PREPARING BIRDS FOR THE SHOW-BOOM 515 



pen after the sun is off the pen. This shade is, in large measure, 

 the secret of success. Give a roomy shed in which to exercise, 

 or a small exhibition pen which can be moved to fresh grass 

 every two or three days. 



Hooley recommends that the buff and black fowls be given 

 cracked corn and corn meal as part of the ration, Hamburgs 

 and bantams hemp and buckwheat seed. Game fowls should 

 be fed entirely on grain diet. This grain diet may consist of 

 1 part peas, 3 parts wheat, and 3 parts oats. Peas produce a 

 hardness of the feathers. Meat, cut bone, and peas are rich 

 in albuminous food, and promote large fleshy combs, and 

 therefore should be fed very sparingly in small-combed breeds. 



The plumage of fowls is affected by the feeding. Corn, 

 both whole and cracked, can be given to buffs, as it perhaps 

 affects both legs and plumage. Do not give corn to exhibition 

 white plumage birds. Those feeds which darken the plumage, 

 increase the gloss, help the sheen and luster of feathers and 

 promote length of feather, and increase the intensity of yellow 

 legs are corn, cracked corn and corn meal, hemp seed, cotton- 

 seed, and linseed meal, meat and cut bone. Those which 

 have a bleaching effect on the skin and can be given to pure 

 white plumage birds are oats, oat meal, middlings, sunflower 

 seed, barley, wheat, and pea meal. 



Handling the Fowl. — In taking the bird from the cage, the 

 hand should be placed over the back and the right wing 

 grasped. The left hand takes the opposite side with the 

 thumbs crossed meeting across the back, and with the fingers 

 under the breast, the bird is carefully lifted from the cage. 



