300 



JOUBKAIi OF HOBTICULTORE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



[ April 17, 1886. 



IMPROVED FRAME HIVE. 



The snggestion in page 265 respecting bars with projecting 

 ends, iB, donbtlogs, a good one for those who are commencing 

 with bar-and-framo hives ; but the alteration vfould bo found 

 exceedingly tronble?ome to make by those who have already 

 adopted another pattern. Moreover, the projection cannot be 

 used in a bee-house, when it is necessary for the front of the 

 hive to fit closely. 



Having experienced the difficulty referred to in handling 

 heavy frames, I have used a couple of square hooks — if the bull 

 may be allowed — that is, the hook simply bent at a right angle, 

 and not returned. This I often find useful when the frames 

 dre tightly fastened in, especially in a house where the front of 

 the hive is not easy to reach. Of course, the frame is first 

 loosened, and the hook inserted sideways between the comb is 

 merely used for lifting out. — F. H. West. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Eaos NOT TTATCinKO (S. T. H.).~Vi'c fully Bympathise with you, for 

 after payiog *J8*. for nineteen epps, and these having to travel only 

 abODt Uuriy miles, you were entitled to expect more than two chickens. 

 At the same time you have no claim apainst the vendor. Ho is an 

 bononrable man, but, if he had no contrary reason, we should have 

 expected he woold have sent you a dozen as a compensation. 



Lacino on Wings op Spangled Hamburghs (J. P. F.). — Lacing has 

 been decried becanso it is difficult to obtain. Jt should belong to 

 Spangled fowls, and always did. Look at the wings of Silver-spangled 

 Polands. It is effectual in those classes. Every breeder of Spauf^led 

 birds knows how difficult it is to breed colour into one part of the body 

 and out of the other. It is difficult to obtain the spangled breast and 

 barred wing Nsith a clear tail. We can recollect the time when all had 

 barred wingp. but they had not clear tails. Lacing is a serious difficulty, 

 bat it is anything rather than a defect. 



PotTLTRT FArnTREs (M. C).— You do well in all things except chickens, 

 and there is no reason why they should fail. We havo a dozen lirahma 

 hens with chickens, and they havo never done so well as this year. Our 

 loss is not 5 per cent. We are great admirers of the Brahmas for their 

 sitting properties and their maternal \-irtuoB. Your feeding is good, but 

 if>you can find any miller who will grind your oats into fine flour, without 

 taking anything from it in the shape of bran, you will find it very profit- 

 able, more so than whole oats. Indian coru is good for a change, Lnt it 

 does not make good chicken meal. You do not seem to require any other 

 knowledge, as success is a fair test, and you are successful. Let your 

 sitting hens have plenty of room. When they break their eggs it is 

 generally because they are cramped for room; and when they crush the 

 chickens it is because their rips are too small. Wo have om's 24 inches 

 each way 



Ducks Laving Soft Eggs {A. €.). — Aylesbory Ducks, like hens, will 

 sometimes lay soft eggs. This arises from the lack of that which forms 

 the shell. In Ducks the cure for soft eggs is genen-illy to feed for a few 

 days on oat^ put in some vessel, with gravel and a sod of growing grass. 

 Cochin hens often lay very early after batching their chickens, but seldom 

 at the end of a month. The hen in question must supply the breakfast 

 eggs. The chickens are too young to be left, especially at this season of 

 the year. 



Buttering Eggs for Expout (Mrg. Tatboi).~'^'e think it would spoil 

 eggs for hatching if they were buttered. That is a process used for 

 keeping them fresh for the table, but it is an unnatural process for hatch- 

 ing, and we follow Nature in these things as nearly as we can. We think 

 eggs might go safely to South America packed in a basket with dr>' moss, 

 each egg being rolled in it. They should be kept in a cabin, or some 

 place where there is air. Eggs will keep a long time and yet hatch — cer- 

 tainly a month. 



Deficiency of Cocks (S. P.). — Yon have too many hens for two cocks. 

