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Live Stock. 



in liaud-made nests. Tbey prefer to make their own nests in secluded places, where 

 they are well screened from view by bushes or weeds. So cleverly is the nest 

 concealed that it is sometimes difficult to find, but when leaving the uest the hen 

 utters a long and peculiar cry, which is not heard at any other time, and by this 

 means the whereabouts of the nest can be located. 



It has been stated that the guinea cock is monogamous, but this is not 

 strictly correct, though in order to secure fertile eggs it is best to keep equal 

 numbers of cocks and hens. If there are many eggs in a nest at the time it is 

 discovered they should be taken away a few at a time, for whilst the guinea 

 hen may not be able to count, she can see the difference in the nest if, say, a dozen 

 eggs are taken away at once and only one or two left as nest-eggs. But if the 

 number is gradually reduced from a dozen or a score to one or two the difference 

 is not detected, and the hen does not forsake the nest. The hen will desert the 

 nest, however, if it is considerably disturbed, or if the surrounding weeds or bushes 

 are trampled. 



The eggs are about two-thirds the size of the ordinary hen's egg, but of 

 excellent flavour. It is important, however, that they should be fresh, as contact 

 with the earth or grass in a nest will after some days give them a most objection- 

 able taste ; it is therefore necessary to gather the eggs daily. 



Hatching. — The eggs take from twenty-six to twenty-eight days to hatch, 

 aud as it is desirable to have the chicks hatched as early in the year as possible, 

 it is advisable to set the eggs under ordinary hens. If the guinea hen hatches her 

 first nest of eggs she will not lay again for the season, but ,she may be kept laying 

 to September, or later, by preventing her from hatching. It is then too late to 

 hatch guinea eggs, for late hatched chicks will seldom live through the winter, 

 and even if they should survive they remain small and of little use for marketing 

 in February or March, which is the season for guinea fowls. A barn-door hen of 

 average size can hatch about twenty eggs, and when the chicks are hatched their 

 foster-mother cares for them in a more satisfactory manner than the guinea hen 

 would, for the common hen is more tractable, and can be kept with her brood in 

 a limited space. 



Care of the Chicks. -The chicks leave the shell very soon after the 

 appearance of the first chip, and almost immediately they are inclined to stray. 

 In this way some may be lost unless a close nest-box is provided. For the same 

 reason it is necessary to attach a closely-wired run to the coop, in which the chicks 

 are put after they are hatched. For rearing the chicks a combined coop and run 

 has been found most convenient. This may be cheaply made of boards and wire 

 netting about 5 ft. long, 2i ft. wide, and 2 ft. high. This should be divided into 

 two parts, making a coop or sleeping compartment 2| ft. by 2 ft., and a run of 2i ft. 

 by 3 ft. The sides of the run may be of j-inch wire netting, the sides of the coop 

 being closely boarded. A slatted partition should divide the two sections, the 

 whole being covered by a span roof of thin boards. 



Feeding the Chicks.— The chicks may be left in the nest until they are 

 about twenty-four hours old, and they can then be removed to the coop and fed 

 for the first time. Owing to their liability to stray, the chicks must be kept within 

 the confines of the coop aud run until they become accustomed to the mother's call, 

 but afterwards they may be given more liberty. AVhen newly hatched the chicks 

 may be fed on any patent chicken meal, moistened with milk and raw whipped eggs. 

 They should also get green food from the start, and the best kind is chopped onion s 

 or leeks, but lettuce, dandelion, &c, may also be used to advautage. When the 

 chicks aid a few days old plainer foods may be freely used, and one of the most 

 wholesome is coarse oatmeal fed dry, This may be varied by the occassional use of 



