General Notes on Ponltry-Keeping 



593 



tie soft food. At four o'clock give the grain, 

 and again fresh water. The birds will retire 

 shortly after this last meal to roost, when they 

 must be shut up for the night. During the 

 day let the flock out to graze and pick up 

 what they can in the shape of insects and 

 seeds. At this season there is very little to 

 be found, but the exercise is conducive to 

 liealth, and it is astonishing how much grass 

 some fovvls will eat, especially Brahma- 

 pootras. One hour's liberty is sufficient, but 

 the more they can have the better will they 

 thrive. Much less food would be required if 

 the fowls had complete liberty, but the quan- 

 tities I have specified have been proved in my 

 own establishment to be sufficient for the sup- 

 port of fourteen early-hatched pullets (some 

 pure Dorking and Cocliin, others crosses be- 



tween the Brahmapootra and Dorking), all 

 laying regularly. The cock is of the Dorking 

 breed, aged eighteen months, and is in full 

 health and vigour. It may be thought that 

 one male bird is not sufficient for so large a 

 flock of hens, but in the particular case given, 

 the object being merely the produce of eggs, 

 and to ascertain the actual cost of the food 

 consumed, the domestic arrangements are 

 quite satisfactory. The yard should be fre- 

 quently dug over, and the floor of the fowl- 

 house swept every day, and sprinkled with 

 ashes or sand, and occasionally a little lime. 

 This keeps the house perfectly pure and free 

 from taint. Cleanliness is indispensible ; and 

 there can be no doubt that the more we attend 

 to the comforts of domestic animals the more 

 will they repay our care. 



THE HEN WIPES KALENDAR FOR DECEMBER. 



THIS being the season when poultry is 

 most in demand, the prudent henwife 

 will see that her remaining cockerels and pul- 

 lets of both spring and autumn broods are in 

 ^ood condition for the table. In order that 

 they may be so, she will resort to whatever 

 ■mode of fattening commends itself to her 

 judgment, or which past experience may point 

 out as the best. Whatever be the plan adop- 

 ted, the fowls must be put into a dry, warm 

 place, with very little room, as moving about 

 prevents fattening. During the intervals of 

 feeding they must be kept in the dark. On 

 no account must they be retained in the 

 feeding trough more than a fortnight; the 

 -State of repletion in which they are kept is 

 apt to induce fever if continued longer, and 

 thus to render them unfit for the table. It is 

 obvious from this fact, that although fowls 

 may be fattened to a great degree by penning 

 and cramming, that the fat thus acquired is 

 not a wholesome fat, but verges on disease, 

 if it does not indeed amount to it. And it is 



VOL. I. 



our opinion that a fowl left at liberty, pro- 

 vided it be supplied with abundance of corn, 

 will be a more general favourite than the 

 swelled-out subject of the cramming system. 

 Opinions, however, differ on this as on other 

 points, and many have a decided preference 

 for these over-fed fowls. We know of one 

 individual who had always treated his poultry 

 in the natural way, if we may use the expres- 

 sion, but who bethought him of trying the 

 much-vaunted method of cramming. He 

 penned up his fowl, stuffed it once a day with 

 a paste madeof barleymeal, suet, coarse sugar, 

 and milk. The paste was forced down its 

 throat till it could literally contain no more. 

 It was then left in the dark till next feeding- 

 time. At the end of a fortnight its size was 

 enormous. It \vas sent without remark to a 

 friend. Next time the friends met, the 

 question was put with a tone of surprise — 

 " What sort of a fowl was it you sent to us ? " 

 " Why, was it not good ? " asked the other. 

 " Good] " was the reply, "never was anything 



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