Breeding and Management* 77 



any signs of fear; by such treatment I have known hens 

 that refused to feed their first brood ultimately become good 

 mothers. 



FIRST BROOD. Do not part with a hen simply because she 

 fails to rear her first brood always give her another chance; 

 for it sometimes happens that the fault is not hers ; the young 

 birds may be weak and puny, and consequently too delicate 

 to rear. I have known hens prove bad mothers one year and 

 good ones the next. 



DELICATE HEALTH. Other hens, again, I have known to 

 rear their first nest, and let the next die. This, as a rule, 

 will be found to proceed from a delicate constitution; the hen 

 becomes weakly and enfeebled by breeding, and, falling into 

 a bad state of health, becomes listless, and hence lets her 

 progeny die for want of strength and energy to feed them 

 sufficiently. Give such hens a rest, feed them liberally, and 

 try to induce them to bathe. 



HAND -FEEDING. Some hens refuse to feed their progeny, 

 and others feed so sparsely as to need assistance. In such 

 cases hand-feeding is necessary if you have no foster-mother 

 at hand, but unless the birds are valuable, or you desire to 

 show forth as a philanthropist, it is scarcely worth the 

 amount of trouble and sacrifice of time that is needed to 

 rear them. The instrument to be used for this purpose should 

 be a quill, abstracted from the wing of a goose, duck, or 

 fowl, and cut in the shape of a pen nib; or you may use a 

 piece of stick or wood similarly cut. The birds should be fed 

 at first about every forty minutes, after four days old every 

 hour to the sixth or seventh day, after that a further interval 

 of half -an-hour more may ensue up to ten days ; after they 

 reach this age feed every two hours, from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. 

 Prepare the food in the following manner : Grind some arrow- 

 root oiscuits to fine powder in a mortar, mix well with 

 the yolk of a hard-boiled egg, and moisten with warm water 

 to the consistency of Devonshire cream or cream cheese. When 

 the birds reach the age of six or seven days, a little finely- 



