PHEASANT REARING 
excellent disinfectant, and is not popular with fleas or other insects! 
They should have a peaked roof, high enough for the tallest hen to 
stand upright under with ease, and the sides should be well sloped, so 
that while the hen can move backwards and forwards in the centre, she 
cannot approach the sides without difficulty, and then there is ample room 
for the chicks without fear of their being trodden upon. Each corner should 
have a small board nailed across, so that a tiny chick will not be tempted 
to creep into it instead of nestling under the hen, and thus get a fatal chill. 
When young birds have to be sent away to a distance they travel best 
if packed as soon as hatched and sent off at once to their destination, for 
they require no food for the first twenty-four hours. All that has to be 
done is to provide against cold, and have food and warmth ready for them 
upon arrival. Light cardboard boxes to hold two dozen, and one dozen, 
are made on purpose for this trade, the former being eleven inches by 
eleven inches, and the latter eleven inches by five and a half inches, and 
five and a half inches high, with holes for ventilation. Hay is packed round 
the sides to make it warm and cosy for the chicks, and inside is placed a 
quantity of chaff. The distances the chicks can thus travel in safety is 
surprising, and the writer has seen such boxes at York Station on their 
way to the South of Ireland. 
Food for chicks , — ^There is nothing better for young pheasants at first than 
Gilbertson and Page’s British meal, with a very little hard-boiled egg, 
chopped onion tops, and well -boiled rice. Very many young pheasants 
die every year from overfeeding, and one of the principal causes is giving 
them egg three or four times a day. They are sure to cram themselves 
with it and overload their digestion, when fermentation sets in, and then 
diarrhoea, and finally death ensues. During the third week meat should be 
added to the diet, such as boiled rabbit, or best greaves. This latter re- 
quires all the fat which is possible to be extracted, and this is done by 
placing the tallow crap in a bucket, pouring boiling water over it, and 
leaving it for about a quarter of an hour, with a cloth placed over the 
vessel to keep in the heat. While still hot, and before the melted fat has had 
time to consolidate again, the mass should be lifted out and placed on a 
fine sieve to drain, a little cold water being poured over to cool it as quickly 
as possible. When given to the birds, the meat should be mixed with good 
barley meal. Green food from the very first is most essential to the chicks, 
and in a state of Nature the old hen picks off little pieces from the blades 
of grass, which they eagerly eat, and which keeps them from becoming 
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