46 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



January, 



poviltry. 



Raising Chickens in Winter. 



The desiiability of hatching uhiol^ens early 

 in the season, whether the object ahead, Is 

 early broilers for mai-ket, or eggs in winter, 

 is not in question. Tlie matter of the best 

 ways and means to such ends, is the one which 

 deserves our best attention at this season. 



For the earliest broods, the start at hatching 

 may be made at any time now. As to the rela- 

 tive advantages of hatching by hens or by in- 

 cubators, we shall only say that with judicious 

 action and close attention either course may 

 be successful for extra early hatching. With 

 hens, it is not necessary that tlie nest boxes be 

 in a warm place, neither should they be where 

 it is cold. Not more than nine eggs should be 

 given to each hen at this season. 



As soon as the chicks are out, a special house 

 or room must be provided. This should be ar- 

 tificially heated to be comfortably warm. A 

 coal stove is better than a wood stove tor this 

 purpose, because of the more uniform heat 

 possible with it. The floor of the room should 

 be kept covered with fine dry soil or coal ashes, 

 and the utmost care be paid to cleanliness. 



Wheie incubatoi-s are used, some hens should 

 also be set when the eggs are started, with a 

 view to acting as mothers to the otherwise 

 motherless chicks, This they will readily do. 

 As many as from M to llJt) chicks may be had 

 to follow one hen: they will be more contented 

 with the clucking of a "mother " to lead them. 



The best food tor the young chicks at first is 

 stale bread crumbs, moistened very slightly in 

 sweet milk. But little corn meal should be fed 

 until they have become fuUy feathered, and 

 that should be well cooked. We ai-e great ad- 

 vocates for making sweet milk a leading article 

 of food for early chicks after they are some 

 weeks along. It must never be allowed to get 

 sour, as this would disturb the digestive organs, 

 a thing to be avoided, if we would have broilers 

 by asparagus time. For variety some cracked 

 wheat, rice, oaten gi'its " Cottage cheese," etc.. 

 may occasionally be fed, all of which are most 

 excellent and not so heating as corn meal. 



No trouble is ever found in turning early 

 hatched chickens to a very profitable account. 

 For marketing when weighing from two to 

 four pounds per pair, they go off readily at 

 high i-ates, sometimes retailing at S;1..50 per pair 

 in good markets. If the prices are not too 

 temi)ting, by keeping the pullets through, they 

 will commence laying iu September, or earlier, 

 and continue to do so right through the winter 

 with the most ordinary fair treatment. 



How to Know the Age of Fowls. 



Soon after pullets reach the age of a year or 

 fifteen months, they take on an adult look, 

 which renders it not easy for a stranger, or 

 even their owner, sometimes, to distinguish 

 them from hens at least a year their seniors. 

 For a person then to be deceived by buying old 

 stock when young was wanted, or selling off 

 young stock good for future serv-ice yet, when 

 only the number of the older ones was to be 

 reduced, is, in either case, most exasperating. 

 These ideas suggest the importance of being 

 able to keep track of the age of each member 

 of your own flock, or to know the age, very 

 nearly, at sight of those of any other. 



As for always knowing the exact age of each 

 fowl in your own charge, it is not difficult to 

 so mark the broods of each successive year, 

 that they may be readily detected ever after- 

 wards. Let all birds that were raised in the 

 past year for example, be caught at this time, 

 and marked by twisting a small piece of, .say 

 brass wire, loosely round the left leg. Then 

 let the brood of the present year 1880, be sim- 

 ilarly marked in the fall, but on the right leg. 

 A year later similarly mark the fowls of 1877 

 on the left leg with copper instead of brass 



wire, and further on, those of 1888 with the 

 same wire on the right leg. In the year after 

 that, you could stai't in with the bra.ss marks 

 again, and so on by romids of four years indefi- 

 nitely. In this way, a mark on the left leg 

 would always indicate the odd numbers of 

 years ; on the right the even numbers. Such 

 a ring attached by a few twists would, if loose, 

 be no annoyance to the fowl, while it would 

 serve as a sure mark of the age. 



With the best judges, there are found no true 

 signs of the exact age in external appearances. 

 Yet some indications are comparatively relia- 

 ble. Rough legs for one thing are a tolerably 



A PAIR OF ROUEN DUCKS. 



true sign of age, the legs of the young Ijcing 

 generally very smooth. Another clue, although 

 not an infallible one, is the time of year at 

 which a fowl moults. As a rule bu-ds moult 

 later every year, so that if a hen changes her 

 feathers early in the autumn, it may be taken 

 for granted that she was hatched the year pre- 

 vious. Again, fowls get lighter in color as 

 theii- years increase. And lastl)', in old birds 

 there is an absence of that sprightliness com- 

 mon to youth, and, at the same time, they car- 

 ry that appearance of age which ought not to 

 deceive even a novice at poultry keeping. 



Rouen Ducks. 



Of the two principle varieties of the domestic 

 duck, the Rouen and the Aylesbury, the former 

 appears to be the greater favorite. Perhaps a 

 sufficient reason for this is found, iu the fact 

 that they do better iu many parts than the 

 Aylesbury. They also have a reputation for 

 superiority of flesh, in the fall months especially. 

 As for appearances, the Rouen easily leads the 

 white in the estimation of the masses. Indeed, 

 nothing can exceed the beauty of a drake of the 

 former when he is in full plumage. 



The points that should be aimed for in ducks 

 of this variety for breeding purposes, may be 

 summed up about as follows : The di'ake should 

 have a shapely form and a commanding ap- 

 pearance. The head should be green and pur- 

 ple, with a long clean bill, having a yellow 

 ground with a very pale wash of green over it, 

 and the "bean" on the end of it jet black. 

