THE POULTRY YARD.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1003, 8 July 1879, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE POULTRY YARD.

FARM POULTRY. Once more the English tenant funis himself with a brge proportion of discolored, if not damaged, grain, and a corn market anything but favorable to the placing of average samples. Consume it at home," is of course the suggest >on ; but what extra stock will the farmer's moans allow hint to buy in f If he hate capital enough, and roots enough, no doubt he can employ ht3 dark barley and sprouted wheat so as to get the utmost value out of them. If not, what is he to do f Sanguine showmen tell wonderful stories of targe sums received for show poultry. These prizes are for the rich. Exhibiting is a hazardous amusement for ! poor men. Yet poultry will pay on a farm thus. We have tried it three years consecutively, and had ample proof that a pound or so per week can be made every week in autumn, winter, and t arly spring thus. Clear out every old bird on the premises : let every roosting pl-iCt; be purified ; get in October half-a-dozen early pullets of the year, of mixed blood (one quarter Cochins, one quarter Spanish, and half Dorking, i 3 a good mixture), put to these a weli-bred dorking cockerel with white tegs ; set alt the hens as early as you can, drafting out the cockerets, and selling tlvem at three months old. After ttie liens have reared their broods and are laying again set! thrm. Rear the pullets, feeding them well with the inferior grain, ground and mixed with skim milk and small potatoes. They will lay freely in August, September, and October, and throughout the winter, when egg 3 fetch best prices. Do not hatch any late chickens. Let the runs be thin of birds rather than overstocked. See that they are fed regularly, and no part of the farm live stock will pay better for their cost. Of conrse some magnificent-minded men will say this is peddling, and cry out for tenant-right and heaveu know 3 what besides. But, after all, it i 3 best to help oueself, and to supply John Bnll with what he wishes to have (among which fresh eggs and poultry at a reasonable rate may be counted on as a constant demand) ; and he will be found a fair paymaster.—Cock-a-Doodi.f.-Doo, in ttie Agricultural Gazette.

CURING SITTERS. (Femu the Poultry World.) Our plan of curing sitting liens of tlieir broody propensities is somewhat different from the oltl lady who cured her hens of the roup by wringing their necks. That wilt, no doubt, effectually remove the but will soon reduce the size of the Hock. The idea of ducking a poor broody lxco tu make her stop her clucking and motherly propensities is about as absurd and useless as putting their heads under their wings, or whirling them aronud until they are almost senseless, and then flinging them over the fence to meditate on their p«3t iniquities. There are others who yoke up their broody hens, the same as isaiiy do the geese they wish to keep from going through the fences. The plan ; may be highly ornamental and diverting, yet it is rarely productive of the desired rssttit. These lire mostly the plnns resorted to in "ye olden times," when dunghill fowls, whose powers of endurance were of the highest order, were the rule and pure bred fowls the exception. There is a far more sensible, as well as effectual, ptiui n»w in :ui*i th:\t is to put all the broody hens into a commodious coop (those hens yon do not wish to set), put a yoimstv active cockerel in with them, ana they wi££, ere long, forget their broody ways. GRASS FOR FOWLS. (ft •»>fw ihx Poultry World.) Novices in poultry-keeping desire to see their yards green with growing grass as hen pastures, not taking into account the ! inevitable effects of constant tramping and the deposit of v.ry strong excremental m:»tter on the t«n:lercst grasses. It is the natrm* of f>>w !s to keep tip a constant si-sire't ami with this intent they travel ..v«r th" icrutm t a«> < uch that allthei<rass b ao. ,n deatroyi d, i r.cept thpt which is coarse uud. valueless. A Hock of twentjfive fowls will entirely eradicate the fine , grasses from a yard containing one-eight! , of an acre. Fowls should have fral

vegetable food, and as it is useless to attempt the production of tender nutritions grasses in their enclosures, another plan must bo adopted to secure our object. The correct way is to have a grass-plat, and mow the tender shoots in the morning when the dew is on, enough to last through the day. This feed kept in the shade will remain fresh. The frequent cutting will insure a quick growth, and only a small quantity being required each day, only a small plat will be needed, the ground being cropped many times in one season. Fowls prefer young cras3, and the land devoted to this purpose should be rich that there may be a quick growth. The lawn-mower is a valuable adjunct of the poultry-yard. JUDGING EGGS, AND CROSSES. {From tin: Furmcrs Goz/itte.) Some people pretend not only to know hy their appearance whether eggs are fertile or not, but even those that will produce cocks and hens. We need hardly say that this is perfect nonsense; for if there were any truth in it, wo would find thu knowing ones hatching nests of cocks and hens as it suited them, but such things are quite unknown. Opinions differ as to the number of hcn3 which should be allowed to each cock, breeders of prize poultry preferring to allow not more than six, while farmers have only one cock to twenty or more hens. The idea is that the fewer the hens the larger and more vigorous will be the offspring ; but we do not think it matters much, provided the birds are in perfect bealtli. It is advisable however, not to breed from very young or very old birds, and if the cock i 3 a year oider than the hens, so much the better. Breeders may, of course, exerciso their own taste as to what sort they are to be breed from, as chickens can he hatched equally well from pure cro3s-bred birds. Sometimes a judicious cross between two pure breeds, such as the Dorking and Spanish, or Spanish and game, produces a very good fowl; but further crossing is undesirable, and it is observed that all successful raisers of poultry cling to pure breeds. Generally crosses are neither profitable for egg producton or table purposes, and their mongrel appearance is not so pleasing to the eye as that of pure-bred birds.