-_| TlJE I LLLSTKAtED BoOK 01' PoCLTRY. 



to cnlcr r.nd sliare the food iiitciu'cd for the smaller, which is placed within it. At best, 

 however, such a feeding enclosure is only a makeshift, and separate accommodation infinitely 

 to be preferred. 



The number of cliickcns which can be reared in a ver}- limited space, iinth can; would surprise 

 many who have not been forced bj- necessity to make the attempt. For several years wc hatched 

 annually from forty to fifty of our Brahmas, and reared more than half of them to maturity, with 

 no other space than a pen twenty-two feet square, and a strip of ground (originally a flower 

 border) seven feet by seventy. The pen or yard had a shed six feet wide all up one side, enclosed 

 with netting; and the border was di\idcd in two, and had a rough shed at each end. The hens 

 were set in the shed, and the chickens cooped there, being let out in dry weather into the open 

 yard, and fed constantly as already described. Our and their favourite food was a mixture of about 

 equal pr.r-ts in bulk of good oatmeal, crumbled bread, and grass cut small, mixed with milk, and 

 with a little bone-dust added (of which we will say more hereafter in a chapter on rearing prize 

 fowls). When the first lot of cliickcns was about six weeks old, the cockerels were put in one end 

 of the border and the pullets in the other, leaving the j-ard for the next lot ; though wc have had 

 sometiuics the whole fifty in the yard at once. At about three months old we picked out the worst 

 j.art of the chickens, and cither sold, ate, or gave them away. By the middle of August we 

 generally disposed of at least one pen of the old birds, and the "second crop" of chickens was 

 then divided between the pen thus vacated and their own yard, so dividing the whole into four 

 lots — two of cockerels and two of pullet.s — but alwa}'s thinning them out, so as to keep only the 

 good ones, as early as possible. The ground was trodilcn quite hard, and was regularly swept 

 will) a hard brush, and now and then sprinkled with carbolate of lime, by which it never became 

 offensive ; but every year we had it dug up a foot deep before the chicken-season began. Every 

 year or two the earth in the sheds also was passed through a sieve, and all offensive matter thus 

 removed. We cither did these things ourselves (we often did) or saw lliat they ivcre done ; and, in 

 particular, always took care that each coop or sleeping-box was' cleaned and fresh sprinkled witii 

 earth every night. We hardly ever had a case of disease, and reared such pullets as wo have again 

 and again been ofifered ten guineas each for, just as tliey ran in the yard ; but this was the result, 

 be it remembered, o{ personal care and supervision, and we mention it to show what can be done 

 where there is a real interest in the undertaking. 



We still have to consider the rearing of chickens hatched in an incubator, or from any 

 other reason deprived of the kind offices of a motherly hen. Wc have often' .seen it .stated 

 that here the difllculties of artificial production begin ; that it is easy to hatch chickens, but 

 almost impo.ssibic to irar them. The exact contrary is the case, not the slightest difficulty in 

 the mere rearing of chickens artificially being experienced by an)- who will devote to the 

 ]Hirsuit the necessary attention and care; and almost every fimeier at times being obliged to 

 make the attempt, from* the death of a hen or other unforeseen occurrences. In such cir- 

 cumstances an artificial "mother" becomes needful; and after having had recourse to them on 

 several occasions, we can unhesitatingly say there is no difiiculfy whatever in fostering and 

 rearing chickens without a hen. Mr. Ilalsted goes further, and in his enthusiasm even affirms 

 of artificial mothers: — "After five years' constant use of them, I reiterate that I would never 

 put out a brood of chickens under a hen as long as I could niak-e or get one made. My 

 success with them has been constant and perfect. I raise fully one-fourth more chicks, and 

 they are much more growthy and more easily restrained. The use of the hen is sr\'cd, for 

 instead of taking care of her brood, she goes to laying again. When the eggs do not hatch 

 well, three, four, or more broods may be united (although of difl"erent ages), and thus that 



