mustard, salt, and pepper, is ex-
cellent.

For an old stager of four years
the following is advised. Kill
her, pick, and wrap while warm
in vine leaves, then bury her,
and let her lie for twenty-four
hours in sweet earth. Lastly,
bon very gently in good stock,
and the result is tenderness as of
a chicken.

Onions. — Almost all green
food is valuable for poultry, and

should be collected carefully and
thrown to the birds fresh daily,
but onion-tops and onions must
be carefully excluded, as hens are
fond of them, and the eggs wUl
taste very strong and unpleasant
after they have eaten them.

Orchard. — Orchards are far
preferable to open fields for
poultry farm purposes; the shelter
of leaves in summer is very
beneficial. Cankerworms and
caterpillars falling from the trees
are consumed, windfalls are made
use of instead of harbouring ver-
min, which again creep up and
destroy good fruit.

Over-Fattening. — Care
must be taken not to keep the
birds penned up for cramming a
day after the process is com-
plete, for after a certain time
disease and emaciation will set in.

Packing Eggs for Hatch-
ing.— Sudden or sharp jerks and
jars are to be warded off by the
packing medium. For thirteen
eggs, get a hamper, inside
measure about 12 by 6 inches.
Sew a strong piece of sacking to
the edges of the bottom of the
basket, leaving the sacking loose,
so that it can be filled up with
moss or chaff, and thus make a soft
spring-like pad. Wrap each egg in
paper, then pass round it a wisp
of hay. Proceed to bed the eggs
in, small end uppermost, with
hay between, and as you pack
fill up all spaces with chaff;
lastly put a layer of hay at the
top, and sew the hamper up.
There should be a stout handle to
carry the basket by, and the
address should be clearly written,
with — " Eggs for hatching."

(87)

"Not to be shaken.'* "Imme-
diate."

Painting Feathers, Legs,
&c. — An elaborate species of
deception practised hy some dis-
honest exhibitors. Leghorns' legs
have been found to be painted or
dyed of a bright yellow colour.

Paralysis may be complete,
or only of the legs. In either
case it is impossible to cure
thoroughly, and the bird will
always have a lame or awkward
gait. Unless a peculiarly valuable
prize bird, it will be best to kUl
it. Daily faradization might be
useful, and might be carried out
on a valuable bird, with the
aid of gentle doses of strychnia
when the case is partially re-
covering.

Parasites.— (<S'^5 Yermin.)
Parasites should not exist, and
their presence in any number
shows great want of cleanHness.
If whitewash, dust baths, sulphur,
and Persian powder, &c. {see
Enemies TO Poultry), faU, apply
petroleum ointment under the
wings, about head and ioner part
of thighs, but this is a very
severe measure. Syringe the
house with hot water, in which
carbolic acid is dissolved, a wine-
glassful to the gallon.

Alder branches, if laid on the
roosting places over-night,
attract the parasites by their
scent; they congregate in the
branches, and can be lifted away
and burnt early at daybreak. A
tobacco leaf in the nest will drive
off insects, and keep laying
nests free of these pests. A few
insects may collect under the

wings and under the thighs of
birds, especially those which are
a little out of condition and
chickens reared by broody hens,
which are collected haphazard
from neighbouring farms, but
they ought quickly to be got
rid of by the clever poultry
keeper, and should be the ex-
ception, not the rule. There is
nothing better than Persian pow-
der mixed with sulphur, used out
of a dredger, for powdering
chickens ; a dash of it over the
head and neck, another between
the legs and under each wing, will
clean the chick in a day. It is
very necessary to pen the chicks
in a bare pen devoid of straw
for an hour or two after the
operation, and then when let out
boiliug water should be poured
over the ground where the in-
sects have fallen ; this prevents
their recovery and cleanses the
place.

Parrish's Chemical Food.

{See Tonics.)

Parsnips, boiled, are good
for poultry-food, and assist lay-
ing.

Partridge Cochins. {See
Cochins; Partridges.)

Pea Comb. — Such as is seen
in both varieties of Brahma ; the
comb is in three ridges, the
centre one rising above the out-
side ones, all distinct, and all
firm and compact, rising from
the front and arching back.

Pekin Ducks. — The largest
ducks known. Chief charac-
teristics : brilliant orange bills
and feet; white plumage, with

(88)

the imder parts of canary hue ;
boat-shaped bodies, and a strik-
ingly erect, penguin -like carriage.
They do not seem to reach such
heavy weights as the Aylesbury
or Eouen, though larger to look
at. The first prize pair at Bir-
mingham, 1879, scaled under 14
lbs., while Aylesbury and Eouen
reached a weight of over 22 lbs.
in 1878. They fatten quickly,
and are a contented and quiet
breed. It is possible to keep
them in confinement, and to get
plenty of eggs with a fair percen-
tage of ducklings, even though
the parents have no more water
than is supplied by a rain tank
sunk in the ground four feet by
six. This can be done, but free
range with ponds or a brook
is, of course, better still for
breeding stock. Pekins are not
fanciful as to food, take willingly
all that is given them, and the
ducklings fatten quickly to a
large size.

Pekin Bantams. — A minute
Buff Cochin in appearance, but
shorter in the leg. Somewhat
delicate, contented in confine-
ment, and very tame ; but should
be let out occasionally for grubs
and worms ; so small that they
cannot do much harm in the
garden.

Pen for Breeding Stock.

— Should have a grass run at-
tached besides the covered run,
where the birds may be left in
peace to go in and out as they
Hke. The less they are fussed
the more fertile will be the eggs.
For sale of prize eggs at high
prices put four hens to the
cock; for farm work, or for

house supply of eggs and
chickens, eight to one cock. If
only for egg production, not
hatching, any nimiber to one cock.

Pencillsd Feathers.— Have
no moon, no border, but dark
bars in parallel lines across
lighter ground.

Pencilled Hamburghs. —

{See Hamburghs, Gold and Sil-
ver.)

Perch.. — AUow sis inches for
each fowl. The best is a larch
pole sawn in half, with the
knots cut off smooth, the bark
left on. A medium-sized larch
will be about the right size.
The perch should not be placed
high when there is no space
for the birds to fly down with
a gradual swoop, as is natural
to them when roosting in the
open ; three feet from the groimd
in confined places is high enough,
the perch should be far enough
from the back wall to keep the
tail plumage clear^ carelessness
in this causes much mischief.
Broad, low perches should be
erected in. sunny spots about the
run ; fowls delight in perching
to preen themselves after meals.

Persian Powder. (See Dis-
infectants ; Lice j Veemin ;
Parasites.)

Pip. — A name given to a dry
scaly substance on the tongue
of sick birds ; it comes when the
breathing is obstructed through
the nostril, and if the bird's
health is restored the pip will
vanish. The mouth may be
cleaned with Condy or chlori-
nated soda.

(89)

Plucking should be done
while the bird is yet warm.
An excellent plan in small estab-
lishments, where there is small
accommodation for feathers, is
to have newspaper bags made —
e.g.^ a Times stitched round three
sides — and when a fowl is
plucked let the feathers be
put into it. These can be at
once baked in the oven, which
will destroy any live stock, and
the store of' feathers may be
put by, in a compact, cleanly
way, for sale when the season
is over; a collection of dirty
feathers in any other way is
very objectionable. Pekin and
Aylesbury Ducks' feathers are
very valuable, as also is goose
down, which fetches the highest
price.

Plumage. — The thing to be
aimed at is a close, firm plumage,
with a brilliant gloss upon it; grass
runs will give this. To attain
it in confinement exceeding care,
extreme cleanliness, and clever
management in feeding, are neces-
sary. Hemp and sunflower seeds
are excellent for imparting a
glossy appearance; too much
must not be given, or feathers
will drop off.

