INCUBATION.
The hen manifests the desire of incubation in a manner different from that of any other known bird. Nature having been sufficiently tasked in one direction, she becomes feverish, and loses flesh; her comb is livid; her eyes are dull; she bristles her feathers to intimidate an imaginary enemy; and, as if her chickens were already around her, utters the maternal "cluck."
When the determination to sit becomes fixed--it is not necessary to immediately gratify the first faint inclinations--the nest which she has selected should be well cleaned, and filled with fresh straw. The number of eggs to be allowed will depend upon the season, and upon the size of egg and hen. The wisest plan is not to be too greedy; the number of chickens hatched is often in inverse proportion to the number of eggs set--five have only been obtained from sixteen. An odd number is, however, to be preferred, as being better adapted to covering in the nest. Hens will, in general, well cover from eleven to thirteen eggs laid by themselves. A bantam may be trusted with about half a dozen eggs of a large breed, such as the Spanish. A hen of the largest size as a Dorking, will successfully hatch, at the most, five goose-eggs.
When hens are determined to sit at seasons of the year at which there is little chance of bringing up chickens, the eggs of ducks or geese may be furnished her; the young may be reared, with a little painstaking, at any time of the year. The autumnal laying of the China and of the common goose is very valuable for this purpose. Turkey-hens frequently have this fit of unseasonable incubation.
Where, however, it is inconvenient to gratify the desire, one or two doses of jalap will often entirely remove it; and fowls often lay in three weeks afterward. Some place the would-be sitter in an aviary, for four or five days at most, and feed her but sparingly; from the commencement of her confinement, she will gradually leave off clucking, and when this has ceased, she may be again set free, without manifesting the least desire to take to the nest again, and in a short time the hen will commence laying with renewed vigor. The barbarous measures sometimes resorted to should be frowned upon by every person with humane feelings.
Three weeks is the period of incubation; though chickens are sometimes excluded on the eighteenth day. When the hen does not sit close for the first day or two, or in early spring, it will occasionally be some hours longer; when the hen is a.s.siduous, and the weather hot, the time will be a trifle shorter. Chickens have been known to come out as late as the twenty-seventh day.
It may not be uninteresting to note the changes which the egg pa.s.ses through in hatching. In _twelve hours_, traces of the head and body of the chicken may be discerned; at the end of the _second day_, it a.s.sumes the form of a horse-shoe, but no red blood as yet is seen; at the _fiftieth hour_, two vesicles of blood, the rudiments of the heart, may be distinguished, one resembling a noose folded down on itself, and pulsating distinctly; at the end of _seventy hours_, the wings may be seen, and, in the head, the brain and the bill, in the form of bubbles; toward the end of the _fourth day_, the heart is more completely formed; and on the _fifth day_, the liver is discernible; at the end of _one hundred and thirty hours_, the first voluntary motions may be observed; in _seven hours_ more, the lungs and stomach appear; and, _in four hours_ after this, the intestines, the loins, and the upper jaw. At the end of the one _hundred and forty-fourth hour_, two drops of blood are observable in the heart, which is also further developed; and, on the _seventh day_, the brain exhibits some consistence. At the _one hundred and ninetieth hour_, the bill opens, and the muscular flesh appears on the breast; in _four hours_ more, the breast bone is seen; and, in _six hours_ afterward, the ribs may be observed forming from the back. At the expiration of _two hundred and thirty-six hours_, the bill a.s.sumes a green color, and, if the chicken be taken out of the egg, it will visibly move. At _two hundred and sixty-four hours_, the eyes appear; at _two hundred and eighty-eight hours_, the ribs are perfect; and _at three hundred and thirty-one hours_, the spleen approaches near to the stomach, and the lungs to the chest; at the end of _three hundred and fifty-five hours_, the bill frequently opens and shuts. At the end of the _eighteenth day_, the first cry of the chicken is heard; and it gradually acquires more strength, till it is enabled to release itself from confinement.
After the hen has set a week, the fertility of the eggs may be satisfactorily ascertained by taking a thin board with a small orifice in it, placing a candle at the back, and holding up each egg to the points of light. The barren eggs may then be removed, and used, hard-boiled, for young chickens. Some reserve this for the eleventh or twelfth day.
