The Proper Wa y to Proceed. i : i 



would then advise that a few sittings of first-class eggs be procured from sources which can be 

 depended upon, and if possible from more than one. The owner's own inferior stock should also to 

 some extent be bred from ; and in this way another kind of most valuable and necessary information 

 will be obtained — that of the appearance of first-class chickens at different ages, and as compared 

 with inferior ones of the same breed. It must not be assumed that all the chickens from the 

 purchased eggs are first-class, for this will not be the case. If birds could be thus bred their value 

 would cease. The choice specimens are always comparatively few, and if even one-fourth of any 

 brood are more or less fit for competition it will be very good indeed. Neither will all hatch except 

 in very rare cases. Highly-bred stock are not quite so fertile as a rule, and there is some risk in 

 the raihvay journey. Many chances may even spoil the whole hatch ; and if chickens are' found 

 dead in the shell the vendor must not be blamed ; since they were there, it is not his fault that they 

 did not come to maturity. To speak in this way will seem absurd to many ; but we have had a 

 letter couched in the most insolent terms from a man because "only" six eggs had hatched out of 

 ten sent to him, and demanding back the price of four. We can only say that even in ordinary 

 seasons 6o per cent, of chickens from travelled eggs is a very fair average. The eggs of all large 

 fowls are more uncertain than those of small. In the case of early eggs— say laid in January and 

 February — even 40 per cent, must be called satisfactory, the eggs being naturally not so fertile 

 as later on ; but as chickens at this season are proportionately more valuable, on an average 

 purchasers get about the same return for their expenditure. Many more, occasionally even all, 

 may be hatched later in the spring ; but the averages we have stated are pretty fair, and if the 

 chickens be good are well worth paying a high price for. 



Out of several sittings, therefore, there ought to be at least a few really good birds ; and as it 

 will be seen very early that the various little chickens differ greatly in their appearance, careful 

 note should be taken of them, and obsen'ation made as to which of them turn out the best at six 

 months old, when they will have assumed their adult plumage. To the fancier with limited space, 

 no knowledge is more necessary than this, as it enables him to hatch about three times as many 

 chickens as he can rear, and clear them off at an early period, so as to leave the ground at liberty 

 for the best alone. 



In this way, and by thus judiciously employing one season only, any one who has a genuine 

 interest in the subject ought by the approach of the next winter's shows, to have acquired a very 

 useful and sound knowledge of the variety he has adopted. He will have learnt practically 

 its qualities and management, its points, its commonest defects fiom an exhibition point of view 

 (this last is highly important), and also how these manifest themselves as the chickens grow. He 

 can now with some correctness,, therefore, estimate for himself the real value of a bird, and is 

 accordingly ready to buy. He may very probably even have a first-class chicken or two of his 

 own, which he thinks may compete fairly with many others which he sees. In that case we should 

 strongly advise the expenditure of an entrance-fee, not so much for the chance there may be 

 of winning, as for the opportunity of comparison thus afforded between his own best chickens and 

 those from other yards, which will add still more to the knowledge already possessed. 



The purchase of stock will now be proper, and if pecuniary resources correspond with 

 inclination, really first-class specimens may be secured with some probability of the expenditure 

 not being thrown away. But very good breeding-stock may often be secured at a very moderate 

 cost, by the consideration of what points are indispensable in both sexes, and what faults, though 

 fatal in a show-pen, are capable of being compensated by mating them with defects of an opposite 

 character. We shall endeavour to enter into this in detail when treating of the different breeds, 

 and will now only give one illustration. Supposing the breed be Buff Cochins, the necessary purity 

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