SELECTION OF STOCK. 



43 



young bird is a sure sign of a poor layer. Be- 

 yond this it is not possible to go, and pictures 

 pretending to represent " good layers" and " bad 

 layers," by dealers who make pretence of know- 

 ing more than anybody else, only produce in 

 the experienced breeder a smile of derision. 



Directly these hens stop laying in the autumn, 

 and before they have lost condition by moulting, 

 they should, unless they have proved unusually 

 satisfactory, be either killed or sold off, and 

 replaced by pullets hatched in March or April, 

 which will have feathered early. These again, 

 still supposing proper food and good housing, 

 will begin producing eggs by November at 

 farthest, and continue, more or less, till the 

 February or March following. They will not 

 stop laying long, and the young birds should 

 be retained till the autumn, when all but very 

 excellent layers must be got rid of ; such are 

 worth keeping for another year. But if a few 

 fowls only be kept for eggs, it is essential to 

 success that every autumn the stock be thus 

 replenished with pullets hatched early in the 

 spring. By no other means can eggs at this 

 season be relied upon. 



When chickens can be reared there is a wider 

 choice of breeds, including such as lay the 

 coveted brown egg. Of these may be mentioned 

 Plymouth Rocks, Brahmas, Langshans, Orping- 

 tons, Wyandottes, and others ; but the qualities 

 of various breeds are more fully dealt with in 

 later chapters. We prefer pure breeds, or first 

 crosses ; but the cost of such may stand in the 

 way with some, and has to be taken into con- 

 sideration. Pure stock has now become so 

 widely distributed that the common fowls of 

 the country are often nearly pure or cross-bred, 

 and almost always enormously improved com- 

 pared with what we remember in our youth ; 

 and so far as profitable domestic results go, 

 success may be attained with good ordinary or 

 " barn-door " fowls. Care must be taken in the 

 selection. They should be young, sprightly- 

 looking birds, and for laying, with nice tiglit- 

 Icoking plumage. They ought to be chosen 

 from a country yard where their parents have 

 been well fed. If such be obtained, they will 

 repay the purchaser, and are better than weedy 

 and debilitated birds of the "fancy" class. Of 

 course this last remark does not apply to mere 

 faults of colour. Fowls are often to be met with at 

 a moderate price, which from some irregularity 

 are quite disqualified as show birds, but which 

 possess all the economic merits of the breed to 

 which they belong. And those merits are very 

 real, in spite of all the railing against exhibition 

 poultry on the part of some who ought to know 

 better. After all is said, it is still the " fancier" 



who gets eggs, when other people get none ! 

 But the little we wish to say on that subject 

 belongs to a subsequent chapter; we are only 

 here pointing out that for eggs or table fowls 

 only, good cross-bred fowls are to be found 

 which will answer every purpose, and that such 

 a supply is mainly due to the work during long 

 years of the much-abused " fancier." 



In regard to chickens reared at home, the 

 same care must be given to the time of hatching, 



if the best results are to be obtained. 

 Date of Birth It has been often said that a pullet 

 and Laying, must begin to lay at a given age ; 



but this we have found, by system- 

 atic experiments, is by no means the case, 

 a difference of months being caused by the 

 time of hatching. If the age of five months 

 finds a pullet belonging to one of the specifically 

 " laying " breeds in the midst of warm weather 

 — say August — eggs may be expected about 

 that time ; indeed, great care is needed if it is 

 desired to prevent laying at such an age. But 

 birds hatched in May will complete their sixth 

 month in October ; and in some cases eggs will 

 not then be procured before Christmas, if even 

 then, unless the feeding be most carefully ad- 

 justed. Still later hatched — let us suppose June 

 — it will be next spring before many of the 

 pullets are producing eggs, and ere this occurs 

 some of them will be at least nine months old. 

 Ordinary fowls become broody oftener in May 

 and June than any other months, and the bright 

 warm days tempt the proprietor to choose that 

 time for hatching the chickens. The latter do 

 well ; they enjoy themselves, and thrive, and 

 grow ; but they do not pay : whereas chickens 

 hatched from the middle to the end of March, 

 or in April, will require more attention certainly, 

 and call for self-denial occasionally, in the shape 

 of braving bad weather to see they are duly 

 cared for ; but will often, if in reach of a town 

 market, repay the whole of their cost before 

 New Year. Pullets hatched early will moult 

 early also, not only getting better and more 

 quickly through the process, and having warmer 

 weather for it, but getting ready to commence 

 laying in good time again. 



Too early hatching, on the other hand, 

 should be avoided ; that is, for ordinary domestic 

 purposes. The last half of March and first half 

 of April is about the best general time, though 

 up to the end of April, or with some breeds 

 early May, is not too late. So very early as 

 many exhibitors hatch — in January and February 

 — leads to quite different results ; as such birds 

 often lay in the late summer and early autumn, 

 and then moult like adult fowls, stopping after- 

 wards for several months. This extra-early 



