If it is intended to rear the chickens for exhibition at the June, July, or August shows, the earlier they are hatched the better, and therefore a sitting should be made in January, if you have a young, healthy hen broody. Set her on the ground in a warm, sheltered, and quiet place, perfectly secure from rain, or from any flow of snow water. Feed her well, and keep water and small quantities of food constantly within her reach, so that she may not be tempted to leave the nest in search of food; for the eggs soon chill in winter. Mix the best oatmeal with hot water, and give it to her warm twice a day. A few grains of hempseed as a stimulant may be given in the middle of the day. The great difficulty to overcome in rearing early chickens is to sustain their vital powers during the very long winter nights, when they are for so many hours without food, the only substitute for which is warmth, and this can only be well got from the hen. Consequently a young Cochin-China with plenty of "fluff" will provide most warmth. The hen should not be set on more than five, or at most seven eggs; for if she has more, although she may sufficiently cover the chickens while very small, she will not be able to do so when they grow larger, and the outer ones will be chilled unless they manage to push themselves into the inside places, and then the displaced chickens being warm are sure to get more chilled than the others; and so the greater number of the brood, even if they survive, will probably be weakly, puny things, through the greedy desire to rear so many, while if she hatch but five chickens she will probably rear four. The hen should be cooped until the chickens are at least ten weeks old, and covered up at night with matting, sacking, or a piece of carpet.
Give them plenty of curd, chopped egg, and oatmeal, mixed with new milk. Stiff oatmeal porridge is the best stock food. Some onion tops minced fine will be an excellent addition if they can be had. They should have some milk to drink. Feed the hen well. The best warmth the chickens can have is that of their mother, and the best warmth for her is generated by generous, but proper, food, and a good supply of it. Early chickens rearing for show should be fed twice after dark, say at eight and eleven o'clock, and again at seven in the morning, so that they will not be without food for more than eight hours. The hen should be fed at the same times, and she will become accustomed to it, and call the chickens to feed; it will also generate more warmth in her for their benefit. Yolk of egg beaten up and given to drink is most strengthening for weakly chickens; or it may be mixed with their oatmeal. The tender breeds should not be hatched till April or May, unless in a mild climate, or with exceptional advantages.
For winter exhibition, March and April hatched birds are preferable to those hatched earlier. Not more than seven eggs should be set, for a hen cannot scratch up insects and worms and find peculiar herbage for more than six chickens. If the chickens have not a good grass run, they must be supplied with abundance of green food.
They should not be allowed to roost before they are three months old, and the perches must be sufficiently large. Mr. Wright recommends a bed of clean, dry ashes, an inch deep, for those that leave the hen before the proper age for roosting, and does not allow his chickens, even while with the hen, to bed upon straw, considering the ashes to be much cleaner and also warmer.
The chickens intended to be exhibited should be distinguished from their companions by small stripes of different coloured silks loosely sewn round their legs, which distinguishing colours should be entered in the poultry-book. A few good birds should always be kept in reserve to fill up the pen in case of accidents.
Weight is more important in the December and later winter shows than at those held between August and November, but at all shows feather and other points of competitors being equal weight must carry the day, Game and Bantams excepted. It is not safe to trust to the apparent weight of a bird, for the feathers deceive, and it is therefore advisable to weigh the birds occasionally. Each should be weighed in a basket, allowance being made for the weight of the basket, and they should if possible be weighed before a meal. But fowls that are over-fattened, as some judges very improperly desire, cannot be in good health anymore than "crammed" fowls, and are useless for breeding, producing at best a few puny, delicate, or sickly chickens; thus making the exhibition a mere "show," barren of all useful results.
Pullets continue to grow until they begin to lay, which almost or quite stops their growth; and therefore if great size is desired for exhibition, they should be kept from the cockerels and partly from stimulating food until a month before the show, when they will be required to be matched in pens. During this month they should have extra food and attention.
If fowls intended for exhibition are allowed to sit, the chickens are apt to cause injury to their plumage, and loss of condition, while if prevented from sitting, they are liable to suffer in moulting. Their chickens may be given to other hens, but the best and safest plan is to set a broody exhibition hen on duck's eggs, which will satisfy her natural desire for sitting, while the young ducklings will give her much less trouble, and leave her sooner than a brood of her own kind.
All the birds in a pen should match in comb, colour of their legs, and indeed in every particular. Mr. Baily mentions "a common fault in exhibitors who send two pens composed of three excellent and three inferior birds, so divided as to form perhaps one third class and one highly commended pen: whereas a different selection would make one of unusual merit. If an amateur who wishes to exhibit has fifteen fowls to choose from, and to form a pen of a cock and two hens, he should study and scan them closely while feeding at his feet in the morning. He should then have a place similar to an exhibition pen, wherein he can put the selected birds; they should be raised to the height at which he can best see them, and before he has looked long at them defects will become apparent one after the other till, in all probability, neither of the subjects of his first selection will go to the show. We also advise him rather to look for defects than to dwell on beauties—the latter are always prominent enough. The pen of which we speak should be a moveable one for convenience' sake, and it is well to leave the fowls in it for a time that they may become accustomed to each other, and also to an exhibition pen." Birds that are strangers should never be put into the same hamper, for not only the cocks but even the hens will fight with and disfigure each other.
Some give linseed for a few days before the exhibition to impart lustre to the plumage, by increasing the secretion of oil. A small quantity of the meal should be mixed with their usual soft food, as fowls generally refuse the whole grain. But buckwheat and hempseed, mixed in equal proportions, if given for the evening meal during the last ten or twelve days, is healthier for the bird, much liked, and will not only impart equal lustre to the plumage, but also improve the appearance of the comb and wattles.