January 24, 1867. 1 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



75 



POULTRY, BEE, and HOTISEHOID CHRONICLE. 



BREEDING GAME FOWLS. 

 The following observations will apply to almost all the dif- 

 ferent sorts of poultry in breeding for stock. 



The great secret in breeding the best chickens for stock or 

 for exhibition is, where many are kept, to have plenty of good 

 cocks and young cocks, or " stags," as with few cocks and too 

 many hens in proportion, the stock will always become weaker 

 and weaker every year. Where only a few are kept, one good 

 brood cock is only just suf&cient for from two to six hens ; and 

 ■where many are kept, there should always be plenty of fine 

 young cocks or " stags " kept running under the brood cocks, 

 and breeding with them, one to every six hens at least, and 

 then all eggs are good for hatching, and all chickens strong, 

 vigorous, and healthy. With the Game more than one brood 

 cock can seldom be kept, and, therefore, young cocks or stags 

 Bupply the place of more. 



Pnilets should never be bred from, as they breed small and 

 weak chickens, and their eggs are too small for hatching. 

 Pullets should be kept separate from the breeding stock while 

 breeding, entirely for laying eggs for household consumption, 

 as being excellent winter layers. Stags or young cocks are 

 also worse to breed from than full-grown cocks are ; in fact, no 

 fowls should be bred from until they have moulted twice, but 

 where many are kept young cocks must be had instead of more 

 old cooks, which kill one another with their spurs, which stags 

 cannot do. 



Good old birds will always breed far better chickens than 

 very young birds wiU, and if strong and healthy it scarcely 

 matters how old they are ; for the younger hens so weaken 

 themselves by frequent laying that their chickens are also 

 weaker, and the older birds are less bred in-and-in than younger 

 birds are, if the stock has been bred in-and-in ; besides, the old 

 birds have been proved as good before, which the young ones 

 have not been. 



The breeding stock should be selected with great care from 

 the best shaped and strongest full-grown birds (not the largest), 

 and irrespective of age, if only full grown or two years old. 

 The brood cock must be especially good (never a stag), as more 

 depends upon him than upon the hens as a rule. 



The birds should be placed together for breeding about 

 Christmas, so as to lay in February and not before, for batch- 

 ing chickens in the last ten days of March and in the whole 

 of the months of April and ilay, and not later, March cock 

 chickens and April pullets making the best birds. 



Early broods should have most cock chickens, and the later 

 broods most puUets. 



The eggs tor hatching must be chosen with great care from 

 the most pointed-shaped, smoothest-shelled, freshest-laid, and 

 finest eggs, or eggs rather large or above the middle size, which 

 are the best. The first clutches of eggs laid after moulting, 

 if laid at the proper season, are the best for hatching ; the 

 second clutches are also good, but the third and following 

 clutches are worse. 



Eleven or twelve eggs shordd go to each sitting and never 

 more, as a hen cannot brood or bring up more than twelve 

 chickens properly to afford them proper warmth, the brood hens 

 full crown of course. 



The sex of eggs, it is said, may be easily ascertained by hold- 

 ing the egg, large end uppermost, to a lighted candle, or to 

 bright sunlight through a chink in a darkish place, when if 

 tiie air-bladder at the large end of the egg is at the top of the 



large end the chick is a male, and if at the side of the large 

 end it is a female. In eggs of the same hen the more pointed 

 are males, and the more equal-ended females ; but different hens 

 lay different-shaped eggs, the ovarium being of a different 

 shape. 



No Game hens should hatch-out chickens before the 21st of 

 March, for fear of cold weather, nor after May, as too late in 

 the year. 



Long-shaped eggs are bad, so are too short eggs ; small eggs 

 are bad, so are rough-shelled eggs ; equal-ended large eggs are 

 also bad, being often double-yolked, and therefore unproductive. 

 Eggs laid after a day's interval are the best for hatching, and 

 all eggs should be marked and d.ated as soon as Inid. The first 

 eggs of each clutch should be rejected as too small, as also those 

 laid after the hen begins to cluck or want to sit, as she then 

 refuses the cock and is becoming unfruitful. 



The more cock chickens in the broods the better, as their 

 being numerous shows strength and vigour, and the pullets, 

 though fewer, are always finer and better when there are plenty 

 of cock chickens. At least one-third of each brood should be 

 cock chickens, or the stock and the cocks are too weak and 

 the eggs ill-chosen for hatching. 



Crossing different colours in breeding is a very bad plan and 

 only produces mongrel mixtures as a rule. Each colour should 

 be kept separate, if there is room enough. Each colour should 

 be crossed and bred with equally good or superior strains of its 

 own colour, but, of course, as far removed in blood as possible. 

 In breeding and crossing, the cock rules the colour, shape, and 

 qualities more than the hens do, and the best chickens of both 

 sexes take most after the cock, cock chickens more especially 

 so, as a general rule. If crossing colours, therefore, the cock 

 should be of the colour required. If breeding in-and-in put a 

 first-rate old brood cock to your two-year-old hens, or a first- 

 rate two-year-old cock to your best old hens, which will cross 

 them a little. If crossing, breed from the best-shaped and 

 strongest full-grown birds, quite irrespective of age. Spurred 

 hens breed the hardest cocks as a rule. Pinkish-coloured eggs 

 are laid by the red-eyed hens and produce the reddest birds, 

 white eggs by the black-eyed hens, and the yellowish and 

 yellowish-brown eggs by the yellow or daw-eyed hens. These 

 last are the worst eggs. For stock choose red-eyed and black- 

 eyed Game fowls of the very best shape, feather, and blood. 



A dry soil and situation should be chosen for breeding, not 

 cold nor too high, and never in the least damp. Wet and damp 

 injure all fowls more than anything. The run f^hould be 

 sheltered from the north, and have sheds for shelter from rains 

 from all quarters, and a little cover for shelter from the sun. 

 A quarter of an acre at least is requisite for a good run, with 

 grass, light gravel, coarse sand, and running water. 



Young chickens should be cooped with the hen for the first 

 twenty days, and then be let out to run about with her in fine 

 dry weather, avoiding wet days and heavy dew, during which 

 they should be kept in or near the sheds, and on dry coarse 

 sand or gravel. The April showers are not at all hurtful to 

 them, if not too wet or heavy. The perches should never be 

 higher than 7 feet for Game fowls, and young chickens should 

 not perch too early for fear of crooked breasts, as they are soft- 

 boned. Young chickens should sleep on clean straw in pens, 

 or in a large clean hamper, till of age to perch. The greatest 

 cleanhness must prevail everywhere of course. Unspurred old 

 hens are the best mothers. Game hens are excellent mothers. 

 One level range of the perches is the best arrangement. 

 Perches should be smooth and round, and of the proper size 

 for the leet. Poultry-houses and runs should never be too 

 much crowded. 

 Game hens average twenty days in hatching, and from their 



