NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



189 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ADVICE TO FOWL KEEPERS. 



Have your hen house cleaned out, the nest emp- 

 tied and scraped clean; or new ones put in lemon 

 boxes are about as good an article as you can have. 

 I am of opinion that tobacco boxes in some places 

 would do well for nests. If the birds are troubled 

 with insects, as they often are where they are 

 housed up, a little anguentum, reduced with lard, is 

 a sure cure. Rub a small quantity where the 

 trouble arises, which is generally on the top of 

 the head. Knits appear at the side of the nose and 

 the chickens refuse to eat. For grown fowls, to- 

 bacco water rubbed on, in small quantity, will de- 

 stroy them. If your henery contains insects, wash 

 all parts of it with tobacco water with a brush. It 

 may need to be repeated. 



A box with ashes in it is a great luxury for 

 them to shake in. Keep your fowl-house dry. — 

 After your chickens have been hatched 1-2 day, I 

 think it better to take them from the hen, into the 

 house, till she gets through hatching, as she will 

 keep moving to please those that are out, and tread 

 on those that are about coming from the shell. I 

 have tried it with success. You can put them un- 

 der her at night. If other hens trouble her, cover a 

 basket, or a like article, over the nest. Wet Indi- 

 an meal for general food is the best. Boiled eg? 

 and the shell is a luxury to them. After a week 

 give them a small quantity of wheat or oats, and 

 sometimes a little fresh meat and potato. I have 

 a brood of China chickens, 2 montlis old, and have 

 not lost one of them. They have not had water 

 but once; they are fat and smart. Too much 

 drink, in my opinion, brings on dysentery. 



I have kept my chickens under cover, in a good 

 sized i)ox, slatted over with lathes to keep the hen 

 in, as jumping in would injure the chickens. 1 

 clean the box often. I have spoken particularly of 

 chickens, as so many are lost by inexperience. I 

 have now one hundred fowls of various kinds, and 

 I am of opinion that as many eggs would be ob- 

 tained of half the number, unless they are kept en- 

 tirely separate, say 30 in a house together. 



A variety of food is best, and by all means keep 

 clam or oyster shells pounded fine for them to eat; 

 as I think they make decidedly the best egg shells. 

 If you wish "to feed all your sitting fowls at one 

 time, take them off the nest in the morning careful- 

 ly, and you will be sure they are fed. I have done 

 it several years; it saves much time in feeding. 



You can see that each goes on her own nest again; 

 for they sometimes change, or another hen may oc- 

 cupy a nest in the absence of the owner, and cause 

 a fifjht on her return. B. 



Remarks. — Tobacco and mercurial preparations 

 are powerful and destructive to insects, but tobac- 

 co has a sickening effect on the animal, and has, in 

 some cases, destroyed him, as well as the insects. 

 Unguentum, in cases of exposure to wet or cold, is 

 injurious, and sometimes fatal to the animal. New 

 riuu, in which camphor is dissolved, is excellent 

 for the destruction of lice on hens, or for the same 

 insects on the horse; and it is harmless in its ef- 

 fects, excepting it produces slight intoxication, 

 when applied to the head of a young chicken. 



The lice usually found on the heads of chickens 



soon after they are hatched, are large, rapid in their 

 motions, and similar in their general ajjpearance to 

 those that infest some human heads. 



The greatest evil of this kind that afflicts hens, 

 is a minute insect, which under the magnifying 

 gla.ss resembles a wood-tick in appearance. They 

 become numerous, and will suck the blood from 

 hens on their nests, and often destroy them while 

 sitting. They will suck the blood from hens on 

 the roost, at night, and retire to cracks in the hen- 

 house before morning, so that if the hens are ex- 

 amined, they cannot be found on them by day. — 

 Close houses produce this evil, and a terrible evil 

 it is. 



If hens infested with these lice roost near horses, 

 the lice will get on them; and though so small as 

 to be hardly perceptible to the naked eye, without 

 nice inspection, they are so formidable as to de- 

 stroy this noble animal, unless a remedy be ap- 

 plied. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 WHAT AILED MY HOG? 



Mr. Editor: — In 6th month, last year, I bought 

 a pig, and shut him up. He grew well, and I flat- 

 tered myself with the prospect of having a fine hog 

 next fall. About the commencement of cold weath- 

 er, he began to be lame in one hind leg; soon both 

 hind legs were diseased. The lameness increased 

 until about the beginning of this year, when he re- 

 fused to eat; his legs became useless, one of them 

 swelled badly about the ankle joint, and, supposing 

 he would soon die, I concluded to kill him. But 

 my neighbors advised me to wait a little to see if he 

 did not^recover. After this he ate well for a time, 

 but did not regain the use of his limbs. Finding 

 it a hopeless case, I killed him the 7th of this month, 

 when it appeared the disease was in the bones. 

 Upon examination it was found ihdit both hindlcgs 

 n-crc hrohcn; one just above the gambrel joint, and 

 the other where the first swelling appeared, and a 

 callous had grown over the fractured parts, nearly 

 an inch in thickness. The marrow in the broken 

 thigh bone was a semi-liquid, and of a purple color. 

 But this is not all. Ten ribs on each side leere 

 hrohcn off! some of them had grown together, and 

 others were apparently just fractured. All the ribs 

 were so brittle that I could easily break them with 

 my thumb and fore finger. Now the animal must 

 have broken these bone by turning in his litter, for 

 he had not been out of it in several weeks. 



These are facts w^ell known to my neighbors, 

 who, with myself, wish to know the cause and the 

 remedy, so that, should a similar case occur, we 

 may be able to administer the proper remedy. 



Perhaps some may say, "The hog needed earth;" 

 but I think it was not so, for I freqiiently threw 

 earth into the pen, and during his sickness I gave 

 him sulphur, salts and charcoal. 



I also kept another pig in the same enclosure, 

 until the latter part of the 12th month, when I 

 killed him in a perfect state of health. Their food 

 was composed of ears of corn ground and mixed 

 with potatoes. L- Varney. 



Sandwich, N. 11. , 3^/ Mo. Z\st, 1851. 



5^ Earn your money before you spend it. 



