12 



FANCIERS' journal and poultry exchange. 



meal (together with potatoes) moistened with milk, is suffi- 

 cient to fatten any fowl during the 14 days she is cooped. 



The profit and loss account will stand thus : 



Dr. 



Cost of eggs 



Cost of rearing chicken ti 



egg-producing time, . . 

 Cost of feeding during the 11 



months she is laying, 

 Fortnight's fattening, . . , 



s. d. 

 1 



Cn. 



£ s. d. 

 234 new laid eggs at Is. 3d. 



per dozen, 14 6 



Produce of fowl 2s. 6d. to 



3s, 3 



Excrements,* 2 4 



£1 9 10 



Deduct cost, ... 6 3 



Total profit, ... £1 3 7 



Leaving a profit on each pullet of £1 3s. 7d., or 300 per 

 cent. The profit and loss account on the cockerels will be 

 as follows : 



Db. 



Cost of egg, 



Cost of 12 weeks' keep, . . 

 Cost of two weeks' fatteu- 



Ce. 



Value of cockerel, weight 



5)4 lbs., 3s. 6d. to . . . 



Excrements,* 



Total profit, 



Leaving a profit on each cockerel of 3s., or over 150 per 

 cent. 



Now, from actual experiments, it has been proved over 

 and over again, that the finest fowls can be kept in the 

 highest state of perfection at the costof Id. to ljd per week ; 

 and this, without even the advantage of anything of a run, 

 beyond an inclosed yard or small garden. 



Those who doubt the sufficiency of such allowance had 

 better refer to Mr. Mowbray's standard work, or to the 

 comprehensive experiments of M. Reaumer, M. Parmentier, 

 &c. I can certify to its sufficiency from my own experience, 

 having kept nearly 100 large fowls during the past twelve 

 months upon a weighed and measured allowance of food, 

 and which never exceeded fd. per week. They were the 

 whole time in laying condition, and in the highest state of 

 perfection as to plumage, &c. 



This sum will allow of the best quality of food being given, 

 and such will always prove the cheapest. 



Wheat at 5s. 9d., barley at 4s. 6d., oats 3s., buckwheat 4s. 

 9d , maize 4s. 3d. per bushel ; broken rice, 1 Jd. per lb. ; small 

 potatoes (siftings), 2s. per cwt. ; bullock's liver and sheep's 

 pluck, ljd. per lb. ; will enable you to keep your fowls in 

 the highest possible perfection, within the price named, 

 averaging the value of one grain against another. 



In Ireland, Scotland, and parts of Wales, where fowls can 

 have liberty, and milk and potatoes are plentiful and cheap 

 (as well as corn), fowls may be kept at probably one-half 

 the cost named, producing eggs at Jd. per dozen, and flesh 

 at ljd. per lb. It is owing to the liberal feeding of warm 

 potatoes, accompanied with warm housing, that the poultry 

 in Ireland are good egg-producers, and this, in spite of the 



* A fowl will void at least 1 oz. of dry dung in 24 hours, and which is 

 worth 7s. per cwt. {Step/tens.) Those who cannot find a market for this 

 valuable manure at such a price, let them use it themselves in their own 

 gardens, and make as much again. I can speak with confidence of the 

 power of 1 cwt. to produce from 4 to 5 cwt. of potatoes, value 25s. 



most miserable puny breeds, deteriorating year after year 

 from breeding in and in and with absence of fresh blood. 



To encourage and keep the pullets laying through the 

 winter months, it is necessary that they should be kept warm 

 at night, fed liberally, and on stimulating food. In the 

 morning each pullet should have 1J oz. of barley, buck- 

 wheat, or meal; midday, boiled potatoes warm, or boiled 

 rice, with scraps of meat, suet, or fat, bullock's liver, or 

 sheep's pluck; at night, 1J oz. of wheat, Indian corn, or 

 heavy oats. Such feeding will keep them in such a condi- 

 tion as will enable them to continue to lay regularly until 

 the spring, when 2 or 2Joz. of grain per day may be resorted 

 to, without the assistance of meat or cooked food. 



Fowls in winter, owing to the absence of worms, grubs, 

 flies, &c, require more hand-feeding than in summer, but 

 where they have the advantage of an extended run, Id. per 

 week will be found an ample allowance, and allow for lib- 

 eral feeding, of the best food, averaging winter against the 

 summer. 



A wise selection of stock, and such as may be suited to 

 your soil, is of paramount importance. The Houdan, Creve, 

 Dorking, and Brahma are all excellent for the table, and 

 come early to maturity, being easily fattened. The Ham- 

 burghs, Houdans, Polands, Spanish, and Brahma excel as 

 egg-layers, all except the two latter being non-sitters. 



Two or three hatches of cockerel chicks may with advan- 

 tage be made throughout the summer, as they only require 

 fourteen weeks before they are fit to be disposed of. 



Those who desire to act upon the best and most economical 

 principles will avoid the expense involved by allowing a hen 

 to rear her own chickens, which will amount in eight weeks, 

 by loss of eggs and keep, to 4s. 8d. A capon may be easily 

 trained to undertake the brooding and rearing of chickens 

 as well as the best hen. A large, full-feathered capon can 

 brood and care twenty-five to thirty chickens at a time, and 

 will continue the careful charge of brood after brood through- 

 out the year, irrespective of age, size, or color. — Mascal, 

 Reaumer, Parmentier. 



Chickens may also be reared by what is termed an "arti- 

 ficial" mother, which is a simply-constructed shallow box, 

 the perforated lid being lined with lamb's-skin, or goose- 

 down ; and by the application of heat to the lid, either by 

 hot water or hot air, chickens in any number can be reared, 

 with far greater ease and certainty than by the natural 

 mother. The author will be glad to furnish particulars as 

 to the training of capons, or show a plan of rearing-box or 

 " artificial " mother. — Reaumer, Bonnemain, Parmentier. 



So precocious are the Creve Cceur fowls in their growth 

 and disposition to fatten, that they are fit to be put up to 

 fatten at the age of two and a half to three months, and be 

 ready for table fifteen days after. — Pringle, Murray. 



A succession may, therefore, always be kept up ready for 

 the coop, and thus a large number ma} T be disposed of in the 

 year, without having any quantity on hand at one time ; 

 and in this way one's limited capital may be continually 

 turned over, each time realizing 150 per cent., or 000 per 

 cent, if followed by three successions through the summer. 



No doubt it will be considered a bold assertion to say that 

 fowls are capable of making a return of 600 per cent, in 

 twelve months, at a time when the popular belief is that 

 " poultry don't pay." It is true that fowls don't pay as 

 often managed, but, at the same time, I affirm, without fear 

 of contradiction, that they can be made to pay, and to pay 

 as no other stock possibly can. 



(To be continued.) 



