98 ESSEX SOCIETY. 



however, you want to obtain strong and thriving chickens, you 

 must restrict him to six, or, at most, eight. If your object be 

 the improvement of a worn out or degenerate breed, the fewer 

 hens you allow to one cock, the better ; and you should not, at 

 any rate, allow him more than three." 



In selecting eggs for setting, we take such as are not missha- 

 pen nor small ; the number to be used, depends upon the size 

 of the hen. 



Manner of Feeding. The following method will be found 

 a good one : — Once a day, in summer, feed on a mixture of 

 corn and barley, or corn and oats. This will be sufficient, if 

 your fowls have a large enclosure, where they can obtain grav- 

 el, insects, worms, and green food ; if they are confined to a 

 small space, these substances must be supplied them liberally. 

 In winter, keep corn, mixed sometimes with barley, and some- 

 times with oats, constantly before them, as well as pounded 

 oyster shells, burnt bones, or clam shells ; occasionally, give 

 boiled potatoes, mashed, and mixed with Indian meal, or bran, — 

 warm, but not hot. Let them have wood ashes, to dust them- 

 selves in, and an abundance of clean water, fresh every day ; 

 in freezing weather, the water should be lukewarm. Chickens 

 require no food, for the first twenty-four hours after they are 

 hatched ; we have, however, been in the habit of giving them 

 water, in about twelve hours from the time they leave the shell. 

 After the first twenty-four hours, for the two succeeding months, 

 give cracked corn, dry, three or four times a day ; occasionally 

 vary their food, by giving sometimes cooked meat, chopped 

 fine, and sometimes crumbs of bread. We think dry food much 

 better for young chickens, than dough, or any substance mixed 

 with water. An abundance of clean water should be constantly 

 before them. 



Mr. Richardson says, that " it will not answer, to feed fowls 

 wholly upon any one variety of food ; neither will it be found 

 advisable to feed upon any one class of food. Fowls require a 

 mixture of green food with hard food, fully as much as horses 

 or cattle do. When the birds have the advantage of an exten- 

 sive walk; they will find this for themselves ; when they do not 

 possess such an advantage, you must provide green food for 