About the _twenty-first day_, the chicken is excluded from the _egg_; for the purpose of breaking the sh.e.l.l of which it is furnished with a h.o.r.n.y-pointed scale, greatly harder than the bill itself, at the upper tip of the bill--a scale which falls off, or becomes absorbed, after the chicken is two or three days old. The chicken is rolled up in the egg in the form of a ball, with its forepart toward the highest end, and its beak uppermost, the hard scale nearly touching the sh.e.l.l.
The first few strokes of the chicken"s beak produce a small crack, rather nearer the larger than the smaller end of the egg, and the egg is said to be _chipped_. From the first crack, the chicken turns gradually round, from left to right, chipping the sh.e.l.l as it turns, in a circular manner, never obliquely. All do not succeed in producing the result in the same time; some being able to complete the work within an hour, and others taking two or three hours, while half a day is most usually employed, and some require twenty-four hours or more, but rarely two days. Some have greater obstacles to overcome than others, all sh.e.l.ls not being alike in thickness and hardness.
When chickens do not effect their escape easily, some little a.s.sistance is needed; but the difficulty is to know when to give it, as a rash attempt to help them, by breaking the sh.e.l.l, particularly in a downward direction toward the smaller end, is often followed by a loss of blood, which can ill be spared. It is better not to interfere, until it is apparent that a part of the brood have been hatched for some time, say twelve hours, and that the rest cannot succeed in making their appearance. It will then generally be found that the whole fluid contents of the egg, yolk and all, are taken up into the body of the chicken, and that weakness alone has prevented its forcing itself out.
The causes of such weakness are various; sometimes, insufficient warmth, from the hen having set on too many eggs; sometimes the original feebleness of the vital spark; but, most frequently, the staleness of the eggs employed for incubation.
The chances of rearing such chickens are small; but, if they survive the first twenty-four hours, they may be considered as safe. The only thing to be done is to take them from the hen till she is settled at night, keeping them in the meanwhile as snug and warm as possible. If a gentle hand can persuade a crust of bread down their throats, it will do no harm; but all rough and clumsy manipulation will utterly defeat the end in view. Animal heat will be their greatest restorative. At night, they should be quietly slipped under their mother; the next morning will disclose the sequel.
The period of incubation in the _Guinea fowl_ is twenty-eight days, or one month; in the _pea fowl_, from twenty-seven to twenty-nine days; in _turkeys_, a month; in _ducks_, thirty or thirty-one days; and in _geese_, from twenty-seven to thirty days.
INCUBATION OF TURKEYS. When the turkey hen has once selected a spot for her nest, she will continue to lay there till the time for incubation; so that the egg may be brought home from day to day, there being no need of a nest-egg, as with the domestic fowl. She will lay from fifteen to twenty eggs, more or less. If there are any dead leaves or dry gra.s.s at hand, she will cover her eggs with these; but if not, she will take no trouble to collect them from a distance.
Her determination to sit will be known by her constantly remaining on the nest, though it is empty; and, as it is seldom in a position sufficiently secure against the weather or pilferers, a nest should be prepared for her, by placing some straw, with her eggs, on the floor of a convenient out-building. She should then be brought home, and gently and kindly placed upon it. With the smallest varieties, thirteen eggs will suffice; a large hen might cover more. At the end of a week, it is usual to add some fowls" eggs; the activity of the chickens excites some emulation in the larger brethren, and the eggs take up but little room in the nest.
Some believe it necessary to turn the eggs once a day; but the hen herself does that many times daily. If the eggs are marked, and their position noticed when she leaves the nest, they will never be found in the same order. In about four weeks, the young will be hatched.
INCUBATION OF GEESE. Geese breed in general only once a year; but, if well kept, they sometimes hatch twice a season. During the sitting, in sections where the most attention is paid to breeding them, each bird has a s.p.a.ce allotted to it, in rows of wicker-pens, placed one above another, and the person in charge of them drives the whole flock to water three times a day, and, bringing them back to their habitations, places each bird in its own nest.
The most successful breeders of _Bremen geese_ adopt the following method: The birds are, in the first place, carefully and properly fed; the eggs are removed every day in the gentlest manner from the nest, and placed in a basket of cotton kept in a moderate temperature, and free from damp. When all the geese begin to sit steadily, each is furnished with a nest composed of chopped straw; and care is taken that it is sufficiently capacious.
Not more than one of the geese is allowed to leave the eggs at a time.
As soon as one leaves, she makes a cackling noise, which is the signal for the attendant to shut up the boxes in which the others are sitting.
