S82 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ May SO, 1867. 



POULTRY. BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE. 



r.lIAHMA POOTRAS. 



I FIND I omitted the following notes in my communication 

 TPhich appeared in jiaRO 349. 



The made Biahm.i Pootras appear to have the pea-comb, and 

 to be without the vulture or falcon hock (certainly more vulture 

 than falcon), hut the pure-bred Brahmas are without the pea- 

 comb, and are siuRle-combed, with the vulture hock. The 

 purest-bred Cochin!; or Shanghaes have the vulture hock, I 

 think; and as to this, I differ from the "Standard of Ex- 

 cellence," which does not commend vulture hocks. I cannot 

 Lelp thinking, that the vulture hock is the proper distinctive 

 characteristic of all feathered-legged poultry, as in the feathered- 

 legged Bantams for instance, and I think that the legs of Buoh 

 sorts of birds are always much better feathered with the vul- 

 ture hock than without it. 



I see that Messrs. Gunson & .Teffrrson, of Whitehaven, in 

 Cumberland, advertise the Birchen Grey Malays, which are, 

 perhaps, imported by Mr. Jefferson, from the United States, 

 but this I do not know ; however, it is from these Malays that 

 the pea-combed Brahmas were originally produced I believe, 

 and it is the Malay, and not the Dorking expression which is 

 thus given to Brahmas, as pea-combed Brahmas stand much 

 nearer to Malays than to Dorkings. The long necks also come 

 from the Malays, and the legs of the pea-combed birds are 

 generally less feathered than those of the single-combed birds, 

 more especially when the latter are vulture-hocked. The 

 Dorking cross may, of course, exist, but I cannot say that I 

 have ever much observed or suspected it, and if common it 

 would, of course, be clearly evident to every close observer. 

 The Americans having a great trade to Shanghae, imported 

 many of the Shanghaes, and with Birchen-Grey Malay cocks 

 these made the pea-combed Brahmas. The Birchen-Grey 

 Malay breed are not uncommon in the United States I 

 nnderstand. 



The pea-combed birds I consider to be the original cross 

 made in America. The birds with the brownish markings, I 

 think are the original Brahma Pootras, and those without the 

 brown markings, and which have white, grey, dun, or black 

 markings instead of brown, arc the latest made or most culti- 

 vated strains of them. The stripe in the chickens is only 

 brown in the brown-marked sorts, and is black in the grey and 

 black-marked sorts, if pure-bred birds of the sort. — Tkevoe, 



CTHEEWIBE NeWMAIIKET. 



for ground oats and potatoes. Presh water was supplied in a 

 barrel, and kept contiuually runring or dropping by means of a 

 small tap. It will be seen by the following account that tha 

 nett profit of this lot for six months amounted to £18 10s. 6d. 

 The average laying for the whole year was abont two himdred 

 eggs from each hen, and the expense of keeping the whole stock 

 for that period was about £25 or £26 : — 



FROM FEERDART IsT TO JULY 31ST, ONE HCNDBED SIH-EE- 

 PENCILLED HAMBUEGHS. 



POULTRY-YARD FOR THE WHOLESALE 

 PRODUCTION OF EGGS. 



Being like most of your readers an admirer of the feathered 

 tribe, and always glad to receive and read the opinions and 

 hear of the success of others through the medium of your 

 Journal, I beg to send you the result of an experiment I made 

 a little time ago. 



For some years I considered it, as many do, a matter of 

 doubt, whether poultry-keeping in a commercial point of view 

 could be carried out with a profitable result. My experience 

 has solved the question, and I am satisfied now of the practica- 

 bility of an establishment being conducted with success, where 

 enterprise, skill, and systematical management are combined. 



