Choice varieties of fowls add a pleasant feature to the farm premises. They engage the attention and sympathy of the juvenile farmers, and the time bestowed in the poultry yard keeps them from mischief: it is an agreeable and salutary relief from toil and study, and elicits the taste, the judgment, and the kindlier feelings of humanity, which are to be matured in the future accomplished breeder. When properly managed, poultry are a source of considerable profit, yielding more for the food they consume, than any other stock, although their value is not often considered. The agricultural statistics of the United States, for 1839, give us over $12,000,000 in poultry, and it probably exceeds $15,000,000 at the present time. It is estimated by McQueen, that the poultry of England exceeds $40,000,000, and yet McCulloch says she imports 60,000,000 eggs annually from France, (McQueen states it at near 70,000,000;) and from other parts of the continent, 25,000,000; besides 80,000,000 imported from Ireland. Poultry, then, ceases to be an unimportant object of agricultural attention, and assumes its appropriate place among the other staples of the farmer.

Hens

Are the most numerous and profitable, and the most generally useful of the feathered tribe. The hen is peculiarly an egg-producing bird. She has the same predisposition for laying, that the cow has for secreting milk. Some breeds are better adapted for this object than others: but in all that have ever come within our notice, the proper food and circumstances are alone wanting, to produce a reasonable quantity of eggs.

The egg consists of three distinct parts; the shell, the white, and the yolk. A good-sized egg will weigh 1,000 grains, of which about 107 are shell, 604 are white, and 289 are yolk. Of the shell, 97 per cent. is carbonate of lime, 1 per cent. phosphate of lime and magnesia, and 2 per cent. albumen. The white consists of 12 per cent. of albumen, 2.7 of mucus, 0.3 of salts, and 85 of water. The yolk has about 17.4 per cent. of albumen, 28.6 of yellow oil, 54 of water, with a trace of sulphur and phosphorus.

The foregoing are the constituents of eggs, which have been formed when the bird has free access to the various articles which constitute her natural food. But they vary with circumstances. When full-fed and denied all access to lime, she will form an egg without the shell, and deliver it enclosed in the membrane or sack which always surrounds the white, when covered by the shell. When scantily fed, they will frequently lay; but from a deficiency of nutriment, the egg will be meager and watery, and possess but a small portion of the nutritious qualities peculiar to them.

To produce the largest number of good eggs, several conditions are important; and they must especially have an abundance of the right kind of food. This is the most readily obtained in part from animal food. In warm weather, when they have a free range, they can generally supply their wants in the abundance of insects, earth-worms, and other animal matters within their reach. The large proportion of albumen contained in their eggs, requires that much of their food should be highly nitrogenized, and when they cannot procure this in animal matter, it must be given in grains containing it.

If to the usual qualities of hens, a breed of peculiar elegance, of graceful form, and beautiful plumage, be added, together with entire adaptation to the economical purposes required, good layers and good carcass, we have a combination of utility, luxury, and taste in this bird, which should commend them as general favorites. They can everywhere be kept with advantage, except in dense cities. A hen that costs a shilling or two, if provided with a suitable range, will consume 30 or 40 cents worth of food, and produce from 80 to 150 eggs per annum, worth three or four times the cost of feed and attention.

The Food

Of hens may consist of different kinds of grain, either broken, ground, or cooked; roots, and especially boiled potatoes, are nutritious and economical; green herbage as clover and most of the grasses, chickweed, lettuce, cabbage, &c., will supply them with much of their food, if fresh and tender.

Fig. 40, is a Food fountain. The grain is placed in the hopper, which is closely covered, and the grain falls into the bottom below. It is accessible on four sides by spring doors, which are thrown open by the weight of the fowl on the connecting spring. One is shown as opened by the fowl in stepping up to feed. This is a protection against dirt and vermin.

