Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1885-12-18
FARM GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.
Poultry Hints.


A crooked breast bone is not a natural
deformity in any breed, butts caused by
the bird roosting on pole before the
bone is sufficiently formed to bear its
weight, or, in other words, by the fowl
roosting too young. A bird with
scrooked east-bone will not transmit it.
Poultry-raising, like any other bust
ness, is trade to learn, and if one is
adapted to it, or has liking for it, he
will succeed. All beginners are advised
to start with few birds, increasing the
number as they learn how to handle
them. What every one wants is to pro-
duce eggs when they bring the highest
prices, and also poultry for market when
it is not plenty. A place near city is
naturally the best, as one can readily Sc
cure customers that will pay good prices
for fresh eggs and nicely dressed chick
ems.
Both Plymouth Rocks and Wyan-
dottes are hardy breeds. Wyandottes
mature the quickest, because as rule
they are not as large as Plymouth Rocks.
The latter breed will weigh more at
eight weeks old. We cannot say which
would lay the greater number of eggs in
a year, as the Wyandottes have not been
tried or bred as extensively as Plymouth
Rocks.
The cause of young chicks getting so
weak in the legs as to hardly be able to
walk is often that they are kept on a
board floor too much They should be
allowed to go on the ground after being
forty, eight hours old.
There is no recipe for packing eggs so
as to keep them a year, and have them
like fresh eggs. Such method would
make fortune for anybody. There is
no rule to feed and care for hens that
are confined to make them lay the year
around. The better care you give them
the better returns.
Chickens Matched in January and Feb.
ruary will mott more or less in the fall
and there is no way to prevent it.
There is nothing so fruitful of disease
and death among young chickens as
damp, unclean quarters. Oftentimes
dampness is found under coops, caused
by the coop remaining upon one place
all day. All brood coops should be re-
moved just before shutdown to ground
that has had the full effects of the dry
ing sun and wind throughout the day.
In rainy weather a dry board should
take the place of the damp ground.
Young chickens show the effects of
dampness in several wavs The brood
may only appear at first slightly indis-
posed, the chicks less active, finally he
coming lifeless and dying from no ap-
parent cause. In other instances the
chick is noticed to drag its body as if
constantly under great pressure. Indi-
gestion and Inflammation are the active
causes of distress, the chick growing
rapidly weak and soon dying. The least
evidence of dampness is manifested in
acute catarrh, or more commonly in
rheumatism in the feet and legs. The
chick is found suddenly crippled and its
toes drawn up in a night. In all cases of
poultry ails, prevention is the best and
cheapest doctor.
In the case of chickens suffering from
rheumatism, the feet and legs should be
placed, or rather held, in warm water
for ten minutes at time. The legs must
be dried thoroughly, and the chick kept
indoors, or upon perfectly dry ground,
There is no pure air in circulation
within the hennery unless ventilators are
used, or where windows are lifted so
that the opening at night are all on one
side of the house. Draughts are dan
gerous and plant the seeds of many win
ters' losses.
Ducks often die from greedily eating
all kinds of insects without stopping to
kill them, thus disarranging their di-
gestive organs. Ducks should be con-
fined in small yards while young, say tc
three or four weeks old, giving water
only enough to drink. Ducks require
more animal food than chickens. They
relish fish.
Young turkeys should be fed on curd
and chopped greens the first two Or three
weeks. They require a range and will not
thrive in confinement. Both turkeys ant
ducks should be kept out of the rain ant
dampness until they are several weeks
old.
A characteristic of our domestic tur
key is that when Young, and until l
'shoots the red, " it is the most delcat,
bird we have, but when grown it is able
to bear the rigors of our winters ex
tremely well.-Poultry Monthly.