THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 (s3 
 
 N484p 
 
 t/TH Or HOFFMAN, MNIChBRBOCItER & CO.ALBAH K 
 
 TWbkmt of the 
 
 'J^L 7 1924 
 
 yMfWfelTY OF ILLINOIS 
 


 r 
 
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE 
 
 IN 
 
 BREEDING, REARING, AND FATTENING 
 
 THE COMMON KINDS OF 
 
 DOMESTIC POULTRY, 
 
 WITH AN 
 
 INTERESTING ACCOUNT 
 
 OF 
 
 EXPERIMENTS 
 
 IN 
 
 ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOSEPH NEWTON. 
 
 THE 'HI 
 
 IN TWO PARTS. 
 
 ICKWEL1 : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 E. REYNOLDS, HIGH STREET, BLOOMSBURY, 
 
 AND MAY BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS. 
 
 1852. 
 
EEE ATA. 
 
 In page 3, 
 
 „ 15 , 
 
 „ 18 , 
 „ 19 , 
 
 „ 23, 
 
 „ 41, 
 
 line 23, for to read too. 
 
 ,, 14, for fourteen shillings each read fourteen pounds. 
 „ 8, for barn read corn. 
 
 „ 1, for Puitada read Pintada. 
 
 „ 2, for in haste read of hazel. 
 
 „ 7, for 22 read 28. 
 
■k*-* q iv k Stsau. -GUi* . /7 
 
 G3&.5 
 
 N^S/Hq 
 
 leiiiration. 
 
 TO THE 
 
 LANDOWNERS, FARMERS AND GARDENERS 
 
 OF 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN, 
 
 AND THOSE UNDER THEIR DIRECTION IN CHARGE OF 
 
 DOMESTIC POULTRY. 
 
 I — 
 
 *r 
 
 * To none can we present our remarks with more propriety, than 
 to you. 
 
 Haying experienced much pleasure in cultivating a love and 
 knowledge of nature, by keeping poultry for the benefit of our 
 r" employers, we found a great want of practical works at the 
 commencement of our engagements, and now with a desire to 
 benefit others under like disadvantages, have undertaken this 
 little work, with the hope that it may be found worthy of your 
 patronage. 
 
 552019 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Our aim in preparing this little work, is to furnish those in the 
 charge of poultry, either for gentlemen, the farmer, or for the 
 cottager, with a few simply practical observations. 
 
 "We do not presume to teach, hut merely give the results of our 
 practice; which in itself has been successful in providing em- 
 ployment for my partner in life, and repaying our employer; 
 having had abundance of eggs and poultry for the supply of the 
 mansion ; and some to dispose of to marketable customers. 
 
 The pronoun we so frequently used in the following pages, 
 merely intimates the combined attention of my wife and self, 
 I being employed as horticulturalist on the same estate, was 
 frequently otherwise engaged. 
 
\ . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 : 
 
 
§tmnl JUntarb anil (DtentatioM, 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF OUE ENGAGEMENTS. 
 
 Attention, with practice duly carried out, will soon 
 show the amount of success to be realized in rearing 
 poultry ; and whatever disadvantages we may be 
 placed under, with due care and attention they may be 
 overcome. 
 
 Our stock at commencement was as under : 
 
 £. s. d. 
 
 Twenty- three hens, valued at 1 15 0 
 
 Three cocks, valued at 0 3 0 
 
 We bought three Turkey hens and one cock. 1 15 0 
 
 Two guinea fowls, (hens) 0 4 0 
 
 £3 17 0 
 
 We took charge of this stock on the 9th of May, 1847. 
 The fowls were of the barn-door breed, and excepting 
 six very old hens, were very good fowls. With those 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE 
 
 hens and white Dorking cocks (our object being to cross 
 the barn-door fowl with the Dorking) we commenced. 
 
 The house we had to rear the young poultry in could 
 scarcely be worse for the purpose than it was. The 
 distance from our dwelling-house being nearly five 
 hundred yards. The walls were twelve feet by twelve 
 feet, and sixteen feet high, ventilated with lattice-work 
 window and door, so that to admit light we were obli- 
 gated to let in the air at all seasons ; very little sun 
 could shine into the interior, as from the form of the 
 place it was necessarily excluded. The floor was paved 
 with brick ; the most expensive, cold, and damp, that 
 could have been thought of. While standing in this 
 place, we even shuddered at the idea of trying to bring 
 up poultry to make it pay, before we could have a better 
 place built. 
 