Though not absolutely essential to them, yet nothing contributes so much to their laying, as unsalted, animal food. This is a natural aliment, as is shown by the avidity with which they pounce on every fly, insect, or earth-worm which comes within their reach. It would not of course pay to supply them with valuable flesh, but the blood and offal of the slaughter-houses, refuse meat of all kinds, and especially the scraps or cracklings to be had at the inciters' shops, after soaking for a few hours in warm water, is one of the best and most economical kinds of food. Such with boiled meal is a very fattening food. Grain is at all times best for them when cooked, as they will lay more, fatten quicker, and eat much less when fed to them in this state; and it may be thus used unground, with the same advantage to the fowls as if first crushed, as their digestive organs are certain to extract the whole nutriment. All grain is good for them, including millet, rice, the oleaginous seeds, as the sun-flower, flax, hemp, &c. It is always better to afford them a variety of grains where they can procure them at their option, and select as their appetite craves.

They are also fond of milk, and especially when it has become curdled; and indeed scarcely any edible escapes their notice. They carefully pick up most of the waste garbage around the premises, and glean much of their subsistence from what would otherwise become offensive; and by their destruction of innumerable insects and worms, they render great assistance to the gardener. Of course their ever-busy propensity for scratching, is indiscriminately indulged just after the seeds have been sown and while the plants are young, which renders it necessary that they be confined in some close yard for a time; yet this should be as capacious as possible.

Water is placed in the cask as represented in the Fig., and it is then closely stopped, except an opening through a tube leading into a vessel below. As the water is exhausted from this, it descends from the cask above, and a supply is thus at all times within reach of the poultry.

Their food is better when given to them warm, not hot, and there should always be a supply before them to prevent gorging. It is better to be placed on shelves or suspended boxes or hoppers, which are variously and cheaply constructed, to keep it clean and out of the reach of rats. Besides their food, hens ought to be at all times abundantly supplied with clean water, egg or pounded oyster shells, old mortar or slacked lime. If not allowed to run at large, where they can help themselves, they must also be furnished with gravel to assist their digestion; and a box or bed of ashes, sand, and dust, is equally essential to roll in for the purpose of ridding themselves of vermin.

May be constructed in various ways to suit the wishes of the owner, and when tastefully built it is an ornament to the premises, It should be perfectly dry throughout, properly lighted, and capable of being made tight and warm in winter, yet afford all the ventilation desirable at any season. In this, arrange the nests in boxes on the sides, in such a manner as to humor the instinct of the hen for concealment when she resorts to them. When desirable to set the hen, these nests may be so placed as to shut out the others, yet open into another yard or beyond the enclosure, so that they can take an occasional stroll and help themselves to food, &c. This prevents other hens laying in their nests, while setting; and it may be easily managed, by having their boxes placed on the wall of the building, with a moveable door made to open on either side at pleasure. Hens will lay equally well without a nest-egg, but when broken up, they ramble off and form new nests, if they are not confined. They will lay if kept from the cock, but it is doubtful if they will thus yield as many eggs. Hens disposed to set at improper times, should be dismissed from the common yard, so as to be out of reach of the nests, and plentifully fed till weaned from this inclination.

Fig. 43 represents an egg-hatcher or Eccalobeon, made of different sizes, with shelves so arranged as to hold from 200 to 800 eggs without touching each other. The outer box is a non-conductor, so as to retain the heat conveyed to every part by water tubes, connected by a reservoir below, the bottom of which is heated by the flame from a spirit-lamp. The temperature is indicated by a thermometer on the door inside, which should be made equal to that of the hen, say about 106° Fahrenheit. Her natural temperature is somewhat elevated by the feverish condition of the bird at the period of incubation.

Chickens require to be kept warm and dry, for a few days after hatching, and they may be fed with hard-boiled eggs, crumbs of bread or pudding, and milk or water, and allowed to scratch in the gravel in front of the hen, which should be confined in a coop for the first three or four weeks. After this, they may be turned loose, when they will thrive on any thing the older ones eat. Many use them for the table when they are but a few weeks old; but they are unfit for this purpose, till they have attained full maturity.

