THE POULTRY YARD. 



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fowls require all the good and suitable feed they can 

 eat. More care has to be used with the breeding hens, 

 than the fleshy table breeds. Comfortable quarters on 

 good grass land, and liberal feeding with meat, are safe 

 foundations for poultry farming for eggs. 



Poultry in Confinement. Some curious and much 

 needed tests have been made with a view of observing 



the temperaments of 

 different breeds of 

 fowls and their 

 adaptability for con- 

 finement. With this 

 end in view, a series 

 of sheds were erected 

 each eighteen feet by 

 five, and in these, 

 breeding flocks of five 

 to nine birds, Brown 

 Leghorns, Minorcas, 

 Redcaps, Andalu- 



sians, Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes, Houdans, Ham- 

 burgs. Langshans, Dorkings, and Cochins, were put 

 up. The floors were originally covered with straw, but 

 this was soon changed for dry earth, and the condition of 

 the birds at once improved. The first breed to develop 

 any vice were the Minorcas, which laid well for two 

 months, and then commenced feather eating. The next 

 to develop this habit were the Audalusians, which were 

 succeeded by the Hamburgs, Wyandottes, and Redcaps. 

 Then it was decided to change the treatment, with a view 

 to curing them of the propensity they had acquired. The 

 birds were allowed their freedom on grass, and they at once 

 abandoned the habit of feather pulling, but which they 

 recommenced when again confined in the pens. This is 

 a nice point for considering with poultry, and shows how 

 desirable it is to have a run for even a small flock. The 

 Leghorns one cockerel and seven laying hens did by 

 far the best, as they laid well all through the experiment, 

 sometimes providing six eggs a day, and developed no 

 vice or symptoms of ill-health whatsoever. 



