60 



FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



WHAT FOWLS PAY THE BEST. 



Article III. 



My experience in golden-spangled Hamburgs was also a 

 decided success. I spared neither trouble or expense to pro- 

 cure the best stock in the market. My breeding stock was 

 selected from three different strains. I took first premiums 

 at the different exhibitions held in Philadelphia under the 

 auspices of the Pennsylvania Poultry Society; in fact, my 

 stock of silver and golden-spangled Hamburgs were con- 

 sidered by competent judges to be second to none in the 

 country. I have always considered it cheapest in the end to 

 feed well. Many a bushel of good wheat have I purchased 

 when the prices have reached $2.50 per bushel. This, in 

 addition to buckwheat, oats, corn, and a plentiful supply of 

 animal food, kept my fowls in a healthy condition. As I 

 remarked, in a former article, my pens were ten feet square, 

 in each pen were placed ten hens and one cock. They were 

 allowed the range of the yard on alternate days ; conse- 

 quently, as I seldom kept less than three different breeds at 

 a time, each kind had but two days in a week for exercise, 

 but on days of confinement they had all that fowls could 

 wish for in the way of food, cut grass, ground bone, and 

 oyster shells, and well they repaid me for what would per- 

 haps seem to some people unnecessary trouble and care. 

 Many a day I would receive, as a reward for my devotion to 

 their health and comfort, ten eggs from either one of the 

 coops. When the breeding season was over, I would place 

 all the hens in one large coop, and they would lay equally 

 as well as when running with the cocks, besides they had 

 the yard to themselves constantly. The cocks kept over for 

 the next season were placed in movable coops, without any 

 bottom, and set around the yard (at a proper distance from 

 one another of course to prevent any pugilistic fancy they 

 might see fit to indulge in). I always had the birds hatched 

 on my own premises, and when about three or four weeks 

 old would send them out on a walk, to be returned in time 

 for fall sales. For fecundity, the Hamburgs as a class can- 

 not be beaten, at least not as far as my experience goes. In 

 settings of fifteen eggs (I never placed more under one hen), 

 I invariably got from twelve to thirteen chicks, and some- 

 times the whole fifteen. Prom eggs furnished to other par- 

 ties the same results have followed. 



For beauty nothing can surpass a flock of Hamburgs, of 

 either one of the varieties. Fanciers of the clumsy Asiatics 

 may differ in the beauties of their huge pets as long as they 

 please, but nothing could change my opinion as to the 

 merits of my favorites. Hamburgs are no more to be com- 

 pared to the larger breeds than the graceful antelope to the 

 ugly rhinoceros. Thomas S. Armstrong. 



Trenton, N: J. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



CHICKEN CHOLERA. 



In the copy of the Fanciers' Journal which you sent me 

 (for which accept my thanks), I see a piece about this great 

 scourge of almost every section of our country at present. 

 The writer, like almost every other whose opinions I have 

 read, attributes the disease to uncleanliness. This cause has 

 been harped upon until it has about worn out the patience 

 of all those who try to keep their fowls in fine condition, and 

 know that the disease arises from some other cause than this. 



A dissection of a number of fowls at different times proves, 



beyond a doubt (besides the other signs), that the disease, 

 instead of being cholera at all, is neither more or less than 

 a bilious intermittent fever, joined with an inactive state of 

 the liver, which is greatly enlarged, and, in nine-tenths of 

 the cases, very much congested. Prior to the introduction 

 of the Asiatic varieties this disease was entirely unknown, 

 and it may safely be set down as introduced by them, or 

 that they are not as yet acclimated here. This last I believe 

 to be the cause. But let the cause be what it may, it is not 

 uncleanliness that breeds it alone. Having been a number 

 of years troubled with the cholera among my fancy fowls, 

 causing much loss, I thought that, like all other diseases, 

 there must be some preventive or cure, or both. I searched 

 for some remedy which would prove successful in treating 

 it, and, after many failures, I hit upon the following, which 



1 think will surely prevent it, and cure nine-tenths of those 

 that may have it : To 1 lb. pulv. alum add J lb. B. antimony, 



2 oz. Epsom salts, 2 oz. flowers of sulphur, 2 oz. pulv. cam- 

 phor, with a handful of linseed meal. Mix two tablespoon- 

 fuls in meal dough for every ten fowls ; increase the dose 

 for sick ones. Once a week is enough for prevention ; twice 

 a day for sick ones. 



Hoping the above may be of benefit to the fowls, and to 

 the poultry fraternity in general, I am, respectfully, 



John Kumbold. 



HOW TO PLUCK POULTRY. 



I hate known persons on market-day to go out and 

 kill twelve or fifteen fowls, and to bring them into a room 

 where there would be half a dozen women and boys pulling 

 a few feathers at a time, between thumb and forefinger to 

 prevent tearing them. Now, for the benefit of such, I give 

 our plan : Hang the fowl by the feet by a small cord; then 

 with a small knife give one cut across the upper jaw, oppo- 

 site the corners of the mouth ; after the blood has stopped 

 running a stream, place the point of the knife in the groove 

 in the upper part of the mouth, run the blade up into the 

 back part of the head, which will cause a quivering and 

 twitching of the muscles. Now is your time, for every 

 feather yields as if by magic, and there is no danger of tear- 

 ing the most tender chick. Before he attempts to flap, you 

 can have him as bare as the day he came out of the egg. — 

 Journal of Horticulture. 



The Pules and Price Lists for the Third Annual Exhibi- 

 tion of the Massachusetts Poultry Association, to be held 

 February 4th to 11th, 1874, in Boston Music Hall, are in 

 press, and will soon be ready for distribution. Copies will 

 be mailed to persons who make request by letter addressed 

 to E. H. Hartshorn, Corresponding Secretary, P. O. Box 

 2725, Boston, Mass. 



POULTRY SHOWS. 



Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, January 26th to 31st. 

 Pennsylvania, Doylestown, first week in February. Thos. 



Walton, Secretary. 

 Western New York, Buffalo, January 15th to 20th. G. W. 



White, Secretary. Entries close January 5th. 

 New England, Worcester, January 20th, 21st, 22d. 

 Northern Ohio, Cleveland, January 23d to 29th. 

 Massachusetts, Boston Music Hall, February 4th to 11th. 

 New Hampshire Poultry Society, Manchester, Feb. 24th, 



25th, and 26th. Wm. G. Garmon, Secretary. 



