AND CATTLE DOCTOR. 249 



wheat, all watery food, soaked bread, or potatoes, being 

 improper. Eggs boiled hard, or curd chopped small, 

 is very suitable for first food. 



Their water should be pure and oflen renewed, 

 and there are pans made in such forms, that the chick- 

 ens may drink without getting into the water, which, 

 by wetting their feet and feathers, numbs and injures 

 them ; a basin in the middle of a pan of water, will 

 answer the end ; the water running round it. There 

 is no necessity for cooping the brood beyond two or 

 three days; but they may be confined as occasion re- 

 quires, or suffered to range, as they are much bene- 

 fitted by the foraging of the hen. They should not 

 be let out too early in the morning, whilst the dew lies 

 upon the ground, nor be suffered to range over wet 

 grass, which is a common and fatal cause of disease 

 in fowls. Another caution requisite is to guard them 

 against unfavourable changes of the weather, particu- 

 larly if rainy. Nearly all the diseases of fowls arise 

 from cold moisture. 



For the period of the chickens quitting the hen, there 

 is no general rule ; when she begins to roost, if suffi- 

 ciently forward, they will follow her; if otherwise, 

 they should be secured in a proper place, till the time 

 arrives when they are to associate with the other young 

 poultry, since the larger are sure to overrun and drive 

 from their food the younger broods. 



To fatten poultry. 



An experiment has lately been tried of feeding 

 geese with turnips cut in small pieces like dice, but 

 less in size, and put into a trough of water ; with this 

 food alone, the effect was that 6 geese, each when leart 



