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GENERAL MANAGEMENT.

Neglect of Poultry-breeding--Profit of Poultry-keeping--Value to the Farmer--Poultry Shows--Cottage Poultry.

Size of the House--Brick and Wood--Cheap Houses--The Roof--Ventilation--Light--Warmth--The Flooring--Perches--Movable Frame--Roosts for Cochin-Chinas and Brahma-Pootras--Nests for laying--Cleanliness--Fowls' Dung--Doors and Entrance-holes--Lime-washing--Fumigating--Raising Chickens under Glass.

Soil--Situation--Covered Run--Pulverised Earth for deodorising--Diet for confined Fowls--Height of Wall, &c.--Preventing Fowls from flying--The Dust-heap--Material for Shells--Gravel--The Gizzard--The Grass Run.

Table of relative constituents and qualities of Food--Barley--Wheat--Oats--Meal--Refuse Corn--Boiling Grain--Indian Corn, or Maize--Buckwheat--Peas, Beans and Tares--Rice--Hempseed--Linseed--Potatoes--Roots--Soft Food--Variety of Food--Quantity--Mode of Feeding--Number of Meals--Grass and Vegetables--Insects--Worms--Snails and Slugs--Animal Food--Water--Fountains.

Eggs all the Year round--Warmth essential to laying--Forcing Eggs--Soft Shells--Shape and Colour of Eggs--The Air-bag--Preserving Eggs--Keeping and Choosing Eggs for setting--Sex of Eggs--Packing Setting-eggs for travelling.

Evil of restraining a Hen from sitting--Checking the Desire--A separate House and Run--Nests for sitting in--Damping Eggs--Filling for Nests--Choosing their own Nests--Choosing a Hen for sitting--Number and Age of Eggs--Food and Exercise--Absence from the Nest--Examining the Eggs--Setting two Hens on the same day--Time of Incubation--The "tapping" sound--Breaking the Shell--Emerging from the Shell--Assisting the Chicken--Artificial Mothers--Artificial Incubation.

The Chicken's first Food--Cooping the Brood--Basket and Wooden Coops--Feeding Chickens--Age for Fattening--Barn-door Fattening--Fattening-Houses--Fattening-Coops--Food--"Cramming"-- Capons and Poulardes--Killing Poultry--Plucking and packing Fowls--Preserving Feathers.

Well-bred Fowls--Choice of Breed--Signs of Age--Breeding in-and-in--Number of Hens to one Cock--Choice of a Cock--To prevent Cocks from fighting--Choice of a Hen--Improved Breeds--Origin of Breeds--Crossing--Choice of Breeding Stock--Keeping a Breed pure.

The first Show--The first Birmingham Show--Influence of Shows--Exhibition Rules--Hatching for Summer and Winter Shows--Weight--Exhibition Fowls sitting--Matching Fowls--Imparting lustre to the Plumage--Washing Fowls--Hampers--Travelling--Treatment on Return--Washing the Hampers and Linings--Exhibition Points--Technical Terms.

BREEDS.

LIST OF PLATES.

White Dorking Cock--Coloured Dorkings--Duck-winged and Black-breasted Red Game.

White and Buff Cochin-China--Malay Cock--Light and Dark Brahma-Pootras.

Golden-pencilled and Silver-spangled Hamburgs--Black Spanish.

White-crested Black Polish--Golden and Silver-spangled Polish.

White and Black Bantams--Gold and Silver-laced or Sebright Bantams--Game Bantams.

French: Houdans--La Fl?che Cock--Cr?ve-Coeur Hen.

Turkey--Guinea-Fowls.

Toulouse Goose--Rouen Ducks--Aylesbury Ducks.

PROFITABLE AND ORNAMENTAL POULTRY.

INTRODUCTION.

Although fowls are so commonly kept, the proportion to the population is still very small, and the number of those who rear and manage them profitably still smaller, chiefly because most people keep them without system or order, and have not given the slightest attention to the subject. Nevertheless, it costs no more trouble and much less expense to keep fowls successfully and profitably, for neglected fowls are always falling sick, or getting into mischief and causing annoyance, and often expense and loss. "A man," says Mr. Edwards, "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 antiquated idea that fowls on a farm did mischief to the crops has been proved to be false; for if the grain is sown as deeply as it should be, they cannot reach it by scratching; and, besides, they greatly prefer worms and insects. Mr. Mechi says, "commend me to poultry as the farmer's best friend," and considers the value of fowls, in destroying the vast number of worms, grubs, flies, beetles, insects, larvae, &c., which they devour, as incalculable; and the same may be said as to their destruction of the seeds of weeds. They also consume large quantities of kitchen and table refuse, which is generally otherwise wasted, and often allowed to decay and become a source of disease, or at least of impurity.

