Hens as Brometers

Horowhenua Chronicle, 20 December 1913, Page 4

Hens as Brometers

3 « ._ A poultry-fancier near Durham ! lias produced curious results by altering and alternating the food given to his fowls. It is known to many who have reared canaries for market that Cayenne pepper, put into their food, results in a notable difference in the character and shade of (heir plumage giving the feathers a smoothness and reddishtinge which adds very much to the sum fur which the birds may ordinarily be sold. If the same ingredient be added to Ihe diet, especially of white hens which have been" hatched from carefully selected eggs, their feathers become pale rose, and they Hush to a brilliant red when the weather is damp and a storm approaching. These hens thus become veritable barometers, and the progression of colour from pale to brilliant is so exact that a scarlet hen stalking about the barnyard is regarded as certain prophecy tlit the weather is going to be stormy, which may lie as much as twelve hours distant.