 This rearing house opened into an inclosed yard, 
 twenty yards by twenty yards, and we were to keep the 
 poultry within these bounds, at the express wish of our 
 employer. The chitte-prat breed are certainly a good 
 sort, and we have some very beautiful birds, but they 
 are not profitable with us under these restrictions ; and 
 a friend of mine cannot make the same sort profitable 
 without a good range. 
 
 From having to keep these fowls in so small a space, 
 they were subject to many diseases, being prevented 
 from amusing themselves at large, and obtaining that 
 food in nature, with a proper amount of exercise, con- 
 ducive to their health. There were also other drawbacks 
 
IN REARING POULTRY. 
 
 3 
 
 to this system of things. The hens stole the food pro- 
 vided for the chickens, and spread disease. 
 
 But in trying to make this plan pay, we were induced 
 to adopt various inventions. True, we had the best time 
 of the year to commence our operations in, so cared but 
 little about the badly contrived house for the first season, 
 but in the next we had another foe to contend with, the 
 rats had got a strong hold in the sewers under the 
 enclosed yard, consequently we had to supply the fowls 
 with more food than we otherwise should, had our 
 habitation been nearer to prevent such incursions. 
 
 Thus from May, 1847 till April, 1850, did we 
 endeavour to make the poultry pay ; recollecting that 
 we were to have a better house for our purpose, if 
 successful in our experiments, and, by this time there- 
 fore we expected it, and being unwilling to throw so 
 much labour unnecessarily away by extraneous attention, 
 solicited our employer for its erection. 
 
 After looking in various directions, we resolved to 
 have our rearing house, &c. as near to our dwelling- 
 house as possible, that our charge might have immediate 
 care and attention; also, to assist with warmth and 
 light, by warmth when the external air was to cold for 
 young chickens; and so light that in rainy weather we 
 could keep them comfortable in the house, building the 
 coops as fixtures round the place, and economizing the 
 room. 
 
 The soil we dug out a foot below the surface, and 
 laid large tunnel tiles along the bottom to form a flue, 
 
4 
 
 PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE 
 
 then filled up the space to the ground level, with coarse 
 stones or brick-bats, the floor then was formed with a 
 lgtyer of concrete; thus the heat from the flue being 
 under the floor could circulate through the rough stones, 
 and both dry and warm the floor. 
 
 We got this house up, twenty-four feet long, by 
 twelve feet wide, and five feet six inches high from the 
 ground ; a plate of timber rests upon the brick-work 
 all round ; the door posts are morticed into the plate ; 
 three tie beams run across, upon which, in winter, we lay 
 planks as shelves for plants. We ran up a dwarf wall, 
 three feet high, to divide it into two houses, one for 
 turkeys, &c., the other for chickens ; a joist with wire 
 fencing carried higher up, divides these compartments, 
 without changing the light or temperature. 
 
 The roof is partly of glass, viz : eighty- eight feet, in 
 panes a foot square, laid in grooves in the rafters ; the 
 remainder is of slate. We wished to have the whole 
 of the roof covered with glass, which would have been 
 the best and cheapest. The eaves are left open under 
 the roof for admission of air. 
 
 The doors open into a yard, to permit the young 
 poultry to run out or in at their pleasure. They are 
 made of half-inch deal, with sliding ventilators. This 
 yard we enclosed with wire netting, of two-inch mesh, 
 six feet high, fastened to studs, six feet apart. The 
 wire netting we procured at Richardson’ s, Tonbridge 
 Place, London, at one shilling per yard, but being of 
 two-inch mesh, requires another wire to run along, 
 
PLAN OF REARING HOUSE & c 
 
 1. Attendant's House . 2 ."Water Cask. 3. Glass - ♦. Slate pari cl 
 6 . Slirle Ventilator - 7. C o op s _ 8.1 aurel - 9 . G l-as s P lat - 10. Wiv * 
 
bum wan v " umi 
 
IN REARING POULTRY. 
 
 5 
 
 about a foot high from the ground, crossing each mesh 
 in the middle, to keep the smaller chickens within 
 the fence. We have two light framed doors, covered 
 with the same material, to allow us a way or passage 
 through. 
 
 Outside of this yard we planted laurels and holly- 
 hocks ; inside of it, we have a beaten path of land, 
 eight feet wide, leaving a square grass plat in the centre ; 
 and at each corner we planted a laurel ; nearly besecting 
 the plat with a cross of laurel, in order to give a shade 
 of eight sides. 
 
 We have seven coops for turkeys, each four feet by 
 three feet, the fronts of half-inch lath, three inches 
 apart, to admit light, the sides being of thin boards, 
 closely fitted to keep the old turkeys from seeing each 
 other. 
 