Plymouth Rocks {see Club
for). — Very large birds, of noble
and erect carriage ; somewhat
Cochin-like, with a touch of
Dorking; in colour a pretty
blue - grey, with spangles of
black ; no red, brown, or any
tint should mar the colouring.
The legs strong and bright
yellow, with four toes ; ear-lobe
red, and comb medium, upright,
and firm. The hen's comb same

as the cock, also the plumage;
the thighs are full and fluSy,
they are good layers, and the
chickens are fast gro\sang, being
soon ready, and excellent for
table. They are pretty fair only
as sitters. Useful hardy fowls,
not in any way delicate. '

Polish. Fowls. — Chief va-
rieties are : the Black, with pure
white crests and no beard; the
Gold and Silver Spangled, with
crest and full mufE. Besides
these there are Buff, White,
and Blue Polish, but these are
very rare. The Polish fowl is
fairly hardy, but it must be
kept where covered runs will
give protection in rain to the
crests, which are much injured
by exposure to wet. They will
bear complete confinement better
than free range without proper
shelter from wet ; they are thus
well adapted for town poultry
pens. They are good layers,
size of %%^ medium. They do
not sit. They should weigh
from 5 to 6 lbs. , and their meat
is good for table.

Poultry Clubs. {See Clubs.)

Precocious Chickens. —

None are more so than the Anda-
lusian, Minorca, and Leghorn.
Cockerels of these breeds will
crow at two months, and call the
other chickens to feed, giving up
to them delicate morsels hke gal-
lant old birds. It is well in such
cases to separate the cockerels
from the pidlets.

Preserved Eggs. {See'^GG%\
Preserving Eggs.)

(90)

Prevent Hen Sitting.—
Put the hen into a new run of
poultry ; the change of cock and
companions may have good re-
sults, and the loss of the favourite
nest at the same time completes
the cure. Dipping hens in water
and putting them into solitary
confinement on short commons is
cruel and unnecessary.

Price for Board and
Lodging for Adult Birds.—

Three-haKpence ■ a week will
amply pay for food; but as
separate house-room must be
given, a trifle [extra is expected.
This does not answer so well
as sending the chickens out.
The adult birds miss home com-
forts, and the risk of crosses
with farm mongrels is great.

Price for Ducks* Board
and Lodging. — If ducks are
kept in a small place, without
ponds or running water, but
merely a tank, it is highly ad-
visable when the breeding season
is over to send them to recruit at
a farm, to roam the fields and
have plenty of water. If sent in
August, and brought back to
warm quarters in December,
early eggs may be expected.
Farmers willingly allow them
food and room at l^d. each — this
for large Pekins, &c. — the risk
from foxes and accident being
borne by the owners.

Prices of Eggs also, vary
according to the strain and time
of year — from prize-bred runs.
2d., and even 3d., a-piece
during the winter months can be
easily procured for new-laid eggs
in any town, and Is. a dozen j

for" well-preserved eggs during
the winter. From Is. each to
25s. and 30s. the sitting is the
usual sum for prize stock eggs.

Prices of Poultry.— Duck-
lings should be hatched so as to
be fattened ready for sale in
London, in January, February,
and March, when they command
the highest price, 20s. or 25s. a
couple for White Aylesbury or
Pekin ; spring chickens also
should be ready from January
to March. Eeal spring chickens
may be killed very young, a
Brahma crossed with Black
Minorca or Andalusian makes a
grand-sized table fowl, and these
chicks at six weeks old should
make the most delicate spring
chickens possible. Chickens
weighing from 5 lbs. to 7 lbs. the
pair, real spring chickens, should
fetch 8s. to 10s., or 12s. ia the
first months of the year. In
America chickens for table mean
young birds not above six weeks
old; they average Is. each in
price. In France dead poultry
is sold by weight, and the heavier
the bird the greater the price per
pound. Old hens should be taken
up and fattened just as they are
laying their last eggs, before the
moulting season, and if killed off
not later than their second year
will fetch a good price fat at
Leadenhall market. The prices
of prize-bred poultry vary accord-
ing to the purity and perfection
of the strains from which they
come ; £50, £60, to £100, having
been given for one pen ; £15,
£20, to £30, for a cockerel, first
prize winner and of known ex-
cellence, being a usual price.

(91)

Price to Pay for Rearing
Chicks. — If a large stock is
required from which to choose
exhibition birds and the accom-
modation is limited, it is a good
plan to give the' small farmers
in the neighbourhood, or cotta-
gers who have any suitable sheds,
some of the chickens to rear.
Keep them a month at home ; or
if reared by hens till the hen
leaves them, choose the best
to keep, and send off all
refuse or doubtful birds. The
price for rearing them is Id.
per head per week for small
birds up to three months, after
that l|d. each. The food is rough,
and not so ample as at home, but
the fresh air of the country,
grass, and freedom, does much to
replace home luxuries.

Prize Birds, their Treat-
ment.— Hatched in the three
first months of the year, they
must be well fed and well housed,
never chilled, and yet allowed
perfect freedom on grass runs
whenever fine and dry. Soft
food should have bone-dust mixed
with it {see Bone Dust), and the
meals should be ample and fre-
quent {see Feeding Chicks), but
never so large as to remain un-
eaten and to get sour ; meat
and green food should be given
in plenty ; at from, three to four
months the cockerels should be
separated from the pullets ; no
crowding, no want of cleanliness
should be allowed, and no rough-
ing it in bad weather, or the
feathers will be soiled. These
must be kept spotlessly fresh, and
care must be taken that no rough
wii-e, or ill-made doors, or awk-
G

ward perches, injure the plumage,
on which prizes to a great extent
depend. Three weeks before the
show, pen the birds, cock and
pullet separatel}', giving each a
friendly companion of their own
sex ; feed on bread-and-ndlk,
wheat, and twice or three times
a week give linseed ; boil it till it
is in a jelly and mix in oatmeal
till it is friable ; this will gloss the
plumage. Also give barley-meal
and sharps, buckwheat, a little
hemp, oatmeal-and-milk, with a
little meat. Let the pens be deep
in fresh straw ; see that the dust-
baths are very clean. Two days
before the show give night and
morning a meal of rice boiled in
milk, stiff, and plenty of wheat ;
a little meat chopped into the rice
is much enjoyed. Rice is to pre-
vent any chance of diarrhoea in
the show pens, which would
entail extra soiling of the
plumage. Green food is to be
given in plenty, preferably grass
and lettuce and spiuach. Forty-
eight hours before showing wash
the birds if need be. {See Wash-
ing.) Feed as above till an hour
before starting. Lastly, wash the
comb, face, &c., with soap and
water, dry it, and rub it over with
a little vinegar ; give each bird a
teaspoonful of port wine ; they
wiU then sleep instead of fretting
in the railway van. Inside the
hamper at the side tie the top of
a cottage loaf soaked with port
wine, and a lettuce, to peck at ;
this will bring them in good-
spirits and condition to the show
pen. Do not omit, three days
before the show, to give the
cockerel or cock a hen in his pen,
but not one which is to be ex-

(92)

hibited. He will tlien not take
much notice when the show
pullet is introduced into the ex-
hibition hamper, and this should
bd done about three hours before
the traiu leaves to insure that no
fighting occurs. {See Baskets for
Exhibition ; Feeding on Return
FROM Show.)

Prize Poultry. — Does it
pay ? There is no doubt that
keeping poultry for exhibition
and the sale of thorough-bred
stock is remunerative if you
can combine it with the sale of
eggs and table poultry. Prizes
bring in no grist to the mill,
the expenses of exhibiting being
great, while the enormous charges
of the railway companies con-
sume the profits of even first-
class prizes.

