California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



'.I. 



»Y "faucy for chickens," writes a cor- 

 respouJeut to the Ci.xiidry (JaiUcimm, 

 dates from my boyhood, and since 

 7^wl\ then I have been a close observer of 

 jft.^ their habits, and during the past ten 

 yeius have had opportunity to test, by actual 

 experiment, my long-coueeived notions of the 

 important place thej' hold among the produc- 

 tive elements of the farm. Experience has 

 convinced me that there is scarcely any inter- 

 est of the farm that will pay so large a return 

 on the investment and labor bestowed upon 

 it as will the keeping of the domestic fowl iu 

 flocks of '25 to 200, the uumbi-r within these 

 limits depending upon the accommodations, 

 extent of territory, and care devoted to them; 

 and, farther, that the egg-producing depart- 

 ment of the poultry yard is that in which lies 

 the greater profit. There is an undoubted 

 profit iu breeding them for the spit, but so 

 much more in keeping them for the produc- 

 tion of eggs, that I consider the fotmer ob- 

 ject secondary to the latter. Please accept 

 the statement of the fact that the past five 

 years' management of a flock averaging 175 

 shows an annual profit of $350 from eggs 

 alone. Assuming the proposition that they 

 will pay largely, it behooves us to consider 

 the merits of dift'ereut breeds, and discover, 

 if possible, the best variety for laying. Un- 

 der this head I propose to give you a leaf 

 from my diary. 



Some ten years since, I bought with my 

 small farm the poultry on it, about fifty head 

 of common fowls; at the same time, I pro- 

 cured from another source a trio of Black 

 Spanish fowls, from which I reared, during 

 the season, about twenty pullets. The change 

 from city to country life gave a keen relish to 

 everything fresh and rural, and we " fared 

 sumptuously" every morning on the fresh 

 laid eggs; but with the fall of the leaf our 

 short-lived pride of the table soon came to 

 grief. Three eggs a day! What a beggarly 

 show! Wheat screenings, table scraps, sheep's 

 plucks and oyster shells in vain wooed dame 

 Partlett to fecundity; but with the December 

 days, a gradual increase in the yield was de- 

 veloped. The combs of my Spanish beauties, 

 "mantling high" with the red emblem of ma- 

 turity, blazoned forth the secret of the change, 

 and a bountiful supply of fresh laid eggs 

 once more graced our table. Selected only as 

 handsome specimens of the feathered tribe, 

 the great superiority of the Spanish as layers 

 was not at first suspected; but I immediately 

 began my experiments, and in the following 

 Spring I found that six Spanish hens, kept 

 apart to secure purity of eggs for hatching 

 purposes, gave an average of three eggs each 

 in four days for the space of six weeks — 

 while the common fowls, under similar cir- 

 cumstances, laid only every other day. 



In ray judgment the best three varieties of 

 laj'ers known to us are the Leghorns, Span- 

 ish and Hamburgs, and first of all 1 place the 

 Leghorns. The eggs of the Hamburgs are 

 too small, while the Leghorns lay a large, 

 plump egg, and they mature much earlier 

 than the Spanish. Chickens hatched in the 

 Spring will mature and commence laying 

 earlier in the ensuing Fall than the Spanish, 

 and this is a great consideration, since it is on 

 those Spring pullets that we must rely for our 

 Fall and Winter supply of eggs. I believe 

 the Leghorns will lay the heaviest weight of 

 eggs in the year of all breeds in proportion to 

 their size and food consumed, while the Brah- 

 mas, will produce the lightest with like re- 

 latiiui to size and food consumed. There is 

 a ditfereuco in the laying qualities of fowls of 

 the same variety, and I have noticed that 

 those with the largest combs and wattles, or 

 great predominance of the "red" in the face 

 and about the head are invariably the best 

 layers. 



Ducks. — A farmer's boy writes us from 

 East Kludge saying that he has a pair of 

 ducks, and asking how he shall take care of 

 them so as to make the most of them. 



About a year ago we published what wc 

 knew about ducks, but as this seems to have 

 escaped the attention of our yonng friend, we 

 don't mipd repeating some of it. In the first 

 place then, you want to remember all the 

 time that the duck is a great feeder. He is 

 not very particular as to what he eats, but he 

 wants a great deal, and when he has it, grows 

 very rapidly and keeps fat all the time. This 

 Winter your ducks vrill eat almost anything 

 which you can give them from the table, 

 crusts of bread, potato peeling, old turnips, 

 bits of meat, and "swill" generally, besides 

 grain. Next Summer they will catch and eat 

 an innumerable number of bugs, worms, 

 snails and insects of all kinds, and this is one 

 great reason why we like ducks; they also 

 relish fish, frogs and tadpoles, but are not 

 grass eaters like geese. This Winter you 

 want to keep them where they can have a 

 warm place to sit nights and a chance to wad- 

 dle around in the sun days. A tub of water 

 to which they can have access will furnish 

 them all the water they need, and some kinds 

 will get along well without even that. We 

 would not shut them in a small pen as it 

 would soon become nasty and foul. 



They probably will not lay next Winter, but 

 by April they should commence and lay an 

 egg every day until Fall. They are apt to 

 drop their eggs anywhere they happen to be, 

 but if encouraged to go to the barn for feed, 

 and if furnished a good place, can generally 

 be made to lay there. 



