120 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 2 



like a cock are worthies?; and to attempt to refute 

 the popular superstition that it is "unlucky" to 

 keep a crowing hen woukl be idle; it is too ridicu- 

 lous to be /urllier alluded to. The number ot^lay- 

 ing fowls, will, oi' course, depend on the wish oi 

 the nidividual, and his facilities for their accommo- 

 dation. A large number is quite as easily attend- 

 ed to as a scanty stock. If only four, five, or six 

 hens be kept, one cock will be sutficient, and it 

 will be better to increase the stock by degrees, lor 

 a year or two, by allowing a young cock to grow, 

 rather than to introduce another trora a foreign 

 collection. Battles and persecution would be, in 

 the latter case, endless. A change of breed can 

 always be accomplished, by procuring egEcs from 

 an approved stock. Eggs that are intended for 

 sitting, '-it is said,"' should not exceed a month 

 old; and as, in a slate of nature, a hen would oc- 

 cupy nearly that period in laying the usual com- 

 plement of eggs, the rule is a good one; but a 

 simple process, which we shall hereafter describe, 

 whereby they may be preserved Iresh, eatable, 

 and sitiable, lor many months, will render all pre- 

 caution as 10 the length of the time they may 

 have been laid unnecessary. Fifteen eggs will 

 be generally sufficient for hens oi the usual size, 

 thouch the very finest, healthiest, and most suc- 

 cessful breed we ever had, was the produce of a 

 white hen which had "stolen a nest," had laid 

 sixteen eggs, and brought forth the whole number 

 of chickens, every one of which she reared. We 

 would not recommend that hens be allowed to sit 

 until after the turn of days. Early in January, if 

 the weather be mild, they will sometimes indicate 

 a wish to incubate which need not be thwarted, if 

 conveniences can be commanded for the accom- 

 modation of the mother and her brood. Constant 

 attention, however, is requisite, and, from being 

 reared totally under shelter, the chickens, like hot- 

 house plants, will be so tender, that there is small 

 chance of ultimate success. The same objection 

 exists against attemptmg to rear a brood late in 

 the autumn; the first week in September is the 

 latest period at which it ought to bs hazarded. 

 There is yet another time, during which it is ab- 

 solutely indispensable that hens be prevented from 

 sitting, and that is the month of June. Close ob- 

 servation (after having suffered at that season nu- 

 merous fiiilures most unaccountably) enabled us 

 to discover the cause, and thereby verify the truth 

 of an old saying which we have since met with — 

 "Between the sickle and the scythe, 

 What you rear will seklom thrive." 

 We had noticed that chickens which were 

 hatched during the month of July were almost all 

 attacked about the time of their first moulting (a 

 period always attended with much suffering to 

 them) with a flital disorder, the symptoms of 

 which were unvarying. The chickens appeared 

 to collapse, and moved about with difficulty, as if 

 their joints were stiffened, or rather as if the skin 

 had become tight and tender; their feathers be- 

 came rough and stood out; their wings drooped 

 and dragged on the ground; they refused suste- 

 nance; and becoming more and more weak and 

 torpid, they, in a day or two, died off in great 

 numbers. Every rational means was resorted to, 

 in order to arrest, or even account for, the disor- 

 der; at length it was discovered, that they were 

 in a high state of fever, and that the extreme red- 

 ness of the skin was caused by the irritation of, 



hundreds of that minute pest the harvest bug. 

 Some — very i'ew — were recovered by anointing 

 them all over with oil and vhiegar;* but the recipe 

 is too rotigh for little delicate creatures, ahead} 

 enduring the pain attendant on the season ol 

 mouhinij. It became obvious, that the period du- 

 ring which harvest bugs are most numerous and 

 tormenting, must be inimical to the rearing o.' 

 chickens; and that, if the hens were not allowed 

 to sit in June, or rather, if the chicks were either 

 strong enough to cope with the evil, or were no' 

 hatched until the season for the pest had passec 

 by, thai the destruction might be prevented, ant 

 so it has proved. 



We do not suppose that we are addressing 

 readers who are entirely ignorant on the subjec 

 of poultry, and therefore omit the more obviout' 

 and simple directions and information; such as the 

 indications by which it may be known when a 

 hen is inclined to sit; how long a time elapses be- 

 fore her chickens will be hatched, &c.; yet we 

 would not that one reader should be disappointed 

 by the incompleteness of the subject on which we 

 are writing. It may be as well therefore to state, 

 that vvhen hens shall have laid from ten to twenty 

 eggs, they generally, but not ahvays, show the 

 first symptom of a desire to incubate, which is re- 

 maining a long time upon the nest; they then be- 

 gin to cluck, and their combs lose that bright red 

 color (the infallible sign of good health, and dis- 

 position to lay) which they had shown. Very 

 young hens sometimes deceive by evincing all 

 these s3'mptoms, and will even take to an empty 

 nest, and remain close for a day or two, yet direct- 

 ly after they are put in possession of all they ap- 

 pear to require, will capriciously leave the eggs 

 and resume their usual habits. It is customary to 

 place an odd number of eggs under a hen, not "for 

 luck," as the auld wives suppose, but because 

 they lie more round and compact. A large sized 

 hen will cover fifteen well; but if she find the 

 number too many, she will reject one. Should an 

 egg be broken it must be removed, and her feath- 

 ers washed from the clammy substance. For the 

 first few days, some hens will sit so steadily, that 

 they will not leave the nest for food. Fears have 

 been expressed for the lives of hens under these 

 circumstances, but we incline to think they might 

 be left to nature; however, no harm can accrue 

 from lifiing them off the nests and placing food 

 and water ready for them in the open air. They 

 are refreshed by the change, and resume their 

 solitary duty in comfort. Food and water should 

 always be provided fi^r sitting hens once a-day, 

 and that at a time when they cannot be persecu- 

 ted and driven away from it by their congeners, 

 namely, either before the fowls are let out in a 

 morning, or after they have retired to roost. The 

 plan of feeding them on the nest is perfectly erro- 

 neous, and contrary to nature. It is requisite, for 

 the sake of cleanliness and health, that hens 

 should leave it once in twenty-four hours. As an 

 attention to cleanliness is indispensable in every 

 department of a homestead, we need scarcely 

 mention that clean short straw should be provided 

 for every sitting hen, and the nesis be thoroughly 

 cleaned out when the brood is hatched. 



* It should be known, that this is the best, nay, the 

 only remedy for the annoyance which human beings 

 experience from the same cause. 