My attention was first drawn to the possibility of making 

 Jowls profitable some few years ago, when I had occasion to 

 leave home for a period of two months. My stock then con- 

 sisted of about 150 Silver-pencilled Hamburghs. Not having any 

 idea that I should be away so long, I did not give instructions 

 to the man in charge what was to be done with the eggs. To 

 my astonishment, on my return I found in a corner of a 

 room an immense heap of eggs, resembling, all but in colour, 

 potatoes shot out of a sack. This naturally suggested to me 

 the possibility of such prolific hens being remunerative, and 

 induced me to investigate by a carefully noted trial what their 

 laying capabilities really were. 



I commenced my trial with one hundred Pencilled Ham- 

 burghs, ninety-five hens and five cocks, in the month of 

 February, and kept a debtor and creditor account till the end 

 of July, six months, during which period they produced 11,000 

 eggs, the average being about five to each bird per w(ek. 

 A peck of mixed grain was allowed every day, and boiled flesh 

 twice a-week. On Saturdays the mixed grain was substituted 



Payments. £ s, d. 



Barley and whoat 7 



Oats 1 2 



Flesh U 



Potatoes 10 



Sand and chalk 3 6 



Prottt 18 10 6 



28 



Sold 11,000 at 5j. per 100 .. 27 10 6 

 Manure 010 



28 



As the eggs of this breed are small, I last year crossed 

 them with a Spanish cock, my object being to have the best 

 layers as well as non-sitters and a moderate-sized marketable 

 egg. 



Supposing instead of ray having kept only these one hundred, 

 I had a farm of 10,000 hens, what would be the result ? It 

 would very naturally be remarked, so many fowls together 

 would never answer ; but I say with proper management they 

 would in our part of the country ; and in many parts of England 

 (I should prefer the midland counties), there are thousands of 

 acres of uncultivated sandy heath land w-ithin five or six miles 

 of some of our largest manufacturing towns, on which small 

 hen-houses might be built, sufficiently large to contain from 

 100 to 150 fowls each, extended over acres of land, allowing an 

 acre for each one hundred birds, with proner cottages and out- 

 buildings for the ke?pers. One hundred acres of this land 

 could be hired on a lease at a nominal rent, and the droppings 

 of the fowls would improve the soil and make the property more 

 valuable. 



The following estimate will show the amount of capital and 

 the profit on a stock of 10,000 hens of the cross-breed : — 



PATTkTENTS. 



Cost of 10.000 breeding 

 hens at 2*. each 



Building eiffhty hen- 

 houses, two cottapes, 

 and eutbnildinjTS .... 



Horse, cart, mincing- 

 mill, and tools 



Horse keep 



Sundry losses 



Cost of corn 



Flesh, &c 



Kent of 100 acres of 

 waste land 



Salary to Manager 



Wages to men and hovs 



Cost of breeding 2(100 

 hens yearly to supply 

 stock 



Con Is, package, &c 



Profit 



r.ECEIPTS. £ S. d. 



Value of stock 2210 



Produce eggs, 2,000,000 . 5000 



Sale of dung 80 



bones 18 



Sale of old hens after 



the first five years, at 



1». each 100 



7408 

 I believe the result of the above estimate can alone be ac- 

 complished by non-sitting hens. Eggs being the only source 

 of profit, the most prolific layers should, therefore, be selected. 

 I should myself be very willing to join a party of enterpris- 

 ing gentlemen in an undertaking of this description, as I am 

 confident the result would be satisfactory. A capital of £3000 

 would be sufficient to carry on a business like the above, which 

 would yield over 75 per cent. 



I should like some of your readers who are acquainted with 

 this breed to say if I have overstated its laying capabilities, 

 and whether my suggestions are impossible to be carried out, 

 if so, the reason why. — Toby. 



WOODEN PORTABLE POULTJRY-HOUSES. 



These are desirable under certain circumstances. They can 

 be moved about so as allow the fowls to have fresh runs in 

 distant fields. Lady Holmesdale employs them, and shifts 

 them when deemed needful to different parts of Linton Park. 

 Mr. Schroder, the inventor of an incubator, has designed 

 several. The following are thus pourtrayed and described by 

 him. 



" The Single Poultry-house (firi. 1), is constructed with three 

 separate compartments — viz., for roosting, laying, and shelter 



