COCHIK- CHIN-AS. J 



POULTEY. 



[cOCHIJf-CHIN-AS. 



be bred from the same stock, if it can be 

 avoided. By ' this method the quality of the 

 breed will be kept up. It is quite as easy to 

 have good birds as mongrels. Chickens, to be 

 larce, must be abundantly and uourishingly 

 fed, on the same principle that a race-horse, 

 from the day he is foaled, has his milch-cows 

 kept for him. At ten weeks old, they are just 

 at the age when they have scarcely a feather 

 to cover their nakedness. After this age, 

 however, if they are kept warm, and fed 

 generously, they speedily become covered with 

 feathers. They usually prefer oats to barley, 

 which are, in some respects, better for them. 



The principal circumstance in which the 

 treatment and management of the Cochiu- 

 China fowls differ from that of the lighter 

 varieties, is in the mode of their roosting. 

 They do not require to be coddled. At 

 Shanghae, the winter weather is, at least, 

 equally severe as it is with us in England. 

 The vacant space beneath the greenhouse stage, 

 makes an excellent winter roosting-place. If 

 kept clean, and they are prevented irom getting 

 into the house, there will be little fear of their 

 injuring the plants. 



These heavy birds, indeed, should not be 

 allowed to ascend a high perch. Those per- 

 mitted so to do, invariably become deformed in 

 the breast-bone; and have an unsightly ap- 

 pearance, independently of their health being 

 greatly impaired. When a hen's ladder is placed 

 against the perches, the fowls will make use of 

 it in mounting to roost ; but in coming down, 

 they almost always use their wings alone. 

 Many persons attribute this deformity in the 

 breast-bone to injury sustained in these hasty 

 descents (which are often as bad as a fall) ; 

 but it proceeds rather from the great weight 

 of the fowl bearing upon one point for so 

 many hours together. Where this is the case, 

 either high or low perching is likely to be 

 injurious. But, be this as it may, high perch- 

 ing is proved to be so, to heavy fowls. 



Broad perches, near to the ground, are some- 

 times provided for them ; but a bed of straw, 

 either on a wooden platform, or in a basket, so 

 large as to avoid any danger of injuring the 

 plumage, is to be preferred. The straw should 

 be shaken up, cleansed every day, and renewed 

 once a-week, or oftener, if necessary. The 

 purchase of this straw occasions an additional 

 830 



outlay of money ; but this will be found no 

 loss to those who have even a small garden, as 

 the rotted straw, mixed with fowl's manure, 

 forms a valuable addition to the dung-heap. 



When ordinary care is taken of the Cochin 

 fowl, it is not found more delicate in habit, or 

 more difficult to bring to perfection, than any 

 English fowl ; and the chickens are quite as 

 easy to rear. Cross-bred chickens are some- 

 times very delicate, subject to roup, and diffi- 

 cult to raise ; but this is seldom the case with 

 the pure breed. On the contrary, these are 

 generally thriving, and hearty -feeding chickens. 

 Where common poultry are fed twice a-day, it 

 is desirable to feed the Cochin-China three or 

 four times, and to give the food so abundantly 

 that some may be left after the fowls have satis- 

 fied themselves. 



Viewing Cochin-China fowls as subjects of 

 profit or loss, it has been contended that the 

 Polish fowl may be more profitable than some of 

 the Cochin-Chinas ; but, if they are fed alike, it 

 is certain that the best Cochin breed will surpass 

 the Polish in the number of their eggs. Some 

 are of opinion that the Spanish are a more profit- 

 able variety than the Cochin ; but a gentleman, 

 who has paid much attention to the subject of 

 profit and loss, says, that " after a fair trial of 

 almost every breed — the Spanish being the 

 last — I have given them all up but the Cochin- 

 Chinas, and now keep no others. Erom 

 March, up to the 1st of May, I have hatched 

 131 chickens, and disposed of a large number 

 of eggs — all from six hens. I have now chick- 

 ens, hatched the first week in February, weigh- 

 ing 9 lbs. per pair ; and one of the pullets laid 

 an egg before she was four months old." 



It has frequently been asked, whether the 

 brown or white Cochin-China fowls are the 

 more productive ? — and whether the latter are 

 so superior to the former as the great differ- 

 ence in price would lead us to expect ? But no 

 very marked diflference in productiveness has 

 yet been observed. The extra price is asked 

 and obtained for the rarity of the colour 

 — many fanciers being willing to pay some- 

 thing more for an article which their neigh- 

 bours do not possess. The same conventional 

 value is attached to most other objects of fancy. 

 Cochins are highly esteemed as table birds ; 

 and, as such, may be turned to profitable ac- 

 count. The great size and weight which they 



