September 21, 1871. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTIOULTURE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 



229 



covered the cause of my nnsueeeasfol surgery. " Be oarefnl 

 not to sew the two skins together," and making this moral I 

 will end my letter. — J. K. L. 



[We shall be proud it benefited exclusively as promised in 

 your P.S. If we can do anything to effect the conversion of 

 ihat "head of the family," command our services. To be un- 

 fortunate and without sympathy is a superlative trial. — Eds.] 



POULTRY-KEEPING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 



No. 2.— BREEDINe. 



In commencing to keep prize poultry, I would advise the 

 outlay of not more than £1. For this sum yon may obtain an 

 imperfect cock and hen of a good strain, or a sitting of eggs 

 :from one of the best breeders. In the latter case, select one on 

 whom you can depend, because yon are entirely at his mercy. 



I commenced with a cock and two hens, for which I "aid 

 £1, but the cock showed a little Dorking in his fifth toe. Ho v- 

 ever, they were equal to my experience. I bred some chickens 

 from them, and then sold the old birds for what I gave. I 

 expended little on food for I risked only £1 on the birds, and I 

 lost nothing my first year. 



There is no wisdom in throwing pearls before swine, because 

 they would be trampled under foot, and eo would good chickens 

 in my first year. The great danger is in expending too much 

 money at first. When this is done without experience, the 

 new fancier often sickens and dies — not respected by all poultry 

 friends who knew him. 



The next year I launched-out and bought a sitting of eggs 

 from a well-known Birmingham breeder for 15s., and hatched 

 and reared thirteen, I think, out of fifteen. Out of this lot I 

 sold one for £1 10s., one for £1, and three for 10s. each. The 

 best cockerel I kept for a stock bird for the next season, and 

 sold him, as stated above, for £1 10s. This hatch paid well, but 

 I was disappointed in not having a single bird that could be 

 called good — free from glaring defects. The crooked combs 

 could not be made straight, even when the sprigs were cut off ; 

 nor the lop-comb to stand even with splinters. I waited for 

 the mottles to feather-out, and the shallow to become deep, 

 but they did not. 



If, after the first or second year, a few good shows be visited, 

 and such books as the " Poultry-keepers' Manual," published 

 at the Journal office, be carefully studied, more money may be 

 safely risked on stock birds. The object of the breeder should 

 be to produce birds better than his old ones. 



I prefer stock birds to be not less than one, nor more than 

 three years old. If the male bird be the same age as the hen, 

 I should prefer them two years old ; if of different ages I do 

 not care which is the older of the two. It is said by some that 

 a cockerel and a hen will breed the majority cockerels. This 

 year I have bred from a cockerel and a hen, and the majority 

 are pullets. In choosing birds to cross be careful to select 

 those that have the points extra good which are wanting in 

 your own. Golden-bufi is safer to breed from than lighter 

 shades, although a lighter-coloured hen mated with a darker 

 cook will often produce a fair number of chickens of a good gold 

 colour. Take care that the secondaries of the male bird be 

 sound in colour. Beware of falling combs, or your trouble and 

 expense will probably end in disappointment. A crooked 

 coinb is as troublesome, with this dilierence, that the falling 

 oomb does not show itself till the bird is seven or eight months 

 old ; whereas the crooked comb can be detected at the end of 

 two or three months. The birds from which it is intended to 

 breed had best be kept by themselves to prevent mistakes in 

 eggs, and to insure stamina. Two hens will lay from forty to 

 sixty eggs, a greater number than it will be advisable to set in 

 such a space as I have described. 



I set three sittings of nine or ten each. The second and 

 third lots are given to the breeding hens to afford them as much 

 rest as possible. Each sitting hen has a house to itself, and is 

 ■furnished with a nest 18 inches square, made in one corner by 

 nailing two pieces of wood together 4 inches deep. Oat straw 

 well rubbed is used for the nest, which is made on the floor in 

 a slight hollow. Each hen is allowed half an hour in a morn- 

 ing, never more ; in fact, they seldom take the time allowed. 

 Cochins do not like to leave their nests as a rule, so each hen 

 is lifted ofi by placing the hand under the breast and allowing 

 the legs perfect freedom ; theie is then no struggling. When 

 the hens are ofi their nests let them have a run the first thing. 

 This will in=uie their speedy return to their yards, when they 

 should have as much wheat or barley as they will eat, plenty 



of fresh water, something to dust in, and some green food. 

