The Proper if r A v to Proceed. I21 
would then advise that a few sittings of first-class eggs be procured from sources which can be 
depended upon, and if possible from more than one. The owner’s own inferior stock should also to 
some extent be bied from ; and in this way another kind of most valuable and necessary information 
will be obtained— that of the appearance of first-class chickens at different ages , and as compared 
with inferior ones of the same breed. It must not be assumed that all the chickens from the 
purchased eggs aie fiist-class, for this will not be the case. If birds could be thus bred their value 
would cease. The choice specimens are always comparatively few, and if even one-fourth of any 
biood ate more or less fit for competition it will be very good indeed. Neither will all hatch except 
in veiy raie cases. Highly-bred stock are not quite so fertile as a rule, and there is some risk in 
the railway journey. Many chances may even spoil the whole hatch ; and if chickens are found 
dead in the shell the vendor must not be blamed ; since they were there, it is not his fault that they 
did not come to maturity. To speak in this way will seem absurd to many ; but we have had a 
letter couched in the most insolent terms from a man because “ only ” six eggs had hatched out of 
ten sent to him, and demanding back the price of four. We can only say that even in ordinary 
seasons 60 per cent, of chickens from travelled eggs is a very fair average. The eggs of all large 
fowls are more uncertain than those of small. In the case of early eggs — say laid in January and 
February — even 40 per cent, must be called satisfactory, the eggs being naturally not so fertile 
as later on ; but as chickens at this season are proportionately more valuable, on an average 
purchasers get about the same return for their expenditure. Many more, occasionally even all, 
may be hatched later in the spring ; but the averages we have stated are pretty fair, and if the 
chickens be good are well worth paying a high price for. 
Out of several sittings, therefore, there ought to be at least a few really good birds ; and as it 
will be seen very early that the various little chickens differ greatly in their appearance, careful 
note should be taken of them, and observation made as to which of them turn out the best at six 
months old, when they will have assumed their adult plumage. To the fancier with limited space, 
no knowledge is more necessary than this, as it enables him to hatch about three times as many 
chickens as he can rear, and clear them off at an early period, so as to leave the ground at liberty 
for the best alone. 
In this way, and by thus judiciously employing one season only, any one who has a genuine 
interest in the subject ought by the approach of the next winter’s shows, to have acquired a very 
useful and sound knowledge of the variety he has adopted. He will have learnt practically 
its qualities and management, its points, its commonest defects from an exhibition point of view 
(this last is highly important), and also how these manifest themselves as the chickens grow. He 
can now with some correctness, therefore, estimate for himself the real value of a bird, and is 
accordingly ready to buy. He may very probably even have a first-class chicken or two of his 
own, which lie thinks may compete fairly with many others which he sees. In that case we should 
strongly advise the expenditure of an entrance-fee, not so much for the chance there may be 
of winning, as for the opportunity of comparison thus afforded between his own best chickens and 
those from other yards, which will add still more to the knowledge already possessed. 
The purchase of stock will now be proper, and if pecuniary resources correspond with 
inclination, really first-class specimens may be secured with some probability of the expenditure 
not being thrown away. But very good breeding-stock may often be secured at a very moderate 
cost, by the consideration of what points are indispensable in both sexes, and what faults, though 
fatal in a show-pen, are capable of being compensated by mating them with defects of an opposite 
character. We shall endeavour to enter into this in detail when treating of the different breeds, 
and will now only give one illustration. Supposing the breed be Buff Cochins, the necessary purity 
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