The enormous prices paid at the poultry shows of 1852 and 1853 for fancy fowls gave a new impulse to poultry-keeping; and many persons who formerly thought the management of poultry beneath their attention, now superintend their yards. Mrs. Ferguson Blair, now the Hon. Mrs. Arbuthnot, the authoress of the "Henwife," whose experience may be judged by the fact that she gained in four years upwards of 460 prizes in England and Scotland, and personally superintended the management of forty separate yards, in which above 1,000 chickens were hatched annually, says:--

For those who desire to encourage a taste for poultry keeping in young people, and their humbler neighbours, we would recommend our smaller work on the subject as a suitable present.

"It becomes," says Miss Harriet Martineau, "an interesting wonder every year why the rural cottagers of the United Kingdom do not rear fowls almost universally, seeing how little the cost would be and how great the demand. We import many millions of eggs annually. Why should we import any? Wherever there is a cottage family living on potatoes or better fare, and grass growing anywhere near them, it would be worth while to nail up a little penthouse, and make nests of clean straw, and go in for a speculation in eggs and chickens. Seeds, worms, and insects go a great way in feeding poultry in such places; and then there are the small and refuse potatoes from the heap, and the outside cabbage leaves, and the scraps of all sorts. Very small purchases of broken rice , inferior grain, and mixed meal, would do all else that is necessary. There would be probably larger losses from vermin than in better guarded places; but these could be well afforded as a mere deduction from considerable gains. It is understood that the keeping of poultry is largely on the increase in the country generally, and even among cottagers; but the prevailing idea is of competition as to races and specimens for the poultry-yard, rather than of meeting the demand for eggs and fowls for the table."

With the exception of prizes for Dorkings, which are chiefly bred for market, our poultry-shows have always looked upon fowls as if they were merely ornamental birds, and have framed their standards of excellence accordingly, and not with any regard to the production of profitable poultry, which is much to be regretted.

Martin Doyle, the cottage economist of Ireland, in his "Hints to Small Holders," observes that "a few cocks and hens, if they be prevented from scratching in the garden, are a useful and appropriate stock about a cottage, the warmth of which causes them to lay eggs in winter--no trifling advantage to the children when milk is scarce. The French, who are extremely fond of eggs, and contrive to have them in great abundance, feed the fowls so well on curds and buckwheat, and keep them so warm, that they have plenty of eggs even in winter. Now, in our country , especially in a gentleman's fowl yard, there is not an egg to be had in cold weather; but the warmth of the poor man's cabin insures him an egg even in the most ungenial season."

Such fowls obtain fresh air, fresh grass, and fresh ground to scratch in, and prosper in spite of the most miserable, puny, mongrel stock, deteriorating year after year from breeding in and in, without the introduction of fresh blood even of the same indifferent description. Many an honest cottager might keep himself and family from the parish by the aid of a small stock of poultry, if some kind poultry-keeper would present him with two or three good fowls to begin with, for the cottager has seldom capital even for so small a purchase.

The great secret of success in keeping fowls profitably is to hatch chiefly in March and April; encourage the pullets by proper feeding to lay at the age of six months; and fatten and dispose of them when about nineteen months old, just before their first adult moult; and never to allow a cockerel to exceed the age of fourteen weeks before it is fattened and disposed of.

THE FOWL-HOUSE.

In this work we shall consider the accommodation and requisites for keeping fowls successfully on a moderate scale, and the reader must adapt them to his own premises, circumstances, and requirements. Everywhere there must be some alterations, omissions, or compromises. We shall state the essentials for their proper accommodation, and describe the mode of constructing houses, sheds, and arranging runs, and the reader must then form his plan according to his own wishes, resources, and the capabilities of the place. The climate of Great Britain being so very variable in itself, and differing in its temperature so much in different parts, no one manner or material for building the fowl-house can be recommended for all cases.

Plans for poultry establishments on large scales for the hatching, rearing, and fattening of fowls, turkeys, ducks, and geese, are given in our smaller work on Poultry, referred to on page 3.

