POULTRY. 193 



Their greatest capacity for laying is in the second and third 

 year. It is never profitable to keep them after they are four 

 years old. After they are five they generally cease laying. 



We have spoken of the Dorkings, the Bolton Grays and the 

 Black Spanish as the best of the fancy breeds of hens. It may 

 seem strange that no mention is made of the common barnyard 

 fowl so generally found about the Cape. All we have to say of 

 them is, that for delicacy of eating they are not to be beaten by 

 any of the varieties named, and, if well cared for, they are a 

 profitable fowl to keep. 



Spring-hatched chickens, if kept in a warm place and well 

 fed, will generally commence laying about Christmas, or perhaps 

 a little earlier. To be sure, the difference of the season will 

 affect them. If the spring is very late and cold and stormy, it 

 will influence their early laying. 



Good feeding and good breeds will avail but little without a 

 good shelter. A good poultry house and yard are requisite to 

 make any great profit by hens. In selecting a situation for this 

 purpose, get it, if possible, on the south side of a building, or 

 what is better, dig into the south side of a hill and build into 

 the cavity. If you have stone enough about your farm, use it 

 for the sides, as it is more free from vermin than wood. Choose 

 a dry place, as there is nothing so likely to produce disease in 

 fowl as dampness. Cold simply benumbs them and diminishes 

 their laying, while a cold, damp hen-house or yard, produces 

 most of the diseases they are liable to. If you build of wood, 

 lath and plaster the structure. A spring of pure water, or if 

 you have not that, some vessel of water placed within their 

 reach is indispensable. The want of good water gives the hens 

 the pip, produces costiveness and some inflammatory troubles. 

 Dickson says : " In order to unite all the advantages desirable in 

 a poultry yard, it is indispensable that it be neither too cold 

 during the winter, nor too hot during the summer, and it must 

 be rendered so attractive to the hens as to prevent them laying 

 in any chance place away from it. The extent of the place 

 should be proportional to the number of fowls kept, but it will 

 be better to be too small than too large, particularly in the 

 winter, for the mutual imparting of electricity and animal heat. 

 There is no fear of engendering infectious diseases by too much 

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