SYSTEM FOR VERY SMALL SPACE. 13 



well housed, as in the last chapter, and properly fed, will 

 ensure a constant supply of eggs until the autumnal moulting 

 season. Whenever a hen shows any desire to sit, the propen- 

 sity must of course be checked, not by the barbarous expedient 

 of half drowning the poor bird in cold water a process 

 generally as ineffectual as it is cruel but by placing her under 

 a coop on the hard ground, with water, but rather scanty food, 

 keeping her in summer, however, sheltered from the sun. A 

 few days of such confinement will take away all desire to sit 

 from almost any hens but Cochins, which should not be kept 

 under the circumstances we are considering ; and in about a 

 fortnight the fowl, if not older than we have recommended, 

 will begin to lay again. It is still better to keep only non- 

 sitting breeds. 



To buy only young and healthy birds is very important. 

 An experienced hand can tell an old fowl at a glance, but it is 

 rather difficult to impart this knowledge to a beginner, for no 

 one sign is infallible, at least to an uninitiated interpreter. 

 In general, however, it may be said that the legs of the young 

 hen look delicate and smooth, her comb and wattles soft and 

 fresh, and her general outline, even in good condition (unless 

 fattened for the table), rather light and graceful ; whilst an 

 old one will have rather hard, horny looking shanks, her comb 

 and wattles look somewhat harder, drier, and more " scurfy," 

 and her figure is well filled out. But any of these indications 

 may be deceptive, and the only advice we can give the reader 

 is to use his own powers of observation, and try and catch the 

 " old look." He will soon do so, and need no further description. 



Directly these hens stop laying in the autumn, and before 

 they have lost condition by moulting, they should, unless they 

 have proved very satisfactory, be either killed or sold off, and 

 replaced by pullets hatched in March or April, which will 

 have moulted early. These, again, still supposing proper food 

 and good housing, will begin producing eggs by November at 