The best aspects for the fowl-house are south and south-east, and sloping ground is preferable to flat.

"It is only of late years," says Mr. Baily, "poultry-houses have been much thought of. In large farmyards, where there are cart-houses, calf-pens, pig-styes, cattle-sheds, shelter under the eaves of barns, and numerous other roosting-places, not omitting the trees in the immediate vicinity, they are little required--fowls will generally do better by choosing for themselves; and it is beyond a doubt healthier for them to be spread about in this manner, than to be confined to one place. But a love of order, on the one hand, and a dread of thieves or foxes on the other, will sometimes make it desirable to have a proper poultry-house."

Each family of fowls should, if possible, have a house and run; and if they are kept as breeding stock, and the breeds are to be preserved pure, this is essential. And where many kinds are kept, the various houses must be adapted to the peculiarities of the different breeds, in order to do justice to them all, and to attain success in each.

The size of the house and the extent of the yard or run should be proportioned to the number of fowls kept; but it is better for the house to be too small than too large, particularly in winter, for the mutual imparting of animal heat. It is found by experience that when fowls are crowded into a small space, their desire for laying continues even in winter; and there is no fear of engendering disease by crowding if the house is properly ventilated, and thoroughly cleansed every day. Mr. Baily kept for years a cock and four hens in a portable wooden house six feet square, and six feet high in the centre, the sides being somewhat shorter, and says such a house would hold six hens as well as four. Ventilating holes were made near the top. It had no floor, being placed upon the ground, and could be moved at pleasure by means of two poles placed through two staples fixed at the end of each side. A few Cochin-Chinas may be kept where there is no other convenience than an outhouse six feet square to serve for their roosting, laying, and sitting, with a yard of twice that size attached. Mr. Wright "once knew a young man who kept fowls most profitably, with only a house of his own construction, not more than three feet square, and a run of the same width, under twelve feet long." The French breeders keep their fowls in as small a space as possible, in order to generate and preserve the warmth that will induce them to lay; while the English breeders allow more space for exercise, larger houses, and free circulation of air. The French mode, is very likely the best for the winter and the English for the summer, but the two opposite methods may be made available by having one or more extra houses and runs into which the fowls can be distributed in the summer. A close, warm roosting-place will cause the production of more eggs in winter, when they are scarcest and most valuable, while air and exercise are necessary to rear superior fowls for the table; and if they can have the run of a farmyard or good fields in which to pick up grain or insects, their flesh will be far superior in flavour to that of fowls kept in confinement, or crammed in coops.

Almost any outbuilding, shed, or lean-to, may be easily and cheaply converted into a good fowl-house by the exercise of a little thought and ingenuity.

The best material to build a house with is brick, but the cheapest to be durable is board, with the roof also of wood, covered with patent felt. One objection to timber houses is their being combustible, and easily ignited, and houses had better be built of a single brick in thickness, unless cheapness is a great object.

A lean-to fowl-house may be constructed for a very small sum, with boards an inch thick, against the west or south side of any wall. Whenever wood is employed it should be tongued, which is a very cheap method of providing against warping by heat, or admitting wind or rain; lying flat against the uprights, it saves material and has an external appearance far superior to any other method of boarding. If the second coat of paint is rough cast over with sand, it will greatly improve the appearance, and the house will not be unsightly even in the ornamental part of a gentleman's grounds.

A house may be built very cheaply by driving poles into the ground at equal distances, and nailing weather-boarding upon their outside. If it is to be square, one pole should be placed at each corner, and two more will be required for the door-posts. The house may be made with five, six, or more sides, as many poles being used as there are sides, and the door may occupy one side if the house be small and the side narrow, otherwise two door-posts will be required. If the boards are not tongued together, the chinks between them must be well caulked by driving in string or tow with a blunt chisel, for it is not only necessary to keep out the rain but also to keep out the wind, which has great influence on the health and laying of the fowls.

Where double boarding is employed for the sides, the house may be made much warmer by filling up the space with straw, or still better with marsh reeds, so durable for thatching. This plan, unfortunately, affords a shelter for rats, mice, and insects, and therefore, if adopted, it will be highly advantageous to form the inside boarding in panels, so as to be removable at pleasure for examination and cleansing.

