Far the easiest and most paying is the rearing of ducks; they give no trouble, and seem to require none of the coaxing and attention apparently necessary for the hens; quite quietly they appear to make their own arrangements, and in due time emerge with an eminently attractive and satisfactory family of sixteen or thereabouts. Except for a tendency to walk the babies off their legs, ducks are devoted and excellent mothers.
An extremely useful scrap of knowledge we have picked up, is, when the hatch is due, or nearly so, to seize the opportunity, when the hen or duck is off the nest, to immerse the eggs gently in hot water (105°); almost immediately the ‘live’ eggs begin to roll about and dance in the most exciting fashion, and those which, after a few minutes, make no movement at all may be safely considered as ‘wrong’ and removed from the hatch, as their presence is injurious to the hatching chicks, and embarrassing to the mother.
I have found that the chief difficulty lies in finding enough boiled food for the fowls; the victims of dysentery undoubtedly got the disease from eating too much whole grain, but it is a grave problem to give them enough of anything else. There is, at present, in this country, nothing available to answer to the regular ‘chicken’s food’ mixture, provided at home, consisting of boiled turnip cuttings, potato peelings, cabbage leaves, sharps, etc. Perhaps when our vegetable gardens are on a firmer basis we shall be able to lavish green food on our fowls; at present, there are but boiled yams and sweet potatoes to be had, but the fowls do not take kindly to them, nor to boiled rice, which, by the way, does not agree with them. On the whole, I think they prefer boiled gari to any other cooked food; I have seen them enthusiastic over aggidi (a native food) mixed up with maize and a few odds and ends from the breakfast table. Guinea-corn thus becomes their staple article of diet, and it is only by giving them full liberty all day long, and allowing them to procure their own grass and insect food, that the enemy, dysentery, is avoided.
We were wrong, I suppose, in selecting Black Minorcas, from a sitting point of view, as I believe that, even at home, they are non-sitters, and they certainly are in Nigeria! However, with an incubator this is a matter of no importance, and it would be difficult to find a more satisfactory breed from a laying point of view. I should say, most decidedly, that Dorkings or Plymouth Rocks would be found excellent breeds to bring to this country, the latter being good sitters and a hardy breed; but they must be kept free from damp, which is, I fancy, the cause of their frequently contracting disease in the legs and feet. I have also heard an authority on different sorts of poultry describe Dorkings as ‘the very best breed for amateur poultry keepers,’ they are excellent mothers, and quite the best kind for table purposes.
I cannot feel that I am able to give any very practical advice on this subject; my own experience has been too limited to build a theory on, but as the chicken, in one guise or another, is bound to appear so frequently on our tables, it is more than advisable, it becomes a positive duty, to endeavour to encourage all newcomers to help, by importing fowls from England, to improve the Nigerian species. When next I come out I shall certainly bring a collection of Dorkings and another incubator, for it is worth remembering that the hen of the country is such a tiny creature that she cannot possibly cover more than three or four good-sized eggs.
I also cherish golden dreams of bringing out English geese, as I believe they would succeed, and repay, a hundred-fold, the trouble of bringing them. Geese are less troublesome to feed than fowls, as they find so much for themselves roaming about; they are also good sitters (I am speaking of the white Embden geese), and, of course, a great delicacy for the table. They should be brought out in the proportion of two geese to one gander.
It is, perhaps, worth mentioning that bringing out live stock entails little or no trouble; any large dealer will ship the birds in strong coops with a supply of grain for the voyage, and their owner will find them established on deck, and requiring nothing more than a daily visit, and a little arrangement with the ship’s cook or butcher, as to their cleanliness and a small supply of boiled food. These good folks are so accustomed to the care of all kinds of live stock, domestic and wild, being carried to and from West Africa, from a full-grown giraffe to tiny gazelles, no larger than a rabbit, that they are invariably most ready and willing to supervise anything of the sort.
All this considered, I am sure that every one will agree with me that it is worth while giving a trial to imported live stock for the farm-yard; my ambition even soars—in secret, and in fear and trembling—to the importation of a few rabbits, for experimental purposes. I am aware that the indiscriminate introduction of rabbits has caused unpopularity elsewhere before now, but I should suggest their being kept in confinement at first, and I should not think that the provision of green food need be a difficulty, as they would almost certainly enjoy the young leaves of Indian Corn, which can be grown anywhere. I will venture, finally, to say, that, in my opinion, the humble bunny would prove a most welcome addition to the Nigerian menu!
Cows
To mention the subject of dairy management may seem rather unnecessary, and cause a smile when it is realized that cows cannot be persuaded to live and flourish in Lokoja, or any of the southern districts of Nigeria, and that for the most part one’s sole anxiety, as a dairy expert, consists in the selection of sound tins of preserved milk! But, as the joys of possessing one’s own cows, and obtaining a sufficiency of milk, cream, and butter, can be realized by those whom kindly Fortune allows to live in the Hausa States, far removed from the deadly Coast, and further north still, it seems to me as well to set forth my own very small experience in the matter.