266 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



course, ho hatching' can take place ; they are 

 equally good, however, for eating. When the 

 chief object is to breed chickens, a cock should 

 be allowed to walk with ten or twelve hens ; but 

 when eggs are principally required, the number 

 of hens may be from fifteen to twenty. En- 

 deavor to procure a cock of a good breed, not 

 game, and let him be in his prime, which is at 

 eighteen months to two years old. Cocks will last 

 two years, after which they lose their liveliness 

 of colors, and become languid, inactive, and 

 mere consumers of food. It is fit, therefore, that 

 younger cocks should then take their place in the 

 poultry-yard. It is common to make choice of 

 a young cock by pitting one or two against each 

 other, and selecting the most courageous, which 

 is always the favorite of the jard. 



Some remarks have been made on the colors 

 of the best hens of the different varieties. As 

 to other qualities, M. Parmentier recommends 

 that they should be chosen of a middling size, 

 robust constitution, large head, bright eyes, and 

 pendant comb. Cro\\'ers should be rejected, 

 and those that are of [the Caudle family with] 

 quarrelsome tempers, such hens being rarely 

 good hatchers or layers. Old hens, or those 

 above four or five years old, are of little use 

 when added to a stock : and \vhcn the comb 

 and claws are rough, it is a sign that they have 

 ceased to lay. 



If left to themselves, hens would produce, 

 like some wild birds, two broods in the year. — 

 Early spring, and, after a cessation, the end of 

 summer are the two seasons at which they be- 

 gin naturally to laJ^ In the depth of winter, 

 under ordiuaiy circumstances, hens very rarely 

 lay eggs, though by artificial means they can be 

 made to do so. If the temperature of the place 

 where they are kept be raised by a stove, or 

 otherwise, they will produce eggs. The fowls 

 of the Irish peasantry, which are usually kept 

 in the cabins of the owners, lay often in winter, 

 in consequence of the warmth of their quarters : 

 and there can be no doubt that warmth affords 

 the most effective means of procuring new-laid 

 eggs in winter, though stimulatinu: food may aid 

 in producing the same result. The fecundity 

 of hens varies considerably. Some lay but once 

 in three days, others every second day, and 

 others every day. In order to induce laying, 

 each hen should have its o\vn nest, made with 

 soft straw, and furni.';hed with a piece of chalk 

 as a decoy. The signs which indicate when a 

 hen is about to lay are ■well known. She cack- 

 les frequently, walks restlessly about, and shows 

 a brighter redness in her comb and wattles.— 

 After the process of la3ing is over, she utters a 

 loud and peculiar liote, to which the other fowls 

 usually resjiond. Shortly after the e^a is laid, 

 it should be removed, for the heat of the hen 

 soon con'upts it. When the eggs are taken 

 away by the poultry-keeper, they should imme- 

 diately be laid in a cool and dry place. If al- 

 lowed to ab.sorb damp, they soon spoil ; indeed, 

 one drop of \\'ater upon the shell quickly taints 

 the whole egg.* Various methods have been 

 tried to prevent the absorption of air through 

 the shell, and preserve the freshness of the eggs. 

 A not uncommon i)lan is to keep them secluded 

 from the air in bran, rye, or a.shes, which may 

 do very well where the eggs are to be kept in 

 this way till eaten, but is utterly useless if quan- 



* If this be so how does it happen that the eggs of 

 turkeys, partridges and other birds exposed to rain, 

 are not all destroyed ? [Ed. Farm. Lib. 



titles of them have to be sent to market. We 

 beg to offer a plain piece of advice to cottagers 

 on this subject, which, if properl}- acted upon, 

 will give them the means of at all times com- 

 manding the highe-st price for fresh eggs, al- 

 though situated a hundred miles or more from 

 the place of sale. Smear all your eggs ivith a 

 bit. of f resit butter the moment you get hold of 

 them. Do not load the shell with grease, but 

 merely give a light varnish. The butter must 

 be good. By this simple process of smearing, 

 which does not taint the interior in the slightest 

 degree, the egg is as fresh at the breakfast table 

 when three months old as if just newly laid. — 

 Scarcely any thing is more common than to hear 

 complaints of the difficulty of getting fresh eggs, 

 and all a result of the sheer negligence of fowl- 

 keepers. By the plan we mention, there need 

 never be such a thing as a had eg^ heard of. 



Hatching. — When eggs are to be hatched, it 

 is necessary to pay attention to the choice of 

 proper ones for the purpo.se. The company of 

 the male bird renders the hen productive of fe- 

 cundated eggs, and, as already noticed, it is only 

 eggs of this kind which are available for produ- 

 cing young. The eggs must also be fresh ; 

 from the time they are laid, they should lie aside 

 in a cool place. It is said to be possible to as- 

 certain, from the appearance of the egg, wheth- 

 er the forthcoming progeny is to be male or fe- 

 male ; but we greatly doubt the truth of the 

 popular notions on this subject. When eggs 

 are left to be brought forth by the hen. a certain 

 number is placed under her in the nest, when 

 she is in the full inclination to sit. From nine 

 to twelve eggs are placed, according to the ex- 

 tent of the brea.st and wings; and the time re- 

 quired for hatching is twenty-one days. Some- 

 times a hen will desert her eggs, a circumstance 

 which may occasionally be traced to an uncom- 

 fortable condition of the skin, caused by vermin 

 or want of cleanliness, and this affords a strong 

 reason for keeping the hen-hou.se clean, and 

 giving the animals the means of purifying their 

 feathers. Occasionally, the hen is vicious, or, in 

 short, a bad sitter, and experience in pitching 

 on the best hatching hens is the only remedy. — 

 Sometimes a hen will break her eggs with her 

 feet, and in all such ca.ses, the broken eggs must 

 be removed as soon as observed, otherwise the 

 hen may eat them, and from that may be tempt- 

 ed to break and eat the sound ones, and spoil 

 the whole batch. 



It has generally been found, that hens which 

 are the best layers are the worst sitters. Those 

 best adapted have short legs, a broad body, 

 large wings, well fumi.shed with feathers, their 

 nails and spurs not too long or sharp. The de- 

 sire to sit is made known by a particular sort of 

 clucking; and a feveri.sh state ensues, in which 

 the natural heat of the hen's body is very much 

 increased. Tiie inclination, or, as physiologists 

 term it, the sto-rge, soon becomes a strong and 

 ungovernable passion. The hen flutters about, 

 hangs her wings, bristles up her feathers, search- 

 es every where for eggs to sit upon ; and if she 

 finds any, whether laid by herself or others, 

 she immediatelj' seats her.self upon them. 



With a proper provision of food at hand, 

 warmth, quiet, and dryness, a good hatching 

 hen will a-ive little trouble, and in due time the 

 brood will come forth ; one or t\\ o eggs may 

 perhaps repjain unhatched or addled, but their 

 loss is of little consequence. As soon as the hen 

 hears the chirp of her young, she has a tendcu- 

 cy to walk off with them, leaving the uuhatch- 