They are poor hatchers, careless of their 

 business when first hatched. We would 

 therefore take their eggs and set them under 

 hens. The eggs hatch in 31 days and they 

 require no attention but what the hen will 

 give them. When once the hen is sitting 

 leave her alone. When once the ducklings 

 hatch, feed them with boiled eggs and flour, 

 and crumbs of bread soaked in sour milk, for 

 a few days, and after that give them boiled 

 meal, boiled potatoes, cooked bran and any 

 bugs or angle worms you can find. For the 

 first week or ten days, or longer if the weath- 

 er is not fine, keep them confined in pens 

 where they can only get at water enough to 

 drink. If they are let loose they take to the 

 water and get cold and die. More ducklings 

 are killed by going too early into the water 

 than any other way. For this reason do not 

 let them out when the grass is wet. After 

 they are three weeks or two months old, they 

 may be let loose to forage in the garden or 

 field, but they should be brought home every 

 night. Do not give them raw food except 

 bugs and worms. Ducks need wattr iu the 

 Summer, but will do nicely without a great 

 deal. As we have said, when well fed they 

 grow rapidly, and are ready for market early. 

 Mirror and Farmer. 



Curd, made by scalding milk to separate 

 the whey, is as good feed for young ducks as 

 can be procured. 



Selection of Turkeys for Breeders. 

 What I have to say will be addressed more to 

 farmers than fanciers. It is to be supposed 

 th,T(fr fanciers know enough to keep the best, 

 while most farmers (in this vicinity, at least) 

 sell the largest and best, and keep over a little 

 late turkey that will not sell. 



I think thetronze is the best breed. They 

 are very hardy, grow to a large size, and have 

 splendid i^lumage. The selection in breeding 

 stock is of the utmost imjiortance. I would 

 not keep over a young gobbler weighing (at 

 six months) less than 18 pounds — 20 or 25 

 pounds would be better — and the hen to 

 weigh at least 12 pounds at the same age. A 

 gobbler weighing 20 pounds at that age, is 

 cheaper at .JIO than one weighing but 12 or 14 

 pounds would be if given to him. 



I remember the first Bronze gobbler I bought 



cost me $7.75. He then weighed 18".i pounds. 



1 I felt rather cheap about it, but it was the best 



investment I ever made in poultry. The De- 

 cember aft«r he was one year old he weighed 

 35 pounds, and he now weighs 40 pounds. I 

 would select a gobbler that was broad across 

 the back, short legged, and square built. .A. 

 tall, stilty, tliin-bnilt bird is not worth keeping 

 — always remenibcring that a young Bronze is 

 comparatively tall. 



The hen should be short legged, square 

 built and long bodied. I have read of young 

 hens weighing 18 or 20 pounds, but have 

 never seen them. If any one has any such 

 hen to sell, at any price, I should be glad to 

 hear from him. It is just as much trouble to 

 get a turkey old enough to take care nf itself 

 that will weigh but 6 or 7 pounds, as it is one 

 that will weigh from 12 to 20 pounds. An- 

 other thing, most farmers kill the old birds in 

 the Fall. Now, I consider old birds worth 

 double (for breeders) the price of young ones. 

 If I had an old hen that took care of the young 

 turkeys, was all right otherwise, I would keep 

 her until she was at least five yeai's old. And 

 a gobbler that proved a good bird at maturity, 

 I would keep as long. The young turkeys 

 will be largsr and stronger when hatched, and 

 are easier to raise. — Ex. 



The Best Poultri for Geueral Use. — In 

 answer to this question, a correspondent of 

 the I'ouUry World says he has arrived at tho 

 conclusion that the Brahmas, all things con- 

 sidered, are the best for general purposes, for 

 the following reasons: 



I have found them the best Winter layers 

 if started early iu the season; this is the time 

 of the year when eggs are iu the greatest de- 

 mand, and the price then realized is fully 

 double, for ordinary family consumption. I 

 find that it costs but little more to keep them 

 in Winter than in the Summer season ; and 

 for limited premises, where fowls cannot en- 

 joy a good range, the excess in any portion of 

 the year varies but slightly. 



Good care under all circumstances, and at 

 all times, is a prime necessity to success in 

 breeding fowls. These larger birds need no 

 better treatment than do the smaller varieties. 

 At an early age, the cocks are ready to kill, 

 and they average much larger chickens for 

 market uses, at a time when dead poultrj- 

 brings the best price in the cities, than do 

 small breeds. 



As mothers, the Brahma hens cannot be 

 excelled. The chickens are hardy, and make 

 a fine table fowl if properly fed and strictly 

 cared for from the shell; and, when in good 

 condition, in the early Fall, they will dress 

 from ten to twelve pounds a pair (often heav- 

 ier), which is almost twice the dead weight of 

 average marketable chicks, now-a-days, of 

 the common varieties. This extra weight will 

 far more than compensate for the extra cost of 

 good care and keeping; and the Brahmas 

 may be limited to narrow confinement, by en- 

 closure with a four-post high fence, which is 

 a consideration of consequence in many lo- 

 cations. 



■ — •-♦-• 



Crossing Breeds. — I have a flock of twenty- 

 four hens, a cross mostly of White Leghorn 

 and the Light Brahma. They have laid fairly 

 during the past Winter, but in three days of 

 the last week in February they laid respec- 

 tively fifteen, twenty, and twenty-one eggs. 

 Can any one tell me of so large a yield of 

 eggs from this cross thus far? The produce 

 is hardy, of good size, and fuller in the breast 

 that the pure Brahmas, and almost as broad 

 on the back and in the rump. The legs are 

 nearly free from feathers, which is a great im- 

 jjrovement to my eye, and they are not such 

 inveterate setters as I find the Brahmas. In 

 fact, some do not want to sit at all, and others 

 that do can be broken up in three or four 

 d.ays, instead of as many weeks, as it has often 

 taken me with pure Brahmas, and I have 

 tried every method for this purpose I ever 

 heard of. This cross-breed of hens has 

 proved superior to my Houdans in laying the 

 past winter. — A. B. Alien, in Country (jenUe- 

 riwn. 



