Some of the most successful breeders of Cochins have their grounds thus partitioned out and furnished with rude huts, boarded at the sides and covered on the top with some of the patent asphalte felt now so much used for roofing. This, if properly tarred, is perfectly waterproof, and being a bad conductor of heat, is warm in winter and cool in summer.
The common open circular wicker coop I regard as an exceedingly useful article in a poultry-yard, but not for the purpose to which it is generally applied, of keeping the hens in, but, on the contrary, for keeping them out. I have found it very convenient for feeding chicken under; the oatmeal, grits, and other expensive food used for the young birds is apt to be devoured by those of advanced growth, an evil which is readily prevented by placing it under a large coop which admits the younger chicken, and enables them to feed undisturbed by the others.
The remark is often made, that chicken reared in the country by cottagers are more vigorous and healthy than those bred in the most expensive poultry houses; this I believe to be entirely owing to the more natural circumstances under which they are brought up. Fresh air, fresh grass, and fresh ground for the hens to scratch in, far more than counterbalance the advantage of expensive diet and superior lodging, if these latter are unaccompanied with the more necessary circumstances just described.
The plans here recommended I found to be more than ordinarily successful during the most unfavourable chicken seasons, even on the cold clay soil in the neighbourhood of London, and I have there severely tested their perfect efficiency with regard to Cochins, Dorkings, Spanish, and Hamburghs.
In cases where fowls are bred in and in to preserve peculiar markings, or where, so to speak, a very artificial variety has been produced, great delicacy necessarily results; this, for example, is the case in the Sebright Bantam, and hardiness cannot be expected in such breeds; as well might the breeder of King Charles’ spaniels or Italian greyhounds expect similar success to that of the rearer of the Scotch terrier or sheep dog.
When chicken are hatched in the winter, or early spring months, either for competition in the chicken classes at the summer poultry shows, or for table use, some slight modification of these proceedings is requisite. I have tried enclosed rooms, both heated by stoves and fire-places and without, but have never found them answer, and am confident that even in winter chicken do better in an open shed than in any other situation; the shed, however, must face the south, and be warmly and closely sheltered from the north and east. The hens must be placed in coops, where all the sun can reach them; and there should be a little run of a few feet, enclosed by laths, wire-work or netting, for the hen and chicken to exercise in. The common triangular wooden coop is a very useful one for early chicken; but it should have a false bottom, to keep them off the cold ground, and this should be made to slide in and out, so as to be readily removed and cleaned. The coops, at night, should be warmly covered up with sacking or matting, and plenty of short hay or soft straw placed in the interior. The most successful breeder of early Cochins in the year 1853, reared all his birds in a shed thus arranged; but, instead of coops, he employed snugly built brick boxes, with abundance of short straw for the hen and chicken to sleep in; and in front of each box was a little alley or run, enclosed by laths, for an exercise ground,—the run not extending in front of the shed, so that it was not subject to be damped by the rain or dew.
Another precaution necessary to be taken with early chicken, even after they have attained some size, is to avoid letting them run in the grass whilst it is wet with dew, otherwise they are very apt to get chilled, and die with cramp. When hens are cooped care must be taken to supply them with gravel and a little mortar rubbish, or broken oyster shells,—the first being required for the digestion of the food, the second to furnish the materials of the bones of the growing chicken.
As I have elsewhere stated, the rearing of early chicken is always attended with risk and trouble, and extraordinary success must not be expected; it should only therefore be attempted under favourable circumstances; and unless chicken are bred for the summer poultry shows, or for early table use, for which purpose they fetch a high price in the market, it is not a desirable proceeding; for the best and finest birds, that alone should be kept for stock, are those hatched in April and May, as they attain their full size without having their growth once checked by cold.
Chicken, on the contrary, which are hatched at a late period of the year, have their growth checked by the colds of winter, and consequently never make large birds; hence the practice of hatching Bantams in autumn to prevent their attaining a large size, an object which is only accomplished by a sacrifice of constitutional strength and hardihood.