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Usually not enough attention is paid to the family history of 

 fowls for breeding purposes, as regards their health. Constitu- 

 tional weakness, though it be apparently overcome, should never 

 be allowed to enter the breeding pen. — Poultry. 



DUSTING PLACES FOR FOWLS. 



Fowls young and old alike must dust ! On the surface the runs 

 are dry enough to provide the birds with dusting holes in odd cor- 

 ners out in the open. Few there are who do not enjoy "bathing" 

 to the full these days. The smallest of our chicks are in the 

 fashion as soon as the warm and dry weather sets in. They 

 scratch holes in the earth and wallow in it to their heart's content. 

 Indeed, so much do they indulge in dust baths in the sunshine 

 that anyone not understanding the habits of fowls might imagine 

 them to be sorely troubled with lice ! And yet there never were 

 cleaner birds. 



It is the time of year for sunning and dusting, and fowls of all 

 ages delight in it. In grass runs it may be difficult to allow the 

 birds full scope in this direction. All is well if there is a hedge- 

 row accessible, or some well-grown bushes. However, when such 

 means are not to hand, one must contrive. A dusting box in a 

 small shed is often more bother than it is worth, and better that 

 the box be in the open in a sunny corner. A good dust hole can 

 be made by removing a large turf and just loosening the earth 

 with a garden fork. Make the space big big enough for half-a- 

 dozen fowls, and after loosening the earth shake into it the soil 

 from the lifted turf. The birds will take to it as a duck to water ; 

 it is Nature's way of keeping them clean. — Exchange. 



FEATHER PLUCKING. 



Although I have an abundance of room for my fowls I am ob- 

 liged to keep them within limits, because I raise eight varieties, 

 and every year I have some cases of feather plucking. I have 

 discovered a method of combating this vice, which has proved 

 successful in every case. I make a paste of vaseline and powdered 

 aloes and work it into the plumage of the birds which are being 

 plucked, all around the plucked area. This paste is intensely bit- 

 ter, and after a hen has plucked one feather which has been treat- 

 ed she is satisfied and gives it up. It is amusing to watch a 

 feathcr-plucker when she gets a treated feather in her throat. 

 She first gasps, then she wipes her beak in the straw or tries to 

 scratch the bitter taste out of her mouth with her foot, and for 

 several minutes comes as near making wry faces as a hen can. 

 As my hens usually begin on the males I have no trouble alxnit 

 plucked hens, since 1 began using this mixture. 



