BRKEDINO.] 



POULTRY. 



[llUKEDINO. 



attempting satisfactorily to solve the problem 

 ourselves, the following has been proposed by 

 one of the most eminent amateur breeders of 

 the present day : — " I ahouUl very much like 

 to know what exporleiiced bri'iclers think of 

 the three folK)wiii'; oases, and from which they 

 would expect the chickens to turn out best: — 

 No. 1. A two-year-old cock with a hen : No. 2. 

 A one-year-old cock with a two or three-year- 

 old ben : or No. 3. A two or three-year-old cock 

 with a one-year-old hen." The same gentleman 

 thinks that, for his first breeding season, the 

 young cock should have only two females. 



AV'heu a hen gets broody, there is no danger 

 of mistaking her meaning. Sometimes she 

 fusses about the yard, with tail set and feathers 

 erect, like an angry turkey-cock. Sometimes 

 she establishes herself in a nest, and, with 

 great avidity, takes possession of any egg 

 which may be there. It is a curious sight to 

 see a broody hen carry an egg. She takes it up 

 under the chin (if we may be allowed to speak 

 of the chin of a hen), holding it carefully against 

 her breast with her beak ; and so we have 

 known it conveyed to some little distance, and 

 over a low partition. As no sentimental idea 

 of meiim and tuum influences sitting hens, it 

 will not do to set them side by side without a 

 partition between the nests ; for the hen gifted 

 with the largest bump of acquisitiveness, will 

 be continually pilfering eggs from her neigh- 

 bours ; in process of which manipulations, some 

 eggs will get broken, others chilled, and, in 

 others, the germ of the chick, very tender 

 during the early period of incubation, will be 

 deprived of life. 



AJ"ter health and strength have been duly 

 considered, the next grand object to enter into 

 the calculations of the breeder, is the age of 

 the birds. In the selection of the cock, he 

 should be neither too old nor too young, but 

 running from one year and a-half to three 

 years and a-half Some vigorous gentlemen, 

 of good constitutions, retain their power till 

 they are even past six ; but these are not to 

 be chosen for breeding purposes ; nor are those 

 young fellows, whose premature amative pro- 

 pensities are developed so early as the age of 

 live or six moiilhs. It is, in every proceeding in 

 life, safer to rest on a certain than an uncertain 

 basis ; and this principle holds good in poultry 

 breeding, as well as in matters of greater ini- 

 5ci 



portanco : therefore, the best plan to pursue, 

 is to obtain a strong healthy bird, in the very 

 fulness of his prime, and so avoid such prema- 

 ture developmonta, which are always deci'()tive. 

 aM well as the iiilirinities of ii<;e, wliicli, although 

 existing, may not be so readily detected. Ex- 

 tremes are, at all times, dangerous. 



As in all fowls, except Brahmaa and Cochins, 

 it is a dtmbtful exj)eriment to move a broody 

 hen, it is best, as soon as a fowl gives warning 

 to sit, by remaining long on the nest for laying, 

 to give her a movable one, which will do for 

 the pur[)03e. If she should steal a nest in a 

 hedge, or any out-of-the-way corner, it should 

 be considered as desirable. If she choose 

 one in the hen-house, most hens will bear 

 moving, nest and all, to a quiet place ; but a 

 great many will not like to be taken out of 

 the chosen nest, and placed in another. The 

 brooders should, if possible, be placed where 

 they cannot be interrupted or annoyed by other 

 fowls. Food and water should be put near 

 them, that they may come ofi" and eat when 

 they feel the desire, which will be once a day. 

 Give them gravel as well as food, and some 

 dust to roll in and clean their feathers. A per- 

 son should bo on the watch to know when the 

 bens leave the nest, to see that they do not 

 remain ofi' too long, or get to fighting, and that 

 each one returns to her own place. Most hens 

 remain ofi" from five minutes to twenty. 



Sometimes annoyance will be caused by the 

 pugnacity of the cocks. This is said to arise 

 from their temperaments having a large infusion 

 of tlie amorous element, which causes a great 

 jealousy of disposition. jNIascall, or rather his 

 original. Columella, recommends, as a cure for 

 this, that we should "slitte two pieces of thick 

 leather, and put them on his legges ; and 

 those will hang over his feete, which will 

 correct the vehement heat of jealousies within 

 him." This direction is approved by M. 

 Parmentier, who adds, that "such a bit of 

 leather will cause the most turbulent cock to 

 become as quiet as a man who is bound both 

 hand and foot." 



Dorkings are better sitters than layers; 

 whilst Spanish fowls reverse this order; and 

 these conditions will be found to be pretty 

 generally characteristic of hens partaking of 

 the prevailing colours of these two varieties 

 respectively — the black usually being the best 



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