AprU 6, 187(5. 1 



JOUBNAL OF HOKTIGULTDBB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



277 



done. It ia not the distance does the injury, bat the knocks 

 and tumbles the packages got. Now if they all had handles 

 they would in most cases certainly be taken up by them, and 

 the chance o( the eggs hatching would be greatly increased. 



As we said, we wished to dinparage no pet ways of packing, 

 but we would venture to warn our friends against the use of 

 bran, oats, or sawdust — i.e., when they are used alone ; for how- 

 ever full the packages may be fillod with such mixtures, a long 

 journey will shake the contents down much closer, and the eggs 

 will very probably come in contact, when they will necessarily 

 be cracked, and the contents running out from cue or two so 

 cracked eggs might ruin a whole sitting. We have, moreover, 

 ourselves seen eggs in a package pierced by the sharp ends of 

 oats ; but this would not often be the case except in very thinly- 

 shelled eggs, and such should not be sent out at all as a rule. 

 One or two of our friends use moss, and we believe with im- 

 mense success, but even then we should always recommend the 

 box being lined with good and soft hay first. 



In the use of baskets we have noticed so many which are 

 made with a small round bottom, sloping up to a larger top ; 

 but these baskets are so liable to tilt over. We shall always 

 have them made sugarloaf-shaped, when they are able to with- 

 stand a good shaking without fear of falling over. We have 

 used ourselves with great success baskets of the shape of the 

 wicker cases in which spirit jars are often encased. But of all 

 egg baskets a long way ahead are, in our opinion, those used 

 at Early Wood. They are oval, and are just such as country 

 ■women go for the Saturday shopping with, having huge upright 

 handles, which it is impossible not to take hold by, for they 

 feeing tied together at the top form a most perfect handle. 



All must allow it is but correct for a sitting of eggs to be 

 properly and securely packed when sold and have to go any 

 distance by rail or carriage, and that the purchaser naturally 

 looks for it. Wa would, however, ask purchasers not to be too 

 quick in writing sharply about the non-success of a sitting, for 

 often the blame may be traced to their own doors ; and, if not, 

 one severe fall at a station or one heavy jarring would often 

 min the whole success of a sitting. And we hear, too, repeatedly 

 of failures among the eggs of our most honest and upright vendors , 

 whose other eggs sent out have done well, when the cause could 

 only be traced to some such accident as mentioned above. But 

 that a handle easy to lay hold of is of great value to every egg- 

 package we are quite sure, and would always recommend pur- 

 chasers to insist upon. — W. 



EAELY CHICKENS.— No. 1. 



The production of early chickens is one of the chief deside- 

 rata in keeping a flock of fowls. That this is not easy to accom- 

 plish the high prices which they command in early summer will 

 vouch for. Success in this line demands the concurrence of 

 several indispensables, and to induce this concurrence the 

 average poultry-grower appears, inferring from the result, to be 

 unfitted. There are some persons who seem instinctively fitted 

 for this business, and, ^Yhethe^ the season be favourable or not, 

 always succeed in rearing a few early chickens. Every farmer, 

 and in fact everyone that lives in the country or in a village, 

 keeps more or less fowls, the object in view with the majority 

 being a constant supply of eggs and poultry for home use rather 

 than any expectations of profit from sending them to market. 

 Indeed the opinion is widely prevalent that keeping fowls does 

 not pay otherwise than in the convenience of having a basket of 

 fresh eggs to draw upon for breakfast or a perchful of young 

 chickens for dinner. To make sure of a constant supply more 

 fowls are kept than are necessary ; the surplus goes to market ; 

 and it is this surplus which to a great extent supplies our cities. 

 Thus it may be explained why the person who believes that 

 fowls do not pay still persists in sending them and their pro- 

 ducts to market. But whatever doubt there may be about the 

 profit to be derived from eggs and late chickens, there can be 

 none whatever about the profit from the early ones. The chief 

 obstacles which render their production difficult are the scarcity 

 of hens that will lay and want to sit in the winter, the inability of 

 the hen to impart the requisite amount of heat to the eggs 

 during severe weather, and the want of sulficient hardiness in 

 the young chicks to endure cold winds and storms until they 

 become feathered. The object of this essay is to indicate by 

 what means these obstacles can be partially overcome. 



Selection or Breeding Stock. — We must bear in mind that 

 hens do not lay while moulting, which process consumes two or 

 three months. Hence if their annual moult be deferred till late 

 in the fall, they will not recover from it in time to lay and hatch- 

 out a brood of chicks until the spring is far advanced. Conse- 

 quently we should select for our breeding stock in the first place 

 hens that have moulted early and become fully feathered by the 

 1st of December at latest ; in the second place we should select 

 pullets (and they will in most cases make up a great majority of 

 the flock) that were hatched from the middle of April to the 

 middle of June. They will commence laying from the Ist of 

 November to Christmas, and become broody during the latter 



half of winter. Earlier pnllets will be earlier, want to set in 

 the fall, and very probably moult about Christmas, thus becom- 

 ing useless as early breeders. Later puUets will not become 

 sufficiently matured to lay until spring. There is always a 

 strong temptation to sell cfi all the early pullets, since they are 

 worth so much more in the markets than the late ones ; hence a 

 lot of pullets of the right age can seldom be bought in the fall. 

