Cochin-Chinas being much inclined to accumulate internal fat, which frequently results in apoplexy, should not be fed on food of a very fattening character, such as Indian corn. They are liable to have inflamed feet if they are obliged to roost on very high, small, or sharp perches, or allowed to run over sharp-edged stones.
They are also subject to an affection called White Comb, which is a white mouldy eruption on the comb and wattles like powdered chalk; and if not properly treated in time, will spread over the whole body, causing the feathers to fall off. It is caused by want of cleanliness, over-stimulating or bad food, and most frequently by want of green food, which must be supplied, and the place rubbed with an ointment composed of two parts of cocoanut oil, and one of turmeric powder, to which some persons add one half part of sulphur; and six grains of jalap may be given to clear the bowels.
CHAPTER XI.
BRAHMA-POOTRAS.
It is a disputed point among great authorities whether Brahmas form a distinct variety, or whether they originated in a cross with the Cochin, and have become established by careful breeding. When they were first introduced, Mr. Baily considered them to be a distinct breed, and has since seen nothing to alter his opinion. Their nature and habits are quite dissimilar, for they wander from home and will get their own living where a Cochin would starve, have more spirit, deeper breasts, are hardier, lay larger eggs, are less prone to sit, and never produce a clean-legged chicken. Whatever their origin, by slow and sure degrees, without any mania, they have become more and more popular, standing upon their own merits, and are now one of the most favourite varieties.
"The worst accusation," says Miss Watts, "their enemies can advance against them is, that no one knows their origin; but this is applicable to them only as it is when applied to Dorkings, Spanish, Polands, and all the other kinds which have been brought to perfection by careful breeding, working on good originals. All we have in England are descended from fowls imported from the United States, and the best account of them is, that a sailor (rather vague, certainly) appeared in an American town (Boston or New York, I forget which) with a new kind of fowl for sale, and that a pair bought from him were the parents of all the Brahmas. Uncertain as this appears, the accounts of those who pretend to trace their origin as cross-bred fowls is, at least, equally so, and I believe we may just act towards the Brahmas as we do with regard to Dorkings and other good fowls, and be satisfied to possess a first-rate, useful kind, although we may be unable to trace its genealogical tree back to the root. Whatever may be their origin, I find them distinct in their characteristics. I have found them true to their points, generation after generation, in all the years that I have kept them. The pea-comb is very peculiar, and I have never had one chicken untrue in this among all that I have bred. Their habits are very unlike the Cochins. Although docile, they are much less inert; they lay a larger number of eggs, and sit less frequently. Many of my hens only wish to sit once a year; a few oftener than that, perhaps twice or even three times in rare instances, but never at the end of each small batch of eggs, as I find (my almost equal favourites) the Cochins do. The division of Light and Dark Brahmas is a fancy of the judges, which any one who keeps them can humour with a little care in breeding. My idea of their colour is, that it should be black and grey (iron grey, with more or less of a blue tinge, and devoid of any brown) on a clear white ground, and I do not care whether the white or the marking predominates. I believe breeders could bear me out, if they would, when I say many fowls which pass muster as Brahmas are the result of a cross, employed to increase size and procure the heavy colour which some of the judges affect."
For strength of constitution, both as chickens and fowls, they surpass all other breeds. Brahmas like an extensive range, but bear confinement as well as any fowls, and keep cleaner in dirty or smoky places than any that have white feathers. They are capital foragers where they have their liberty, are smaller eaters and less expensive to keep than Cochins, and most prolific in eggs. They lay regularly on an average five fine large eggs a week all the year round, even when snow is on the ground, except when moulting or tending their brood. Mr. Boyle, of Bray, Ireland, the most eminent breeder of Dark Brahmas in Great Britain, says he has "repeatedly known pullets begin to lay in autumn, and never stop—let it be hail, rain, snow, or storm—for a single day till next spring." They usually lay from thirty to forty eggs before they seek to sit. The hens do not sit so often as Cochins, and a week's change of place will generally banish the desire. They put on flesh well, with plenty of breast-meat, and are more juicy and better shaped for the table than most Cochins; though, after they are six months old, the flesh is much inferior to that of the Dorking. A cross with a Dorking or Crêve-Cœur cock produces the finest possible table fowl, carrying almost incredible quantities of meat of excellent quality.
The chickens are hardy and easy to rear. They vary in colour when first hatched, being all shades of brown, yellow, and grey, and are often streaked on the back and spotted about the head; but this variety gives place, as the feathers come, to the mixture of black, white, and grey, which forms the distinguishing colour of the Brahma. Mr. Baily has "hatched them in snow, and reared them all out of doors without any other shelter than a piece of mat or carpet thrown over the coop at night." They reach their full size at an early age, and the pullets are in their prime at eight months. Miss Watts noticed that Brahmas "are more clever in the treatment of themselves when they are ill than other fowls; when they get out of order, they will generally fast until eating is no longer injurious," which peculiarity is corroborated by the experienced "Henwife." The feathers of the Brahma-Pootra are said to be nearly equal to goose feathers.