The white-legs are preferred by some, from the whiteness and apparent delicacy of the meat; but the yellow-legged are the richest and most highly-flavored. The color of the feathers does not seem to affect the quality of the flesh or their character for laying. If we consider the chemical principles of the absorption and retention of heat, we should assume the white coat to be best, as it is coolest in summer when exposed to the sun, and warmest in winter. Yet some of the white breeds are delicate, and do not bear rough usage or exposure.

The Poland is both white and black, with a large tuft, generally of white feathers, on the head. They are of good size, and excellent layers, but are seldom inclined to set, which makes them peculiarly desirable for such as wish eggs only.

The Dominique is a speckled fowl, of barely medium size, compact, hardy, good layers, and valuable for the table. The Bucks county fowls, heretofore principally reared near Philadelphia, possess but moderate pretensions to notice, except in their immense size, a brace of capons having been fattened to 19¼ lbs. when dressed.

The Bantam is but little larger than a pigeon, and is usually of a pure white, but is sometimes speckled. It is generally feathered to the toes, but may be bred with clean legs. It is very domestic, and a pleasant little bird around the premises, and is not unprofitable. The Game cock is of medium weight, and yields good flesh, but is a poor layer, and an undesirable tenant for the farm-yard. Besides these, there are many fanciful varieties, as the Creeper, with excessively short legs; the Rumpless, without a tail; the Frizzled, with irregular feathers turned towards the head; the Silky or Merino fowl, with brown or buff down, instead of feathers; the Negro, with its black crest, wattles, skin, legs, and feathers; the Java and Cochin China, of great size; several varieties of the Top-knot, and others.

The Diseases of Hens.

These are not numerous or complicated, and may be mostly avoided by proper treatment and food, which are indicated with sufficient minuteness in the foregoing observations.

Gapes or Pip is generally owing to drinking unwholesome or dirty water. Remove the white blister on the tip of the tongue, and wash with sharp vinegar, diluted with warm water; or compel the bird to swallow a large lump of fresh butter, mixed with Scotch snuff. It has been cured by opening the mouth and forcing a pigeon feather, with a tuft of the feathers left on the end, (the others having been stripped off,) down the windpipe, and gently turning it as withdrawn, to be repeated the following day if necessary. This detaches large numbers of a slender red worm, collected in the larynx of the throat, which impedes respiration and swallowing. A little spirits of turpentine mixed with the food is a preventive; as are also clean, whitewashed premises, and good food. After these attacks, feed for a few days with light food, soaked bran and cabbage, or lettuce chopped fine.

Roup, Catarrh, or swelled head, is shown by feverish symptoms, swollen eyelids, frequently terminating in blindness, rattling in the throat, and temporary strangulation. These are accompanied with a highly offensive watery discharge, from the mouth and nostrils, loss of appetite, and much thirst. They should be placed near the fire; their head bathed in warm Castile soap-suds, or milk and water. Stimulating food, as flour or barley-meal, mustard and grated ginger, mixed and forced down the throat, Boswell says, has been effectual in their speedy restoration. This, like many other diseases, is contagious, and when it appears, the bird should be at once separated from the flock.

Flux is cured by the yolk of an egg boiled hard; and boiled barley soaked in wine.

Costiveness is removed by giving bran and water with a little honey; or give a small dose of castor oil.

Vermin are destroyed by giving them clean sand and ashes to roll in, adding a little quicklime if necessary.

Entire cleanliness is necessary for the avoidance of this and other diseases. A perfectly dry range is also essential, nor should there be too many together, as this is a fruitful source of disease.

THE TURKEY.

This bird was unknown to the civilized world till the discovery of this Continent. It was found here both in its wild and domesticated state; and still occupies the whole range of the western hemisphere, though the wild turkey disappears as the country becomes settled. The wild is larger than the domesticated bird, sometimes weighing over 30 lbs. dressed. The color of the male is generally a greenish brown, approaching to black, and of a rich, changeable, metallic lustre. The hen is marked somewhat like the cock, but with duller hues. Domestication through successive generations dims the brilliancy of their plumage, and lessens their size and hardiness. It also produces a variety of colors, though they are mostly of a black, buff, pure white, or speckled.

