THE CULTIVATOR. 
193 
be one and one-fourth ounces, there would be forty-one pounds of food of 
the most nutritious kind, which it is possible to obtain at a cost of less than 
twelve and a half cents per pound, and which may be estimated at eigh¬ 
teen cents per pound. At the latter estimate, the profit on the eggs of 
each fowl, above its keep, would be $1.89. The barley fed to these fowls 
cost 4s. 9d.=to about ninety cents the bushel. Mowbray says the eggs 
of well fed hens will weigh from one and three-fourths ounces to three 
ounces each. Buffon says a hen well fed and attended, will produce up¬ 
wards of 150 eggs in a year, besides two broods of. chickens. The ave¬ 
rage of well fed fowls may be stated at ten dozen or one hundred and 
twenty. 
But eggs are not the only source of profit to the poultry yard. Each 
hen may be presumed to raise a dozen chickens in a season. The mar¬ 
ket price of these may be stated to average twelve and a half cents per 
pound. The weight, and consequent value, will depend on the mode in 
'which they are fattened. They ordinarily weigh two, and may be made 
to weigh six pounds. The quantity consumed is very great. They are 
brought to our towns in great quantities by vessels, steam-boats and wa¬ 
gons, during all the autumn and winter months, and often sold at five to 
ten shillings a pair. The price in the London market has been as high as 
$4 a pair. The receipts for eggs and pullets, of farmers and others who 
raise gallinaceous fowls, in the United States, constitute so large an item, 
in the aggregate of farm profits, as to warrant us in devoting a column or 
two of the Cultivator to the management of the poultry yard. 
Varieties.— The varieties most in esteem are the common dung-hill 
fowls,—game—Dorking—Poland—Bantam—Chittagong, &c. The first 
require no description. The plumage of the Game breed is particularly 
rich; their size somewhat below the common; their form and symmetry 
perfect; their flesh white, and superior to that of other breeds for richness 
and delicacy of flavor; but there is a great difficulty in raising the chick¬ 
ens, from their natural pugnacity of disposition, which show's itself at the 
earliest possible period. The Dorking fowl (the name from a town in 
England) is the largest variety of the species. It is handsome; legs short, 
with two claws on each foot; eggs large and lay abundantly; color of the 
flesh inclining to yellowish or ivory. Poland fowl, a shining black, with 
a white tuft of feathers on the head of both cock and hen; their form 
plump and deep, legs short with five claws; lay abundantly; are less in¬ 
clined to set than any other breed; fatten quickly, and are more juicy and 
rich than the Dorking. One of the most useful varieties. The Bantam, 
is a small breed, valued chiefly for its grotesque figure and delicate flesh. 
The Chittagong, or Malay hen, is the largest variety of the species;' co¬ 
lor striated yellow and dark brown, long necked, serpent headed and high 
upon the leg; flesh dark and coarse. 
Yard and enclosures. —Upon farms the poultry yard may be small, as 
the poultry should generally be allowed to range over the straw yards and 
most parts of the premises, to pick up what cannot be got at by swine. 
The situation should he dry, and have a southern exposure. It should be 
supplied with some effete lime, and ashes or dry earth, in which the hens 
may exercise the propensity of rolling or bathing. This cleans them from 
vermin and impurities, promotes cuticular excretion, and materially as¬ 
sists in promoting health. The yard should connect with a poultry house, 
which, where there is not already an out-building adapted to this purpose, 
may be constructed so as to accommodate all kinds of domestic fowls, or 
dunghill fowls alone. When the intention is to raise poultry on a large 
scale, and of different kinds, “ a space thirty by fifty feet may be made 
choice of for the buildings and yards; the building may be ranged along 
the north side, and the three other sides enclosed with a treliis or slatted, 
or wire fence, from six to eight feet in height, and subdivided with similar 
fences,according to the number of apartments. The henhouse (a, fig. 50) 
Fig. 50. Fig. 51. 
and turkey house ( b) may have their roos's (c, c) in part over the low 
houses for ducks (d) and geese, (f, g,h) and besides these there may be 
other apartments for hatching, or for newly hatched broods, for fattening, to 
serve as an hospital, or for retaining, boiling, and otherwise preparing food, 
killing poultry and other purposes. A flue may pass through the whole 
for moist or very severe weather; and the windows ought to have out¬ 
ward shutters, both for excluding excessive heat and excessive cold. In 
every apartment there ought to be a window opposite to the door, in or¬ 
der to create a thorough draft, when both are opened, and also a valve in 
the roof, to admit the escape of the hottest and lightest air. Every door 
ought to have a small opening at the bottom, for the admission of the fowls 
when the door is shut. The elevation should be a simple style, and there 
may be h pigeonry over the centre building. The roost is sometimes a 
mere floor or loft, to which the birds fly up or ascend by a ladder; at other 
times it is nothing more than the coupling timbers of the roof, or a series 
of cross battens or rods, rising in gradation from the floor to the roof. The 
battens should be placed at such a distance horizontally as that the birds, 
when roosting, may not incommode each other by their droppings. For 
this purpose they should be a foot apart for hens, and eighteen inches 
apart for turkies. The slope of the roost may be about 45°, and the low¬ 
er part should lift up by hinges in order to permit a person to remove the 
dung. No flying is requisite in case of such a roost, as the birds ascend 
and descend by steps, see figure 51, in which (a, b) are spars for the 
poultry to sit on (c, c,) ranges of boxes for nests, (d) the roof, (e) the 
door, whieh should be nearly as high as the ceiling, for ventilation, and 
should have z small opening with a shutter at bottom, to permit the poul¬ 
try to go in and out at pleasure. The spars on which the clawed birds 
are to roost, should not be round and smooth, but roundish and roughish 
like the branch of the tree.”— Moubray. 