Prizes are generally given in
money, or at times a silver cup
for the first prize or in addition
to it; they are paid as a rule
withia a month or two of the
show. If not received within
that time, it is as well to write
and inquire.

Produce Hatched, Good

Average, out of first-class prize
eggs : chicks seven out of twelve
travelled prize stock eggs ; twelve
first-class birds fit to show out of
two hundred chicks, Spanish ;
eight first-class birds fit to show
out of two hundred chicks of other
breeds. Another great breeder
■ says he has nineteen walks of
Dorkings, cock and four hens in
each ; by the 1st April he has 172
chicks, by 1st May 400. If he
gets fifty prize birds fit to show,
and many of these to win, and 150

fair birds besides, he considers
it a very lucky year. If properly
managed, an egg farm could be
very well kept up at the same
time that breeding for exhiX,ition
is carried out. Exhibiting is ex-
pensive work, but it is necessary,
that the prize stock may become
known ; when this is accom-
plished it may be discontiaued
as an unnecessary expense. To
pick out six or ten birds fit to
show and win entails the hatching
of say two hundredbirds annually.
Those falling short of the show
standard can be drafted into the
laying or fattening pens at once.

Pullets. — The pullet is so
called for twelve months, or until
the year in which she was
hatched is closed. Pullets
hatched in April, 1880, for in-
stance, would go through all the
shows of that season, from July to
the following February or March,
as a pullet, and so with the
cockerels. Pullets should not be
mated till they are five months
old, and then with an adult cock
rather than with a cockerel. That
their eggs do not hatch is an
error ; they do so as well as those
of old birds, but the produce is
not quite so vigorous unless the
puUet was hatched quite early,
in February or March. {8ee Age
OF Pullets to Lay.)

Pullets not Laying. — If

over six months old they are
either over-fed, which can be as-
certained by feeling their con-
dition and weighing ; or possibly
underfed : if pullets are much
exhibited and the runs often
changed this will prevent egg

(93)

production. Should the "birds be
thin give meat and a little stimu-
lant, as red chillies or condiment,
buckwheat, sunflower seeds ; if
fat, reduce diet and give an
aperient. Constant exhibiting is
very fatal to laying.

Purcliasing Poultry and
Eggs. {See Buying.)

Purity to be Preserved. —

Unless the accommodation is very-
ample, it is a great mistake, when
going in for prize poultry, to
try several breeds at one time.
Amatem-s are fond of doing
this. The danger of mixing
the breeds is too great, and
should not be lightly run when
eggs are sold at prize prices.

Quantity of Food.— It is

impossible to feed fowls or
chickens by measure. Never
leave food to be trodden about,
let all be eaten up clean. {See
Feeding ; Hours fob, Food.)

Railway, Sending Fowls
by. {See Travelling.)

Hats. {See Enemies to the
Poultry-yard.)

Rearing, Artificial. {See
Artificial.)

Rearing for Show. {See
Prize Birds, their Manage-
ment.)

Rearing Ducks for Mar-
ket. {See Ducks.)

Red Caps. {See Hamburghs.)

Red Chillies. {See Condi-
ments, their Use and Abuse.)

Repletion. — Some birds will
over-eat themselves, and mope |

about after meals in a dejected
manner. This may be the fore-
runner of more severe disease
from over-feeding. {See Liver
Disease.)

Rheumatism shows itself
in the same way as in human
beings : stiffness of joints, con-
traction of the toes, and a
painful gait. Warm quarters ;
a hot bath for the legs, which
should be bandaged with flannel,
and rubbing the legs with chloro
form or soap liniment, are useful ;
give half a grain of opium five
times in the week ; and good
generous diet. No one would
take all this trouble, save in the
case of a very valuable exhibition
bird.

Rice. — An excellent food for
chickens. To be had at lis. the
cwt. ; it must never be given
raw, but boiled well until soft,
and in skimmed milk if possible ;
if not, dripping or fat should be
added, or coarse suga,r for a
change, and then dry oatmeal or
sharps should be mixed in till
it is a crumbling mass. It may
be given in turn with oatmeal
and Spratt's Food.

Roofs. — The best material is
corrugated iron, for then the
rain-water from the roof can be
collected and stored, A wooden
roof covered with tarred felt is
good also, but not so lasting, and
the water which runs off must
not be given to the poultry to
drink, neither can it be used for
watering flowers, as it is highly
injurious. Slate or tile roofs are
equally good. Thatch should be
avoided as it harbours rats and

(94)

mice, and unless very thick will
not keep the wet out, especially
if deep snow melts on it.

Roosting. — Chickens should
not be allowed to roost till from
four to five months old, and then
on broad perches, two to three feet
only from the ground. Exhibi-
tion birds are l3etter roosted on
shelves covered with sand and
littered with straw, but then
they must be kept very clean,
and the straw must be frequently
changed. On no account place
perches one above the other so
that the droppings fall on birds
lodged lower down. Cleanliness
is the great key to success, and
the roosting-places should be
scraped out daily and re-sanded.
The greater the number of fowls,
the greater must be the care.

Rouen Ducks. — In plumage
exactly like the Mallard or Wild
Duck. For exhibition the drakes
must have the breasts rich red-
brown, of darkish hue, the drake's
bill yellow with a greenish tinge,
not lead nor bright yellow, the
bill to come straight down from
the head, long, broad; the legs,
rich orange, and the head rich
glossy green, and round the
throat is a ring of pure white, but
this must not go right round ; the
back is greenish black ; tail,
darker ; wings, grey and brown,
and a bar across of brilliant blue,
edged with black-and-white, clean
cut; the flights are grey and
brown ; the fluff and under parts
must be toned down to light grey,
no white must be seen. The
duck's bill, orange colour, must
be nearly covered, but not to the

tip, with an irregular splash of
dark colour, blackish ; the ground
colour dark, chocolate brown,
with pencilling of still darker
tint.

Birds for breeding are good
weight at seven pounds. In the
show pen they have exceeded
24 lbs., and were once shown
over 32 lbs., but such fattening
destroys breeding power, and the
birds are useless. The eggs are
not so large as the Aylesbury ;
they are of both colours, green
and white, and very plentiful ; the
flesh is as good as the Aylesbury,
and they fatten equally weU.

Roup. — This dreadful disease
begins with a slight cold, followed
by inflammatory symptoms. It
affects the cavity of the nose»
The discharge commences by
being watery and clear, after-
wards becoming thick and .offen-
sive ; the face, eyes, and throat
swell ; lastly, fever, thirst, and
loss of appetite, come on.

No. 1. At once isolate the
bird when as yet nothing but
a slight cold has appeared. Wash
the head with warm milk ; feed
with soft food. Powder the
roosting places with quicklime
just before they go to bed, and
give daily 1 gr. sulphate of
copper in oatmeal ; give warm
ale and plenty of green food.

No. 2. Foment the swelled
parts, squeeze out the matter ;
give teaspoonful castor-oil, and
feed on oatmeal with pepper ;
plenty of green food.

No. 3. Drop solution of atro-
pine into the eyes when running.
Give a pinch of Epsom salts
daily, soft food, and a capsule

(95)

of cod-liver oil with quinine.
Squeeze the inflamed glands,
and dress with one part Wright's
Liquor Carhonis to fifteen parts
water.

No. 4. First give a dose of
castor-oil, and at the same time
wash the face, nose, &c., with
pretty strong vinegar-and-water
twice daily. When the oil has
acted, give Walton's Eoup Pills
regiilarly ; and when the nostrils
are quite clean, fill them up well
with Farrier's Snuff.

