The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-04-26
PREASANT-BREEDING.

ASANT-BREEDING.
From Harper's Weekly.
The fields are all fenced in with
wire netting with two-inch meshes,
and from the surface, in which it is
securely embedded, it rises to height
of ten feet. In the summertime one
can hear the musical ''peeping" of the
little fedglings, and the answering
''clucking" of the mother hen, with an
occasional cry from the cocks in the
breeding pens as something startles
them. The noise they make sounds
like the first tentative efforts of a
young rooster, except that whereas
the latter flaps his wings and crows
afterwards, the former drums" and
then sounds his note. In drumming
they move their wings SO rapidly that
they seem like gauze
The laying season begins about the
middle of April, and before that time
all the birds that are wanted for this
purpose are caught from the open field.
where they have run all winter, and
put in huge pens These are eighteen
feet square, or Whereabouts, and are
arranged in one large rectangle, with
alleys between each alternate double
row, so that access can be had to them
through doors or gates left in the wire
meshing for that purpose. The cor
ners are darkened with waterproof
hoods smeared with disinfecting mix
ture, as indeed is everything about the
place. These retreats are for the birds
to lay under. The pens being in an
apple orchard, the leaves afford shade,
and worms and larvae also. for the
Unsuitable crops beneath. Clumps of
grass are left to grow about in spots,
the rest OF the ground being loosened
to encourage bathing and scratch
ing. Five hens are put with one cock,
and unless they do not get along well
together, the family is not disinte-
grated until the end of the season.
and not then, for all are kept in one
field. Birds one year old are preferred
for laying, the older ones being sold
off to preserves where they viii be less
confined. Two or three years in such
small quarters make a difference in
their powers of propagation, but they
recuperate rapidly in the woods Great
care is exercised in choosing healthy
birds, but if a weak one should be dis
covered-and they are rare-his neck
is wrung on the spot. for Mr.. De Guise
has no hospital for contagious dis
eases Sickness, to reiterate. is not
frequent enough to require one. The
manner of catching the birds to put in
the pens is simple They are driven
into large box, commodious enough
TO allow two attendants to get inside |
comforta bly,, with the top and sides |
covered with bagging to prevent in |
jury to the captives in their efforts to |
escape Wide wings" of wire netting |
extend out into the field from the en- |
trance to the box, and when a man is
sent TO walk slowly towards the birds /
all within the radius of the wings run 1
wildly to their fate. They do not try
to fly unless startled, but their legs
carry them along very fast Once in
side they are handed out one al time
to have a wing clipped. Even in this
condition they make strenuous at
tempts to fy when alarmed in the
pens, turning ludicrous sornersaults in
he air, only TO come down uncere-
and try again
The average hen will lay about forty
,ggs in the interval from the beginning
If the season 20 the middle of July.
when it is practically over. During
his period the birds are fed twice a
;,r-ip .ha fo-erooo IN a ,,,;xS,ro - |
:rscked dog-biscuit meal and pulver-
zed oyster shells, softened with milk,
md in the afternoon the diet is changed
o grain With the appearance OF the
irst eggs attendants begin TO 90 around
n the late afternoon. near sunset, with
Iat-bottomed baskets in which TO col
ect them This is done every day, as
ocular as clockwork, for the Matching
3 not done By the pheasants, but BIZ
oEnmon barnyard hens
Several weeks before the frst eggs {
re laid the farmers IN the neizhbor-
God are notified that sitting hens viii I
c needed at the pleasantly, and soon Z
fter ATl-Fools day they begin 70 bring |
4 all their surplus stock These are
urchzsed az market prices and con-
ned IN ventilated boxes arranged in
ers inside the barn, the hens being
atisfed 10 So On porcelain eggs until
eedeG for actual utility When the
peasants have supplied enough eggs
ae work OF putting the latter down Is
egun- Back OF the barn. on q gentle
ope, are long rows OK obiong eoops
ach one consisting Of closed box {
18th a removable I'D for the nest, ana :
dimiaative yard a few square feet =
i area for TIE hen 20 exercise n.
This Is enclosed by wire netting. and I
-ovided with a separate drinking pza ! :
ezrtherwz-e- Prom fifteen 10 eixh- :
'en eggs are set IN each nes. the {
lumber depending upon the sire Of the :
-, which mzy be bantam or
IyTaouth Rock When abe Is very
rye she may take twenty, for they
X smaller than her own. Iight green
color aud 50 rich that osiy their ex- :