The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-03-31

Wnltc, arc n very handsome Dlru ana
present novel and attractive appear
ancc when kept in flocks, but are not
saleabe ms market fowls. The French,
which comprise six varieties, are good
sized and most of them are excellent
layers, but as they are mostly white or
blue-lcgged they are not general favo-
rites and are bred by amateurs and
those that go more for fancy than profit.
The game fowls do not seem to be bred
to any great extent only by those living
in and around villages and cities.
They are very good fowl to lay and
are extremely hardy, and for mothers
they are without rival. A game hen
with brood of chickens is warlike
piece and will defend them successfully
against most any kind of foe. They
have very plump forms. especially the
breast, and have been bred so as to re-
tain their warlike disposition as they
were originally found in their wild
state, and like thc partridge, are devoid
of any internal fat. In the miscellane-
Gus class we have the Frizzles, Silkies,
Creepers, Rumples, &c. more ornamen-
tai than useful, and the diminutive Ban
tam, great in his own estimation, but to
its owner more ornamental than profita-
BILE and the only profit that can be de-
rived from them is in keeping the gar
den clear of many kinds of injnrious in
sects. This they will do without DANA.
ging any of the growing plants and fol-
Il good old fashioned chicken pie they
stand pre- eminent. This long list com.
prises all the varieties that we have
now, and which is the best is a matter
Of choiceTleft optional to the fancier, but
as far as my own choice is concerned
would prefer the Asiatics and Leghorns
crossed. You take light Brahma cock
and white Leghorn hen and you will
get chick of good size, generally pure
white in color, and excellent for the Ia
Bile or eggs. Also cross with the Par
fridge Cochin and brown Leghorn will
give you equally as good a bird and by
combining two varieties of pure fowli
almost any kind may be produced, ant
many of them will be elegant specimens
and will be more profitable than any
simple breed.
In rearing chickens il is necessary &c
have some fixed idea of what you wan
and what the demands of the market
are. where YOU intend to dispose ofyoni
surplus stock; then procure some GOOD
fowls, pure bred are the best, and Il
the hens are mongrels, get a full-bloodet
male. even if he does cost double OF
treble what mongrcl can be procured
for: set the eggs and watch for results
The process Of incubation is very inter
csting, and no product of animal lifo il
more marvellous to the thinking mind
and as few have more than a superficial
idea of the operation, cannot forbeai
giving II moments thought. "At the
close of the third day after the hen is sci
on the eggs. the lineamcnts of the chicks
body iaintly appears. The heart begins
TO beat the fourth day. At the end OF
the fifth day the wings and brain glob-
ules show. The liver is seen on the
sixth day, when the bill appears also.
On the tenth day the feathers begin TO
show and on the eleventh the eyes ap-
pear On the fourteenth the stomach
and lungs are perfected. On the fif-
tcenth or sixteenth day the bill opens
often. AT the eighteenth day ii peeps
and growing rapidly stronger; breaks
from its shell on the twenty-first day."
This is the process of incubation, and
how marvellous ii is that all the parts of
an animals body should be concealed
within the Thin, porous shell of an egg,
which requires nothing but heat to I'M
fold and mature it into active life: and
the moment it is Matched, it is heavier
than the egg was before.
Young chicks require feeding often.
and just what they will eat up clean,
and by giving them fine middlings
and Indian meal mixed they will grow
rapidly if kept free from lice, as these
are the worst enemy that attack them
while young. have succeeded in rid
ding mother and chicks by scattering
dry sulPhur among the Natlivis vu the
breast and under side of the wings of
the mother after the chicks are all
hatched, and before they are removed
from the nest. This will prove effectual
Tor time, or until new supply gets
Matched when the remedy must be re-
! peated.
The turkey is looked upon as being a
very important bird in reckoning up the
profits derived from the poultry yard,
and in suitable places they can be reared
at small expense. The bronze, black
and Narragansett or grey are the best
to select for breeding stock, but the
same care should be exercised as in
fowls, the medium sized being the best.
Many think that the largest and heaviest
males and females are the ones to save
to breed from. This is wrong; a female
that weighs ten pounds is far preferable
to one that weighs fifteen or eighteen
pounds. In selecting hen turkey, look
well to the head and see that il is clean,
well defined and covered with soft, fine
feathers, legs medium length, body
smooth, compact and we'll defined, and
looks every way like perfect turkey.
Such a one will prove both prolific and
profitable. Turkeys one YEAR old or
more are preferable as breeders, and if
the male is changed once in two wears
the young turkeys will be strong and
healthy. Young turkeys require con-
siderable care and attention. but after
they have become well feathered, will
shit for themselves if they are fed once
a day until half grown; after that they
generally secure sufficient food, and the
farmers balance sheet shows a good
profit derived from them if the foxes
have not forestalled him.
Geese and ducks, noisy, but indispen-
sable TO good bed and Christmas din
ner. 1t is said that geese, like bean
porridge, improve with age. This, /
suppose. means for breeding purposes.
not for a good dinner. Ii is uniyersally
admitted that geese are not without
their share ofperplexity and annoyance,
but TO the worthy housewife who has
sons and daughters marrying and leav-
ing home, the present ola good feather
bed is deemed indispensable and is req
uisite in household economy, and ifthey
are nasty and noisy and get into The
grass and grain, they are tolerated with
Il view to their feathers and from 81 90
to 80 for their bodies. The cost of
Keeping a goose through the winter
need not be large, as they will subsist on
hay and coarse food from the house. and
# kept in lean condition will Law ear.
lier and more eggs than if fat. Corn
should not be fed to geese to any extent
I'll about the middle of February after
that, liberal allowance should Be given
them until they sit, and if the gosiings
are taken away from them they usually