346 ^'^^ METHOD OF REARING POULTRY. 



VII. 



Account of a new Method of rearing Poultry to Advantage. 

 By Mrs. Hannah D'OyleYj of Sion Hillj ?iear North'^ 

 aliertotiy Yorkshire*. 



SIR, 



Cheap and easy | gj^Q jg^^g ^^ communicate a most desirable method of 

 method «>f rear- 

 ing poultry, rearing poultry, which 1 have proved by experience; the 



economy and facility, with which it may be performed, 



would, if generally adopted, lower the price of butchers* 



meat, and thereby be of essential benefit to the community 



at large. I keep a large stock of poultry, which are re- 



Fo»d. gularly fed in a morning upon steamed potatoes chopped 



small, and at noon they have barley; they are in high con- 

 dition, tractable, and lay a very great quantity of eggs. 



Poultry house. In the poultry yard is a small building, similar to a pigeon 

 cote, for the hens to lay in, with frames covered with net to 

 slide before each nest; the house is dry, light, and well 

 ventilated, kept free from dirt by having the nests and walls 

 white-washed two or three times a year, and the floor 



Breeding. covered once a week with fresh ashes. When I wish to pro- 



cure chickens, I take the opportunity of setting many hens 

 together, confining each to her respective nest; a boy at- 

 tends morning and evening to let any off that appear restless, 

 and to see that they return to their proper places. When 

 they hatch, the chickens are taken away, and a second lot 

 of eggs allowed them to set again, by which means they 



Rearing chick- produce as numerous a brood as before : I put the chickens 



*°^" into long wicker cages, placed against a hot wall at the 



back of the kitchen fire, and within them have artificial 

 mothers for the chickens to run under ; they are made simi- 

 lar to those described by Monsieur Reaumur, in " his Art de 

 faire e'clore et d^elever en toutes Saisons des Oiseaux domes- 

 tiques de toutes Especes^" &c., in two volumes, printed at 



Artificial mc- Paris, 1751. They are made of boards about ten inches 



ther. 



* Trans, of the Society of Arts for 1807; p. 24. The silver 

 medal was voted to Mrs. D'Oyley. 



broad. 



