HOUSE AND GARDEN 
375 
May, 1913 
ground and lays a few eggs in late spring. If the eggs are not 
molested, the hen will bring off her small brood in about 28 days. 
The treatment customarily given turkey poults will suffice for 
them, which means that they must be kept dry and must be pro¬ 
tected from rodents. Hard-boiled eggs, bread crumbs, bread 
soaked in milk, or rolled oats should constitute the menu for 
the first two or three weeks, cracked grains being gradually 
introduced. It is not feasible, as a rule, to try bringing up the 
youngsters with common hens. The hens are almost sure to 
desert their charges long before the latter are able to look after 
themselves. 
It is an easy matter to get from $15 to $50 for a pair of pea¬ 
fowl, hut it is not 
necessary to raise 
young birds every 
year, unless the 
profit in them is 
an object, for the 
old birds live long, 
even up to 25 or 
30 years. There 
are also white pea¬ 
fowl, and they 
bring a much 
higher price, not 
because they are 
more beautiful 
than the kind com¬ 
monly seen, but 
because they are 
Toulouse geese are handsomely feathered, but much more rare. 
are too noisy to be kept near the house Peacocks are bet¬ 
ter adapted to rather 
large estates than to 
small places, but they 
are among the most 
ornamental of birds 
wherever they 
may be. 
Pheasant breeding 
is a highly popular 
diversion across the 
water, and is being 
taken up by- many 
people in this coun¬ 
try. Even a suburb¬ 
anite with an ordi¬ 
nary back yard can 
keep pheasants, for 
they make little pro¬ 
test at being confined 
and are not difficult 
to care for. When 
first hatched, pheas¬ 
ants are very deli¬ 
cate, also very lively. 
They must be kept 
warm and dry and not allowed to stray away. Most commonly 
they are hatched under bantam hens, or the fluffy little Japanese 
Silkies, and from 21 to 25 days are required, according to the 
variety. If a small incubator is available, it is an excellent plan 
to transfer the eggs to the machine a few days before they are 
due to hatch. Then they will get a safer start in life. 
The first of June is quite early enough to set pheasant eggs, 
and ten or a dozen are sufficient for one hen. When the little 
birds are hatched naturally, it is well to run a low wire fence 
Muscovy ducks are not only attractive but 
table use; besides they may well be kept 
around the nest box where the hen is setting; otherwise the first 
ones to appear may start out to see the world before their more 
belated brothers and sisters have pecked their way to freedom. 
For the first few weeks the youngsters must be kept perfectly 
free from dampness and draughts. By the time they are two 
months old they become strong and hardy, and at four months 
are almost fully grown. They forsake their foster mothers early 
and go hunting bugs and worms on their own account. Lice and 
gapes are the two evils to be watched out for. Powder will 
destroy the former, and fresh ground obviates danger from the 
latter. 
In England, ant eggs are considered almost indispensable for 
young birds, but they are not needed here. Some American 
breeders feed maggots, but Hamburg steak answers very well. 
In fact, excellent results have followed the use of canary seed, 
rolled oats and common chick feed. It is a good plan, though, 
to give a custard for the first week or two, made by beating up 
a raw egg in a very little milk. 
Mature pheasants are exceedingly hardy and ask only an open 
shed, with a long' run, which they will use winter and summer 
alike. The shed is best placed when it faces the south, and must 
be tight and dry. It is well to have the floor raised a foot higher 
than the ground outside, and it should be kept covered with sev¬ 
eral inches of sand. The front of the house may be boarded 
down a little ways to keep the rain from beating in to a large 
extent, but the house must not be dark. The birds like a retreat 
of some sort, so it is well to have a pile of brush in one corner; 
a large box with a hole in it will answer as well. A few piles of 
brush in the yard will be welcomed, too. There must be perches 
for the pheasants in the shed, but nests would be superfluous, as 
the eggs are laid in the sand. Commonly the eggs are dropped 
late in the day, and it is well to gather them as soon as pos¬ 
sible, for pheas¬ 
ants are very 
prone to acquire 
the reprehensi¬ 
ble practice of 
feasting on 
their own 
product. 
The yards 
must be cov¬ 
ered, and it is 
well to use net¬ 
ting with one- 
inch mesh, in 
order to keep 
out sparrows, 
which steal 
much grain. 
Also it is wise 
to have a con¬ 
crete founda- 
are especially good for 
upon the small place 
tion extending 
down to the 
frost line un¬ 
der both the 
shed and the 
yards, or to 
sink the net- 
mto the ] he curious carnage and peculiar beak formation 
ground deeply, of Chinese geese make them a distinctive attraction 
ting 