These are made somewhat like a dog-kennel, with a roof pitched both ways; and are thirty inches long, by twenty-four wide, and twenty-four high; the door is in the end, and is covered by a sliding panel, which moves upward, when egress or ingress is sought, and may be shut down at pleasure. The goose, upon returning, finds only her own box open. When she re-enters her box, the whole of the doors are again opened, and the same rule observed throughout the period of hatching. In this way, each goose is kept to its own nest.
REARING OF THE YOUNG.
For about twenty-four hours after birth, the chickens can not only do well enough without any extraneous nourishment, but will be far more likely to thrive subsequently, if let alone, than if crammed or incited to eat prematurely. More chickens are destroyed by over-feeding than are lost by the want of it. It is, however, well to turn them in among other chickens that already feed themselves; they will, in such cases, generally follow the example of the rest, and pick away at whatever is around.
[Ill.u.s.tration: MARQUEE OR TENT-SHADED COOPS.]
A roomy, boarded coop, in a dry, sunny spot, is the best position for them during the first month; after which it may be left open during the day, for the hen to retire to when she pleases. In quiet gra.s.sy places, it is scarcely necessary to coop the hen at all. As to food, they may have every thing which is not absolutely poisonous; though if wet food is given, the chicken is thus obliged to take water, whether it requires it or not, in order to get a sufficient supply of solid food, and diseased bowels will be likely to follow; whereas, if the food is dry, they can supply themselves with food and water according to their pleasure. If Indian meal is well boiled, and fed not too moist, it will answer a very good purpose, particularly after they are eight or ten days old. Pure water must be placed near them in such a manner as to enable them to drink without getting into the water, which, by wetting their feathers, benumbs and injures them. Meat and insect diet are almost necessary; but, whatever the food, the meals must be given at short intervals; as much as they can swallow, and as often as they can eat. With all their industry, they are only half-clad till flesh and bone stop growing for a while, and allow down and feathers to overtake them.
Chickens should not be let out of their coops too early in the morning, or whilst the dew is on the ground; still less should they be suffered to range over the wet gra.s.s, which is a common cause of disease and death. They should also be guarded against sudden unfavorable changes of the weather, more particularly if attended with rain. Nearly all the diseases of gallinaceous fowls arise from cold moisture.
The period at which they are left to shift for themselves depends upon the disposition of the hen. Some will continue their attentions to their chickens till they are nearly full-grown, while others will cast them off much earlier. In the latter case, an eye should be kept upon them for a few days; for chickens in this half-grown state are much more liable to disease than when they were apparently tender little weaklings, crowded under their mother"s wings. They should be kept in a dry, warm, place; dryness is especially necessary.
If the chickens feather rapidly when very young--as is the case with the Golden Pheasant, Black Poland, Guelderland, and some others--they are always weakly, however healthy in other respects, from the fact that their food goes to sustain their feathers rather than their bodies; and they frequently languish and die, from this circ.u.mstance alone. If, on the other hand, they feather slowly, as do the Cochin Chinas, Shanghaes, and others, the food in early life goes to nourish and sustain their bodies until they become more vigorous, and old enough to sustain the shock of feathering without detriment. Pure tan-colored Dorkings are more easily raised than others of the race, because they feather more slowly.
Chickens which feather rapidly must be kept perfectly dry and warm, or they will die; while naked chickens, as they are termed, or those which feather at a more advanced age, and very slowly, seldom suffer from the cold, from the fact that their down is very warm, and their blood is hotter, and circulates more rapidly; since their food princ.i.p.ally goes to blood, and flesh, and bones, and not to feathers.
REARING OF GUINEA FOWLS. For the young of these, ants" eggs, so called, hard-boiled eggs chopped fine, small worms, maggots, bread-crumbs, chopped meat, or suet--whatever, in short, is most nutritious, is the most appropriate food. This need not be offered to them in large quant.i.ties, as it would only be devoured by the mother Bantam as soon as she saw that they had for the time satisfied their appet.i.tes, or it would be stolen by other birds; but it should frequently be administered to them in small supplies. Feeding them three, four, or five times a day, is not often enough; every half hour during daylight they should be tempted to fill their craws, which are soon emptied again by an extraordinary power and quickness of digestion.
