i6o 
The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 
tnat when the judge comes round he passes them by as out of form ; but if he could see them next 
day very likely they would have a better fate. Get men who understand the management of 
poultry, and all this would be saved. 
In the first place, on the birds arriving at the show let them have but very little water, 
with a small lump of the best oatmeal. The birds should be rather underfed the whole of the show 
than overdone. I often see food enough in the pen to last them the whole of the show. There is 
nothing better for the bottom of the pens than some dry grit, with some chaff over this. Let the 
birds be fed on meal morning and evening, with a little corn in the day : this last thrown amongst 
the chaff will give the birds amusement in looking after it, and keep them lively. The fowls require 
different treatment at different times of year, and some buildings where shows are held are not so 
well adapted for exhibitions as others : at such the birds require extra care and different treatment. 
At some places you will see birds, after they have been there a day or two, scouring all through the 
show, through the place being too long lit up with gas, and overheated : such, an experienced 
manager would have avoided. Other places are too cold, and the birds need different treatment ; 
so that it would not be easy to lay down rules for feeding, &c., suitable to all shows and all seasons : 
but the pens should be well cleaned out every day, with a fresh supply of grit and chaff, the water- 
cans washed out clean, and supplied with clean water. The meal and corn should be of the best 
quality, and they should not be overdone with it ; and if all is not eaten directly after, let it be 
taken away. Each pen should have a small bit of turf or a slice of mangel-wurzel put in it daily.” 
We can fully subscribe to these remarks, having over and over again witnessed the evil effects 
of the unchecked drinking here spoken of. On the evening of arrival, the water-tins for single fowls 
should be only one-quarter, and for pairs one-half full, and no more be given till the birds have 
eaten something. The meal is almost invariably mixed “clammy;” and as the easiest to mix 
properly friable, we can recommend a mixture of two-thirds coarse oatmeal with one-third of 
Indian meal. Another fault we have observed, even at first-class shows, and which needs specially 
to be guarded against, is the giving similar rations to all the pens. We have seen at one of the 
great shows of the year precisely similar lumps of dough dealt out to cocks on one side of an 
alley, and pairs of hens on the other ; the consequence being that while the cocks had more than 
they would eat, the pullets had not nearly enough. Of the value of grit and chaff combined for 
the bottom of a pen we have already spoken ; and the great importance of a little fresh vegetable 
food of some kind in all shows extending over two days can hardly be exaggerated. We would 
only add that the infusion of a little tonic bitter (such as quassia) in the water, will not only 
tend to prevent the fowls drinking too much, but to remedy any tendency to looseness of the 
digestive system. 
Respecting the propriety of allowing the servants of exhibitors to pen their own birds, as 
Mr. Martin suggests, we fear there will be a great difference of opinion. When such permission has 
been given, it has often occasioned bitter complaints, caused by the suspicion of unfairness ; but this 
no doubt has arisen partly from the unauthorised nature of the permission. Were it distinctly 
understood that any one would be allowed, under charge of some authorised person, to pen his 
birds and do what he liked to them on the spot, being then conducted out of the building, and not 
allowed to remain in it or engage in any other proceeding, we imagine few would object : but we 
fear the trouble of the supervision needful to satisfy other parties that no unfair advantage was 
taken would be practically a fatal objection ; and without it any such permission would be 
flagrantly unjust, and has, in fact, led to notorious and serious evils. The engagement of really 
competent men by committees, or the doing of the work by experienced committee-men them- 
