1038 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



from sitting, when eggs, rather than chickens, are in request. A late author recommends to thrust a 

 feather through the hen's nostrils, in order to prevent her from sitting: and to give her halfa glass of 

 gin, then swing her round until seemingly dead, and confine her in a pot, during a day or two, leaving 

 her only a small breathing hole, to force her to sit ! It is full time that those and a hundred other such 

 utterly useless and barbarous follies of former days, practised upon various animals, should be dismissed 

 with the contempt they merit. The pamphlet alluded to, is the Epicure, by Thomas Young, a publica- 

 tion replete with good things on the interesting subjects of eating, wines, spirits, beer, cider, &c. It is 

 jvritten with haut gout. {Mowbray.) 



6700. Moulting. Every succeeding year after the third, the hen continues to moult 

 later in the season, and laying fewer or no eggs during the moulting period, which is 

 sometimes protracted to two or three months. It should seem that old hens are seldom 

 to be depended upon for eggs in the winter, such being scarcely full of feather until 

 Christmas ; and then, probably, may not begin to lay till April, producing at last, not 

 more than twenty or thirty eggs. In general, it is most profitable to dispose of hens 

 whilst they are yet eatable or saleable for that purpose, which is in the spring of the 

 third year. Nor do delicate white hens lay so many eggs in the cold season, as the more 

 hardy colored varieties, requiring warmth and shelter, particularly by night. Moulting, 

 or the casting and renewal of feathers, lasts with its effects from one to three months, 

 according to the age and strength of the bird. Whilst under this natural course, 

 poultry are unfit for the table, as well as for breeding. It is the same with respect to 

 young poultry, whilst shedding their feathers in the spring. The regular moulting of 

 full grown f6wls begins in the autumn. 



6701. In some hens the desire of incubation is so powerful that they will repeat it five 

 or six times in the year; in others it is so slight, that they will probably not sit more 

 than once or twice in the season. A skilful breeder will take advantage of these 

 qualities, and provide abundance of eggs from the one variety, and of chickens by 

 means of the other. Hens when sitting drink more than usual, and it is an adviseable 

 practice to place water constantly before them when in this state, and food (say cornj at 

 least twice a day. The time of incubation is twenty-one days. 



6702. Hatching. The chicken, hitherto rolled up like a ball, with its bill under the 

 right wing like a bird asleep, begins generally on tlie morning of the twenty-second 

 day to break its way through the shell, neither the hen, nor can the art of man, with 

 safety render them aid in this very interesting and wonderful operation. The parental 

 affection of the hen, as Mowbray and Parmentier have observed, is always intensely 

 increased, when she first hears the voice of the chicks through the shells, and the strokes 

 of their little bills against them. The signs of a need of assistance, the former author 



^observes, are, the egg being partly pecked, and the efforts of the chicken discontinued 

 for five or six hours. The shell may then be broken cautiously, and the body of the 

 chicken carefully separated from the viscous fluid which lines it, Reaumur gives it 

 as his opinion, that no aid ought to be given to any chickens but those which have been 

 near twenty-four hours employed without getting forward in their work. 



6703. The chickens Jirst hatched should be taken from the hen, least she be tempted 

 to leave her task unfinished. Those removed, may be secured in a basket of wool or 

 soft hay, and kept in a moderate heat, if the weather be cold, near the fire. They will 

 require no food for many hours, even four and twenty, should it be necessary to keep 

 them so long from the hen. The whole brood being hatched, the hen is to be placed 

 under a coop abroad, upon a dry spot, and, if possible, not within reach of another hen, 

 since the chickens will mix, and the hens are apt to maim or destroy those which do not 

 belong to them. Nor should they be placed near numbers of young fowls, which are 

 iikely to crush young chicks under their feet, being always eager for the chickens' meat. 

 The first food should be split grits, afterwards tail wheat ; all watery food, soaked bread, 

 or potatoes, improper. Eggs boiled hard, or curd chopped small, are much approved as 

 first food. Their water should be pure and often renewed, and there are convenient 

 pans made in such forms, that the chickens may drink without getting into the water, 

 which often, by wetting their feet and feathers, numbs and injures them ; a bason 

 whelmed in the middle of a pan of water, will answer the end, the water running 

 round it generally ; and independent on situation, and the disposition of the hen, there 

 is no necessity for cooping the brood beyond two or three days, but they may be con- 

 fined as occasion requires, or suffered to range, as they are much benefitted by the 

 scratching and foraging of the hen. They must not be let out too early in the morning, 

 or whilst the dew remains upon the ground, far less be suffered to range over the wet 

 grass, one common and fatal cause of disease. Another caution is of the utmost con- 

 sequence, to guard them watchfully against sudden unfavorable changes of the weather, 

 more particularly if attended with rain. Nearly all the disorders of gallinaceous fowls 

 arise from cold moisture. 



6704. For the period of the chickens quitting the hen, there is no general rule, the most 

 certain is, when the hen begins to roost, leaving them ; if suflficiently forward, they will 

 follow her, if otherwise, they should be secured in a proper place, the time having 