They give evidence of the comparative recency of their domestication, in the instinct which frequently impels the cock to brood and take care of the young. Nothing is more common than for the male bird to supply the place of the hen, when any accident befalls her, and to bring up a family of young chicks with an equally instinctive regard for their helplessness and safety.

The flesh of this bird, both wild and tame, is exceedingly delicate and palatable; and though not possessing the high game flavor of some of the smaller wild-fowl, and especially of the aquatic, as the canvass-back duck, &c., it exceeds them in its digestibility and healthfulness. The turkey is useful principally for its flesh, as it seldom lays over a nest-full of eggs in one season, when they brood on these and bring up their young. If full-fed, and their first eggs are withdrawn from them, they frequently lay a second time.

Breeding.

Those intended for breeders should be compact, vigorous, and large, without being long-legged. They should be daily, yet lightly fed through the winter, on grain and roots, and some animal food is always acceptable and beneficial to them. They are small eaters, and without caution will soon get too fat. One vigorous male will suffice for a flock of 10 or 12 hens, and a single connection is sufficient for each. They begin to lay on the approach of warm weather, laying once a day, or every other day, till they have completed their litter; which in the young or indifferently fed, may be 10 or 12, and in the older ones, sometimes reaches 20. The hen is sly in secreting her nest, but usually selects a dry, well-protected place. She is an inveterate setter, and carefully hatches most of her eggs.

The young may be allowed to remain for 24 hours without eating, then fed with hard-boiled eggs made fine, or crumbs of wheat bread. Boiled milk, curds, and buttermilk afford an excellent food. As they get stronger, oat or barley-meal is suitable, but Indian-meal, uncooked, is hurtful to them when quite young. They are very tender, and will bear neither cold nor wet, and it is of course necessary to confine the old one for the first few weeks. When able to shift for themselves, they may wander over the fields at pleasure; and from their great fondness for insects, they will rid the meadows of innumerable grasshoppers, bugs, and beetles, which often do incalculable damage to the farmer. Early chickens are sufficiently grown to fatten the latter part of autumn or the beginning of winter, which is easily done on any of the grains or boiled roots. Both are better for being cooked. They require a higher roosting-place than hens, and are impatient of too close confinement, preferring the ridge of a barn, or a lofty tree, to the circumscribed limits of the ordinary poultry-house. When rightly managed and fed, turkeys are subject to few maladies; and even these, careful attention will soon remove.

THE PEACOCK AND GUINEA-HEN.

The Peacock is undoubtedly the most showy of the feathered race. It is a native of the southern part of Asia, and is still found wild in the islands of Java and Ceylon, and some parts of the interior of Africa. They are an ornament to the farm premises, and are useful in destroying reptiles, insects, and garbage; but they are quarrelsome in the poultry-yard, and destructive in the garden. Their flesh is coarse and dark, and they are worthless as layers. The brilliant silvery green and their ever-varying colors give place to an entire white, in one of the varieties.

The Guinea-hen is a native of Africa and the southern part of Asia, where it abounds in its wild state. Most of them are beautifully and uniformly speckled; but occasionally they are white on the breast, like the Pintados of the West India Islands, and some are entirely white. They are unceasingly garrulous; and their excessively pugnacious character renders them uncomfortable inmates with the other poultry. Their flesh, though high-colored, is delicate and palatable, but, like the peacock, they are indifferent layers. Both are natives of a warm climate, and the young are tender and rather difficult to rear. Neither of these birds is a general favorite, and we omit further notice of them.

THE GOOSE.

