PHEASANTS IN COVERT AND AVIARY 



" With regard now to the hours of feeding during the day. 

 I always think that at intervals of four hours is sufficient ; 

 some say every three hours. I should say the latter course 

 would suit better in cold weather. Old-fashioned people 

 said, 'Children and chicken will always be picking.' But 

 then the chickens' picking was what they hunted for them- 

 selves. In the case of that which we supply them with, it is 

 certainly not beneficial to give it at too short intervals. And 

 even then it is a great point to give just a bare sufficiency at 

 each time of feeding, neither too much nor too little. It is 

 similar to feeding fowls if the food is given them a little at 

 a time and they are made to run about for it, then when 

 they cease to be anxious to run, you cease to scatter food, it 

 will soon be discovered how much is needed and also how 

 much waste may be prevented. 



" This brings me to another point in feeding. Personally, 

 I find a great difficulty in my helpers from time to time ; they 

 often do not intelligently graduate the amount of the prepared 

 food they are sharing at the moment to satisfy the require- 

 ments of all the coops they must supply at the one meal. They 

 throw out heavily to the first few coops, then suddenly realise 

 that they must ' draw rein ' and reduce for the rest, because 

 they begin to see their food disappearing too fast, and even 

 then the last few poor coops have to go without a share 

 of that prepared food, and the upshot is that they must visit 

 the dry meal store again, and carry food to the remainder 

 that is only half prepared, and if there are no eggs ready 

 boiled, these last poor birds get no substantial food. The 

 helpers also do not graduate the handfuls for the varying 

 numbers of birds in each coop, but serve all coops alike, and 

 all this is of course without taking any note as to whether the 

 birds in the several coops have any peculiarities. This last 

 point, I am afraid, must as a rule often be left to take care of 



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