For the roof, tiles or slates alone are not sufficient, but, if used, must have a boarding or ceiling under them; otherwise all the heat generated by the fowls will escape through the numerous interstices, and it will be next to impossible to keep the house warm in winter. A corrugated roof of galvanised iron may be used instead, but a ceiling also will be absolutely necessary for the sake of warmth. A rough ceiling of lath and plaster not only preserves the warmth generated by the fowls and keeps out the cold, but has the great advantage of being easily lime-washed, an operation that should be performed at least four or five times a year. Boards alone make a very good and cheap roof. They may be laid either horizontally, one plank overlapping the other, and the whole well tarred two or three times, and once every autumn afterwards; or they may be laid perpendicularly side by side, fitting closely, in which case they should be well tarred, then covered with old sheeting, waste calico, or thick brown paper tightly stretched over it, and afterwards brushed over with hot tar, or a mixture of tar boiled with a little lime, and applied while hot; this, soaking through the calico, cements it to the roof, and makes it waterproof. But board covered with patent felt, and tarred once a year, is the best. The roof ought to project considerably beyond the walls, in order to prevent the rain from dripping down them.

Ventilation is most important, and the house should be high, especially if there are many fowls, for by having it lofty a current of air can pass through it far above the level of the fowls, and purify the atmosphere without causing a draught near them. They very much dislike a draught, and will alter their positions to avoid it, and if unable to do so, will seek another roosting-place. Ventilation may be obtained by leaving out some bricks in the wall or making holes in the boarding; and when there is a shed at the side of the fowl-house, by boring a few holes near the top of the wall next to the shed; all ventilators should be considerably above the perches, in order to avoid a draught near to the fowls; and should be entirely closed at night in severe weather. The best method of ventilation for a fowl-house of sufficient size and height, is by means of an opening in the highest part of the roof, covered with a lantern of laths or narrow boards, placed one over the other in a slanting position, with a small space between them like Venetian blinds.

Light is essential, not only for the health of the fowls, but in order that the state of the house may be seen, and the floor and perches may be well cleansed. It may be admitted either through a common window, a pane or two of thick glass placed in the sides, or glass tiles in the roof. It also induces them to take shelter there in rough weather.

Warmth is the most important point of all. Fowls that roost in cold houses and exposed places require more food and produce fewer eggs; and pullets which are usually forward in laying will not easily be induced to do so in severe weather if their house is not kept warm. It is a great advantage when the house backs a fire-place or stable. A gentleman told Mr. Baily that he "had been very successful in raising early chickens in the north of Scotland, and he attributed much of it to the following arrangements. He had always from twenty to thirty oxen or other cattle fattening in a long building; he made his poultry-house to join this, and had ventilators and openings made in the partition, so that the heat of the cattle-shed passed into the fowl-house. Little good has resulted from the use of stoves, or hot-water pipes, for poultry; but by skilfully taking advantage of every circumstance like that above mentioned, and by consulting aspect and position, many valuable helps are obtained."

A house built of wood in the north of England and Scotland must be lined, unless artificially warmed. Felt is the best material, as its strong smell of tar will keep away most insects. Matting is frequently used, and will make the house sufficiently warm, but it harbours vermin, and therefore, if used, should be only slightly fastened to the walls, so that it can be often taken down and well beaten, and, if necessary, fumigated.

Various materials are recommended for the flooring. Boards are warm, but they soon become foul. Beaten earth, with loose dust scattered over it some inches deep, is excellent for the feet of the birds, but is a harbour for the minute vermin which are often so troublesome, and even destructive, to domestic fowls. Mowbray recommends a floor of "well-rammed chalk or earth, that its surface, being smooth, may present no impediment to being swept perfectly clean." Chalk laid on dry coal-ashes to absorb the moisture is excellent. A mixture of cow-dung and water, about the consistency of paint, put on the surface of the floor, no thicker than paint, gives it a hard surface which will bear sweeping down. It is used by the natives of India, not only for the floors, but often for the walls of their houses, and is supposed to be healthy in its application, and to keep away vermin. Miss Watts says: "Dig out the floor to about a foot deep, and fill in with burnt clay, like that used extensively on railways, the strong gravel which is called 'metal' in road-making, or any loose dry material of the kind. Let this be well rammed down, and then lay over it, with a bricklayer's trowel, a flooring of a compost of cinder-ashes, gravel, quick-lime, and water. This flooring is without the objections due to those which are cold and damp, and those which imbibe foul moisture. Stone is too cold for a flooring; beaten earth or wood becomes foul when the place is inhabited by living animals; and a flooring of bricks possesses both these bad qualities united." Bricks are the worst of all materials; they retain moisture, whether atmospheric or arising from insufficient drainage; and thus the temperature is kept low, and disease too often follows, especially rheumatic attacks of the feet and legs. However, trodden earth makes a very good flooring, and it or other materials may easily be kept clean by placing moveable boards beneath the perches to receive the fowl-droppings. The floor should slope from every direction towards the door, to facilitate its cleansing, and to keep it dry.