 The coops in the chicken house are constructed in 
 the same manner, but smaller ; having eleven coops for 
 hens, in the same space as seven for the turkeys ; but 
 lower in proportion. 
 
 The young poultry in these houses we feed, by putting 
 a board in the centre of each, for which purpose we 
 have two boards for each house, that the one may be 
 aired for twenty-four hours previous to using again. 
 We have had one hundred chickens in our chicken-house, 
 twelve feet by twelve feet, which we have not allowed to 
 go out of doors for a fortnight, because of the cold and 
 damp air, and we did not lose five out of the hundred, 
 throughout the year, 1851 . 
 
6 
 
 PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE 
 
 We had sixty young turkeys, and six turkey hens in 
 the house alloted to them, twelve feet by twelve feet, 
 and the young turkeys were not out of doors for three 
 weeks together. 
 
IN REARING POULTRY-. 
 
 7 
 
 <® jtt Cnmmnn fml 
 
 As to which is the best kind or breed to propagate, 
 must depend much upon situation, and other cir- 
 cumstances; as one kind will be found to be more 
 profitable in one county than in another, even under 
 similar treatment. The kind we find to be the most 
 profitable, is the half-bred Dorking, which is the barn- 
 door fowl, and white Dorking cock ; by which we get a 
 fowl thick in body, and plump on the breast, short 
 legged ; which we can get well fleshed at the age of 
 sixteen weeks ; as chickens, this we consider better for 
 our purpose than a long-legged, and coarse sort of 
 fowl. While we admire our fowls for the symmetry of 
 their shape, &c., we take the form of the green linnet 
 for a model. 
 
 We have had the true game, the true Dorking, 
 Hamburgh, and Spanish fowls; but cannot say they 
 have been so profitable with us, as the kind we now 
 have. Their colours are white, brown, speckled, and 
 buff ; we find the white hens lay the best in summer,, 
 the brown ones in winter, the buff ones sit the best, and 
 are the kindest mothers, the speckled lay the largest 
 eggs; we had one egg this year, from a grey pullet, six 
 and a half inches round and seven inches longitudinally* 
 
8 
 
 PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE 
 
 but as we have more hens die egg bound, of this colour 
 than any other, we do not keep so many as we should 
 wish. We do not keep our hens, when more than three 
 years old, unless they are very fine ones ; as by bringing 
 in young fowls, we can spare the others before they are 
 too old to sell for the table ; by this means we keep 
 our stock of equal value. 
 
 When we had the game cock, he was too fond of 
 fighting, and disabled many of the other sorts, and even 
 killed some. We have a few cocks of the true Dorking 
 breed, which we keep as a comparison with the others, 
 which are crossed. 
 
 The chitte-prats, or silver pencilled Hamburgh, we 
 have true to the breed. We have some beautiful birds, 
 but we consider them chiefly as ornamental ; we have 
 not been enabled to render them profitable ; but as we 
 keep them confined, our place does not seem to suit 
 them, nor have we yet heard of any poultry having been 
 reared profitably for the table, without a range of ground. 
 
 When a hen wants to sit, we bring her home ; for 
 should she sit where many other hens lay and roost, 
 they will want to lay in her nest, when she comes off 
 for food, and in the confusion occasioned by such inter- 
 lopers, much injury is done, but by having all the sitting 
 hens at the rearing-house, they can be immediately 
 attended to, when they come off to feed, and also 
 prevented from going upon another sitting fowl’s nest, 
 when more are off than one at the same time, for the 
 purpose of feeding, &c. 
 
IN REARING POULTRY. 
 
 9 
 
 In spring, for our sitting hens, we place the nest and 
 eggs in wicker baskets; but in summer on the cool 
 damp floor. We find little difficulty in getting a hen to 
 set on a different nest from that she has layed in ; but 
 if very unwilling, place her in the nest with a board 
 over her, perforated with auger holes for air, she will 
 thus soon be accustomed to her situation. Another 
 reason why all sitting fowls should be under and near 
 the attendants care, is, that immediately they come off 
 the nest, they should be fed, and care taken that each 
 returns to its appropriate nest, for should any take the 
 wrong one, a quarrel will ensue, which will not terminate 
 until both nests of eggs are spoiled. 
 
 Since we had our breeding and rearing house built 
 close to us, when we hear any quarrel amongst the fowls, 
 we go and see which is in fault, determinedly pull off the 
 hen who has got on the wrong nest, and put her on the 
 floor ; when the proper owner of the nest will appear to 
 thank us, and go on her own eggs, while the other that 
 was wrong will mutter at our treatment; but with 
 an appearance of shame will betake herself to her 
 own nest. Sometimes the quarrel will be repeated, but 
 with two or three interferences on our part, the strife 
 will end. 
 
