Management of the Stock. 109 



6. In raising chickens for market, the very best cross will be Brahma hens with Dorking 

 cocks, reserving the best of the pullets to mate again with Houdan cocks ; but care should always 

 be taken to breed from the best layers, whatever breed or cross be employed. 



7. The laying stock should be forced on by stimulating diet, giving a good allowance of 

 animal food, and a slight seasoning of cayenne pepper, mustard, or ginger. Such a regimen would 

 ruin the constitution of breeding stock, but is highly necessary to layers, which are not bred from, 

 but used up as quickly as possible and then killed. Mr. Stoddard enlarges, and is we believe 

 perfectly right, on this point. The forcing diet should be commenced gently, and gradually 

 increased. We may remark here that while the " De Sora" hoax scarcely needed exposure, those 

 writers who ridiculed the idea merely on account of the "impossibility" of feeding fowls chiefly on 

 flesh simply demonstrated their own ignorance. Fowls thus fed inevitably die after a certain time; 

 but /(;r « //;«t' they appear to thrive upon it. When we visited the National Poultry Company's 

 Bromley establishment the second time, Mr. Schroder informed us that he had about 1,000 head 

 of fowls at his own place in Hertfordshire fed almost entirely on flesh during the winter months. 

 He used to buy dead carcases of any animals which he could get cheap ; and by selling the waste 

 parts to various manufacturers managed to get the flesh nearly for nothing. He carried on this 

 system for two years, leaving ofi" the flesh in the summer, but always using it in the winter. In 

 a letter dated July, 1866, quoted in the "Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society," he says he 

 "has for very many months together fed principally on flesh." Hoiv far the plan either could or 

 should be followed we cannot say ; but probably the best result would be obtained by giving a 

 moderate quantity of the stimulating food the first season, and increasing it the second to a 

 considerable quantity, after which the exhausted bird should be fattened and killed. As none of 

 these fowls would be bred from, no evil result on the stock need be apprehended ; and we have 

 seen it stated that by thus aiding the flagging powers, even existing laying breeds may be made to 

 produce nearly 300 eggs per annum. We have reason to question this ; but we have always found 

 that meat given had an almost invariable connection with eggs laid to a great extent. E.xperi- 

 mcnts in connection with this subject also should be made in small yards, in order to discover 

 the treatment which gave the best results before embarking in the large. 



8. How far prize birds should be reared will be uncertain, depending on the knowledge 

 possessed by the individuals concerned. Rightly managed, this ought to be a lucrative branch of 

 the business, and more successful than usual on account of the large number of chickens to select 

 stock from ; but to attempt it without personal knowledge would be foolish indeed. It is also to 

 be considered that any one with the usual " enthusiasm " of a fancier would be very apt to neglect 

 the more important part of the business for the "fancy" birds; and the combination of both 

 kinds of management, with the judgment necessary to keep each in its proper place, is perhaps 

 very rare. 



9. As a boiler of some kind is highly desirable for the purpose of mixing the meal with hot 

 water every morning, it will, in a large establishment, be found both quicker and cheaper to employ 

 a small engine also, and some simple machine for mixing the food and mincing up the meat given. 

 This last, to save time, should be mixed in the soft feed. 



10. The manure from the houses should be carefully stored. We valued it at page 97 as only 

 sixpence per annum for each bird ; but this is far from the truth. From actual experiment we 

 found that the droppings from four Brahmas for one night weighed in one case exactly one pound, 

 and in another more than three-quarters, an average of nearly four ounces each bird. By drying 

 this was reduced to not quite one ounce and a half Other breeds make less ; but, allowing only 

 one ounce per bird daily of dry dung, fifty fowls will make, in their roosting-house alone, ten 



