34. 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
The coops required are those which stand 
on legs, and have bars across the bottoms - 
with two of the bars in front made to 
slide up so that the birds can be easily 
removed when they come to the ‘cram- 
ming’ stage. Four weeks is the time 
usually allowed for fattening; the food 
is put into troughs in front of the coops 
during the first fortnight, and after that 
the birds are 
fortnight. 
The length of time varies with the 
season of the year, and the condition of 
the birds. As a general rule, four weeks 
is ample for chickens which have Orping- 
ton and Dorking blood in them, and 
which are in good condition when placed 
in the coops. During the first fortnight 
the fowls help themselves to their food 
without any trouble; but by the end of 
this time the confinement begins to tell 
upon them, and they would eat much 
less if they were allowed to follow their 
own 
‘crammed’ for another 
This confinement 
relaxes the muscles of their legs, and they 
have therefore in consequence a tendency 
to that tenderness of flesh so much 
desired in table poetry, which is in direct 
opposition to the condition young fowls 
are found in when they have their fuil 
liberty, this tending to make them 
muscular rather than fleshy. 
The food fused for fattening poultry is 
ground oats and skim milk principally. 
This is mixed thinner as the process goes 
en. During the time that the fowls help 
themselves to it they should have it 
thicker. Many people successfully use 
suet and rough fat from the butcher’s 
mixed with the grouna oats and milk. 
The suet, &c., is boiled and put in warm 
milk, which is then mixed with the 
ground oats. It is very essential that 
the food be perfectly fresh, and that the 
birds are kept quiet and dark, They are 
then more inclined to put on more flesh. 
inclinations. 
On Saturday, Oct. 17th Mr. Martin, of , 
Islington, called at ‘ The Advertiser’ office 
with a huge egg, which was laid at mid- 
day on Saturday by a Buff Orpington 
hen. The egg turned the scale at 5} 02, 
and on being broken open it was found 
+o contain an ordinary sized egg inside, 
with shell fully developed, 
November 2, 1908 
Interesting Notes. 
— — 
Other things being equal,.the fresher 
the egg the stronger and better the 
chick. 
Early-hatched pullets are equivalent to 
early winter layers. It is high time to 
get busy. 
A duck belonging to Mr. Taylor, of the 
Duke of Brunswick Hotel, recently laid 
an egg weighing 53 ozs which contained 
acomplete ezz, together with the yolk 
and white belonging to the larger egg. 
which has been 
exposed to the sun, will often bring gapes 
on, not only in chickens and turkeys, but 
also in young birds of flight, after they 
have left their nest and drink stale water 
Stagnant water, 
Busy, hustling hens mean contented, 
thrifty hens that are not in an over-fat 
condition ; and that is the kind 
of hens that produce strongly-fertilised 
eggs. 
The custom of selling off the old hens 
because they area little heavier than the 
pullets ofthe previous season is a great 
mistake as young chicks from pullet eggs 
are never as hardy as those hatched from 
the eggs of mature hens. 
. The pouliry-house, nests, and roosts 
should to receive attention to combat with 
the insect pests. Owing to the material 
with which houses, &c., are made the 
insects find an easy lodgement, and their 
supper comes home to them when the 
fowls take to the roosts. Hens infested 
with vermin will not be profitable, so 
that a pest-free house is not merely a 
desideratum, it is a necessity. 
To keep a poultry house clean a bucket 
of hot suds, into which half a cupful of 
phenyle or kerosene is mixed, is very 
useful, Before using the liquid, take out 
perches, nests, and the debris from the 
house, and then witha garden syringe 
give the inside ofthe house a thorough 
dressing with the liquid. This operation 
should be done each week, but if the 
house has been neglected for some time, 
two or three syringings in one week will 
not be too much. — 
Males belonging to the Leghorns or 
some similar breed are, other things being 
equal, capable of looking after a greater 
number of hens than a male belonging to. 
the American or Asiatic class. 
The warm weather, which appears to. 
be now setting in, should make poultry- 
breeders very careful to guard against 
the insect pest. Hens that. are brooding 
breed these insects rapidly, and in great 
numbers, so that the breeders who do 
not take proper precautions frequently, 
find the hen forced to abandon her nest 
and leave a clutch of eggs about three 
parts incubated. Thisis a great loss at 
this season, for the time is slipping along 
when the best chickens of the year can 
be bred. 
The nesting place for a hen at this 
season is best on the ground. A place 
there can be scooped out, and two or 
three bricks placed around the nest, 
which can be made of grass or straw, and 
the eggs placed there. Each week the 
nest, after removing the hen and eggs, 
should be burnt clear out, and a fresh 
lot of debris placed to receive the eggs. 
Unless this constant attention is given 
the hen, nest, and eggs will be over run 
with vermin, with the most inevitable 
result cf an abandoned nest and a clutch 
of eggs ruined. 
The ventilation of fowlhouses is a. 
matter of great importance. Poultry 
can stand cold, but they cannot stand a 
putrified atmosphere, and that is what 
some poultry-keepers treat their fowls to. 
The open front, with the roosts placed 
well back in the house, is very suitable 
for this country, and the front should’ 
face the east. Therefore, in building a. 
house a good depth should be given, 
The roosts should not be nearer than 6ft, 
from the front of the building. Those 
who have had no, or but little experience 
of fowls should also give attention to the 
placement of the roosts from the ground. 
They should all be on one level, and not 
more than two feet high. High perches 
are frequently the cause of rupture of the 
egg-bag and the trouble known as 
bumble-foot, 
