Domestic Animals / History and description of the horse, mule, cattle, sheep, swine, poultry and farm dogs; with directions for their management, breeding, crossing, rearing, feeding, and preparation for a profitable market; also their diseases and remedies. Together with full directions for the management of the dairy.

by Richard Lamb Allen

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.

Varieties.

These differ materially in their sizes, shapes, and colors.