American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1864-07-06

cts.
Near large cities most poultry-keepers
prefer raising early chickens particularly
those who rear for market, as they then
bring great price but it is not all pro-
fit. They are some trouble to rear, and
many will be lost from inclement wealth
er. The earliest broods of March and
April, if well attended and well fed, will
be ready for market by the first Of July,
and will then command the highest price,
say from 70 to 80 cents per pair, which
pays better profit than ever after
But it is the later broods that now de-
mand our attention. As the weather is
warm. the mother hens with their little
families of younglings should have
large, airy coops, and the coops,placed
abroad; but in all cases a dry and
quiet location should be chosen, near
the house, on account Of the conve-
nience of feeding them, and where the
chicks are not in danger of being
trodden upon by either man or beast,
nor where the hen will be roasted by
the heat of the sun, or where there is
danger of the chickens being carried
off by hawks and crows. 1t is not
bad practice to place hens with their
broodsin the vicinity of the kitchen
garden. A hen with dozen chickens,
then being confined in a coop, will do
more to secure the preservation of
the vegetables than man they not
only obtain the greater part Of their
living, but are of great service in de-
stroying large numbers of bugs, worms
insects, and their eggs, which are so
injurious to vegetation, which they
annihilate and convert into a source
Of profit instead of loss, by devour-
ing them as food. We have expert
enced some difficulty, however, in
this, for the hawks, and even the
crows, would pounce upon them and
where the vegetables such as beans
and peas, were pretty rank, the rats
will take shelter, lie in ambush, and
catch the young chickens, when run
ming among them. 1t is well to
look to these evils, and we wewould also
advise their removal after they are a
month or SO old, or they will become
so attached to the garden that it will
be difficult to keep them out.
The coops should not be placed
too near each other, as the chickens
are apt to mix and get into the wrong
coop, and some hens are so cross
that they often kill small strange
chickens.
At the end of six or seven weeks
the hen may be allowed her liberty,
after the dew is off in the morning
and the weather fair; and if a NOV
able coop be employed, the door may
be let open, or it may be propped up
with a stick, and the hen will return
to it at night of her own accord, when
it may be let down and kept so until
the dew of the morning is off. AT
the end of two weeks more they may
be turned into the poultry-yard. AS
they will at first hardly receive fair
play in the distribution of food, it
will be necessary to prepare for them
a feeding-coop, so that they may en-
Joy their food without being disturbed
by the other fowls. This may be eff
fected by driving strips of boards or
stakes in the ground, leaving spaces
between just wide enough to prevent
the grown fowls from entering, en-
circling space five or six feet in di-
ameter and about two feet high, COW
cred with boards, through which
should be a small aperture or door,
where the feed may be put in the
feeding-box made SOr the purpose.
When chickens are confined to a
narrow space it requires much pain
to supply them with all the kinds of
food which they collect when running
at large and without care to supply
their wants, they will not thrive well
or be profitable. When running at
large in lawn or pasture lot, they
deyour many insects and grubs, and
many kinds ofherbage, various sorts
of seeds, and many other things which
we cannot discriminate, though we
look on while they select their food.
To ensure rapid and full growth of
chickens, good, substantial food
should be given them with liberal
hand there is no economy in half
starving them. Ground oats and
boiled potatoes mashed and moisten-
ed with milk (if little soured none
the worse)will increase their flesh,
while corn will fatten them. The
food is matter of much variety, as
various articles are used for the pur-
pose of fattening fowls. In Buenos
Ayres they are made quite fat by
feeding on the dead horses it being
no uncommon thing to see hen with
a whole brood of chickens coming out
of the carcass of a dead horse. The
flavor of their flesh must be abomi-
nableand that of their eggs but little
better.
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MARYLAND A FREE STATE.-The ac-