44 



THE COMPLETE POULTBY BOOK. 



hon.s she will ende.vo.. to .et out of her confinement but soon beoo.ea recon- 

 oiled to it, when fresh eggs are substituted for ^^°^<^°\^^'^ ^°^ Lnths.and 

 hens will continue to hatch, without intermission, from *';? *° "^J^f^^^j, ' 

 even longer; the chickens being withdrawn as soon «;/;*f^f;;it::- Jf^f. 

 substituted. After the third day the eggs are ^^^.^f ^^J^f^ ^^/''^'J^Sej 

 drawn which are then sold in the market for new laid; but as they may be«ouea 

 oi dTscXred from having been sat upon, they clean them with-water and silver- 

 sand to res o/e their original whiteness. The turkeys are taken off their nests 

 once 1 day to feed and to remove their excrements from the nests ; but af er a 

 while they cease self-feeding, when it is necessary to cram them, and give them 



some water once a day. ,. . . j i j 



"In some parts of Prance, where poultry-breeding is carried on as a trade, 

 they seldom allow a hen to lead the chickens after being hatched, as the hen is 

 more valuable for laying eggs; but they entrust this office either to capons or 

 turkeys, who are said to be far better protectors to the chickens than hens. They 

 require,' however, a certain amount of schooling preparatqiy to being entrusted 

 with their charge, which consists in this: when a turkey has been hatching for 

 some months, and shows a disposition to leave off, a glassful of wine is given her 

 in the evening, and a number of chickens are substituted for the eggs ; on wak- 

 ing in the mprning she takes kindly, to them, and leads them about, strutting 

 amidst a troop of seventy to one hundred chickens with the dignity of a drum- 

 major. When, however, a troop leader is required that has not been hatching, 

 such as a capon or a turkey, then it is usual to pluck some of their feathers from 

 their breasts, and to give them a glass of wine, and whilst in a state of inebri- 

 ation to place some chickens under them; on getting sober the next morning 

 they feel that some sudden change has come over them, and as the denuded part 

 is kept warm by the chickens they take also kindly to them. In conclusion I feel 

 in justice bound to say that these artificial living protectors are most efficient to 

 shelter chickens in the day time, and in the evening they are placed with their 

 charge in a shallow box filled with hay, from which they do not move until the 

 door of the room is opened next morning, I must not omit to mention.that the 

 chickens are not entrusted to the mother or a leader before they are a week old, 

 and then only in fine weather," 



This use of capons or turkeys as foster-mothers if practicable, would obviate 

 one of the most serious difficulties Qf artificial incubation, which is the providing 

 of a substitute for the maternal instinct of the hen-mother in the rearing of the 

 young chicks, which has been fouTid almost as serious a difficulty in their case as 

 is that of the unfeathered biped. Indeed some do not attempt to meet this dif- 

 ficulty, but manage to have a lot of hens sitting on porcelain eggs at the time 

 the wood-and-iron hen is at work, starting them at such a time that they shall 

 have been on the nest a week or two before the chicks are hatched, and then 

 giving them the chicks at the rate of eighteen to twenty to each hen. 



Several forms of artificial mothers, however, have been invented — and most of 

 them, of course, patented — of which the inventors claim that they far surpass 

 the natural mothers, in that they do not drag their chicks through the dew, nor 

 trample them to death, nor cover them with vermin ; aU of which, no doubt, are 

 positive advantages, but in practice these advantaees have been ofiiset bv 



