FEEDING.] 



POTJLTKY. 



[feeding. 



kept to a smaller plot of ground than will 

 give good scratcbing-room to the number on 

 it, a little meat will do them good, and pro- 

 mote laying. 



Varioua plana have been suggested for pro- 

 ducing poultry game. Oliver de Serves ver- 

 miider has often t^een mentioned by writers 

 on poultry. It was a hollow place, twelve 

 feet square, and four feet deep, sloped at the 

 bottom for draining. In this were placed 

 straw, horse manure, and earth, each six 

 inches deep ; and over all blood was poured, and 

 garbage of any kind, mixed with chafif. In 

 this manner the pit was filled : the rain soon 

 rendered the whole sufficiently moist to pro- 

 duce putrefactive fermentation, and myriads 

 of worms were engendered for feeding poultry. 

 A miniature verminier is described by Mr. 

 JS^olan, in his work on domestic poultry. 

 " Place bran in a deep crock ; lay on it a piece 

 of carrion ; cover it with a glass, so. as to admit 

 light, but exclude rain ; and in a few days, it 

 will be a moving mass of living insects." Worms 

 thus generated by corruption, may be as good 

 as those which come naturally in mother earth ; 

 but we cannot help feeling a prejudice against 

 fowls eating such; besides, the hosts of blue- 

 bottles, with which such a neighbour would 

 infest the place, might prove a great annoy- 

 ance. "When the fowls want meat, scraps from 

 the family refuse, fresh ofial from the butcher, 

 or even fresh greaves are better. Care must. 

 be taken not to give too much. A quarter of 

 an ounce to each fowl, and that not often, is 

 quite enough. 



" I do not think," says Mr. Eichardson 

 again, " that one circumstance connected with 

 the feeding of poultry, and that a most im- 

 portant one, is sufficiently well known — I 

 allude to the necessity they are under of ob- 

 taining czotized, or, in other words, animal 

 food. Of course, when the birds possess the 

 advantage of an extensive run, they can them- 

 Belves pick up insects, worms, snails, or slugs ; 

 but, in cases where they do not possess this 

 advantage, it is necessary that you cater for 

 them. I have always experienced the best 

 effects, especially as manifested in greatly in- 

 creased laying, of giving scraps of animal food 

 about twice or thrice a week to '^the fowls. 

 Bullock's liver answers the purpose well. 

 This I consider to be better in a raw than 

 860 



in a cooked state. In winter, in order to 

 supply the place of the insects and other 

 animal food, which they pick up in summer, I 

 give them, once a week, sheep's entrails, boiled 

 and peppered, together with meat bones to 

 peck at, and also barley made hot in a sauce- 

 pan, without water, and given warm. Hot 

 potatoes are always good food. Small pota- 

 toes may be picked out, and steamed for the 

 purpose. But meat is indispensable, if you 

 wish to have eggs in winter." 



Gravel is necessary to birds to aid digestion, 

 and lime for the formation of egg-shell, &c. 

 Stones can be best given by keeping a part of 

 the run gravelled ; and lime by throwing down 

 a heap of old mortar, rubbish, oyster-shells 

 either burnt or broken up fine, egg-shells broken 

 up fine, or lime in any other form which will 

 admit of poultry pecking and swallowing small 

 portions. 



Of green food, grass is best. Fowls will 

 not do well without green food of some kind ; 

 if they cannot run out upon grass, they should 

 have turfs, and a moderate quantity of cabbage, 

 lettuce, or any other green vegetable. 



The poultry should be fed with regularity, 

 and have enough to satisfy their hunger. 

 The food should be so scattered abroad that 

 the fowls will have to use some activity to 

 earn the meal ; and care should be taken to 

 avoid leaving quantities of food always lying 

 about. 



The American principle upon which fowls 

 are fed, is thus shown in the Miner's Domestic 

 Foultry: — " The principal food for fowls should 

 be Indian corn, in some shape — sometimes 

 whole, sometimes cracked, sometimes ground 

 to meal, and occasionally ground to the cob. 

 Then you want oats, buck-wheat, and any 

 other grain you please; but the three kinds 

 here named constitute a good supply for the 

 extensive breeder. Besides the above grains, 

 furnish a mess of boiled potatoes or other 

 vegetables several times a week, mixed with 

 meal of some kind ; and be careful to change 

 the diet of your fowls often. In the laying 

 season, a solid feed of shelled corn (Indian 

 corn), given profusely, is too heating ; and boiled 

 potatoes, if taken to excess, are too laxative. 

 The careful breeder will always guard against 

 these results, by watching the condition of his 

 fowlf. If they are relaxed, a change of food 



