Vol. 6. 



GENESLE PARMER. 



171 



POULTRY. 



The economy of poultry may be classed under 

 three heads ; first, in their natural state, which is 

 the department of the naturalists; second in their 

 domestic state in the country, with a full ran^re of 

 the farm-yard and fields in which the poultry keeper 

 is concerned, for his profit; and third, in their artifi- 

 cial state, in or near towns, in pens or yards, which 

 will chiefly engage my attention in the present arti- 

 cle. The best and cheapest method of feeding I 

 must leave to be detailed by those who keep poultry 

 in large quantities. 



Shelter. — Fowls should always be kept in a dry, 

 warm, sheltered situation— a southerly aspect is to 

 be preferred — for they enjoy and benefit greatly by 

 the "warms in the sun," as well as requiring pro- 

 tection from its scorching rays, and a secure (storm) 

 shed for rainy weather. The roosting-house and 

 laying-house, if separate, should communicate, 

 that early layers may have early access to the nests, 

 and also communicate with the storm-shed for the 

 fowls to run in for security, if they should leave their 

 roosts early in the morning. The nests should be 

 numerous, either in boxes or baskets, not too deep 

 but roomy, some situated high, some low, and as 

 ind pendent of each other as possible ; each supplied 

 with sweet, short, and soft straw, and a small nest- 

 egg or two of chalk, the size of a pigeon's egg. If 

 the nests be too deep, they break the eggs in jump- 

 ing in and out, and if the nests are not roomy, sit- 

 ting hens have no room to turn easily, and conse- 

 quently break eggs by not being able to get to them 

 softly. They then eat the broken eggs, which gives 

 them the habit of doing so at other times. They 

 should roost warm at night, the perches high from 

 the ground and of easy access, by means of lower 

 ones or ladders. The more lightsome the house, the 

 better for promoting dry air and free circulation; be- 

 sides, fowls can not see at all, being quite stupified 

 and helpless in the dark, consequently the feather 

 tribe alwa3's retire to roost before the sun goes down. 

 Shutters to the glared windows are unnecessary, ex- 

 cept for belter security, or to prevent fowls from 

 leaving their roosts too early in the morning, to dis- 

 turb ticklish neighbors, otherwise they come out al- 

 most as soon as day-light begins to appear. The 

 feeding places, if undercover, so much the better, as 

 a precaution for wet weather, and as far as possible 

 removed ftom the nests, that the hens which happen 

 to be laying at the time, or which may be sitting, 

 may not be disturbed and enticed oS' their nest and 

 eggs at improper times. Being evidently natives of 

 a warm country, they are scarcely yet perfectly ac- 

 climated to our variable and colder regions; although 

 so widely diffused from time immemorial over the 

 whole face of the globe, they have retained a pecu- 

 liar susceptibility of damp and chillness, most of 

 their diseases arising from rheum, or catarrh — catch- 

 ing colds. The lungs of fowls are particularly ten- 

 der; the finer the species, the less is it hardy. 



Cleanliness. — Fowls being cleanly by nature, 

 thrive when regularly attended, but degenerate and 

 sicken if neglected. In an artificial state of exis- 

 tence, they require to be supplied by art with what 

 in nature they would obtain for themselves. For 

 this purpose they should have a regular supply, in 

 some convenient part of the shed, of sifted cinders 

 daily to roll in and cleanse themselves, and which 

 should be often changed. This precaution will keep 

 them entirely free from vermin of any description. 



Green. Fooot.— This being quit© as necessary for 



health as corn, to supply this requirement of nature, 

 they should have daily a good supply of sweet and 

 fresh green vegetables. Cabbage and lettuce are 

 the best' — turnip-tops and watercresses — but on no 

 account any sour plants, which scour them as do npin- 

 nach, the cuttings from grass plats, and most sorts 

 of garden seeds, as their instinct does not serve them 

 to choose the wholesome irom the noxious weeds, 

 more than it does animals that happen to s'ray into 

 a clover-field, or happen to receive too large a quan- 

 tity into their stables. I have known them to burst. 

 Green food with fowls is an astringent, the very re- 

 verse of what vegetables are with us. This fact 

 will not appear so surprising, when it is recollected 

 that one takes them raw, and the other cooked. 



A plentiful supply of clean water, in daily well- 

 cleansed vessels, and wholesome food are necessary. 

 Frequent changes and mixtures of corn improve the 

 appetite. Barley is decidedly their staple food in this 

 country ; Indian corn, or sometimes rice, mixed, for 

 a change. Oats occasionally, but in too large quan- 

 tity, are apt to scour. Occasionally buckwheat and 

 hempseed, as a stimulant, mixed with the barley for 

 a change, are very beneficial, particularly whilst 

 moulting. One meal may be composed of boiled or 

 steamed potatoes, well mashed up whilst hot, with 

 a portion of barleymeal or oatmeal for a change, but 

 which must be alloAved to remain till cold. Books 

 copying errors from one another, make a great mis- 

 take in advising food to be given hot. It is unnatu- 

 ral—they have no good cooks amongst them in their 

 own state ; and it is decidedly injurous To their diges- 

 tive organs, exceptVhen fattening, when they are 

 doomed soon to be killed for table. Feed twice a 

 day at least, or three times if not too fattening; morn- 

 ing early, before the usual hour for laying, if possi- 

 ble ; at noon, the noontide meal may be the pota- 

 toes, as above directed, and before sunset — not later 

 than four o'clock — that they may go to roost by day- 

 light, or they will go without their food. Regular- 

 ity greatly tends to health, and disturbance of any 

 sort is very hurtful. Rice occasionally boiled in a 

 cloth, greatly increases its bulk, and they are very 

 fond of it . Reaumur says, that great economy is de- 

 rived from steeping or boiling the barley, to increase 

 its bulk, when they will be satisfied with one third 

 less quantity. But I cannot speak of this from my 

 own experience, nor can I say that beneficial effects 

 are produced by giving them much flesh, raw or boil- 

 ed. But fat, as advised in books, produces scour- 

 ings ; spiced or salt meats, and kitchen stuffs, are 

 certainly pernicious to their stomachs. In fattening 

 for the table, when the}'^are not required to live long, 

 or show fine feather, this may not he of any conse- 

 quence. Will some of your practical correspondents 

 enlighten us ? They require in pens, or small yards 

 in towns, to be well supplied with grit, sand, and 

 small gravel ; slaked lime, and old mortar pounded 

 is very beneficial, and serviceable in assisting to make 

 the pen or yard dry. I will add to the above, that 

 there is no "economy in keeping poultry in towns, in 

 small quantities, which is always exceedingly expen- 

 sive, 'f well fed and taken care of ; which, however, 

 is compensated for, to those who wish to make cer- 

 tain that the eggs are quite fresh and newly laid. — 

 All calculations of expense must be erroneous, there 

 being so many contingentexpenses. As a source of 

 trade, much depends upon rearing the best breeds, to 

 be early in the season, laying in a stock and store at 

 proper times, having a ready sale for produce, and to 

 "buy cheap, and sell dear." — London Gard, Jmtr. 