The newly-hatched Guinea fowl is a tiny creature, and its growth is, consequently, very rapid, requiring incessant supplies. A check once received can never be recovered. They do not, in such cases, mope and pine for a day or two; like young turkeys under similar circ.u.mstances, and then die; but, in half an hour after being in apparent health, they fall on their backs, give a convulsive kick or two, and fall victims, in fact, to starvation. The demands of Nature for the growth of bone, muscle, and particularly of feathers, are so great, that no subsequent abundant supply of food can compensate for a fast of a couple of hours.
The feathers still go on growing in geometrical progression, and drawing the sources of vitality still faster than they can be supplied, till the bird faints and expires from inanition.
A dry, sunny corner in the garden will be the best place to coop them with their bantam hen. As they increase in strength, they will do no harm, but much good, by devouring worms, grubs, caterpillars, maggots, and all sorts of insects. By the time their bodies are little longer than those of sparrows, they will be able to fly with some degree of strength; other additions to their complete stature are successively and less immediately developed, the spurs, comb, and ornamental plumage not appearing till a subsequent period.
When they are about the size of thrushes, or a little larger, unless the summer be very fine, the bantam may be allowed to range loose in the orchard and shrubbery, and no longer permitted to enter the garden. The young must, however, still receive a bountiful and frequent supply of food; they are not to be considered safe till the horn on their head is fairly grown. Oatmeal is a great treat; cooked potatoes, boiled rice, or any thing, in short, that is eatable, may be thrown to them; they will pick the bones left after dinner with evident satisfaction. The tamer they can be made, the less troublesome will they be when grown; the more kindly they are treated, the fatter will they be for food, and the better price will they bring in market.
For rearing the young of the _pea fowl_, the same directions will be found useful, and should be carried out in practice.
REARING OF TURKEYS. Much quackery has been recommended in the treatment of young turkeys. Nothing, however, should be given to them, nothing done for them; they should remain in the nest, under the shelter of their mother"s wings, for at least eight or ten hours; if hatched in the afternoon, till the following morning. The hen should then be placed on the gra.s.s, in the sun, under a roomy coop. If the weather is fine, she may be stationed at any point desired, by a long piece of flannel-list tied round one leg, and fastened to a stump or stone.
At first, a few crumbs of bread should be offered; for some hours, the little ones will be in no hurry to eat; but, when they do commence, they should be supplied constantly and abundantly with chopped egg, shreds of meat and fat, curd, boiled rice mixed with cress, lettuce, and the green of onions; melted mutton-suet poured over barley-meal, and cut up when cold, as also bullock"s liver boiled and minced, are excellent things.
Young turkeys do not like to have their food minced much smaller than they can swallow it, preferring to make a meal at three or four mouthfuls, rather than to trouble themselves with the incessant pecking and scratching in which chickens so much delight. Pepper will be found particularly useful in feeding them; as, indeed, all stimulating vegetables, such as horse-radish, and the like.
Young turkeys are sometimes attacked by _fasciolae_, or worms in the trachea; but not so often as chickens. Cramp is the most fatal to them, particularly in bad weather. A few pieces of board laid under and about the coop are useful; sometimes rubbing the leg with spirit will bring back the circulation.
The time when the hen may be allowed full liberty with her brood depends most upon the season, the situation, etc. Some think that if the young are thriving, the sooner the old ones are out with them the better, after the first ten days or so. A safer rule may be fixed at the season, called "shooting the red," when young turkeys approach the size of a partridge, or before the granular, fleshy excrescences on the head and neck begin to appear; soon after, the whole plumage, particularly the tail-feathers, shoot into rapid growth, and liberal nourishment is imperatively required. If let loose at this time, they will obtain much foraging, and still be thankful for all that is given to them.
Caraway-seeds, as a tonic, are beneficial, if added to plenty of barley, boiled potatoes, chopped vegetables, and refuse meat. At this time the turkeys, naturally enough, begin to be troublesome and voracious; they have to grow from the size of a lark to twelve or fourteen pounds, in eight or nine months. One great merit in old birds is, that in situations where nuts, acorns, and mast are to be had, they will lead off their brood to these, and all of them will abstain, comparatively, from ravaging other crops.
[Ill.u.s.tration: DUCK-POND AND HOUSES.]
