234 SKETCHES OF RURAL AFFAIRS. 



of great importance. Attempts to chip the shell very 

 frequently cause the death of the chick. 



An attempt to raise an unusual number of chickens 

 at one brood is generally unsuccessful. The mother is 

 unable to take care of more than a certain number, and 

 the rest soon fall a prey to their enemies. The hen 

 herself would seem to be aware of the impossibility of 

 safely rearing a larger brood than her wings will con- 

 veniently cover. A remarkable instance of this has 

 been communicated to the writer. A hen, having 

 a very large brood, endeavoured for a long time to 

 accommodate all the chickens beneath her wings ; but 

 notwithstanding her efforts, she found that there was 

 one poor little chick for which she could not possibly 

 find room. With a stern severity little to be expected 

 in so tender a mother, she took aim at the unfortunate 

 chick, and with one blow of her sharp beak on its skull 

 she immediately put an end to its existence. She seems 

 to have known that the presence of one chick more 

 than she could shelter would be injurious to the whole 

 brood. But to return to our account of the raising of 

 chickens. 



When the chickens are fairly out, they will require 

 great attention for a few days. Their food must be 

 taken to them fresh every three hours during daylight ; 

 and water, in a very shallow dish, must be constantly 

 renewed. Bread-crumbs, finely crumbed, boiled potato, 

 groats, rice, and pearl-barley, may be given in turn in 

 small quantities, and fresh every time. If left to range 

 where she pleases, the hen will lead the chickens too 

 far, and bring them into danger : she must, therefore, 

 be confined within a coop, or in some convenient out- 

 house, until the chickens are strong enough to accom- 

 pany her in her wanderings. It is absolutely necessary 

 to the health of chickens that they be kept quite clean 

 and dry. Precautions must also be taken to save them 

 from the clutches of their enemies, among which the 

 rat and the weasel are not the least to be dreaded. 



