CHAPTER XXIV 



The Selection of Broody Hens 



The practical game-rearer knows perfectly well that upon the 

 judicious selection of suitable hens for egg-hatching purposes 

 and the subsequent rearing of the chicks, his success mainly 

 depends. The artificial incubator and the artificial rearer 

 have, to a large extent in poultry rearing, supplanted the hen, 

 but game-rearers take a more conservative view of the 

 matter, relying principally upon the domestic fowl for the 

 successful raising of the Pheasant broods. 



It is well that the majority of game-rearers are somewhat 

 conservative in their views, as it has yet to be shown in an 

 incontrovertible manner that the artificial foster-mother can 

 be utilised as a satisfactory substitute for rearing Pheasants. 

 A good deal of care must be exercised in purchasing broody 

 hens, otherwise subsequent events will in all probability show 

 any indiscretion that has been committed. 



On some estates a sufficiency of fowls are kept for sit- 

 ting purposes, from which the keeper draws his supplies, as 

 the occasion demands ; whereas other keepers are entirely 

 dependent upon birds they purchase from cottages and farmers 

 in the locality. Or again some keepers merely hire the birds, 

 paying is. 6d. or 2s. for the hire during the rearing season. 

 Where a large head of Pheasants has to be reared, it neces- 

 sitates a good deal of resourcefulness on the part of the 

 keeper to obtain a sufficiency of broody hens to meet the 

 demands imposed upon him, though some hens will rear 



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