 There should be a sharp closel.y-defined ring of 

 white ai'ound the neck, save that it should not 

 quite meet at the back. Breast a clear claret- 

 brown to swell below the water line, where it 

 should pass into a beautiful French gray for 

 the under body, shading into white near the 

 tail. The back ought to be a rich greenish 

 black with wings of a grayish brov^^l, bearing 

 distinct purple and white ribbon-marks. The 

 flight feathers must be gi-ay and brown, no 

 white. Legs a rich orange. 



In the duck the bill should be shorter than in 

 the drake; orange brown as a gi-ound color, 

 shading off at the edges to yellow, and at the 

 top a nearly black mark. Any approach to 

 slate color in birds of either sex, would be a 

 fatal blemish. The head of the duck is dark 

 brown; the breast a pale brown, delicately 

 penciled with dark brown, the back with black 

 on a dark brown ground. BeUy a light brown 

 with the feathers delicately penciled to the tip. 



CONDENSED POULTRY NOTES. 



Soughing it won't do for hens. 

 Make low roosts for large-sized breeds. 

 Many diseases may be laid to cold and wet. 

 Notice how fowls will fret if the food comes lat^?. 

 One thing is sure: china nest eggs never break 

 from frost. 



Not much use looking for winter layers in hens 

 over two years old. 



To neglect tlie morning feetUng, an experienced 

 poultry man tells us, will make few eggs for that day. 

 If we wish eggs when eggs are dear, we must 

 hatch early or push the medium early pullets rap- 

 idly when hatched. 



A warm hen house, not a very close one, is wan- 

 ted: there should be ventilation at the top for draw- 

 ing out the foul air. 



Lime is good for fowls, but it must not be mixed 

 with food, or they may get too much of it. Keep 

 it in a shallow box. where they can take of it at will. 

 A thought for the New Year: Don't spend all 

 the money on ornamenting the house and barn: put 

 some touches also on the poultry house. Have you 

 never noticed how much a tasty-looking, well- 

 painted hen house adds to the appearance of a place? 

 Those of our readers who tliink of usinp an incu- 

 liator this s]iring for hatching chicks should have it 

 on hand now or shoidd order it right away. It is 

 prudent to become acquainted with these machines 

 by running them a few days, before entrusting to 

 their care oue or two hundred high priced eggs. 



Salting the food, wliile it is a^oodplan toa slight 

 extent, especially when there is a disposition to 

 feather eating, must be guardedly done. We call to 

 mind the ease years ago of a neighbor who was told 

 that to feed salt woidd increase the laying. He fed 

 salt, not sparing it, and liow his hens did begin to 

 lay--on the dung pile. dead. 



Scratching is good afternoon exercise for hens. 

 To get them at it have a drv place on the floor in 

 some part away from the roost, and defined by 

 boards ten <>r twelve inches high. Into this place 

 several inches of dr,y earth, sand, coal ashes, chaff,, 

 or anything the hens can scratch. Then every 

 noon scatter some buckwheat or other grain on the 

 surface, working it in with the foot, and let the 

 hens go to work. Its fvm to watch them. 



If you want a t'owd that looks good anywhere, 

 writes a correspondent of the Journal— in the fowd 

 yard, the field, the pot, that acts hke a good fowl 

 should in the laying nest, the incubating nest or 

 brooding coop — you mu.st hunt long and dillip;ently 

 to tind the equal of the well-known but too little 

 prized Dominiques. Its only the careless, shiftless 

 poidtry keeper, who is heard to complain about 

 chicken ailments as a rule. Give your fowls good 

 care, and our wonl for it you may laugh at most 

 diseases. 



Talk and Cleanliness. There is a good deal of 

 talk about cleanliness in the poultry house, but 

 what does the word mean here? it means remove 

 all the excrement every day, not half of it; renew 

 the nests often, using clean material at each start; 

 to keep the walls nice and sweet, bv the application 

 of a lime-wash occasionally: to aim at having the 

 fowls clean of insects, by dosing the roosts with 

 some vernun kiUer, as well as the nest boxes, cor- 

 ners, etc., to provide a suitable bathing place— even 

 if the material of the bath is nature's strange 

 choice for fo%vls. dry dust. All these things are 

 wanted before we can call the hen-house in a clean 

 and healthy state. Frequently brushing up the 

 floor, of scattered dust and filth is also necessary. 



Great Figures iielong to a great country like our 

 own, of course. The last U. S. census brought out 

 a good many of these, most of which are altogether 

 too immense for our minds to anything hke near 

 grasp. For instance, here as to domestic fowls: In 

 the country at the time the census of 1880 was 

 taken, there were of common fowls 10a,^'2,]:3.5, and 

 of other fowls, which we suppose includes turkeys, 

 geese and ducks '53,33.5.187, or a total of ia.5,507,:K8 

 fowls of all sorts. From such a number the product 

 is something enormous. It is not imreasonable to 

 suppose that the average product from each fowl 

 would be flve pounds of dressed poultry for market, 

 worth yj cents per pound. The market value of this 

 product would be $7.5,:W4,:3i)3.2(1. 



The number of eggs reported was 4.5ti,910,iilG doz- 

 ens. It is not stated whether this is the number laid 

 or the number sold. But as it only allows 43 eggs 

 to a fowl we suppose it is the number sold. Allow- 

 ing 15 cents per dozen as a fair average price the 

 season through and the country over, we have a 

 market value of $(i8,.'):3i),l)37. Adding the meat and 

 egg product we have a grand total of $143,841,030 as 

 the vahie of the poultry product of the United States. 



