182 



On the Rearing and Management of Poultry. 



may remark that it is no easy task to find their nests. Should a 

 hen be aware of being watched to her nest, the cunning she dis- 

 plays to avoid detection is alike admirable and wonderful.) We 

 therefore have almost constant opportunities of ascertaining the 

 number of eggs a hen will lay, upon which to brood when left to 

 the dictates of instinct. We have found the number of eggs 

 (when the hens have thus been left to themselves) to range from 

 11 to 18; of the latter number we have had only one instance, 

 and, strange to relate, every egg produced a bird. 



The number of eggs must be regulated by the size of the hen 

 and of the eggs. The eggs of the Spanish fowls being very large, 

 9 will be a sufficient number for an average sized hen, while as 

 far as 13 eggs of the Dutch every-day layers may be given. Many 

 people are fond of giving a hen a large number of eggs, under 

 the impression that they have a better chance of getting a good 

 brood ; in my opinion the reverse is the fact. The hen having 

 more eggs than she can properly cover, some of them must neces- 

 sarily be exposed to the atmosphere, the temperature of which is 

 considerably below that which is necessary for the development 

 of the chick : the probability is that many or all the eggs may 

 (during so long a period as 21 days) be more or less injured, and 

 as a matter of course the produce must be less healthy. Having 

 duly determined on the number of eggs, and of the sex we wish 

 them to produce (I have known great disappointment arise from 

 the want of a knowledge of the discovery made by Columella), 

 the next object is to find a suitable nest in which to place the 

 hen and eggs. In too many instances this is a task of great diffi- 

 culty. It is to be regretted that farm buildings are seldom so 

 perfect as to have a proper building for poultry. True there is 

 often a house set apart for this object, but as unfit for its purpose 

 as it can well possibly be. I have ever found it a most difficult 

 thing to get a hen to sit in any place excepting in that where 

 she has been accustomed to lay. If set in the apartment where 

 the whole stock of hens lay — owing to other hens laying in 

 the same nest, and to the disturbance caused by taking from 

 her the fresh-laid eggs — she will seldom succeed in bringing 

 out more than one quarter of the chicks which she, if properly 

 protected, would have do'ne : hence the advantage of the plan I 

 have recommended, of dividing the fov/l-house by open work, so 

 that the hens when sitting are m the same house where they have 

 laid, and are at the same time unmolested by the laying hens. The 

 hatching hens have the privilege of the plot in front of the poultry- 

 houses, while the laying hens are carefully excluded from it. 



The less a hen is disturbed during the time of incubation the 

 better. It is impossible to do her any service ; she will leave the 

 nest to feed and will return to it before any injury is done to the 



