On the Rearing and Management of Poultry. 



169 



procurable in our market is not more than \s. 6d., while the pre- 

 vailing^ prices are Is. 2d. and Is. 4d. each for fowls. 



Hens of the best laying varieties will lay in a season from 160 

 to 270 eggs each, averaging 215; which, being sold at the very 

 low price of lid. per score, will realise 9^. lOid. for the produce 

 of one hen for one year, By comparing the price of chickens in 

 our market and the value of the produce of a single hen, it will 

 at once be obvious that it is not so profitable to keep varieties 

 which are better adapted for the table than for laying. 



If we take the neighbourhood surrounding the metropolis or 

 other localities where chickens sell at twice, and in some instances 

 at thrice, the above prices, such varieties as are suitable for the 

 table may be profitably kept : hence I think I shall not be 

 digressing to. an unpardonable extent by giving such hints on 

 selection as from experience I feel myself able to do. We 

 shall best do this by giving descriptions of the peculiarities of 

 the best varieties ; in doing so, 1 shall not follow in the track 

 of the writers of olden times, who only had that variety to choose 

 from which is now designated as the barn-door or dunghill 

 breed — which, since we have imported so many others, is worth- 

 less, or nearly so. It is of all shapes and colours, if we may 

 so speak: hence the folly in giving directions to select stock 

 from such a breed, as there are seldom two of the same colour in 

 one brood. 



The Cochin- China Fovd. — Some years since, specimens of 

 this breed were forwarded to her Majesty's aviary. Of late it 

 has attracted considerable attention. Between it and the Malay 

 some writers do not discriminate, regarding them as merely 

 ''domestic varieties." But finer fowls have recently been im- 

 ported, displaying so much originality as at once to stamp them as 

 not only a distinct but an esteemed variety. The most striking 

 difference is in the combs. The comb of the Cochin-China is 

 single, of moderate size, and slightly serrated ; while the comb of 

 the Malay presents the appearance of having been cut off. 



The eggs laid by the Cochin-China hen are not above the 

 average size, of a light chocolate colour, and of superior quality. 



The late talented H. D. Richardson, Esq., in his work on 

 ' Domestic Fowls,' states on the authority of the Right Hon. 

 Mr. Shaw, the Recorder of Dublin ; her Majesty^s poultry- 

 keeper, Mr. Walters ; and Mr. Nolan, of Dublin, that the hen 

 sometimes lays two or three times a day, and within a few 

 moments of each other.'* With such authority the fact can 

 scarcely be doubted ; but in justice I acknowledge I know of 

 no instance of a hen having laid more than one perfect egg in 

 a day. 



