238 
The Australasian Book of Poultry. 
In feeding the breeding stock, until sufficient eggs have been secured for hatching, the morning meal 
should consist of barleymeal, oatmeal, and pollard in equal quantities, a little linseed and a piece of chalk 
and sulphur mixed with boiling water into a crumbling mass ; green vegetables in abundance for the mid-day 
meal, and good sound wheat for the last meal in the evening. Indian corn should be strictly avoided, as it 
is the very worst food for Game hens during egg-formation, and if fed on it weakly chickens will result from 
the eggs laid, that is if any hatch at all. In setting the hens eight to ten eggs are quite sufficient, as the 
fewer chickens a hen has to look after the better they come on. Chickens hatched in July or August are, as 
a rule, the best ; and the sooner a Game chicken endeavours to find his own food, leaving the rest of the 
brood, the better bird it will turn out. The first meal should be fed the chickens when they are twenty-four 
hours old, and be composed of fine oatmeal, mixed with boiling milk into a crumbling mass. Never feed 
chickens with s'>ft food on dusty or dirty ground ; this encourages disease in many forms. We do not 
believe in egg and bread crumbs for Game chickens. Birds of the Modern Game class are far better dead if 
they require it. Good sound and wholesome oatmeal can, and does, build up the physical proportions of a 
15 to 18 stone .Scotchman without superfluous fat, so that it should act on the same principle with Modern 
Game chickens Fat is not wanted in their composition ; bone and muscle are the desiderata. When 
the chicks are a fortnight old sound wheat should be fed at night, the morning and mid-day meals being the 
same as advised to feed the brood stock. This is best fed in shallow pans, removing all food after they have 
had sufficient. When the chickens are eight to ten weeks old they should be taken away from the hens and 
separated, the cockerels put out on walks if practicable, but on a large run— the larger the better — if kept at 
home. At the age of four or five months the birds should be sorted out. and those intended to be kept for 
breeding or show housed in roomy, dry quarters. The houses should be properly ventilated at or near the 
roof, with a large aperture at the bottom of the house to admit fresh air and expel the foul or hot air. 
Unless proper ventilation is secured, the young stock will begin to show a running from the nostrils of a 
semi-watery fluid, which in 90 per cent, of cases, if neglected, will develop into roup. This watery discharge 
is highly cont.igious, but if taken in time can be easily checked by giving in the drinking water one ounce of 
Epsom salts to each gallon of water, also giving every alternate night a pill composed of one grain of calomel 
and two grains of socotrine aloes ; these can be mixed together by the aid of lard, treacle, or common tar. 
The perches should be well wrapped round with strips of stout carpet an inch in width, and about half an 
inch space allowed between each wrap. A pole about i inches to 2 inches in diameter answers admirably 
for young stock. This will certainly prevent the breast-bone becoming crooked, and the attacks of vermin may 
be guarded against by soaking the underneath side of the roost with kerosene. Enough of the oil will penetrate 
through to prevent the vermin getting a foothold, but not enough to soil the birds' plumage or injure the 
feet. 
The roosts for Modern Game Fowls should not be higher than 24 inches from the ground, as it must be 
remembered that they are short in wing and feather generally, and if placed at a much greater elevation great 
risk is run of broken toes or bumble feet. 
For feeding the Modern Game preparatory to Exhibition, that is from a fortnight to a month previously, 
a meal composed of the following ingredients will be found on trial to be one of the very best to obtain high 
results : — Sifted barley meal (taking care little or no husk is present, as this is extremely likely to cause crop 
irritation), i4lbs., fine oatmeal 4lbs., pollard 81bs., wheaten flour 4lbs., ground linseed ilb., sulphur loz., 
whiting loz. The linseed and sulphur produce a beautiful sheen and satisfies the natural craving for animal 
food, while the whiting prevents any scouring. 
If a bird shows signs of debility, either from outgrowing its strength, over-showing, or moulting, a 
teaspoonful of cod liver oil mixed in the oatmeal and pollard is one of the very best restoratives that can be 
given, and, if it can be afforded, the young stock from three to five months should also be given the oil three 
times per week, 