 To obtain such we must begin in the spring to rear them, or buy 

 them when half-grown during the summer. We must also bear 

 in mind that cocks lose their vigour while moulting. They 

 usually moult late, hence they will not recover their vigour till 

 late in the season; and if we depend upon them, a large part of 

 the winter-laid eggs will be unfertile. Our choice then must be 

 cockerels, and they should have been hatched in March or April, 

 so that they may attain fuU size and become matured when 

 winter arrives. 



Care of Egos. — The sooner they are gathered after the hens 

 leave the nest the better. Half an hour of exposure when the 

 day is cold and the wind high will destroy their vitality. They 

 should be kept where the temperature is not allowed to go below 

 50^ Fahr., nor above 80° ; or better still, where it varies only 

 between 00° and 70°. Avoid keeping them where they will be 

 exposed to cold draughts of air. If they are to be kept more than 

 a week before sitting it would undoubtedly be advantageous at 

 any season to wrap them in paper and place them small end 

 down. The paper prevents evaporation of their moisture, thus 

 preserving them more nearly in the condition of fresh-laid eggs. 



Sitting the Hens. — A hen will keep her eggs warm through 

 ordinary winter weather if her nest is well protected from the 

 wind and the bottom of it be packed solid with fine sawdust (or 

 any material that will not conduct heat), and lined with fine soft 

 hay, well packed and bedded down. A moderately freezing 

 temperature does not abstract heat very fast if the surrounding 

 air can be kept at rest ; but we seldom get three weeks in the 

 winter or in March without a night or two when the thermo- 

 meter sinks to the zero neighbourhood, or without a sharp 

 north-wester or a chilly penetrating north-easter, and these 

 are the times when the embryo chicks are destroyed ; hence our 

 hopes of success must rest in providing a situation for the sitting 

 hens where we can prevent the temperature from falling far 

 below the freezing point, and from which cold winds are 

 entirely excluded. An ordinary cellar would fulfil the con- 

 ditions, but the hens are quite likely to become unhealthy on 

 account of dampness and want of pure air and sunlight. The 

 one thing to be done is to build a house adapted for the purpose. 

 Select a situation where there is a slight inclination to the 

 south, dig 2 feet deep, and construct a wall on all sides but the 

 south ; remove the earth from the south side if the elope is not 

 sufficient to leave it clear down to level of floor; 4 feet will le 

 high enough for the posts of the building that stand in the wall, 

 and feet for those on the south side. The room should be 

 plastered, and low windows reaching to within a foot from the 

 floor should occupy the whole south side except the doorway. 

 Around the base of this room the nests should be ranged ; the 

 floor of the room will serve for the bottom, and the sides for the 

 back. Set up the cross partitions, and nail the top to them ; a 

 strip 5 inches wide nailed to the partitions in front and close to 

 the floor will hold them in place and make the front of the nest. 

 A door of narrow slats or wire netting should close the space 

 above this strip, and be hinged at the top. For large and heavy 

 hens the nest should not be less than 20 inches square ; if they 

 are smaller the hen in turning around is cramped for room, and 

 in consequence is more Uable to break her eggs. The packing of 

 the nest should come nearly to the level of the top of the 5-inch 

 strip, BO that the hen upon entering will not be compelled to 

 step down in getting on the eggs. The nest should be packed 

 flat in the centre, and rise only when it approaches the circum- 

 ference to keep the eggs from spreading too far. If it is concave 

 throughout the eggs press against one another, and the hen has 

 a great deal of difficulty in hooking them over with her bill ; she 

 will probably leave those in the centre undisturbed, and besides 

 she will often pull one or more on top of the rest, when some 

 will almost surely get broken. When a hen becomes broody 

 remove her to one of these nests; she should, however, be 

 allowed to remain two or three days on the nest in which she 

 has been laying, for hens sometimes act whimsical. The re- 

 moval should be made just before night. Put a hot brick in the 

 nest half an hour before, and with it several china eggs ; then, 

 when the hen takes the place of the brick, she wiU find the nest 

 and eggs warm, which will be a strong inducement to her to 

 make herself at home in her new quarters. Close her in 

 immediately, and leave her till the second morning to become 

 wonted to her new nest. On the second morning after her removal 

 take her off the nest and give her the freedom of the apartment 

 with corn and clean water. She will probably go on the nest 

 again in fifteen or twenty minutes, and then her sitting of eggs 

 slightly warmed should be substituted for the china eggs. If 

 she fails to return to her nest she must be caught and replaced; 

 if she is then disposed to remain there give her her sitting of 

 eggs. With a little watching she will make a good hen ; but 



