The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-10-06
Management Of Fowls.


Failures in the management of poultry
arise chiefly from one of two causes-too
much care or too little care. Some poul-
try fanciers who keep high-priced fowls
eontriye in one way or another to kill
most of them by kindness. The birds
are kept in ornamental palaces and
treated like songsters bred in parlors.
The buildings are often so tight and
warm that the inmates suffer for want
of pure air. They are allowed little ex-
ercise, and, as a consequence, they are
lacking in vitality. They become sick
on the slightest exposure, and are then
dOsed ike feeble infants. They are sub
Z iect To all kinds of diseases and ailments.
They lead an artificial life and its con-
tinuance depends on fortuitous circum-
stances. They produce but few eggs,
and these are considered rs far too valu-
able to eat. They are often unfertile, so
they are of no value for raising chickens.
Fowls with exceedingly long pedigrees
which are raised in buildings fitted up
with all the modern Improvements and fed
! on dainties are chiefly valuable for eXhib-
ting ut fairs. By expanding twenty-five
dollars for fancy coop, eXpresSage and
care during an exhibition, a breeder may
sonfetimes realize a fifth OF that amount
I in the form OF q prize. The chances are.
/ however, tn he viii simply learn that
! his rooster is somewhere deficient in the
scale OF points adopted ut some national
or international convention of poultry
! fanciers. II is possible that one of his
/ tail feathers " IS a little of III color, or
that one of the notches in his comb is
/ not sufficiently well marked. At any
rate he is mot quite up TO standard
according to the highest acknowledged
authority in poultry science.
Other persons keep quite a different
kind of fowls and devote scarcely any
fcare or attention TO them. No attempt is
made to improve the old barn-yard strain
of fowls. or even to infuse new blood
/ into il. They practice breeding in-and-
| in till the stock runs out. If the
birds have any protection at all shey find
It under barns and out-buildings or on
the sides OF straw-stacks They have .
chance TO roost in the branches of shads
trees, on the tops of buildings, or the
upper rail of fences Chickens that
have not the ability to reach high eleva-
tons are obliged to find resting place
| on the ground, where their rest is quite
likely 10 be disturbed by predatory ami
mails and birds Possibly a few of 1.-THE
fittest survive" but if they do their
lives are prolonged in consequence of
their ability to contend with their enc
mics and to endure almost any amount
OF hunger and exposure. Their only
means of obtaining food is that which
Wild fowls possess. As they have poorer
means of locomotion they have fewer OPP
portunities to procure proper food. They
are allowed to range at large during
the winter when there is no vegetation
to damage. and when there is little they
can pick up to eat. During the time
there are insects, fruits, vegetables and
grain TO eat they are kept penned up.
They are then fed raw corn, and are al
lowed few bits of gravel, which are
I supposed to serve an excellent purpose
in aiding digestion and improving the
appetite Occasionally some water IS
placed in the yard in a tin pan, from
which it soon evaporates, or in which 1t
becomes so warm or impure that no liv-
ing thing viii taste it after the first trial.
Persons who keep fowls in this way
during the summer think snow is an ex-
cellent substitute for water during the
winter, and allow their birds to eat OF IT..
if they desire. These persons, ike those
first named, find poultry raising unprofit-
able Chicago Times.