54 KAisma fowls and eggs 



A FEW GOOD EULES FOR FOWI^EAISERS. 



The limits of thia treatise are nearly reached. We must close these pages, and will do 

 this in recommending to the reader the following rules, which we have found valuable in 

 our own practice, and which we deem it essential should be observed, in the main, by all 

 who would rear good chickens economically, healthily, and profitably. 



FiEST. — Whatever varieties of fowls you breed, begin aright, by procuring good stock 

 at the outset, and purchase it of known reliable men. 



Second. — When you obtain such stock, keep it and breed it clean, and do not attempt 

 experiments by "crossing" or mingling it with other varieties, if you wish to produce 

 uniformly the sort you have laid out your money for. 



Third. — If you are a novice in fowl-breeding, commence with one sort only. Tou 

 will find this advice valuable. When you have had a year's experience with this, try 

 another — if you like. But never attempt (if you are a beginner) to keep and rear two 

 or three varieties at first. 



FouETH. — Never take it for granted that all the chickens or fowls you see portrayed in 

 the papers are exactly what you can purchase from the advertisers. Such *' fancy" 

 pictures often represent individual specimens. But you will anticipate too much if you 

 expect to get such perfect fowls as you sometimes see delineated. 



Fifth. — In the hatching season, set your hens as early in the year as you can, safely 

 — considering the character of the weather. The earlier you can get the spring chicks 

 out, the better — provided you take proper care of them after they are hatched. For the 

 fall and winter, the first birds produced in -the year are always the best. 



Sixth. — The above mle will apply particularly to those who raise fowls for eggs or 

 marketing — since the early pullets will lay usually during the following winter, and the 

 young cocks at Christmas will make finer roasters. These are the chickene that mature 

 first, and lay first, naturally — whatever the breed may be. 



Seventh. — Choose the evening in which to set your hens. The advantage in this 

 method is found ih the fact that the fowl always remains more quietly upon the nest at 

 first. And twelve hours in the dark, after she is thus placed, accustoms her to the eggs so 

 that she will prove more steady and contented afterwards. 



Eighth. At no season will it answer to neglect to destroy the parasitic vermin that 

 infest the hen-houses, the nests, and the perches. These pests must be kept under, or 

 you have no comfort, little regular health among the birds, and few eggs from your 

 stock, however well you may feed them. 



Ninth.— Remember that if you can give young fowls and chicks a good range, in pref- 

 erence to limiting them to small contracted runs, they will do fifty per cent, better while 

 they are growing up. And if you are obliged to keep them in limited quarters, their 

 premises should be kept clean, and they should be fed with varied cooked and green food, 

 and boiled vegetables, etc., as well as upon grains. 



Tenth. — Do not assume to know all about raising good chickens, until you have 

 learned how it is done. Begin modestly, therefore — read, and study up to your work 

 and ascertain by careful observation and experiment what is best to be done. 



Eleventh. — Apportion the dimension of your hen-houses to the size of your flocks. 

 Never try to keep a hundred fowls in the space that only twenty or thirty should occupy, 

 for their comfort. Ventilate your houses well, at all times — in cold or hot weather. 



Twelii-th. — Prevent the presence of illness among your fowls by good care, judicious 

 feeding, and necessary shelter for them. If they get sick, dose them as little as is need- 

 ful. A domestic hen or cock requires little medicine to restore them to health, if they 



