Live Stock. 



88 



boiled riot), raw rice meal, hemp seed, millet seed, &c. At a later stage, say vvlien 

 three or four weeks old, some middlings and fine barley-meal may be added to the 

 mash. Grit of fine quality must be regularly supplied from the time the chicks 

 leave the shell. 



Value of Insect Food. - There is nothing so wholesome for the chicks as 

 insect food. Dried ants and ants' eggs are often used by those who rear pheasants 

 and guinea fowls, but in many districts, especially where the soil is sandy, there are 

 ant-hills in the fields. In such farms it is only necessary to place the coop in which 

 they are kept near an ant-hill, and the chicks will feed greedily on the insects and 

 their eggs. It is worth Avhile to have a light coop with a wire bottom made, and the 

 hen and chicks can be placed in this and laid over an ant-hill which has previously 

 been stirred up and levelled with a spade. 



Young guinea fowls are naturally insectivorous, and when hatched oufc in 

 the woods and fields they live very largely on flies, grasshoppers, moths, and grubs 

 of all kinds. These being their natural foods, the more of* them that can be given to 

 the chicks in a state of domestication the heal their they will be. It is therefore 

 advisable that when a few weeks old the chicks should be given a free run with the 

 old hen, and the best kind ol' range for them is an overgrown, weed-covered garden, 

 orchard, or shrubbery. In such a place they can find as much insect food as they 

 need to keep them iu health ; but if the run is small, or it' too many birds are kept on 

 it, it becomes necessary to feed guinea chicks with a small quantity of meat in their 

 mash. One of the prepared meat foods or finely-chopped fresh meat and fresh bone 

 may be used. 



For table use guinea fowls are but little inferior to the pheasant. The flesh 

 is somewhat dark, but has a decided gamey flavour, and is appreciated when game 

 is out of season.— The Journal of the Board of Agriculture. Vol. XII, No. 9, 

 December, 1905, pp. 533/6. 



Apiculture. 



AGE AT WHICH BEES FIRST CARRY POLLEN. 

 Referring to the alleged proof that bees five days old carr ied in pollen, 

 Mr. Samuel Suddaby expresses doubt as to the completeness of the proof, and 

 raises the question whether it is not possible that the pollen-carrying bees might 

 not have come from elsewhere. The doubt is legitimate, and the question 

 entirely fair. Moreover, there are general principles involved of which at least 

 the younger readers may be ignorant, and of which it is sometimes very im- 

 portant they should be informed; so I am glad of the opportunity to give the 

 matter a somewhat full discussion. Mr. S. asks, " Was it impossible for bees 

 to get into that hive?" I feel warranted in saying that, for the first five days, 

 it was impossible for any bee to enter from the outside. It was closed bee- 

 tight. The hive was placed over another hive containing a full colony, the upper 

 hive having a solid bottom nailed to it (years ago my hives had bottoms nailed 

 on), and in that bottom was a two-inch hole bo allow the heat to pass up from 

 below. To prevent passage of the bees, wire cloth was nailed over the hole 

 above; and, to prevent any communication through the wire cloth, another piece 

 of wire cloth was nailed over the hole on the under side. Then Mr. S. suggests 

 the possibility that, when the hive was opened at the end of the five days, the 

 bees entering with pollen may have been bees from other colonies, citing 

 this special instance: "Last year I got au Italian queen and put her in one of 

 my hive's ; and before the summer was over I saw Italian bees in at least two 

 hives other than the one in which I put the queen. They appeared to be 

 working the same as the other bees in the hive." 