REARING OF DUCKLINGS. The best mode of rearing the young of ducks depends very much upon the situation in which they are hatched. It is customary to dip their feet in water as soon as they are hatched, and then to clip the down on their tails close with a pair of scissors, to prevent their becoming drabbled and water-logged; and before their introduction to the pond, which should not be until a day or two after hatching, it is thought advisable by many to let them have a private swim or two in a small pan of water, that they may try their strength and practice their webbed feet before venturing upon a larger s.p.a.ce.
For the first month, the confinement of the mother under a coop is better than too much liberty. Their first food may be boiled eggs, nettles, and a little barley; all kinds of sapped food, cornmeal and water mixed thin, worms, etc., suit them; they will also greedily eat cabbages or other greens, mixed with boiled bran; and this mess, with the addition of pepper, forms a valuable dietetic. In a few days, they require no care, being perfectly able to shift for themselves; but at any age they are the most helpless of the inhabitants of the poultry-yard, having no weapons with which to defend themselves from vermin, or animals of prey, and their awkward, waddling gait precluding their seeking safety in flight. The old duck is not so brave in defence of her brood as the hen; but she will, nevertheless, display at times much spirit. The young seldom die of any disease, and with proper precaution there will be no trouble in raising almost as many ducklings as are hatched. They come early to maturity, being nearly full-grown and in fine eating order at three months old; far excelling, in this respect, all other poultry, except geese.
None are more successful in rearing ducklings than those who keep them, for the first period of their existence, in pens two or three yards square, and cram them night and morning with long, dried pellets of flour and water, or egg and flour, until they are judged old enough to be turned out with their mother to forage for themselves. They are cheerful, harmless, good-natured, cleanly creatures, carefully washing themselves, and arranging their dress, before commencing their meals; and the healthy heartiness of their appet.i.te is amusing, rather than disgusting.
REARING OF GOSLINGS. For the first three or four days, goslings must be kept warm and dry, and fed on barley-meal, or oatmeal, mixed with milk, if easily procurable; if not, with water. They will begin to grow in about a week. For a week or two, they should not be turned out until late in the morning, and should always be taken in early in the evening.
Their great enemy is the cramp, which can be kept off by making them sleep on dry straw. A little boiled rice, daily, a.s.sists their growth; with corn, of course, as soon as they can eat it. When goslings are first allowed to go at large with their mother, every plant of hemlock which grows within their range should be pulled up, as they are very apt to eat it, and it generally proves fatal. Nightshade is equally pernicious to them; and they have been known to be poisoned by eating sprigs of yew-tree.
The young of _Bremen geese_, when first hatched, are of a very delicate and tender const.i.tution. It is best to let them remain in the breeding-box in which they are hatched for twenty-four hours after they leave the sh.e.l.l. This should, however, be regulated by the weather; since, if it is fair and warm, they may be let out an hour or two in the middle of the day, when they will wet their little bills and nibble at the gra.s.s. They ought not to be out in the rain at any time during the first month; and both geese and goslings should be shut up in the boxes at night, during the same period, as a protection against rats and vermin. A very shallow pool, dug in the yard, with a bucket or two of water thrown into it, to suit the temporary purpose of bathing, is sufficient during that period. If well fed on grain from the time they are hatched, twenty-five pounds weight can be secured, at seven or eight months old. By feeding them till four days old, and then literally turning them out to gra.s.s, an average weight of from seventeen to eighteen pounds each has been attained, at that age after the feathers are cleanly picked off.
CAPONIZING.
Capons have ever been esteemed among the greatest delicacies of the table; and are made by the extirpation of the reproductive organs in male fowls. If a c.o.c.k, when young, is emasculated, a remarkable change takes place in him. His natural fierceness is calmed; he becomes placid and peaceful; his pugnacity has deserted him; he no longer seeks the company of the hens; he loses his previous strong, shrill voice; he grows to a far larger size than he would otherwise have done, having nothing to interfere with the main business of his life--to eat, drink, sleep, and get fat as speedily as possible; his flesh is peculiarly white, firm and succulent; and even the fat is perfectly dest.i.tute of rankness. The capon may, also, by a little management be converted into an admirable nurse. Some a.s.sert that caponized c.o.c.ks are never afterward subject to the natural process of moulting; but this is denied by others.
The art has been practised from the earliest antiquity, in Greece, India, and China, for the purpose of improving the flesh of birds for the table, in tenderness, juiciness, and flavor. It is extensively performed in the great poultry-breeding districts of England; but in this country it is by no means so generally practised as would naturally be expected.