54 A POULTRY COMPENDIUM. 



they have come. They must be reared carefully and 

 be kept growing, for weight counts with all breeds ex- 

 cept Bantams. With these you must reverse the process 

 and get them out late. 



When your fowls are well grown, you ought to select 

 those destined for the exhibition room from the others. 

 There will be but a small percentage found suitable. 

 You must be very rigid in your selection, examining each 

 fowl in detail, commencing with the comb and finishing 

 with the toes in order, and rejecting every bird which 

 shows any imperfection. Among these rejected birds will 

 be many excellent breeding fowls, perhaps for this pur- 

 pose equally or more valuable than the ones selected for 

 exhibition, but they are not for the poultry show. 



The few, which have stood the tests of your exami- 

 nation, are now to be fed for the show. For their 

 morning meal give them warm cooked meal-and-potato 

 mash ; at noon, cracked corn, whole wheat and occasion- 

 ally buckwheat ; at night, whole corn, with crushed bone ; 

 and about twice a week broken scraps. Two or three 

 times a week a meal of cooked meat will be useful. 

 Give them only what they will eat up clean. Give them 

 plenty of clean water. 



About six weeks previous to the exhibition, at which 

 you propose to show your fowls, these selected fowls 

 must undergo another examination and selection. Out 

 of them we choose the one or two pairs or trios that 

 we intend to exhibit. These birds must not only be 

 fine birds but the principles of matching (we are speak- 

 ing of poultry shows as they are, not as they ought to 

 be) must be understood now, for your pair or trio or 