No. 5. Keep warm and dry ;
give meat-scraps daily ; apply
alum and cayenne, a little in
mouth and nostrils, as snuff,
to cause sneezing and clear away
mucus ; hathe the nostrils with
Condy or carhonate of soda, and
give daily a pill of meal with
2 grs. myrrh, 5 grs. carhonate
iron, 2 grs. cayenne.

Should any hird get a severe
roupy cold, it is advisahle, unless
a very valuahle hird, to kill it at
once, and so stop the spread of an
infectious and troublesome illness,
which may clear out your stock.

Rumpless Po^wls. — Small
tailless birds, about the size of
a Hamburgh, generally black,
bearded and crested, five-toed,
with black legs, and the saddle
feathers hanging and curling
downwards. The spine is deficient
in the final vertebras, the carriage
is penguin-like. The produce, if
crossed, is also rumpless.

Runs. — For perfection poultry
should have grass, earth, and
gravel on their runs. The
covered run should be on the
original soil, but well and deeply

covered two spades deep in a
mixture of gravel, sand, old mor-
tar, and road drift, all screened. In
this the fowls will delight to dust,
and vermin will not irritate them
or their owner. Grass range is
of the utmost value, and they
should be let out as soon as the
dew is a little cleared off. Earth
and manure heaps are in-
valuable for scratching in, and to
supply animal food in the way of
worms, &c. But the birds will
not thrive, however extensive the
grass range, if they are not pro-
vided with a light, open run,
roofed in, and free from drip and
damp, wherein they can freely
dust themselves and keep in
shelter during rain. Birds will
not often shelter, however wet the
weather, if they have to do so in
a dark, damp, and dirty, airless
house. If they do, it is to mope
about in idle discomfort, which
brings on evil habits and illness
of all kinds. {See Roofing ;
Aspect ; Grass Run.)

Yard Run. — If a bricked or
paved yard is the only place
available in which to give the
poultry a run, great resiilts must
not be expected, but eggs and
healthy birds may be secured with
attention to the necessaries of
poultry health. A load or two
of screened rubble, gravel, &c.,
must be at hand under shelter
for the fowls to dust and bathe in.
Access to a manure and garden
refuse heap is highly advan-
tageous, giving occupation in way
of scratching and hunting for
the animal food which it en-
genders, such as worms and in-
sects of all Irinds. Green food
must be thrown to the birds daily,

(96)

and the manure must be as regu-
larly cleaned off. In the absence
of these precautions, fowls can
scarcely be kept in health in a
paved yard.

Earth Huns. — If the space is
only moderate, earth runs are
superior to any. A smaU grass
run soon gets used up and be-
comes foul. Beyond sweeping it
nothing can be done, and the
grass soon loses its freshness,
whereas an earth run can be
raked and swept daily, and dug
over three times a week. Twice
a year it should be double-dug —
that is, the soil should be taken
out, two feet deep, in a trench at
one end, and carried to the op-
posite end. The trench should
then be filled up as the digging
proceeds. Thus fresh soil is
brought to the top, and thorough
cleansing is secured.

Covered Runs. — An absolute
necessity for perfect health and
exhibition condition. Each should
have a large trap-door to the free
range, and a well-made roof, im-
pervious to rain and drip, and the
dusting material should here lie
deep, fine, and clean. {See Dry

EUNS.)

Russian Fowls. — No special
breed of poultry having any
special characteristics worthy of
mention exists in Eussia ; the so-
called Eussian fowls said to be
kept in Scotland have reached
these shores via America. They
are in colour and shape like the
Creve, the cock more Brahma-like
in carriage, and heavily muffed
and crested ; layers of very nu-
merous but small eggs.

Saddle. — The part of the back
nearest the tail, whence the saddle
hackles fall.

Sale of Eggs.— For eating
or prize stock. [See Selling;
Prices.)

Sand. — Useful to mix with all
dusting materials ; it should be
kept dust-dry to mix with earth
and to form bedding for the arti-
ficial mothers.

Scoteli GrveY.—{See Domi-
nique.) They differ only in comb
and feet from the Dominique,
the Greys having pink legs and
single combs, while the Domi-
niques have yellow legs and rose
combs. Very excellent layers
and useful fowls all round.

Sebright Bantams. — The

Gold and Silver Laced Bantams
go by this name ; remarkable for
their minute size and accurate
pencilling or lacing, which is
very difficult to keep up to show
form. The birds are not very
prolific. When the Gold and
Silver are crossed good results
are produced, the progeny being
good layers of fertile eggs, and
beautiful birds can be picked out
true in colour.

Secondaries are the quill
feathers, those only which show
when the bird is motionless.

Self Help in Building.—

When building poultry-houses,
on which most people grudge
any large expenditure, one can
often dispense with the aid of a
carpenter or builder. Carefully
plan and measure your intended
buildings, get the wood sawn to
proper lengths at some dealer's

(97)

or sawmills — any handy man
with some little help should then
be able, if interested in his work,
to put the houses up. Care
should be taken to let the boards
overlap, and to char or tar all
posts let into the ground.

Sa"wdust. — A bad packing-
medium for eggs, the jar of the
railway journey shakes it away
from the eggs, be they packed ever
so firmly. Good for pigeon lofts
if used deep and in quantity, but
not for poultry.

Selecting Exhibition
Birds. — A very large number
of birds must be hatched from
which to make a selection. Any
with glaring disqualifications
must be drafted out early in the
season. A little later another
lot must be cleared out of those
with faults, but not sufficient
to disqualify, leaving, say,
twenty birds out of 200 hatched.
To these give every possible
advantage in the way of space
and food. Some will answer
expectations, and some will fail.
Amateurs are often too sanguine,
and imagine all are going to be
prize-winners, whereas it takes
no little care and experience to
attain to the much- coveted
honour. Birds have a different
look when penned up and when
free in the fields. Choice should
be made when the birds are in
their pens or runs, and great care
must be used to match the pullets
with the cocks, a well-matched
pair being considered most de-
sirable in the show-pen. When
•choice is once made, the birds
should not be sent about to small
shows, but should be reserved for

one of the more important exhi-
bitions.

Selling Eggs and Poultry

(see Prices). — The Live Stock
Journal is a good advertising
medium for the sale of eggs, and
it is seldom that a notice put in at
reasonable prices fails in getting
a reply.

Separating Cockerels
and Pullets.— This must be
done at three, four, or five months,
according to the breed, some
being far more precocious than
others.

September, Work for {see
August, Notes for). — Cases of
moult will be more frequent.
Showing will begin vigorously.
See that while the occupants of
pens are away the houses are
whitewashed and fresh gravelled
for the winter — this must be done
the moment the birds leave by
train, so that time for thorough
drying is allowed ; a duplex stove
lamp put in for half a day will at
small expense help materially to
dry a roosting-place ; take care
that grease is mixed with the
lime, or the wash will come off
and spoil the feathers.

Wet weather and the first cold
nights may produce colds and
sneezing. Be on the alert ;
seize the invalid at once, however
slight the attack, and remove to
hospital; treat for cold during two
days, if not cured, treat for roup,
and beware of new cases ; redouble
efforts for cleanliness, for warmth,
and plenty of run with fresh air.
Change pullets about in various
runs or pens to prevent laying if
for show ; do not move those for
egg production on any account,

(98)

they should already "be where
they are to lodge dtiring the
autimin, and in determining the
number of fowls to he kept this ne-
cessary separation must be borne
in mind. If the birds are for ex-
hibition purposes, at least eight,
ten, to twelve pens, will be re-
quired for separating cockerels
and pullets meant for show.

