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FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



nest. All this goes to show that in making the nests in our 

 city poultry buildings, where space is too limited to allow 

 of a wide range for our fowls, it should be our object to 

 imitate nature as much as possible in the construction of 

 proper nests for them. 



I could mention a score or more of elaborate poultry- 

 houses throughout the country where everything was designed 

 to be in keeping with the beautiful pets which they shelter. 

 Patent feed-boxes, patent roosts, and patent everything was 

 the fashion, and I must confess that I have been as much a 

 victim as any one, so far as the use of the above useless 

 appendages are concerned. I had a fine set of nests made 

 the entire length of our buildings, with doors arranged to 

 open into the hall, &c. ; but, after a year's trial, I have dis- 

 carded them, and find, after all said and done, the simplest 

 contrivance is the best. To give a simple definition of what 

 is wanted, I will only say, darkness and difficulty; some 

 long, dark box lying on the floor for the larger birds ; what 

 I mean by long is three or four feet, by sixteen inches wide, 

 and fourteen inches high. Keep the nest in the farthest end 

 by a cross-board four inches high. Let the entrance be in the 

 end and next to the floor, and so small that it will be a " tight 

 squeeze" for the hen to enter or come out ; and lastly, place 

 the open end so close in a corner of the room that even the 

 entrance will be hard to get at. You can use your own 

 mode of getting the eggs out, say by a small hand-hole with 

 a lid to it on top of the box. We had a fine coop of Bufl' 

 Cochins, and also one of Dark Brahmas, addicted to the 

 provoking habit of egg-eating. I suppose that this habit 

 was first contracted by the eggs being accidentally broken 

 by the hens in the exposed and uncomfortable nature of our 

 fancy nests. Of course, a hen's motherly affection and care 

 for her eggs gives way to her appetite on sight of a broken 

 one, hence the habit of eating them. In this dilemma I 

 closed those *puckered-up things, and placed in their stead 

 the nests described in this article, and the result was that 

 we got all the eggs they laid. As hens will not eat their 

 eggs after they have hidden them, or when they are near in 

 sight while the whole flock are wandering about the coop 

 throughout the day. After the habit was broken up en- 

 tirely in these two coops, our Light Brahmas and Par- 

 tridge Cochins fell into the habit, and nearly lived on eggs; 

 in fact, I do not know but that they would have become 

 ■self-sustaining, had we not given them the long, dark, diffi- 

 cult, &c., box, whereupon we were rewarded at once with 

 well-filled baskets. The small entrance to the nest also 

 prevents the cock from getting into them, as they often will 

 where possible, seemingly to show, in their politeness and 

 solicitude for their charge, the whereabouts of a nest. A 

 few weeks ago I placed a common open-top box in our Ply- 

 mouth Rock coop, furnished it with plenty of clean straw 

 for their nest, they having shown signs of laying. The box 

 was no sooner in position than the cock took to nest first, 

 and scratched, fluttered, and tore about, and was in every 

 position imaginable, all the time clucking, while the hens 

 all stood around amazed — so did I. — I took away the open 

 box, and gave them the dark nest, and Mr. Cock has stayed 

 outside since. Only yesterday I made some new nests for 

 our White Leghorns ; they were hardly in place before the 

 cock took to one of them, and such a time as he had ; why 

 he would have broken all the eggs in the nest, had they not 

 been china nest eggs, but I declare, I must again apologize for 

 the length of this article. In the future I will try to write less. 

 Should I at any time write too much for my share of space 



in your paper, you may curtail a little. I have only refer- 

 red to nests for the larger classes of birds : the rule will 

 apply to all, only elevate the closed nest if preferable, always 

 remembering nature's rule — difficulty, darkness, — then plenty 

 of room inside. J. H. Watlinq. 



Seneca Falls Poultry Yards, 



Seneca Falls, N. Y., March 23, 1874. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



HINTS TO BEGINNERS. 



No man should engage in any business without some 

 knowledge of what he is about to enter into. Especially 

 does this rule apply to dealers in fancy fowls. I am well 

 aware that a good many of those who advertise fancy poul- 

 try for sale, at the present time, were in the first start taken 

 with the "hen fever" spontaneously, and without any knowl- 

 edge of what a good fowl should be ; would at once write to 

 a score or more of advertisers, and the one that would make 

 the price the lowest would receive his order, and the chances 

 are one hundred to one that his fowls would be very inferior, 

 and yet the purchaser would feel confident that he had 

 just as good fowls as anybody. I used to have a good deal 

 of sympathy for such men, but at the present time, when 

 there are so many books and periodicals published devoted 

 especially to the Poultry interest, and when Poultry exhi- 

 bitions are of so frequent occurrence, there is no excuse for a 

 breeder to sell inferior fowls on those grounds. 



I would therefore recommend to all who contemplate start- 

 ing in the Poultry business a few practical suggestions : 

 First of all, procure a copy of the new American standard of 

 excellence, and become perfectly familiar with it as far as 

 the kind or kinds of fowls you anticipate breeding is con- 

 cerned ; subscribe for the Fanciers' Journal, or some other 

 good periodical devoted to poultry and poultry appurten- 

 ances ; attend to all the first-class poultry exhibitions that 

 you conveniently can, for I am convinced that an amateur 

 can learn more by visiting exhibition-rooms than in any 

 other manner, for he there has an opportunity of examining 

 the premium fowls, notice all their fine points, compare them 

 with less meritorious birds, and in this manner he will soon 

 become familiar with the kind which he proposes to breed. 

 Then take but one or two kinds to commence with. Be sure 

 that you have found a reliable breeder of your varieties ; and 

 this may not always be an easy matter, for in' many in- 

 stances breeders that win Premiums at our exhibitions are 

 not what they should be. I know of some men that will buy 

 a first-class trio of fowls in the fall and take them to all the 

 principal Poultry fairs during the winter and win prizes 

 with them, and in the spring advertise eggs from first pre- 

 mium stock (when in reality that one trio was all he had 

 that were fine), and would sell dozens of eggs from them and 

 send eggs from very inferior fowls. Neither does it follow 

 that because a man has been engaged in the business ten, 

 fifteen, or twenty years that he is honest and reliable, but it 

 is probable that he will at least be a good judge of the vari- 

 eties he breeds ; then if he does not do by you as he agrees, 

 you may be certain that he is dishonest, and should be pub- 

 licly branded as a fraud. Yet, I can say with much pride 

 that there are very many noble, honest, and reliable men 

 engaged in the poultry traffic, many of whom are successful 

 exhibitors, and on such men I would recommend you to 

 bestow your patronage. C. N. Brown. 



Unadilla Forks, Otsego Co., N. Y. 



