156 



GENESEE FARMER. 



June. 



Rearing!; Poulliy. 



As the time to Iny the groundwork for raising 

 pTilrry i-s iit \\vv\, we will respp.dtnilly call at- 

 te'itioi to the s ibject liy briefly stating our plan 

 for the m I'l igemeiit of each variety usually 

 raise I on the Cam; and as we hoM it to be inti- 

 mitely onneitfei] with the siii'.ce^s of each, we 

 will stiite thit pou/.l.ri/ hiii^ps shnu.hl he thrice. <t 

 year wkitp.w(tsli''>l,^ nf. all tiinps krpi clean, well 

 venl/lnlprl, and liinefreslilt/tilalied lime nccaaian- 

 ally spread over their floors ; that there should 

 be con'^fantly kept co-ivenient to the hen-hojse, 

 accessible to the chickens, deposits of old [)1 ister 

 or lime an I heips of allies and sand. The plas 

 ter and lime being essential to enable the hens 

 to form the shell of their eggs, and the ashes and 

 sand necessary for them to dust in, as protection 

 agiinst the chicken lice, which so annoy all 

 fj.vls, both old and yoang, and which so often 

 kill the latter. 



Young Ciiickkns. — As these are hatched they 

 should be t.iketi from the hens and kept in a bas- 

 ket lined with wo »l or cotton, until the hen com- 

 pletes h ifc'ting out her brood. While the moth- 

 er is engigT I in this work, the chicks shoiild be 

 fed with corn meil dough, moistened with boiled 

 milk or the crumbs of pone or wheat bread, sim- 

 ilarly m)iste:iel, every few hours through the 

 day. At night, uutil the mother has finished 

 her labors, let the chickens be restored to the 

 nest, unless there be reason to apprehend that 

 the nest is lousy; in that case, it will be best to 

 keep the chickens in the bisket, jirotected from 

 cold. When the chickens are all hatched, the 

 mother a:i;l her bro ) I should be placed under a 

 coip, wl^ich shoild be si mile as to protect her 

 and them alike from sun a;i(J rain, the slats to be 

 so arranged as to admit of the passage of a free 

 current of air. Tiie coip should be occasionally 

 removed, as it is at all times necessary that the 

 young should be kept dry and clean. While the 

 chickens are ?/)«?ii,' it would be belter that their 

 food should be cooked, to prevent their being 

 scoured ; and therefore, for some weeks, we 

 would conliine them to the crumbs of pone or 

 wheat bread, nioistened wiili boiled milk. They 

 shouM be fed thrice a day ; water should be given 

 them in a very shallow vessel, which should have 

 slats across it to prevent the chickens fiom get- 

 ting in and wetting themselves; t'n are e xfreme- 

 ly tender until they become fledged, and should 

 be kept dry. in rainy weather it would be liest 

 for the mother and her young to be removed to 

 the shelter of a room where the chickens could 

 be protected from the weather, for we are sitis- 

 fied that more chickens are killed by getting wet 

 than from any other cause. Chii'ps should be 

 cut fine and mixed with their food thrice a week. 

 Young chickens are subje.-.t to diarrhcBi to cor. 

 rect this a tea-spoonfiil of piilverized chalk or 

 cAarcoa/ should be mixed vvith every cup-full of 



(neal or other food ^(n\ out to them. While the 

 mother is confined in t!ie coop, she should be as 

 far j-emoved as possble from the dung heap A 

 handful of gravel should be placed within her 

 reach ; she should have food and water regularly 

 given her thrice a day, and care must be taken 

 to grease or oil the back part of her head, down 

 her neck, and under eacii wing, to destroy any 

 lice with which she may have become infested 

 while setting. A small piece of assafoifido, if 

 kept in tlie vessel in which the chickens are 

 givpn their water, may prove both preventive 

 and curative of the ^apes, a disease which we 

 believe to be the result oi" worms. In chilly days 

 we have found it serviceable to mix up a little 

 pulverized black pepper with the young chickens' 

 |iiod. We have found bjiled millet seed an ex- 

 cellent food fiir the young, while we have given 

 it uncooked to the old with excellent effect. — 

 Mens, while laying, should have their food alter- 

 nated, sometimes Indian meal dough, then corn 

 or buckwheat and again oats. 



In raising young chickens, care must be taken 

 to keep them dri/, feed them regularly, and give 

 tliem fresh water, which should be renewed 

 whenever it may be rendered dirty. 



The nests of the !aying as well as the setting 

 hens, should be preserved from lice. This may 

 be effected by making them of clean siraw, pla- 

 cing a iew tobacco stems at the bottom, dusting 

 a Itile aslies through the nest, and greasing the 

 under |)art of the wings of the hens, where they 

 join the body, as also the back of their heads 

 ami necks. It may be done also, by using snuflf 

 and grea e, instead of gre^ise alone — this last plan 

 we do not approve, thougli effective, as it id apt 

 to sicken the hens for a time. 



Garlic, Chives and Shallots, chopped up very 

 fine and mixed in small quatitities with the chick- 

 ens' food occasionally, exert an excellei.t influ- 

 ence upon their health. Young chickens, while 

 fleeding, should always be protected from the large 

 fowls. — American Farmer. 



I'hk AM^■KICAN Vktkbin>kian, ok DisKASES OK Ani- 

 MAis. — S. \V. <'ole, l-sq , Istli^or of ilio Boston Ciiliivator, 

 Ins p'lb'ishfil a work vviiii the atiove title, whifii, after ex- 

 amuiinaiiori, we feel bound in duly to recommend To our 

 readers. 'I'hc aiitlinr irenls the diriOiises to which iiliimala 

 are Niihj'rt in a (iliiin eomnioii sen.se way, sons to be tinder- 

 •slood by farmers generally ; he y'VPs the name of the 

 several liiseas^s. describes their swijittmis. and prescribes 

 ihe /vH(*'i//>«. in so pliiri and comprehensive a way, that 

 ariy mm of orliriary itil'dlii^cni-c may treat his own .'iiiimals 

 when di-ea<ed, with ihf cri litity of curin" them, if their 

 cure he pricticable. '\'\\<' oliji^ct of the writer appears to 

 Inve be.'H to make liiiHs"lf understood, — a thinir most la- 

 innriiildy nej;|n<;ted by many other writers. — and we take 

 pie^istire in sfiyin<i. that he lia-< been sinsnlarly suocessfiil, 

 for he has •^^chewed all incomprehensible haril sounding 

 terms, and broujiht his phrises down to the capacities of 

 l\\- iiid.Mrned a« well as the learned. His hook is prtic- 

 ti(!al, eminently suiuvl lo the wants of the apriculliira] com- 

 munilv, iind should be in the lianis of every man who 

 owns or rents a f irai. — Anifriraii Fnnner. 



Facts nnd n->t theories, or opinions, are the 

 wanted f n- the improvement, of agriculture. 



