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CHAPTER XII. 
REARING, CARE, AND EXHIBITION OF PRIZE POULTRY. 
SUPPOSING the breeding-stock to be mated with care and judgment, as described in our last 
chapter, we have now to consider how their produce may be turned to the best advantage ; and one 
of the first points which will affect this desirable result is the obtaining of early eggs from the adult 
hens. We have already seen that the eggs of pullets, from their slower fledging, are not so suitable 
for the hatching of early broods ; besides which, though they may be had in any quantity, the male 
parent being an adult bird is not so likely as a young cockerel to impart fertility during the cold 
season. Now we have found that very much can be done to secure this, independent of feeding 
and good housing, by judicious management of the stock hens during the preceding season. Every 
hen has a natural production of eggs, which can be to some extent, as we have seen, increased or 
diminished by the regimen to which she is subjected; but beyond this, the breeder has considerable 
power of controlling the period during which these eggs shall be laid : and as, to the fancier, one 
hundred eggs during the breeding season are of more value than considerably more of which a large 
portion are laid during summer and autumn, attention to this matter will be well repaid. It is the 
varieties which incubate that afford the greatest scope for control of this kind. Very probably a 
Brahma or Cochin may evince a desire to sit late in July or during August; and as it is of little 
use to hatch chickens so late, the fancier is tempted to turn her off, that he may obtain jthe eggs 
again as speedily as possible. Were the object simply the greatest number of eggs, this would be 
quite right ; the bird would speedily lay again, and probably continue even till she had nearly 
finished moulting, as we have already observed at page 34. But in such a case early eggs cannot 
be expected ; and it will pay the fancier far better to sacrifice even forty eggs in the autumn, for 
the. sake of obtaining so little as ten or fifteen additional in the New Year. When the stock is good, 
these few eggs, even for selling, are worth more than ten times their number in the autumn ; while 
for the owner’s own setting their value, in a fancier’s eye, may be beyond calculation. It is 
therefore preferable to let the best hens sit, however late, either on duck eggs, the produce of which 
may be easily reared for table, or if that cannot be done, on nest-eggs for about six weeks. This 
will both rest the system and hasten the moult. Even in' the case of non-sitting breeds, much can 
be done by leaving off all stimulating food and changing the pen, so as to encourage the cessation 
of laying ; and by acting on this system, eggs from a fair proportion of adult stock may generally 
be secured. 
Feeding the stock with a view to active vigour will be of special importance. The production 
of the greatest possible number of eggs is not even here the chief point, but rather that such 
as are laid shall be produced by birds in the highest state of health of which they are capable ; and 
this is another reason, beyond that stated in our last chapter, why the brood stock should not be 
used for exhibition at the breeding season. During very cold weather a little stimulating food, in 
the shape of cooked meat minced small, or some spice* added to the meal, or a little good ale mixed 
See this subject at page 141. 
