Hubbard's poultry secrets. 87 



Following you will find a good many tricks used by the 

 fakir in the Show Room: 



SIDE SPRIG. 



A good many times your best show cockerel or pullet has 

 a side sprig. The amateur leaves him home, or sells him to 

 the fakir. One method is to press it hard against the teeth, 

 and bite it off close to the surface of the comb. Another is 

 to lay the comb flat on a board and with a sharp razor to cut 

 the sprig off. The method used most is to take a sharp pair 

 of shears, and with the thumb on the opposite side, press hard 

 against the blade of the shears and cut the sprig off as closely 

 as possible. 



STUBS. 



If there are but one or two stubs on each shank, they will 

 not take them out until just before they ship them to the 

 show. It is done by taking your thumb nail, pressing down 

 hard at the root, then pressing forward ; the stub ^vill then 

 shoot out. If they want to kill the stub, they take a small 

 darning needle and hold it over a flame. When the point is 

 red hot, be quick and shove it up under the scale where the 

 stub comes out. When the hot point of the needle touches 

 the root of the stub, it kills it. When one uses the hot needle, 

 it should be done at least two months before the birds are 

 shown. The shank should be bandaged quite tight for three 

 or four days. Grease the shank well with vaseline before put- 

 ting on the bandage. The down between the toes is pulled 

 out with the fingers or a pair of tweezers. 



CARRYING THE TAIL TOO HIGH. 



Where a bird carries the tail too high, the fakir lowers it in 

 the following way: 



