WATER FOR CHICKENS. 



95 



to cause purging. But an important question 

 has been raised as to what should be allowed 

 chickens in the way of drink. The usual plan 



till lately has been to let them have 

 CWck^enr water by them ad libituui, the fresher 



and cooler the better ; and we have 

 shared this general practice with others. There 

 have, however, always been exceptions to this rule 

 amongst country rearers, especially some who 

 have inherited traditions of Game-fowl rearing; 

 and during the past few years there have been 

 on several occasions lengthy discussions as to 

 whether it is not better, for about the first five 

 weeks, to withhold water altogether, where the 

 chickens are fed chiefly on soft food, except so 

 far as fluid may be contained in the latter. A 

 careful and exhaustive analysis of all that we 

 have been able to meet with on both sides of 

 this question, has led us to the conclusion that 

 the preponderance of experience is upon the 

 side of withholding water. It is to be remarked 

 that by far the greater part of what has been 

 said on this side, consists of actual evidence as 

 to extremely good results from this mode of 

 treatment, and in many cases of very great 

 improvement in rearing after its adoption. On 

 the other side, a very large proportion of what 

 has been said against it consisted of mere de- 

 clamation against the supposed " cruelty." It 

 need not be pointed out that there can be no 

 real " cruelty " in any course of treatment which 

 rears more chickens, if the fact be so. And 

 when appeal is made to " Nature," and we 

 begin to think about it, Nature herself is, if 

 anything, rather on the side of the dry method. 

 The young of all small birds, at least, are reared 

 without water. The fowl itself is believed to be 

 an Indian bird of the jungles ; and in such 

 localities it is certain that even the old birds can 

 onlydrink at long intervals, while days must often 

 elapse before young and tender broods can thus 

 indulge. How much less can water be really 

 required where a large portion of the food itself 

 is mi.xed with fluid, as in our artificial rearing? 



At all events, there is a considerable body of 

 evidence to the effect that a large amount of the 

 diarrhoea and other bowel complaints of young 

 chickens is due to unlimited supplies of fluid in 

 addition to soft food ; and that many have left 

 off giving fluid with marked advantage. Some 

 have deprived the chickens of drink entirely for 

 the first month ; others have allowed one fair 

 drink in the morning after breakfast (preventing 

 any excess), and then taken it away, giving the 

 hen drink separately. The chickens in most 

 seasons get some drink from the dew upon the 

 grass, and in these small quantities it is prob- 

 ably less injurious to them. They can be seen 



drinking in this manner; and the fact suggests 

 that some little should depend upon the season. 

 Where they are hatched late, and the weather 

 is hot and dry, such a regimen should not be 

 insisted upon, especially if fed chiefly upon 

 grain, though even then we are convinced that 

 " water by measure" will be the best plan. But 

 in spring, or where soft food is given largely, we 

 are disposed to think that no water in addition, 

 or only one drink after breakfast, and possibly 

 a few sips, and no more, at night, will be found 

 the best regimen. 



The only actual evidence we have seen of any 

 evil from this course, was when the objector had 

 adopted it with chickens a few days or more 

 old. That is natural : such changes should not 

 be made with young things of any kind. Those 

 once accustomed to drink, must suffer by de- 

 privation : and if any change is made, it should be 

 very gradually, and not carried to the extreme. 

 The very worst effects of all are produced by 

 allowing young birds to drink to repletion after 

 prolonged thirst. But it has been noticed that 

 chickens reared on the dry system are much 

 less prone to this in after life. 



We may now pass from feeding to the princi- 

 pal difficulties in chicken-rearing. Some people 

 find one of the greatest from cats, which often 

 make dreadful inroads upon the broods. While 

 very young, a brood can oe easily 

 protected by making a few hurdles 

 of inch-mesh wire netting tacked on light wooden 

 frames, two feet wide and six feet long being a 

 handy size. These are easily lashed together 

 with string to form an enclosed run, covered 

 entirely in by similar hurdles, and the coop 

 fronts into this run. They will be quite safe so 

 far, and can be thus confined for about a fort- 

 night, provided the whole be moved to a fresh 

 piece of short grass every day, or at most two 

 days, or an earth run cleansed conscientiously. 

 After that they suffer. A single grass-run forty 

 or fifty feet square, if well mown, attended to, 

 and managed, will rear in succession a great 

 many chickens during their tenderest age, and 

 both in Bristol and London (for we have had 

 painful experience of the feline tribe) we found 

 practical protection by enclosing this in a wire 

 fence six feet high ; only wherever there was 

 a piece of wall or shed as one of the boundaries, 

 it was necessary to carry a yard of netting 

 above that, next the yard, so that the cats had 

 to do their walking outside of it. They never 

 seemed to understand, lookmg down as they 

 did, that they could get over by climbing up 

 this strip. Out of many former offenders, only 

 one cat in Bristol and one in London climbed our 

 netting, and both these met an untimely end — 



