POULTR?-CRAFT. 205 
them easy to get at when it is necessary to handle them, to accustom them 
to being handled, and at the sare time not keep them too closely confined. 
No males should be allowed to run with females which are to be exhibited, 
nor should two males be allowed to get together. Extraordinary precautions 
must be taken to keep males from fighting, or a good bird may easily be 
spoiled for showing, and weeks of painstaking work gone for nothing. 
301. Care of the Plumage.— One of the first things to be done in fitting 
the specimen is to pluck out all broken, stained, and foul* feathers, that new 
ones may grow out in their places. Old birds need to be very carefully looked 
over for dead stubs of feathers that failed to moult out. The backs of hens 
often contain feathers broken by the feet of the male; and there are nearly 
always some worn and broken feathers on the feet of Asiatics. 
The plumage can be cleaned and polished by compelling the birds to 
exercise in clean straw, and by furnishing a dust bath containing a liberal 
proportion of clean fine sand. The plumage of white fowls, if not made 
clean enough by these means, can be washed. 
“ Washing Show Birds. — Use Pear’s or Ivory soap, as soap with rosin in it willruin all 
chances of a successful washing. Thoroughly soap and lather to the skin, and leave it 
on long enough to cut all dirt, or any gummy or adhering substance in the plumage. 
Then remove to a second tub of clean lukewarm water, deep enough to submerge the fowls, 
and by gently rubbing with a large sponge wzthk the feathers, remove every bit of soap. 
Then shake the plumage in the water thoroughly, and rub it to the usual smooth condi- 
tion. At last plunge in a tub of cold water that has been blued as the housewife blues the 
water for the linen in her wash. By gentle manipulation of the plumage thoroughly rinse 
it with this blue water, and take the bird out into a wire bottom dripping cage, allowing * 
the specimen himself to shake the water out, and then he may be removed to either of 
two rooms. , 
‘* Now the best in the world is a room the floor of which is covered four inches deep 
with sea beach sand, and the atmosphere heated to 100 degrees, having been warm 
long enough to heat the sand to 100 degrees. Then allow the room to cool to 70 degrees 
* NoTE.— If false colored feathers grow in off-color again, they must beagain removed 
if the bird ts to be exhibited. Their removal is wrozg, in that poultry associations have a 
rule prohibiting it. Like all rules and laws, this is effective only as far as it can be 
enforced — and can be enforced only when infringements are detected, and public opinion 
sustains those who attempt to enforce the law. The removal of a few feathers from the 
soft plumage of a fowl could only be detected after a most searching examination. If there 
were a disposition to enforce the rule, the removal of foul feathers could only be proved 
in the case of one caught in the act dy some one tntercsted in furnishing such proof. 
Notwithstanding the rule, the plucking of a few foul feathers will never be regarded, by 
those who know how rarely birds are produced without them, asa flagrant sin. Indeed, 
the more general opinion is that it is the rule that is wrong —in not making sensible 
excertions,— and that the practice is justifiable, if not absolutely right. Inasmuch as 
feather plucking is done openly and universally, it does not really constitute a deception 
except on those who wish to feel themselves deceived. The matter is one that causes new 
exhibitors a great deal of concern. Unless one can satisfy himself that ‘‘ plucking” is 
excusable, he will feel more comfortable if he leaves his birds at home. 
