FANCIERS’ JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 
verting one material of smaller value into another of greater 
value. A man who expects a good return of flesh and eggs 
from fowls insufficiently fed and cared for, is like a miller 
expecting to get meal from a neglected mill, to which he 
does not supply grain. 
The common plan amongst farmers and cottagers is to 
keep fowls indiscriminately year after year, of various 
breeds, sizes, and ages, feeding them irregularly, generally 
insufficiently, sometimes not at all; bestowing little or no 
care upon them, their wants, or comforts; chickens being 
hatched at all times throughout the summer, late rather 
than early. 
Now the pullet chickens so reared, with the exception of 
the very few that may be hatched in March, or early in 
April, are fed, and make no return whatever, until the fol- 
lowing spring or summer, involving on an average ten months’ 
unprofitable keep, before they produce eggs; and even then, 
often owing to insufficiency of food, degeneracy of breed, and 
want of proper care, produce less than one-half the eggs they 
otherwise would, or are capable of doing ; and further, pro- 
‘duce their eggs at a time when they only command the low- 
est price, returning thereby ofter™ but little more than the 
cost of the food they consume. 
So with the cockerel chickens (except those few hatched 
early in the spring), they are not considered sufficiently 
large and full-grown to kill before the following spring; for 
unless they are fit to dispose of about harvest-time, they are 
not likely to improve in condition as the winter comes on; 
their age increases, and their appetites become voracious. 
They are consequently kept until the following spring, when 
they have attained the age of nine or ten months, or nearly 
their full growth; but by this time it will be found, on cal- 
culation, that the cost of their food will have exceeded the 
value of the fowl sold, 
With such management it may be truly said that ‘ poultry 
don’t pay.” 
I will now as briefly as possible explain a system whereby 
fowls may be kept, and made to return a quick and certain 
profit—larger profit, indeed, than any other farm stock pos- 
sibly can—and with the greatest of all advantages, requiring 
but the most trifling outlay. 
There is no family, rich or poor, living in the country or 
town suburb, that may not with advantage keep poultry. It 
must with ordinary care prove highly remunerative, and be 
a means of consuming quantities of kitchen and table refuse, 
which in suburban houses and cottages is often thrown away. 
The principles to be acted upon are these: 
1st. Good stock, size of frame, and delicacy of flesh, com- 
bined, for producing cockerels; early and productive layers 
for producing pullets. : 
2d. Regularity and liberality of feeding, combined with 
general care and attention. 
3d. Hatch pullet chickens only during the months of March 
and April. 
4th. Encourage by proper feeding every pullet to lay as 
soon as she attains the age of six months. 
5th. Always fatten and dispose of your hens at about 
nineteen months old, just before their first (adult) moult. 
6th. Never allow a cockerel to exceed the age of fourteen 
weeks before being fatted and disposed of. 
By such a system it will be found that every pullet reared 
becomes a source of profit at the age of siz months, and every 
cockerel at the age of fourteen weeks. During these months 
of chickenhood they cost but very little to keep. 

ul 
The return made for their food up to this time is enor- 
mous; but after this it will steadily decrease, and, before 
the cockerels are full-grown, they will not pay for their 
keep. 
Mr. Mechi also says that he cannot understand upon what 
grounds farmers can say that poultry does not pay, when the 
selling price of beef, mutton, and pork is only 43d. per lb., 
and fowl Is. ‘I am sure (he says) it costs no more to pro- 
duce a pound of fowl than a pound of beef or mutton. The 
whole question of producing more poultry is a national and 
important one. Commend me to poultry as the farmers’ 
best friend.” 
The cost of a chicken during the first two months of its 
existence does not, certainly need not, exceed 3d. per week; 
the second two months $d., and afterwards 1d. per week ; 
making the total cost of a pullet to the time she becomes 
profitable, 1s. 6d., and that of a eockerel only 1s. 2d. From 
the time a pullet commences to lay, she should, on an aver- 
age, during the following twelve months, produce from 220 
to 284 eggs; one-half of which will be produced during 
the dearest time (winter), making the average value of her 
eggs, at 1s. 8d. per dozen, a total of £14s. 6d. This average 
price may be obtained in any of the large towns in Eng- 
land. Indeed, although I live in the depths of Wales, I am 
able to dispose of all my eggs by contract by the year at a 
jixed price of 1s. 3d. per dozen. 
It may be considered by some that 234 eggs is an exces- 
sive estimate. No doubt it would be so under existing man- 
agement, but quite the reverse under proper treatment. In 
an egg-producing establishment near Paris, where no less 
than 100,000 hens are kept, the average number of eggs pro- 
duced annually by each fowl is 300. Horseflesh is here 
largely used as a stimulating food, and without any ill 
effects. (Stephens's Book of the Farm.) 181 days, or 44 
months, is ample allowance for non-productive days. The 
average yield from the Hamburgh breed would be at least 
250. Two authorities, writing lately to a poultry journal, 
say, the one, ‘‘My Hamburghs, although kept in close con- 
Jinement, average 220 eggs to each bird;’’ the other, ‘“‘I can 
thoroughly confirm Mr. E.’s statements; my 70 hens on 1d. 
per week average over 220 eggs per bird.’’ The eminent 
authorities and writers, James Dickson and Captain Hornby, 
place the average yield of Hamburghs at 240, and Spanish 
at 210. 
After producing this quantity of eggs, and directly before 
her moulting sets in, she must be cooped for a fortnight and 
fatted, when she will be worth about 2s. 6d. to 38s., or 8d. 
per lb., as she ought to weigh at least 4 lbs., and not exceed 
19 months in age. A fat young fowl ought certainly every- 
where to command per lb. the price of a neck or forequarter 
of mutton. By now disposing of her, you save the expense 
of an often protracted moulting season, and a winter of un- 
profitable keep; disposing of her carcase before age has de- 
teriorated its value; and you also make room for the next 
succession of pullets, reared the past spring, and now about 
to commence laying. 
Fowls are often from two to three months before they 
thoroughly regain their feathers, and the later they moult 
the longer and more severe it becomes, and in cold weather 
they seldom commence again to lay for some months after 
regaining them. After twelve months’ prolific production 
of eggs, followed by the severe ordeal of moulting, it is but 
reasonable to expect that a fowl will require a certain amount 
of rest. I have always found that 4 lbs. of barley or other 