Setting Eggs. {See Sitting
Hens, their Managemeht.)

Sevastopol G-eese.— Pure

white, with frizzled or waved
feathers, which wave about in the
breeze and trail along the ground.
Their weight is about 10 lbs.

Sex of Eggs. — That this can
be foretold is an old woman's
tale ; it is certain, however, that
the first batches of eggs in the
early season chiefly produce
cockerels, and that five or six
puUets mated with adult cocks
produce pullets in greater
numbers than cockerels, while
from a vigorous cockerel mated
with about three or four adult
hens, cocks will be in the greatest
proportion. There is no way of
discovering the sex of an e^g
before hatching.

Shaft of Feathers. {See
Moulting.)

Sharps {see List op Foods ;
Feeding). — Called also gurgeons
and pollards. Useful for mixing
in dry with house scraps, boiled
rice, Spratt, and every kind of
cooked food, making it friable
and crumbling.

Sheds are invaluable as
shelter from rain and mid-day sun.

If such erections exist already on
a farm, the roosting poultry
houses should be built on to
them ; the expense of covered
runs can thus be avoided. {See
Covered Euns.)

^ Shelf under Perch.— When
birds are kept for laying pur-
poses, this is highly advisable.
The collection of droppings on
the boards placed to catch them
reduces the trouble of daily
cleaning, as with an iron scraper
it is the work of five minutes to
scrape off the droppings of fifty
or a hundred fowls. It is a good
plan also for prize birds, as far
as cleanliness goes, to have a
board under the perch to catch
the droppings, but this shelf
must be carefully adjusted as to its
height from the perch and from
the ground ; it should be at such a
distance from the perch that the
birds may walk under the latter
without injury to the sickle
feathers ; some hens squat on the
board, instead of taking to the
perch, and even in one night this
may prove fatal to show plu-
mage.

Shelter Hurdles, thatched
with straw, and placed on four
posts, eighteen inches from the
ground," afford admirable shelter
from the extreme glare of the
mid-day sun, and also places which
they can retire to in winter from
the damp ground, and preen
themselves in the short hours of
sunshine.

Sickle Feathers. — The two
curved arching top feathers in
the cock's tail. If a cock has
moulted these out, or had an

(99)

accident and "broken or lost one
or both, it mil not disqualify
him at a show, but, unless very
greatly superior to the rest of the
competitors it "will handicap
him severely in competition for
the prize. Still, he has a chance
if his merit is otherwise great.

Silky Fo-wls.— Small birds
covered with glossy silk-like hair,
no feathers, their skin and legs
blue, and the face and double
comb of livid purple hue, bluish
ear-lobes touched with white, and
a neat, round, compact crest.
Their colour, white, and the purer
the better. They are excellent
sitters and mothers ; nothing can
exceed the loving care of these
little hens : they will lead about
a brood of Brahmas so long that
the chicks will be almost as large
as the Silky mother, round whom
they will still continue to collect
at night. Silkies begin to lay at
seven months, and produce
numerous but small eggs; they
should be kept as sitters, for after
laying twelve or fifteen eggs
they invariably sit, whatever the
weather.

Silver-grey Dorking. {See
under Dorking.)

Sitting Hens, their Man-
agement. — During January,
February, and March, it is
most difficult to get broody or
sitting hens, yet this is the best
and only time to hatch the bulk
of exhibition stock, as well as
the pullets which are to fill
the egg-baskets in August, Sep-
tember, October, and November,
when eggs are highest in price.
For good sitters seek out in

preference Brahmas (especially
the Light), Cochins, Dorkings
crossed with Brahma, and
Silkies. Moderate - sized hens
have an advantage in not being
so heavy. Hens are to be pre-
ferred to pullets. Eggs are most
fertile in March, April, and May.
In January and February they
are the most valuable, it being
necessary to hatch for early
shows. Let the hen sit, if pos-
sible, where she has chosen her
nest (this should be a movable
one, either box or hamper — see
Nests fob Laying), and give a
few china eggs to experimenta-
lise upon. While she is off
feeding, clean out the nest, place
in it moist sifted earth to a
depth of three inches, and on
this make the nest of chopped
straw (about six inches long).
Let the hen return to her nest
of her own free will ; then in
an hour or so, when she is
firmly settled, gently carry her,
covered up in the nest, to the
sitting pen, coop, or wherever
you mean her to sit, and if in
a few hours' time she is still
quiet, give her the eggs she
is to incubate; after this do
not disturb her, even for feeding,
during the next thirty-six hours
at least. The nest should be
placed in a pen or coop by
itself, where no hens or chickens
can enter; give food (barley),
and water, and a barrow-load
of dusting material, and leave
the hen alone to come off and
feed when she likes. This is the
best method; but when some
thirty or forty hens are to be
set it is difficult, in most cases
impossible, to provide separate

(100)

pens, and it will be found that
if many hens are set in one
place, to come off at their dis-
cretion for food, great confusion
and fighting will be the result.
Two hens will get into one
nest, leaving others empty, to
the fatal injury of the eggs.
Where a sitting - house is em-
ployed it is well to have the
nests in rows round the walls, in
which the hens should be shut
up, each in her box, and taken
out together every twenty- four or
thirty-six hours to feed, after
which they should be replaced and
shut in. The best nest for this
purpose is a box with the lid
on hinges, and one side taken
out; this open side should be
placed over the earth and straw
nest, the lid should be perforated
with holes for air, as also the
upper side of box to give free
ventilation; in this way a large
number of sitters can be housed
in a small space. If the sitting-
house has an outer pen or run
where the hens are fed, so much
the better, as it will then not
disturb the sitters so much.
Great regularity in the time of
feeding is requisite, and extreme
gentleness and quiet. Fresh
water, plentj^ of barley and
wheat, green food, and dusting
dry material are necessary. If
the latter be mixed with sul-
phur to keep the sitters free
from vermin, so much the
better ; it will ensure quiet
sitting, for a hen tormented
with vermin will be restless. If
you suspect she is so worried,
put about half a pound of
powdered sulphur all over the
nest before you put the eggs

in; no vermin will stand it,
and the effect is marvellous.
If hens have to be procured
from strange yards, the removal
and setting should be carried
out at night, and the hen should
keep her nest twenty-four hours
before the eggs are given ; with
these precautions it fis quite
possible to get good sitters from
a long distance, even five and
six hours' journey by railway.
The number of eggs to be put
under a, hen varies according to
the size of the hen and of the
eggs, also according to the season ;
during January and February not
more than eight or nine should
go under a large hen, and after
that from thirteen to fifteen.
While the hens are feeding it
is well to pour hot water round
the nests after the fijrst week,
to cause a moist heat when the
hen returns to her labour of
love. After the fifth day the
eggs can be examined with an
egg tester, and unfertile eggs
replaced, these must be extra
new laid, so as to hatch out
within two days of the others;
three or four days before hatch-
ing is due eggs may be floated
in a bucket of water at 105^*
Fahr. All eggs which do not
bob about or rock to and fro
with a pulsating motion may
be discarded. Eggs will some-
times remain in the water three
or four minutes before the move-
ment is noticed, or they may
move or pipe at once ; they
often chip in the water, and
must instantly be lifted out. In
this way more room is given to
the hatching chicks, and the
risks of a broken addled egg

(101)

or crushed chick in the nest
from over- crowding are avoided.
If the weather is frosty a
handful of hay put over eggs
when the hen feeds is useful
to keep in the heat, and the
hen may remain oil safely for
fifteen minutes. In very dry
weather, besides pouring water
round the nest, a little may he
sprinkled on the eggs, but the
hen must be at once replaced,
or mischief will arise from a
chill. If a hen forsakes her
nest, and eggs are found cold,
place them at once in water at
105*^ Fahr., and leave them in
till you provide, as quickly as
may be, another nest and a
hen willing to become a foster-
mother. Eggs neglected and
chilled should never be de-
spaired of ; it is a fact that
eggs left over twelve hours,
and stone cold to the touch,
when treated as advised, have
hatched eleven out of thir-
teen, and all the chicks strong
and healthy. As the chicks
hatch out it is well to
place them in a drying box
till all are out, by which all
risk of the hens squeezing them
wdll be avoided. The same per-
son should always attend to the
" sitters," and extreme regularity,
gentleness, and regularity in
management, has much to do
with success in hatching.