There are many varieties of the goose. Main enumerates twenty-two, most of which are wild; and the tame are again variously subdivided. The common white and gray are the most numerous and profitable. The white Bremen is much larger, often weighing over 20 lbs. net. It is of a beautiful snowy plumage, is domestic and reared without difficulty, though not as prolific and hardy as the former. The China Goose is smaller than the gray, and one of the most beautiful of the family, possessing much of the gracefulness and general appearance of the swan. It is prolific and tolerably hardy, but has not thus far been a successful rival with the first. The Guinea or African goose is the largest of the species, and equals the size of the swan, often dressing over 25 lbs. It is a majestic and graceful bird, and very ornamental to water scenery. Several other varieties are domesticated in the United States.

Breeding.

Geese pair frequently at one year old, and rear their young; but with some kinds, especially of the wild, this is deferred till two and sometimes three. They require a warm, dry place for their nests, and when undisturbed, they will sit steadily; and if the eggs have not been previously chilled or addled, they will generally hatch them all, if kept on the nest. To insure this, it is sometimes necessary to withdraw the first hatched, to prevent the old ones wandering before all are out. The young should be kept in a warm sheltered place till two or three weeks old, if the weather be cold or unsettled. The best food for the goslings, is barley or oat, or boiled Indian meal and bread. Milk is also good for them. They require green food, and are fond of lettuce, young clover, and fresh tender grass; and after a few weeks, if they have a free range on this, they will forage for themselves.

Geese are not a profitable bird to raise, unless in places where they can procure their own subsistence, or at least during the greater part of the year. This they are enabled to do, wherever there are extensive commons of unpastured lands, or where there are streams or ponds, lakes or marshes with shoal sedgy banks. In these, they will live and fatten throughout the year, if unobstructed by ice. They may be fed on all kinds of grain and edible roots, but it is more economical to give them their food cooked. The well-fattened gosling affords one of the most savory dishes for the table.

Geese live to a great age. They have been known to exceed 100 years. If allowed a free range on good food and clean water, they will seldom get diseased. When well fed, they yield nearly a pound of good feathers in a season, at three or four pluckings; and the largest varieties even exceed this quantity.

DUCKS

Are more hardy and independent of attention than the goose, and they are generally the most profitable. They are omnivorous, and greedily eat every thing which will afford them nourishment, though they seldom forage on the grasses like the goose, when they can procure other food. They are peculiarly carnivorous, and devour all kinds of meat, putrid or fresh; and are especially fond of fish, and such insects, worms, and other creeping things, as they can find imbedded in the mud or elsewhere. They will often distend their crop with young frogs, almost to the ordinary size of their bodies. Their indiscriminate appetite often renders them unfit for the table, unless fattened out of the reach of garbage and offensive matters. An English admiral used to resort to well-fattened rats for his fresh meat when at sea, and justified his taste by saying, they were more cleanly feeders than ducks, which were general favorites.

The most profitable for domestic use, is undoubtedly the common black duck. They lay profusely in the spring, when well fed, often producing 40 or 50 eggs, and sometimes a greater number, if kept from setting. They are much larger than those of the hen, and equally rich and nourishing, but far less delicate. They are careless in their habits, and generally drop their eggs wherever they happen to be through the night, whether in the water, the road, or farm-yard; and as might be expected from such prodigality of character, they are indifferent setters and nurses.

The ducklings are better reared by setting the eggs under a sedate, experienced hen, as the longer time necessary for hatching, requires patience in the foster-mother to develop the young chick. They should be confined for a few days, and away from the water. At first they may be fed with bread, or pudding made from boiled oat, barley, or Indian meal; and they soon acquire strength and enterprise enough to shift for themselves, if afterwards supplied with pond or river water. They are fit for the table when fully grown, and well fattened on clean grain. This is more economically accomplished by feeding it cooked.

The varieties of ducks are almost innumerable. Main describes 31, and some naturalists number over 100. Besides the black duck above described, several others, as the light gray, the white duck, and some of the tufted, are prolific, hardy, and profitable.

We omit further notice of other varieties; and of the swan, brant, pigeons, &c., as not profitable for general rearing, and only suited to ornamental grounds.