GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 23 



was for Brahmas, and more would be required for many 

 other breeds. 



CHAPTER H. 



DOMESTIC MANAGEMENT OF ADULT FOWLS. 



FOWLS should not be kept unless proper and regular atten- 

 tion can be given to them ; and we would strongly urge that 

 this needful attention should be personal. Our own ex- 

 perience has taught us that domestics are rarely to be relied 

 upon to mix food properly, or in many other matters essential 

 both to economy and the well-being of the stock ; and, if 

 any objection be made on the score of dignity, we could not 

 only point to many ladies who do not think it beneath them 

 to attend to their own fowls, but can aver that the most 

 menial offices may be performed in the fowl-house without 

 so much as soiling the fingers. Where there are children in 

 the family old enough to undertake such matters, they will 

 be both pleased and benefited by attending to what will 

 soon become their pets ; otherwise the owner must either 

 attend to them himself, or take such oversight as shall be 

 effectual in securing not only proper care of his birds, but of 

 his own meal and grain. If he be unable or unwilling to do 

 at least as much as this, he had far better not engage in 

 poultry-keeping at all. 



Let us first give the question of food a full and practical 

 consideration. Our object is to give the quantity and 

 quality of food which will produce the greatest amount of 

 flesh and eggs, and if it be attained, the domestic fowl is 

 unquestionably the most profitable of all live stock. But 

 there is no " mistake on the right side " here. A fat hen 

 is not only subject to many diseases, but ceases to lay, or 

 nearly so, and becomes a mere drag on the concern ; while 

 a pampered male bird is lazy and useless at best, and very 