N?m?t valmistusty?t asianomaisilla ja muutoin hyvin salaisesti tehty?ns?, alkoi loitsija varsinaisen toimituksensa. Sit? varten saunaan tultuansa h?n vastallansa aluksi pyhki saunan lavon, sein?t ja la'en ja manasi kovasti kaikki kateet ja pahansuovat pakenemaan. Muutamat jo silloin, toiset vasta my?hemmin, ottivat luontonsa karastamiseksi veitsen tahi muun ter?raudan, jota puraisivat kolmesti ja varustuivat kolmella pintap?reell? ja kolmella lastun pirsteell? saunan kynnyksest? loitsusanoja lukeaksensa, jota tekiv?t, ensin hiljaisemmalla mutinalla lukien veden, tulen ja l?ylyn sanat ja sitten sairasta kylvett?m??n, sivelem??n, hieromaan, mittelem??n ja mik? mill?ki tavalla muokkaamaan ja puoskaroimaan, ruvettua kovalla ja korkealla ??nell? v?liin sylk?ist? tupsahuttaen ja hampaitansa yhteen hivoen, v?liin jalkaansa maahan polkien tahi yl?s hyp?ht?en ja ruumistansa sinne t?nne mutkistellen kuin raivossaan oleva vimmastunut, v?liin keskeytt?en lukunsa syvill? huokauksilla ja ??nt?m?ll? "hoh, hoh tahi ?h, ?h, ?h, anna hengellisen huokua!" Loitsijan piti tavalla tahi toisella saada luontonsa nousemaan, innostumaan ja karastumaan niinkuin se h?nell? lukunsa alla nousiki ja innostui, jos ei ennen niin haltioihin saatto- ja seuraavissa sanoissa, jotka h?n ??nsi niin raivosasti, ett? sairas kyll? s?ik?htyi. Semmoista s?ik?hytt?mist? eli luonnon liikuttamista loitsijat tarkottivatki, kun pitiv?t sit? hyv?n? apukeinona ty?ns? menestymiseen, milt'ei yht? t?rke?n?, kuin sairaan t?ydellist? luottamusta heid?n taitoonsa ja voimaansa.

Miss? j?rjestyksess? loitsija taikasanojansa luki, on vaikea sanoa, sill?, jos jotain j?rjestyst? laisinkaan oli, se ei kaikilla ollut yht?l?inen. Jos jotain haavaa sairaassa oli, niin ainaki l?ylyn sanat luettiin kohta est?miseksi, ett'ei l?yly niihin menisi, ja sitten, jos ei jo sit? ennenki, perustus-, varomus- ja kateensanat, niiden j?lkeen, jos vika oli tuttua laatua, niinkuin esimerk. tulen, pakkasen, pistoksen, ?hkyn, riiden, maahisen, koin, hammasmadon saattamissa vaivoissa, k??rmeen ja muiden el?vien vahingoittamissa, raudan, kivien ja puiden loukkaamissa, tuli niiden synnyt luettavaksi, mutta, kun synty? ei tietty, alkuper?isyys tiedusteltavaksi. Siit? edelleen luettiin ep?j?rjestyksess?, kuin kuki muisti ja katsoi tarpeelliseksi, rukous- ja p??st?sanoja, ty?ns? korjaus-, vihotus-, luovutus-ja muita sivuilla 20-55 tavattavia sanoja. Ty?ns? p??tteeksi moni loitsija my?hempin? aikoina luki Herran siunauksen ja seotti lukuunsa muitaki kristinopin lauseita ja nimi?, is?meid?n rukouksen, neitsy Maarian, Jortaninjoen, joista ei kuitenkaan runon ij?n vuoksi voi muuta p??tt??, kuin ett? lis?ykset ovat paavin-opin aikana entisiin pakanallisiin runoihin liittyneet.

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