Size of Eggs. {See Eggs,
Number Laid to pound.)

Slipped Wing. — This chiefly
occurs with fast-growing cock-
erels and ducklings . The primary
feathers, which are naturally

tucked up out of sight, stick or
trail out ; the bird has no power
to tuck them up. Should the
same feathers stick out and
appear twisted, so that the inside
of the quill is outside, it is pro-
bably an hereditary evil. In the
first instance it frequently occurs
from a number of cocks being
kept together, giving rise to some
ill treatment, constant racing
about, and nervous flapping of
the wings ; these being soft and
delicate as yet, the birds fail to
fold them in closely, and a
habit is acquired of letting
them hang down out of
place. Tucking them up into
place when the bird is asleep
at night is sometimes effectual ;
but the best way is to sew a band
round the wing-feathers near the
shoulder, and attach this to
another which is passed round
the joint of the wing to prevent
it slipping off. It is a work of
patience and difficulty.

Snow. — Poultry will eat quan-
tities of snow. They should be
shut up if seen pecking it, and
melted snow-water is not good
for their drink. When shut up
at these times, a few handf uls of
hay-seeds, the sweeping of the
hay-lofts, afford excellent amuse-
ment for them. {See Green
Food.)

Soft Eggs. {See under Eggs.)

Soft Food {see Feeding). —
All scraps from house, meals of
all kinds, Spratt's, and other foods
requiring boiling or scalding,
mixing with water, are correctly
so caUed. " Hard food " means

(102)

all uncooked grains and corn of
all kinds.

Sooty Feet. — Otherwise
called lead- colour : ' grey, dusky,
or dark, like Andalusians or
Spanish.

Spangled Feathers have a
moon on the tip, but no border.

Spangled Hamburghs.
{See Hamburghs, Spangled.)

Spanish, White and
Black. — These birds must not
be kept for table, they do not lay
on flesh at all ; and lately, from
such severe breeding for "face"
and other show points, their
laying qualities are much re-
duced, 130 eggs per annum being
considered a good average num-
ber. They are looked upon as
aristocratic birds, and favourites
in the show pen. They are deli-
cate, reqmre very fine breeding,
and crossing from alien yards is
prejudicial and highly dangerous,
80 that much study and care is
required to keep up the proper
standard. The pidlets lay at
about six months. They are
non-sitters, and bear confinement
well, but damp is fatal to success.
The plumage is brilliant glossy
green-black ; legs and feet, dark ;
comb, large and upright, firm on
head, and coral-red, as also
wattles, save inside and across
throat, which must be white,
and this should creep up and
cover the whole face and cheek
and pendidous large deaf- ears :
all must be white, smooth, soft,
cream, like kid, free from feather,
wrinkle, speck, or scab, and the
more of it the better; arched,

fine tail, avoiding squirrel; the
carriage must be grand and im-
portant, though the bird is slen-
der and thin, and weighs barely
over 6 lbs. The hens differ only
in the comb, which must fall
over, quite hiding one side. The
White Spanish are like the
Black, but the plumage must be
of pure white, not of yellow hue.

Spring Chickens.— Hatch
them in November, December,
and January, and have them
ready for table February, March,
and April. {See Prices of
Poultry.)

Spurs. — The fighting weapon
on the lower part of the cock's
leg.

Squirrel Tail. — ^When tho
tail rises up very upright from the
back, and inclines to bend to-
wards it instead of taking a
graceful sweep from it.

Stains on Feathers.— To

remove these use turpentine or
benzoline, but the best plan is
care and cleanliness to prevent
accidents. Cleaned-up birds
never equal well-kept birds on
a grass run.

Storing Eggs. {See Eggs :
Laying by for Setting; Pre-
serving.)

Strain, To commence. —

The best plan is to purchase a
pen of the breed you desire — say
a cock and two hens — from some
well-known breeder, paying a
good price, and trusting to his
sending birds properly mated for
the purpose you require, whether
for showing, or for raising

(103

thorough- bred stock from which
to select future exhibition birds.
Having done this about October
or January, procure in March
a sitting of the very best eggs of
the same breed from the next best
breeder, unless the first can be
depended on to send you some
not related to the birds already
purchased from his runs. Hatch
these, or as many sittings of these
as you conveniently can, and select
the best of the chicks for stock,
mating in the following Decem-
ber your bought cock with the
best hatched pullets, and your
best hatched cockerel with your
bought hens and two pullets to
make up the pen. Another plan
would 'be to go to some of the
principal shows and buy birds
there if you are a good judge of
the breed. This may answer, but
there is some risk, as you cannot
know the antecedents of the
prize-birds, and may be intro-
ducing fatal faults into your
strain to start with.

Stra"W. — Never mind the un-
tidy appearance, and let it lie
about in dry covered runs. {See
Feather-eating ; Laying Hens'
Nests.)

Styptics. — Tincture of iron,
tannin, styptic colloid, gallic acid,
turpentine.

Sulky Cocks. — Towards
autumn cocks sometimes become
very cross to their hens, and a
trial to the whole harem. Iso-
late them at once, they require
rest and quiet ; feed well and
house warmly till over moult {see
Moult). In December mate the
pen up for the season, and the

most irritable bird will have be-
come good temper itself.

Siilphur. {See Disikfec-
tants ; Sitting Hens.)

Sultans. — Very ornamental
birds, of fair size, with broad, deep
bodies, not long in the leg, with
plenty of_leg feather, and strongly
hocked, well muifed and crested,
pure white, five-toed, very hardy,
bearing cold and confinement weU.
The comb is small, two small
spikes ; full large flowing tail ;
weight about 5 lbs. Good layers,
small eaters, non-sitters.

SunjO-Ower seeds are useful
to give gloss to the feathers.

Sussex Art of Fattening.

(iSei? Fattening Sussex Fashion.)

Tail Coverts. — Arched or
curved feathers at the side of the
tail towards the bottom part,
same colour as the true tail.

Tail Feathers (True).—

Stiff feathers pointing upwards,
always straight, or nearly so.

Terebene. {See Disin-
fectant.)

Thumb-mark. — On a coarse
comb, near the beak, will be seen
a mark like the impression of a
thumb — a great disfigurement.

Time for Artificial Incu-
bation. {See Artifical Incu-
bation.) Its advantage is that it
can be carried on whenever fertile
eggs can be procured.

Time for Hatching Duck-
lings. {See Ducks.)

Times for Feeding
Chickens,— Never leave food,

(104)

but the more frequent the meals
the better. {See Feeding.)

Tonics. — Parrish's Chemical
Food. For chickens fifteen drops
3 times a day, or if given in drink-
ing water, two teaspoonfuls to a
pint.

Douglas's Mixture: directions
on the bottle.

Walton's Tonic Paste: direc-
tions on the bottle ; an excellent
corrective and tonic.

Quinine and iron tonic (citrate
of quinine and iron) : four gxains
to an adult fowl daily.

Sulphuric acid ten drops, and
sulphate of iron a piece the size
of a filbert, in a quart of water for
drinking.

