40 FARMING FOR LADIES. [chap, ii, 



to those who are unacquainted with the details 

 to be informed, that the males and females 

 cease to be termed " chickens " when they 

 severally attain the age of about four months, 

 ' at which time the male acquires the name of 

 « Cockling," or " Cockrell," and "Stag," which 

 he retains until he reaches nearly a twelve- 

 month, when he finally gains the rank and 

 title of " Cock ;" the female being called 

 " a Pullet " until she begins laying, and is 

 ultimately advanced to the maternal dignity 

 of a " Hen." She then produces chickens, 

 and her progeny, when collected together, are 

 designated as " a brood." When the word 

 " laying " is applied to poultry it means the 

 act of the hen in producing an egg ; and 

 " hatching," or " incubation," is that of her 

 sitting upon the eggs for the purpose of bring- 

 ing the embryo chickens to life. 



In the course of the year after they have 

 been hatched they all " moult," or cast their 

 feathers, most usually late in the autumn or 

 the early part of winter, but not unfrequently 

 in the former ; though it sometimes happens 

 that those fowls which have been early hatched, 

 moult in the same year, or early in the spring 



