PO UL TR r- CRAFT. 205 



them easy to get at when it is necessary to handle them, to accustom them 

 to being handled, and at the same time not keep them too closely confined. 

 No males should be allowed to run with females which are to be exhibited, 

 nor should two males be allowed to get together. Extraordinary precautions 

 must be taken to keep males from fighting, or a good bird may easily be 

 spoiled for showing, and weeks of painstaking work gone for nothing. 



301. Care of the Plumage. One of the first things to be done in fitting 

 the specimen is to pluck out all broken, stained, and foul* feathers, that new 

 ones may grow out in their places. Old birds need to be very carefully looked 

 over for dead stubs of feathers that failed to moult out. The backs of hens 

 often contain feathers broken by the feet of the male ; and there are nearly 

 always some worn and broken feathers on the feet of Asiatics. 



The plumage can be cleaned and polished by compelling the birds to 

 exercise in clean straw, and by furnishing a dust bath containing a liberal 

 proportion of clean fine sand. The plumage of white fowls, if not made 

 clean enough by these means, can be washed. 



" Washing Show Birds. Use Pear's or Ivory soap, as soap with rosin in it will ruin all 

 chances of a successful washing. Thoroughly soap and lather to the skin, and leave it 

 on long enough to cut all dirt, or any gummy or adhering substance in the plumage. 

 Then remove to a second tub of clean lukewarm water, deep enough to submerge the fowls, 

 and by gently rubbing with a large sponge with the feathers, remove every bit of soap. 

 Then shake the plumage in the water thoroughly, and rub it to the usual smooth condi- 

 tion. At last plunge in a tub of cold water that has been blued as the housewife blues the 

 water for the linen in her wash. By gentle manipulation of the plumage thoroughly rinse 

 it with this blue water, and take the bird out into a wire bottom dripping cage, allowing 

 the specimen himself to shake the water out, and then he may be removed to either of 

 two rooms. 



" Now the best in the world is a room the floor of which is covered four inches deep 

 with sea beach sand, and the atmosphere heated to 100 degrees, having been warm 

 long enough to heat the sand to 100 degrees. Then allow the room to cool to 70 degrees 



* NOTE. If false colored feathers grow in off -color again, they must be again removed 

 if the bird is to be exhibited. Their removal is -wrong, in that poultry associations have a 

 rule prohibiting it. Like all rules and laws, this is effective only as far as it can be 

 enforced and can be enforced only when infringements are detected, and public opinion 

 sustains those who attempt to enforce the law. The removal of a few feathers from the 

 soft plumage of a fowl could only be detected after a most searching examination. If there 

 were a disposition to enforce the rule, the removal of foul feathers could only be proved 

 in the case of one caught in the act by some one interested in furnishing such proof. 

 Notwithstanding the rule, the plucking of a few foul feathers will never be regarded, by 

 those who know how rarely birds are produced without them, as a flagrant sin. Indeed, 

 the more general opinion is that it is the rule that is wrong in not making sensible 

 exceptions, and that the practice is justifiable, if not absolutely right. Inasmuch as 

 feather plucking is done openly and universally, it does not really constitute a deception 

 except on those who wish to feel themselves deceived. The matter is one that causes new 

 exhibitors a great deal of concern. Unless one can satisfy himself that " plucking" is 

 excusable, he will feel more comfortable if he leaves his birds at home. 