Tincture of iron, one teaspoon-
ful in the quart of water.

Nitric acid acts on the liver,
and is a tonic. Of the dilute
acid four drops, in a teaspoonful
of water three times a day, or
ten drops of strong acid in quart
of water for driuking.

Tools and Appliances. —

Dustpan and brush, and white-
washers' ceiling and wall scraper,
for scraping and sweeping the
droppings off the boards under
the perches. A tub or box with
lid and two handles, into which
the droppings should be collected
for manuring garden ground ;
especially valuable for straw-
berries.

A bass broom, spade, fork and
rake, a saucepan, a brush, and a
bucket for washing hoppers and
water-tins.

An egg-tester to fit the eggs in
when examining them with lamp
or candle.

A gas-stove; one at 12s. is
large enough to boil four quarts
of water in a few minutes, and
will cook the food with ease for
some 400 chickens. A meat
chopper is very necessary. Tay-
lor's American chopper is
strong, price £4, and converts
every morsel of refuse from the
house into suitable food for the
smallest chickens.

Toulouse G-eese. — More
compact than Embden geese, but
not so tall. Grey in colour,
shading from dark to light or
white ; feet, orange ; and bills
rich light brown. They have
reached in weight 60 lbs. the pair.
For breeding, two geese should go
with one Toulouse gander. They
lay in February, and produce
thirteen to fifteen eggs each.
After the goose has sat a day or
two, thirteen eggs should be given.
She will incubate twenty- eight to
thirty days. The goslirig wants
warmth ; hard-boiled eggs,
crumbs, and chives chopped up,
are good food. Put the goose
imder a coop at first, or she will
run the goslings about too much.
Six weeks before Christmas fatten
in a warm, darkish place on
barley-meal and barley in water,
and wheat. The Embden goose
sits better than the Toulouse.

Travelled Eggs. {See
Packing Eggs.)

Travelling. — Birds travel
best by night. If a long journey,
feed at dusk — meat and com —
give water, and start them off as
soon after as train will suit, giving
a teaspoonful of port wine to each

(105)

bird on starting, and tie into
basket bread and lettuce.

Treatment before Slio-w-
ing. {See Prize Birds, their
Treatment.)

Treatment after Exhibi-
tion.— On the arrival of birds
from an exbibition, feed them on
soft and (if cold weather), warm
food, with a very little water,
containing a tonic. See that
they are housed very warm. If
they are shortly due at another
show, give bread-and-milk for one
meal daily, and rice-and-milk,
with meat, and, if possible, a grass
run. If the crop is loaded with
Indian corn, feed very sparingly
even on soft food at first ; and if
it feels hard, give a teaspoonful
of gin on arrival; it will aid
tion.

Trimming. — Anything done
to a bird previous to sending it
off for exhibition beyond the
simple and legitimate means
necessary to make it look its
best, such as washing, dry-
ing, &c. {see under Exhibition
Birds : Preparing for the
Show). Any plucking, cutting,
clipping or dyeing feathers, paint-
ing or varnishing legs, propping
up of combs with pins or wires,
grafting on false sickles on
broken quills, would come under
trimming, and cannot be too
widely and severely condemned.

Trussing. — There is great
art in trussing, and amateurs
often fail to sell at profitable
prices owing to the slovenly
way in which their birds are
prepared for market. When
killed, fowls should be plucked

at once, and placed on one of
the boards for shaping dead
poultry for table used in
France. It may improve the
appearance of a lean, ill - fed
chicken to break the breast
bone and hide it away, but
there it still is, destroying the
breast slices and a constant
trial to those who have to
carve the bird at table. If
properly fed and plucked, and
pressed on the trussing board,
this operation is quite unneces-
sary.

Turkeys. — Three kinds are
reared in England — the Norfolk
Turkey, the Cambridge, and the
splendid large Bronze Turkey
of America {see ditto). Turkeys
should be kept as chicken rearers
where a large number of chickens
are required; the hens are
wonderful sitters, and never
get tired of the occupation, so
that the chicks, as hatched,
may be taken away, and fresh
eggs added for incubation time
after time, the Turkey hen will
still sit on contentedly and well.
Turkey chicks are delicate if
improperly housed in damp ill-
ventilated places, but will do
well if great care is taken to
keep them dry, and hunt them
into shelter in wet weather.
Chopped egg, chives, and
Spratt's Food, should be given
during the first week very fre-
quently ; feed them quite as often
as chickens ; when a week old
give cracked groats, split wheat,
com. In the soft food put
10 per cent, of bone - dust.
Plenty of fresh water and milk
should be given; beware of the

(106)

milk getting sour. The cliicks
for the principal stock should
be hatched out in April; those
to he eaten as poults, in June
or July. The great art of
rearing successfully consists in
getting them on without attacks
of diarrhoea. Chalk mixed with
the food is good occasionally,
hut extreme care as to wet
weather is the great thing.
The cock hird should he kept
out of the way when the hens are
sitting, as he will try his best to
destroy the eggs.

Unfertile Eggs.— Clear
eggs, which after three or four
days' incubation show no ap-
pearance of fertility, no veins,
or sign of embryo. The yolk
will be seen to float and oscil-
late with every movement of
the hand. Such eggs must be
turned out of the nest or in-
cubator at the sixth day, and
are perfectly good for the most
delicate cooking purposes.

Ventilation. — A neglected
but most important subject.
Poultry-houses are, as a rule,
either draughty, or they are
unventHated; if the first, the
birds are always uncomfortable,
and a late egg supply, owing
to cold housing, will be the
result; if the latter, serious
disease will follow, such as
diphtheria, or the birds will be
dull, without appetite, the wings
will droop, upright combs will
go blue at the tips, and fall over
limp and flabby. Besides the
door entrance, every roosting-
house should have ,a window,
which can be left open on hot

nights, a wire of small mesh
should be placed over it to keep
out enemies; in the winter a
piece of perforated zinc is prefer-
able, as it prevents the wind rush-
ing in, and yet gives enough air.
If a window is not practicable, a
hole under the eaves will answer,
covered with zinc wire ; the
higher up ventilating openings
are made the better. Foul air
rises, and openings must be
made, or the fowls will suffer.
Ventilating holes should be
drilled in all artificial mothers,
dryers, and shelters; foul air
generates very quickly where
chickens congregate.

Vermin. — (See Enemies to
THE Poultry Yard.)

Vertigo. — An ailment which
betokens over -feeding to an enor-
mous extent, and a threatening of
apoplexy ; a bird so afflicted will
stagger about in a circle as if
giddy. Dash cold water on the
head at once, and give castor-oil,
jalap 15 grains, and two grains of
calomel. Feed very little, reduce
the system ; the bird is sure to
be a very fat one.

Voitellier. {See Artificial
Incubation.)

Vulture Hock. — So called
when, from the hock, feathers
project, stiff and hard, pointing
backwards.

Want of Condition, — A

bird shown badly — i.e., dirty,
wanting in gloss, with ruffled
plumage — would be passed over,
unless his points were quite
super- excellent, and over- showing
will destroy the good looks of the
finest specimens.

(107)

Warmtli. — Comfortable hous-
ing is all the warmth required
by adult birds. Artificial heat is
dangerous, ^s it is diflBcult to con-
trol. Heated houses are a
fertile source of consumption and
many other evils. A cock and a
few hens might, however, be
forced for the supply of early
eggs, which certainly come the
sooner for extra warmth. In
artificial mothers the heat should
not be kept above 70° when all
the chicks are collected under
them asleep. {See Ventilation.)