 You should have at least fonr. Last month, and earlier in the year, five 

 for your fifty hens would not be too many. Sometimes cocks are recon- 

 ciled by being placed in pens where they can Bee each other through wire 

 netting or other open work without being able to get at each other. Our 

 own idea is to let them havo their quarrel out, care being taken that they 

 shall not fight to t^^e death. We always adopt that plan. If you object 

 to that, do as follows : "Take a long rod 8 or 9 or more feet long ; to the 

 end of it tic an empty bag, such as an old pillow-case. When the cocks 

 are sparring, and intent upon it, they will allow yon easily to come within 

 reach. Measure your distance, and buffet them right and left with the 

 bap. They will be astonished, and will desist for a minute or two. They 

 will thtn begin again. Repeat the operation, and after two or three 

 applications a cure will be effected. If the covered runs are to protect 

 the chickens during the night, use them by all means ; but if they arc for 

 the day, discontinue them. Let the hen be under her rip, but let the 

 chickens have free cour-^c through the bars. Choose a dry (if possible^ 

 and a somewhat sheltered spot, and if the rata are troublesome place a 

 board in front at night ; but yon must recollect that chickens want their 

 liberty at daybreak. 



Giddiness in Fowls {B. O, H.).— Your chicken mnning sideways and 

 taming its head has the " gids." and will never grow up to be a good 

 one. We advise yon to kill it, and thus save the food it will eat without 

 making any retiuTi. It is the sort of chicken kindlv little girls take to as 

 a pet, because it is so funny. If year Cochins were Dorkings or Ham- 

 borgbs we should say they had roup ; hut as Cochins are not subject to 

 it we believe it is only a cold, which may be removed by feeding on bread 

 and ale for a day or two. 



Spanish Fowls (A Mtchanic).~yon will find plenty of Spanish fowls 

 and eggs advertised in our columns. The Spanish fowls as originally im- 

 ported had white faces. We have known one cock sold for £bi), and two 

 §ens containing each a cock and two hens sold at Liverpool for £200. 

 bur garden is largo enough for a Spanieh run. Eggs hatch well after 

 travelling. 



GooHF. IRVING Many Egoh {B. £.).— If the Goose in qacstloa is ft 

 ToulouiM Goose she will not sit ; if she is not, she wilL One of oar Ton- 

 louse Geese last year laid furty-flve eggs. 



EnrcTiNG A Hen-hoi'he (A Kcdd^r).— Yon may make an excolTbnt honso 

 with the iipace you mention— viz.. 6 feet in depth and 18 feet in Jongtb. 

 Hrickwurkis not necessary ; bo.^rdiugwill doporfrctly well. Let the house 

 be at liabtG feet high ; if higher ho much the better. Have a wooden, slate, 

 or tile roof. As the length is three times the depth, and as light is very 

 essential, yon must havo an opening or window at the cud, near to the 

 roof— one that can be opened or shut as the season may rei|uire. The 

 door should be at one end, the perches within 2 feet of the other, ronning 

 acrtms the liouse; the laying-buxes facing the door. The water should 

 not be in the roosting-honeo. Ilecollect, the larger the mnyon can allow 

 your fowlti the better they will do, and nothing is so good as grass and 

 shrubs. The flooring of the house should be gravel on earth, the latter 

 well rammed down and the funner loose on the surface. The mortar and 

 ru)>bish may form the foundation of the floor, but there should also be a 

 heap of it in the run. They du>^t in it, and the hens find the material for 

 the eggshells among it. You will not have room to rear chickens in the 

 smaller space; they shonld be in the larger place where you propose 

 allowing the fowls a run once a-wcek. Wire netting will make all nccurc, 

 and the covering at top will depend on the l>reed yon keep. Wo do not 

 recommend Dorkings for confined spaces. The best breeds are Cochins 

 and Brahmas. These are not wanderers, and will remain contented 

 without any covering at top. Another advantage of those breeds is, that 

 their cbickens are hardy and easy to rear. We should advise the purchase 

 of useful birds of either of these breeds, and that you buy some good eggs 

 to put under the bena as fast as they become broody. 