Choice and treatment of breeding stock. —Two year old stock are pre¬ 
ferred for producing and rearing chickens. Hens are in their prime at 
three, and decline at five. There should be one cock to four orsix hens, 
though one to ten is allowable. Nests should be of short soft straw, other¬ 
wise the hen, on leaving her nest, will be liable to draw it out with her 
claws, and with it the eggs. From nine to fifteen eggs are placed under 
a sitting hen. If the eggs are marked with a pen and ink, any fresh ones 
which may be deposited may be detected and withdrawn. While moult¬ 
ing, or casting and renewing of feathers, which with its effects lasts from 
one to three months, hens do not lay; nor is poultry, during this period, 
deemed fit for the table. It is recommended to feed setting hens on the 
nest. 
To preserve eggs. —Eggs become desiccated, andlose much oftheir nu¬ 
tritive property, in keeping, by the access of atmospheric air through the 
pores of the shell. To prevent this deterioration it has been found effec¬ 
tual to place the eggs in water saturated with lime and a little salt. The 
directions are, to take one bushel of quick lime, thirty-two ounces of salt, 
and eight ounces of cream tartar, and mix them in a tub of water. The 
liquid will be of such consistence as to cause an egg put into it to swim 
with its top just above the liquid. The eggs may be kept perfectly sound 
in this for at least two years. 
The product in eggs will depend upon the quantity and quality of food, 
and upon the birds being kept warm and comfortable in winter. Hens, 
well treated, will lay most of the year, except when moulting, or setting 
and nursing the young brood. The French excel in promoting fecundity 
in the hen, particularly in winter, when eggs command the best price. 
They keep their fowls warm, and give them very stimulating food, as bar¬ 
ley boiled and fed warm, curds, buckwheat, parsley and other herbs chop¬ 
ped fine, as also leeks, apples, pears, cabbages, &c. chopped fine—and 
oats and wheat. 
Feeding and fattening for market. —Upon the manner and economy of 
doing this depends the profits of the business. It has been estimated that 
chickens may be reared and fattened at six cents a pound, where the food 
is all to be purchased. The sooner this fbod is transmuted into fowl, after 
the chicken has attained a marketable growth, the better. On the farm, 
poultry do much towards providing for themselves, and they only require 
extra food and attention for a short period before they are designed to be 
sold. For fattening, all the coarse grains may be put in requisition, as may 
potatoes and apples, chopped fine and given raw, or boiled. There is 
manifest economy in cracking the grain, and in cooking most of their food. 
Warm and dry shelter, in cold weather, is as favorable to the fattening 
process, as it is to the fecundity of the hen. The hen house and yard 
before described, is well adapted to fattening fowls—as they will not brook 
closer confinement, without pining, and require a pure air, and access to 
the earth. They require sandy gravel, and troughs for both water and 
food. Moubray thinks there is economy in feeding fowls with the best and 
heaviest grain, not only as it increases them faster in flesh, but nearly 
doubles the size and value of their eggs. There is probably nothing better, 
in the fattening process, than Indian meal, cooked or raw—and an alterna¬ 
tion of this with roots might be found salutary. The farmer may, however, 
with propriety consult his stores, and fatten his poultry upon what he can 
best spare, whether of grain, fruits or vegetables; though during the au¬ 
tumn and early winter months, we doubt whether any food will be found 
more economical than apples and potatoes, blended with a due proportion 
of meal and grain. A writer in the American Farmer recommends crack¬ 
ed Indian corn, Indian meal or mush, with raw potatoes cut into small 
pieces not larger than a filbert, and that charcoal, broken into small pieces, 
be placed within their reach; and he alleges, that by this method fowls 
will fatten in one-half the usual time, and with much less expense. Mo¬ 
lasses, or other saccharine substance, mixed with the food of poultry, is 
said greatly to facilitate the fattening process. Sussex, England, is famed 
for its fat fowls. The food given there is ground oats, made into gruel, 
mixed with hog’s grease, sugar, hot liquor and milk; or ground oats, 
treacle and suet, sheeps’ plucks, &c. With this the fowls are crammed 
