302 MORE POT-POURRI 



make the nests of hay in the henhouse, which is a warm 

 one. The early-hatched chicks are best for autumn kill- 

 ing, as they begin to lay about July for a short time, 

 and then stop laying till the next spring. The sitting 

 hens are fed once a day on barley, about a handful to 

 each hen ; the little chickens on grits the first day, and 

 then on oatmeal about every three hours. "When they 

 are about a fortnight old they have a little barley in the 

 middle of the day. The mother hen is kept cooped up, 

 away from the other fowls, till the chicks are about siz 

 weeks old, when they all run in the field. March- and 

 April-hatched birds we keep for stock, as they make 

 the best fowls and layers about October. We shut up 

 the pullets in a run for laying. We keep no hens older 

 than two years, and have fresh cockerels every year. 

 We feed the stock -fowls twice a day — on soft food in 

 the morning, and barley in the afternoon. The fowl- 

 houses are white-washed every spring, and kept cleaned 

 out twice a week, and the floors dusted with slack lime. 

 The fowls have a good field to run in, so they get 

 plenty of grass. The shut -up pullets require plenty of 

 grit and greenstuff, and they are fond of a Mangold to 

 pick at. Fowls are very fond of bones or scraps, or 

 anything that amuses them. It is very bad for fowls 

 to be dull. When we see a fowl not eating or not 

 looking well, we keep it apart for a day or two, give it 

 a dose of castor oil, and, if not soon better, we kill and 

 bury it.' I am sure this is a better plan than trying to 

 doctor sick birds. I know no more miserable sight than 

 unhealthy poultry. We rear a few ducks every year, 

 but kill them in the summer, as they are great con- 

 sumers of food. 



In October I always buy, as I have said before, three 

 or four young turkeys, and have them fed here for 

 Christmas -time. It saves three or four shillings on each 



