302 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. {1 Nov., 1902. 
avoided. It is certainly the quickest way of establishing a flock, but is pretty 
sure to end in undermining the constitution of the birds and reducing them 
to small weeds. Besides, there is another result from the practice, and that is 
the production of unfertile eggs. You avoid the danger by periodically intro- 
ducing new blood from pure strains. 
Crossing purebred birds of different breeds is.a very profitable proceeding. 
The first cross is always the best, because it unites the best qualities of either 
breed. Always choose hens, if you mean to have good layers, which have 
large combs. 
You must not expect your hen to lay an egg every day. ven the very 
best layers of small eges—the Hamburghs—rarely lay 250 eggs in the year. 
Brown Leghorns will lay about 200. Generally you’ will find that your best 
hens will lay, on an average, four eggs weekly. Then after laying a couple 
of dozen they will suddenly stop laying for over a fortnight—perhaps three 
weeks. 
Well, having decided on the breed you intend to keep, and having care- 
fully selected a number of crossbred and pure hens and a purebred cock, you 
remove them to your own farm, where the necessary fowlhouses should have 
been built ready for them. This removal will probably cause them to stop 
laying for a little while, but they will begin again as soon as they become 
accustomed to their new surroundings. 
Many years ago few people troubled about shelter for their poultry. 
They either roosted on the trees, in the barn, or on a rough roost in the farm- 
yard. In the trees or on the roosts they were exposed to rain and cold winds, 
to the attacks of snakes, iguanas, and native cats. But nobody took any 
trouble to care for them. They cost nothing to keep, so they took their chance. 
But I want you to start properly. That does not mean rushing into 
expensive buildings and yards, but it means erecting suitable shelter, suitable 
protection from prowling animals, and suitable breeding places. All this can 
be got at small expense, and by the labour of your own hands. Never butld a 
wooden fowlhouse. There is a terrible enemy of poultry called THe Poutrry 
Trox. If this insect once gets into a wooden poultry-house, almost the only 
remedy is to burn the structure down. Build your poultry-house of galvanised 
iron—good second-hand iron will do. First build a framework of hardwood, 
to which nail your iron sides on the inside. Should the poultry tick appear, 
all you have to do is, when the fowls have left it, to pile in some straw and set 
it on fire. The ticks which are hiding in the nooks and crannies of the roosts 
will all be destroyed, and the heated iron will kill any which may be lodged in 
its oyerlappings. The house itself suffers no damage, as the framework is 
outside. 
Now, about the roosts in the house. People always place them too high. 
Both laying hens and table birds are liable to injure themselves by flying down 
from a height. Often they fly violently against the walls. Let your roosts be 
only 2 or3 feet from the ground, and do not put one above the other. Many people 
refer flat roosts to round ones, but Nature has so constructed the muscles of the 
‘owl’s foot that, like other birds, it seems to prefer the round roost. A sort of 
ladder made of a board with battens nailed across it is useful to enable them to 
reach the roosts quietly. Never have your breeding places in the same house 
as the roosts. The sitting birds must not be disturbed by the layers going to 
and coming down from roost. Let them have a separate house and comfortable 
boxes to sit in. The boxes should have no bottom. The nest should be built 
on the ground, so that the eggs may be kept moist by the damp extracted from 
the soil by the warmth of the hen’s body. 
Never run a rooster with your laying hens ; I mean with those whose eges 
are intended for market. Hight strong, healthy hens and one cockerel should 
form a breeding pen, and, as I said, take care that the cockerel is a good one 
in every respect. 
When a hen is sitting, take care not to disturb her or try to make her feed. 
. She is quite happy. Sitting is a rest to her, and she does not require much 
