270 



POULTRY— DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



seized with the forceps or nippers and 

 torn open with the hook, commencing 

 with the lower or left testicle, which is 

 generally nearer the rump than the right 

 one. Then introduce the tube containing 

 the silkworm gut, or the horse-hair, with 

 which to sever the connection of the 

 testicle, using the bowl of the spoon when 

 horse-hair is employed to facilitate the 

 operation, and with a sawing motion 

 sever the chords. A similar process is 

 repeated with the right testicle, and then 

 both, with the blood around the wounds, 

 are to be removed with the bowl of the 

 spoon. The left testicle should first be 

 removed to prevent the blood which may 

 issue from it from covering the right one 

 and rendering the operation more diffi- 

 cult. After the operation the skin must 

 be drawn over the wound and a few 

 stitches taken in it with fine linen thread, 

 after which the fowl may be released. 



Caponizing should be performed during 

 a warm spell, and as soon as the sex of 

 the fowls can be discerned, and should 

 be preceded by fasting them twenty- 

 four hours and followed by feeding imme- 

 diately after the operation, and during 

 twenty-four hours, at least, on soft food. 

 The caponized fowls will eagerly partake 

 of food, and will be restored to health in 

 a few days if the operation has been care- 

 fully performed. In making poulardcs it 

 is sufficient merely to cut across the egg- 

 tube with a sharp knife. 



HENS, To Make Lay.— The best food 

 for this purpose, fed each alternate day, is 

 the following: to 3 gallons of boiling 

 water, add ^ ounce of common salt, a 

 teaspoonful of Cayenne pepper, and 4 

 ounces of lard. Stir the mixture until 

 the pepper has imparted considerable of 

 its strength to the water. Meantime the 

 salt will have dissolved and the lard 

 melted. Then, while yet boiling, stir in 

 meal made of oats and corn, ground 

 together in equal parts, until a stiff mush 

 is formed. Set away to cool down to a 

 milk warmth. Before feeding, taste to see 

 that you have neither an overdose of salt 

 or pepper. In winter, on the days that 

 the above mixture is omitted, give the 

 hsns fresh meat, chopped fine, and at all 

 times plenty of pure water, grain, gravel 

 and lime. 



HENS, Feeding Nettles to Laying.— 

 The Vienna Agricultural and Forest 



Journal states that hens fed in the winter 

 with chopped and boiled nettle leaves, or 

 with the seeds, and kept in a warm place, 

 will continue to lay during the entire 

 winter. The experiment was first sug- 

 gested by noticing the eagerness with 

 which both domestic and wild fowl de- 

 vour the nettle leaves and seeds whenever 

 the opportunity is afforded. This pro- 

 clivity is believed to be the reason why, 

 with the enormous yield of seeds by the 

 nettle, comparatively so few plants are 

 produced. It is stated also that in Den- 

 mark the seeds and leaves of the nettle 

 are fed very carefully to horses, after 

 having been collected, dried and ground; 

 three times a week, morning and even- 

 ing, a handful of this nettle dust is mixed 

 with the oats, in consequence of which 

 the horses are said to become fleshy and 

 sleek, and their hair to grow unusually 

 long, and to assume a silky lustre, re- 

 markably beautiful. 



HENS, Setting, How to Prevent.- Put 

 in a trough sufficient water to make a 

 depth of one inch ; place the hen therein, 

 and cover the top for about a day. The 

 trough should be deep enough to allow 

 the hen to stand up. 



HEN, How to Choose a Good.— A hen 

 should have bright eyes, a pendant comb, 

 yellow or bluish legs, be of middling size, 

 and not over three or four years of age. 



HENS' NESTS, Treatment of.— These 

 should be partly filled with wood-ashes, 

 pulverized charcoal, or soot. These being 

 slow conductors of heat, retain the 

 warmth longer than many substances, 

 and thus prevent the eggs from getting 

 chilled during the absence of the hen. 

 They are also an antidote to vermin, and 

 keep the hen otherwise in good health. 



HEN HOUSES.— If you wish a hen 

 house that will keep your fowls safe from 

 their foes, winged or four-footed, elevate 

 it on posts two and a half or three feet 

 above the ground, with a hole under- 

 neath through the floor, for them to 

 enter. No animal will jump up into it, 

 or owl or hawk find the way into it. 



HEN BOOSTS, To Destroy Vermin in. 

 Sprinkle kerosene on the roosts, and the 

 vermin will suddenly disappear. Fumigate 

 the building with sulphur, using four or 

 five pounds, and the next day the premises 

 will be clear. 



