Home Production of Poultnj 347 



they do not move till the door of the room is opened next 

 morning-. I must not omit to mention that the chickens are not 

 intrusted to the mother or a leader before they are a week old, 

 and then only in fine weather." 



Nursing by proxy would be the greatest boon to our poultry- 

 breeders ; it is indispensable to the full development of arti- 

 ficial incubation ; and there is not so much objection to 

 depriving a hen of her nursing duties as there is to debarring 

 her from sitting. There may be advantages in the French 

 " troop leader " system ; but our hope is that we shall be able 

 to dispense with living nurses altogether, and cherish our 

 chickens by means of mechanical " artificial mothers." For 

 these are not novelties of the present day. Parkinson, in his 

 'Treatise on Live Stock,' published in 1810, quotes a " New 

 method of rearing poultry to advantage ; as communicated to 

 the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c., by Mrs. Hannah 

 D'Oyley, of Sion Hill, near Northallerton, Yorkshire ; " and her 

 plans are exceedingly like those lately introduced by some of 

 our poultry " lights." 



This lady says, " In my poultry yard is a small building, 

 similar to a pigeon-cot, for the hens to lay in ; with frames 

 covered with net to slide before each nest. The house is 

 dry, light, and well-ventilated ; kept free from dirt, by having 

 the nests and walls white-washed two or three times a year, 

 and the floor covered once a week with fresh ashes. When 

 1 wish to preserve chickens, I take the opportunity of setting 

 many hens together, confining each to her respective nest ; a 

 boy attends morning and evening to let any off that appear 

 restless, and to see that they return to their proper places. When 

 they hatch, the chickens are taken away, and a second lot of eggs 

 allowed for them to sit again, by which means they produce as 

 numerous a brood as before. I put the chickens into long 

 wicker cages, placed against a hot wall at the back of the kitchen 

 fire, with the heat of about 80°. The open-wicker basket is 4 

 feet long, 2 feet broad, and 14 inches high ; with a lid to open, 

 and a wooden sliding bottom similar to that of a bird-cage ; the 

 food and water being given in small troughs outside the cage, 

 [the little chicks putting their heads between the inch-interval 

 upright wicker ' spells.'] Within each cage is an artificial 

 mother, for the chickens to run under, made of a board about 

 15 inches long, by 10 broad, supported by two feet in the front, 4 

 inches high, and by a board at the back, 2 inches in height, the 

 roof and back being lined with lamb-skins dressed with the wool 

 upon them. They are formed without bottoms, and have a 

 flannel curtain in front and at the ends, for the chickens to run 

 under, which they do apparently by instinct. I find it advisable 