Aylesbury with Carolina Ducks (An Irnjuircr). — There would bo no 

 risk of any evil consequences if Carolina and Aylesbory Ducks ran to< 

 getber, but we are bound to tell yon it would be incongruous. Aylesbory 

 Ducks are large, hea%'y, and common-looking; foul feeders, and thriving 

 best in a yard where they forage in search of food. Carolina Docks do 

 well in a small pond in a flower garden, where they can always bo soon 

 and fed, becoming tame pets. The peculiarity of the latter is, they 

 will not make a nest, but will lay their eggs abont, takingnonote of them 

 unless they are provided with a proper place for nesting, which should 

 be exactly like a small dog-kennel fastened above the water to a pole in 

 the middle of the pond, and having a plank to reach the water. Small 

 ridges of wood must be nailed across this plank to 0ve the Docks foot- 

 hold. The back of this kennel should ho lower than the front, and there 

 should be a bead to prevent eggs from rolling out. Caiolina Ducks are 

 verv hardy, as much so as common Wild Docks. We believe their price 

 vanes between 50«. and 10s. per pair. We do not think the eggs are to 

 bo had. 



Golden Pheasants (Id^m). — They want no particular management. 

 They will thrive and lay well in a small place. Their food is barley, with 

 a little i)read at times to keep them tame, and to attach them to their 

 feeder. There is risk in allowing them to mn wild in a garden. Golden 

 Pheasants cost about GOs. per pair. Their eggs are to be purchased, but 

 we do not know the price. 



BcssiAN Bantams with Cr£ve CrEURS <J. F.V — We do not know the 

 size of the Russian Bantams. If they are larger than tho Sel>rights, 

 which weigh 17 ozs., and if the Crtve Cceurs are small, there is risk. Ak 

 a rule we do not consider Bantams dangerous among fowls of a large 

 breed. 



Silver Hamburgh Eggs Unfertile (Don« For). — We believe yonr 

 suspicion to be correct, and age is the cause. You can easily ascertain 

 by examining some of the dfegs that have been under the heu. If they 

 ore not impregnated they will bo apparently as fresh as when thev were 

 laid. 



Cochtn-Chinas not Laying (A. F. W.). — The continnal wet is bad for 

 the condition of poultry, and that which takes from their condition in- 

 terferes with their laying. Feed on barley and good oatmeal, with Indian 

 com only fur a change. We think with finer weather you will have more 

 eggs. We do not understand why the hens should lay about. If they eat 

 their eggs yon most lay some hard composition ones about, they will peck 

 at them till tbey are tired and will give up the habit. 



Ticks on Chickens (Idem). — Our experience is that chickens have done 

 well tliis year. We have not before heard of any ticks about poultry. 

 Wood ashes mixed with black sulphur, nineteen piu-ts of one to one of the 

 other, and small dust of any kind laid about the hannt« of chickens, arc 

 considered effectual in removing parasites of any kind, as the chickens dost 

 freely in them, and thereby get rid of the parasites. If by " warmly " you 

 mean that you employ artiiScial heat, discontinue it. It never does anjr 

 good in the long run. 



Managing Ligubian Bees (A. B. C). — Yon most either super your Li- 

 gurians or let them swarm. If yoo decide on tho former plan the super 

 should be put on towards the end of this month ; if the latter, you had 

 better get a couple of hives made at once, after tho pattern of the frame 

 hives you already possess. The probability iv that your black colony is 

 defunct, and the Lignriana have been plundering it. 



Preventing Swarms Absconding (A -V^ir Bfginncr}.~~V/e cannot tell 

 you how entirely to prevent the loss of natural swarms. All that can be 

 said is, that with trees and shrubs in the immediate neighbourhood of tho 

 apiary they generally cluster in them and submit to be hived. A strict 

 watch should, however, be kept during tbo swarming season, and we 

 should certainly give chase with the view of recovcringan errant swarm, 

 instead of merely watching its departure in solemn silence. 



Prosperous Bees (JS.).— You can do nothing more to advancethopros- 

 peritv of your bees. Even feeding may be an evil, if carried to excess, 

 since' if nil the cells were choked with food the queen could lay no eggs 

 in them, and bi-ecding would bo checked, if not entirely stopped. Yonr 

 bees will fill their hive with comb as soon as they are numerous enough, 

 and then the super may bo put on. A bee which is licked by others hA8 

 probably been soiled with honey or food. 



Which is the Best Bee Hive ? {Proapcra).— All depends on the degree 

 of skill possessed bv the apiarian. For those who never advance beyond 

 the wisdom of their forefathers, the old-fashioned bell-shaped straw hive 

 is the best and most convenient, whilst th.>se who go a step f.irtber and 

 put un an nccasional super will be contented with the same kind of hive 

 improved by one or more orifices in the top ; but for the true bce-master 

 • frame hives are for superior to aU others. 