 The eggs should be sprinkled with water during the last ten 

 days when the hen is feeding. Daring the period of hatching 

 the empty shells should be removed, or they will sometimes 

 adhere to eggs not hatched, and prevent the egress of the chick. 

 Unfertile eggs may be detected at the end of a week by 

 holding them, when it is dark, between the eye and a candle. 

 The opaque ones are good. Eggs when laid should be dated 

 and placed in bran, with the thin end downwards, till they are 

 put under the hen. Some say this is unnecessary, unnatural. 

 However, it answers, and is as convenient as laying the eggs 

 on their sides. Eggs kept in the way I have described may 

 be safely set at the end of three weeks. Of course, the sooner 

 an egg is set the better. From sittings of ten I average eight 

 or nine chickens. — W. J. Peace, Driffield. 



HANDICAPPING POULTRY EXHIBITORS. 



The idea is certainly novel, but I am afraid that is the most 

 that can be said for it. The originator of the idea says, " I 

 breed five or six different kinds of fowls," and then he com- 

 plains of the results of his exhibiting, and mentions the names 

 of several exhibitors who are generally to the fore. Now I 

 think I can suggest a remedy that, if tried, will very soon banish 

 all thoughts of handicapping out of his minr!. It is simply 

 this : Breed one, or at the most two kinds. Then if he breed 

 from well-bred birds and pay proper attention to them, not 

 only will ha require no handicapping, but I warrant that he 

 will beat all the exhibitors he has named, and, moreover, will 

 himself be classed amongst the very men he has mentioned as 

 noted exhibitors. 



He is, perhaps, little aware how few birds many of our noted 

 exhibitors actually breed. My experience leads me to say that 

 to make poultry pay you must either go into the fancy almost 

 as a trade, or you must be content to keep one or two breeds 

 and breed them only. If you exhibit on a large scale you 

 must attend, either personally or by a deputy who can be tho- 

 roughly relied on, and who is a first-rate judge, at nearly all 

 the shows, so that not only your birds are properly attended 

 to, but better birds than your own are bought wherever there 

 is a chance of getting them reasonably. Anyone attending 

 shows who is really a judge has an enormous advantage in 

 picking up birds reasonably, and this is one of the main sources 

 from which many of our noted exhibitors get their birds ; and 

 if the gentleman who has written the paragraph as to handi- 

 capping has not done this I can well understand his non-success. 

 To breed five or six varieties I consider almost more than any- 

 one can do with success, and especially if he exhibit only 

 birds bred by himself. Many amateurs make the same mis- 

 take that he has done. I did it amongst the number, and 

 never till I settled down to one breed did I find it either profit- 

 able, or was I really successful at exhibitions. 



There is also one other great objection to handicapping — 

 that is, the admission, by being handicapped, that your birds 

 are inferior to others. Now this is not a pleasant reflection, 

 and if I did not think that my birds could hold their own with 

 any in the kingdom I should soon give up exhibiting ; and I am 

 certain that nothing tends more to raise the quality of poultry 

 of all kinds than the laudable desire to breed birds to take their 

 share of prizes at good exhibitions, and how much greater is tha 

 pleasure of winning with birds bred by yourself it is needless 

 for me to say. 



I am afraid I have spun a very long yarn on a very dry sub- 

 ject ; but still I feel confident if amateurs generally, and espe- 

 cially those whom 1 call the head of their profession, the actual 

 breeders of exhibition poultry, will breed only one or two sorts 

 with proper attention and choice in selecting the breeding 

 stock, success must and will reward their endeavours, and they 

 will hold their own against all comers. — T. E. Kell. 



AYLESBURY POULTRY SHOW. 



Noted as Aylesbury has ever been for tbe excellence of it3 poultry 

 shows, and the success throughout the kingdom of its local breeders, 

 few persons could have anticipated so good a collection as that which 

 was exhibited on the 13th inst. The profusion of excellent silver 

 cups, the gifts of the nobility and gentry of the neighbourhood, no 

 doubt had its influence in promoting this result, equally with the well- 

 known appointments always attendant on the Aylesbury shows. 



The Grey Dorhngs were one of the finest collections of chickens we 

 ever saw, the cup being taken with a pen of very dark, high-con- 

 ditioned, single-combed chickens shown for tha first time. A pen of 

 unusually good 'White Dorkings were second^ and Greys third. It 