"Warm Weather is benefi-
cial for all birds, but glaring sun
without shelter retards their pro-
gress. Thatched hurdles laid on
four posts should be placed about
to shelter them from the rays of
the sun at midsummer.

Washing Exhibition
Birds.— Get two tubs, fill the
smaller one with a good lather
of soap water (for one bird
half a pound of white curd
soap is suflficient) ; stand the bird
in the lather and wash it, using a
softish hair-brush, and with it
your hand ; thoroughly brush and
cleanse the feathers everywhere,
leaving no spot untouched, and
do not be afraid of wetting tho-
roughly, use no half measures ;
take care not to bend or brush
the feathers the wrong way.
This done, having prepared warm
water in the larger and deeper
tub, dip the bird in and out freely
and thoroughly, rinse every
vestige of soap lather out ; lastly
take a can of merely chilled
water (maybe very sUffhtly tinted
with blue for white birds), and
pour this over the bird, drain and

dry as far as you can in a Turkish
towel, place the bird in an ex-
hibition hamper, from which the
lining has been half removed, and
set it at a comfortable distance
from the fire. The hamper should
have half or three parts of the lining
left round it to keep off draughts.
As the bird dries and fluffs out,
gradually draw away from the
fire ; leave the birds the night in a
warm kitchen, and next momitig
place them in their own preparing
pen, which, meantime, has been
laid deep in fresh straw ; let them
rest here for twenty-four hours,
or twelve, at any rate, before the
journey, otherwise a risk of cold
is incurred. After the bath,
when still wet, give a teaspoonful
of port wine, and later a meal of
bread and meat scraps, which are
gratefully devoured as a rule;
by-and-by a handful of groats as
a treat cast in the straw will
tempt them to scratch for it. A
moist warm atmosphere must be
kept up in the drying basket, or
the feathers will not web properly ;
place water within reach, and add
to it a little tonic.

If the birds are not drying
properly, try and turn them
about so that the heat will strike
all sides equally. Hard-feathered
birds, such as Andalusians,
Minorcas, Brown Leghorns,
Malays, Dominiques, Game, Black
Spanish, do not require so much
washing. White birds and
Asiatics demand the greater care.

Wasters. — By this is meant
those birds which, although pure
bred, and hatched from prize
stock for exhibition purposes, fail
in some important point. They

(108)

should at once be banished to the
fattening-pen, or be killed for
chicken-pies.

Water Supply. {See
Drink.)

Wattles. — The hanging red
flesh appendages just below the
beak, more developed in the cock,
but to be seen in the hen also.

Weakness after Sitting. —

When it exists shows neglect and
want of food ; the hen Hes about,
pecks at grit and green stuff, but
rejects food. Slip a raw egg down
the throat, give half a teaspoon-
f ul of quinine wine and oatmeal
food warm. If she will not pick
it up, make a bolus of it, dip it
in milk, and cram her daily.

Weasels.

Poultry.")

{See Enemies to

Weight of Ducks.— Fat-
tened Aylesbury, Pekin, and
Rouen should be 5 lbs. to 7 lbs.
at ten weeks old for table. The
same breeds bred for stock need
not be over 6 lbs. or 7 lbs. ; this
is the average weight. Pekins
for show must be over 14 lbs.
the pair to win. Aylesbury and
Pouen have been exhibited over
22 lbs. and 23 lbs. the pair re-
spectively.

Weight of Poultry {see under
Speciai, Breeds). — A prize hen
or cock is usually judged irre-
spective of weight, but it some-
times tells, and must not be
neglected. With perfect breed-
ing and care, weight should
come naturally.

Wheat. {See Corn.)

Wheezing and Cough. —

When the birds are not other-
wise ill, do not be anxious, but
put a teaspoonf ul of glycerine and
a few drops of nitric acid in the
water.

Whistling Ducks, or tree
ducks from their fondness of
perching on trees, occasionally
shown at poultry exhibitions.
The red-billed whistler, plumage
beautiful in shadings and con-
trasts of brown, drab, white, and
black ; feet and legs pink. In the
white-faced whistling duck the
head is white, while drab, black,
chestnut, brown, are beautiful
placed in contrast ; the pencilling
being black on brown, shading to
light drab, legs and feet lead
colour ; purely ornamental ducks.

White-Booted Bantams

are the smallest of the Bantam
breed, extra tame and contented,
very pretty, good layers and
sitters, -with white legs and beaks,
much feather, and large hocks,
single and rose comb — singles
are the best.

White Bantams, — Exactly
like the black in all but colour.

White Cochins, {See

Cochins.)

White Comb.— Anoint the
head with carbolic ointment twice
a week, give occasional doses of
Epsom salts, a pinch to an adult
bird, 35 grs. a dose, and very
noiu-ishing food ; or in place of
salts give Plummer's pill.

White Dorking. {See
Dorking-.)

White Ducks. {See Ayles-
bury AND Pekin.)

(109)

White Face,— Birds having-
correctly coral-red faces, if im-
perfect, have, more or less, white
specks or blotches creeping over
the part that should be red.

White Leghorn. {See Leg-
horn.)

Wing Bow is the shoulder-
part of the wing nearest the
body.

Wing C overt. — Those
feathers which cover the roots of
the secondary feather.

Winter Eggs. — Secure
pullets hatched in February and
March, keep them in a warm
place, feed with plenty of animal
food, green stuff, and sound grain,
not too much soft food, and do not
change their runs or exhibit and
you will have a large number
laying in the three winter months.

Winter Eggs, To Pre-
serve. {See Preserving Eggs.)

Wire Supports to Comb.

— When a cock's comb is given to
lopping, or hangs over, unprin-
cipled exhibitors have been found
to stick needles or wires through
the flesh to keep it up. Such
wicked cruelty would of course
disqualify. A wire support can
be made to be worn outside the
comb, and this is quite allowable
with a view to making it grow

straight ; it may be of some help,
though a really good breeding
or exhibition bird should be quite
independent of such artificial
aids.

Works on Poultry. {See
Books.)

Worm-eaten Feathers. —

Hamburghs are subject to this
disgustiag disease, if badly kept,
but it comes only from unpardon-
able neglect, damp, dirt, and
deficient arrangements for dust-
ing. Treat as for " Lice,"
saturate the quills with oil, cleanse
the birds and their home in every
possible manner, if not too far
gone for recovery.

Wry Tail. — A deformity
which is constitutional in nine
cases out of ten, but occasionally
a fine bird may contract the
habit of carrying his tail askew,
from being confined in a small
pen, but this can easily be distin-
guished from the hereditary and
constitutional weakness ; such
birds should not be bred from,
and would be disqualified at any
show. A cure is sometimes
effected by cutting the muscle or
tendon on the side to which the
tail inclines.

Yevsr Hedge. — The yew is
very injurious when eaten by
poultry, and in m iking hedges it
should be avoided.

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Author of "Lessons in Horse Judging," " Lectures on Soundness
in Horses," &c. With Illustrations. Second Edition, price 5s.
"A book both for study and reference, and will therefore prove a valuable
stable companion. The advice is so clear that it may be easily mastered by those
accustomed to the management of horses." — Daily Chronicle.

Cassell & Cotnpany, Limited, Lndgate Hill, London; and all Booksellers.

Failure and Fortune in Farming. By

Lady Clay and Mrs. Willats. Price Is.

"The book is an amusing record of the failure and successes of a lady farmer." —
Mark Lane Express.

"A most entertaining and improving little book, full of the funniest, and yet
evidently the truest stories, in which husbands and servants embitter the life of a
lady farmer. It is most unaffectedly and yet most brightly written." — Vanity Fair.

Cassell & Company, Limited, Ludgate Hill, London; and all Booksellers.

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