Poultry S/iozJs — ]Vcighiiig S/unv Fowls 



491 



these it is even dangerous, so great is the th-ain 

 on the system. A stimulating, nutritive diet 

 with dry housing, are the best, and I may say 

 only cures. If these do not sufhce, nothing 

 will help them through this trial to delicate 

 constitutions. In a state of nature birds 

 moult during warm weather, and just when 

 their food is most plentiful ; hence we only 

 imitate nature herself when we supply our 

 artificially-reared pets with extra food and 

 comforts at this time. Geese and ducks are 

 so hardy, they forage well at all times for 

 themselves, and the young ones should now 

 be in perfection for the table. When the 

 corn is off the ground poultry may be turned 

 out to the stubble, and there find much food 



Avhich would otherwise be wasted. The exer- 

 cise and change of ground is most bene- 

 ficial, and while the birds are enjoying their 

 ramble their yards may be dug and cleaned 

 up better than can be done when they are 

 all hovering about. Eggs should be becom- 

 ing plentiful, as the pullets early hatched will 

 now lay. 



The first eggs are generally small, but 

 they improve in size with age-, and soon we 

 shall be able to send even our prize bird's 

 eggs to . market, so slight is the danger of 

 their being set in wintry weather. Just now, 

 I advise that all spare eggs should be put 

 into the pickling jar, or, if preferred, into tin 

 boxes. 



THE HEN WIFE'S KALENDAR FOR NOVEMBER. 



SHOULD the hen-house be heated by 

 flues, care must be taken to keep the 

 temperature as nearly uniform as possible. 

 Let biting draughts of wintry air be excluded, 

 let the roof be perfectly water-tight, so that 

 no dripping rain be allowed to enter; few 

 things are more injurious to fowls than damp. 

 When the hen-house is not heated by artificial 

 means, it is well that the fowls, which in 

 summer have been distributed into different 

 houses, should now be put into one ; the heat 

 they communicate to one another enables 

 them the better to resist the winter's cold. 

 It is miserable to see a mere sprinkling of 

 fowls on the perches in winter ; but a well- 

 filled hen-house gives an idea of warmth and 

 comfort even in the severest weather. The 

 hen-house must be well aired every day, 

 thoroughly swept also, and then sprinkled 

 over with sand or ashes or fine gravel. Sand 

 has been objected to on the ground that it 

 encourages the growth of fleas, an enemy 

 against which the henwife has always to be 

 on her guard, and'in place of it sawdust has 

 been recommended as being more conducive 

 to cleanliness. This may be correct ; saw- 



dust has undoubtedly many good properties, 

 but we have always used sand, and never saw 

 any reason to think it harboured vermin, as 

 our fowls were remarkably free from that pest 

 of their existence. Besides rendering the 

 floor more easily cleaned, it is useful for other 

 purposes ; the small stones found in it are 

 picked up by the fowls, and assist greatly in 

 the digestion of their food ; and if, besides 

 being sprinkled on the floor, it be also put in 

 a heap in a corner of the hen-house, it will 

 serve to clean their feathers, and remove any 

 vermin that may attach to them. In pass- 

 ing, however, we may say that wherever the 

 dust-bath be placed, and whether of sand, or 

 ashes, or earth, it must be regularly changed, 

 at least once a week, on the same principle 

 that induces one to take clean water for the 

 purposes of ablution. The henwife must not 

 repine at her baskets being .7 comparatively 

 empty, as they probably will be. To induce 

 her common hens to lay a few weeks more, 

 she may continue to feed them with warm 

 food, as previously directed, and she must 

 not forget to place within their reach a quan- 

 tity of limy rubbish, such as old mortar. The 