 When the chickens are hatched, we leave them in the 
 nest with the hen for twenty-four hours, as they do not 
 require any food in that interim, but merely the warmth 
 of the hen’s body. It is decidedly wrong to remove the 
 nest during twenty-four hours on any pretext; as any 
 
 c 
 
10 
 
 PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE 
 
 other that you may substitute cannot be so warm or 
 congenial. 
 
 When the chickens come from under the hen, and 
 run about in a lively manner, we take them all to the 
 coops in the rearing-house, and place a board ten inches 
 high, to keep the chickens, while so young, from getting 
 to the older ones, or other hens, who from having other 
 chickens would kill them. We first feed them with 
 boiled eggs, chopped up with the shell, which we think 
 gives them bone. Then for the first week, we give them 
 boiled eggs and bread crumbs, tail wheat and groats, 
 and bricks finely powdered or broken, and a little 
 brimstone; this food we lay on a board in the coop. 
 
 For the first month we give the chickens their food as 
 dry as possible, and allow no water to be spilt about. 
 
 We find earthenware fountains the best to supply 
 them with water, as in the course of a few days the 
 chickens all run in the body of the house together ; we 
 put their food there to eat as they require, which is a 
 hard rolled ball of barley paste, about three inches in 
 diameter; these we put in small garden pans to keep 
 the food clean, in which we are very particular, and 
 keep it fresh; this plan tends to lessen the necessity for 
 any medicinal treatment, and if kept dry, with light and 
 well ventilated, very few of the chickens will die ; this 
 sort of food we prepare for them every two or three 
 hours if required. But should any of our chickens take 
 cold, or be otherwise sick, we look for any feathers 
 under the wings or tail, and if the quills seem full of 
 
IN REARING POULTRY. 
 
 II 
 
 black blood, we call them sick feathers, and pull them 
 out, and give them agremonia and rue tea to drink, 
 without any other suction for twenty-four hours. 
 When we do not give them this tea, we give them a pill 
 or two of arum maculatum, or what children call lords 
 and ladies, at night ; when all the chickens have gone 
 into the coops, we remove all the left food, and sweep 
 the place out clean, then with a watering pot with a 
 small rose, we slightly sprinkle the floor with water, 
 shortly after, we dredge the same with quick lime, 
 which decomposes all aflluvia ; we then take either cut 
 wheat straw, or wheat chaff, and cover the floor, which 
 amuses the chickens to scratch and pick about, pro- 
 viding sufficient exercise to keep them in health ; this 
 should be done every night, as the chickens begin to 
 feed early in the morning, when they find a fresh and 
 invigorating meal ready for them. 
 
 We have not a sufficiently large grass plat in our yard 
 for green food for them, but provide mown grass, 
 lettuce leaves, or any waste greens we may have instead ; 
 and every three or four days, give them some sweet raw 
 meat, cut in shreds, as by keeping them up, we prevent 
 their obtaining worms and insects. Their natural mode 
 of life should be our guide in all these provisions. 
 
 To support our recommendations of warmth and light 
 for chickens, when in February, we were about to carry 
 on our experiments in artificial incubation, we had a 
 hen with a brood of eight chickens in a coop, by the side 
 of our stove ; we soon saw that what the chickens cared 
 
12 
 
 PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE 
 
 for, was heat ; for if they were sufficiently warm they 
 would not go under the hen. In six weeks the hen 
 would take no more notice of them, but wanted to lay 
 again. The chickens did not seem at any loss without 
 her, they had not been out of doors, nor did they want 
 to go as the air was cold, and in fourteen weeks from the 
 hatch, viz. six with the hen, and eight with artificial 
 warmth, by our stove, the chickens weighed upon an 
 average, a pound and a half each, and were at that time 
 worth six shillings a couple. Thus these chickens 
 were as good in the cold months as they could be 
 brought up in any of the finer seasons of the year. 
 In six weeks after, this hen left her chickens, she had 
 another brood of ten chickens ; in August she sat again, 
 and by rearing the chickens by the artificial means, she 
 now, on the 13th October, wants to sit again. 
 
 Perhaps we do not gather so many eggs as others, 
 with the same number of fowls ; but it must be taken 
 into consideration, that our hens have hatched and 
 brought up a great number of guinea fowls, and wild 
 ducks, and the eggs we give our young turkeys and 
 chickens are not enumerated in our list as accounted 
 for. 
 
 We feed all our fowls twice a day, first when we let 
 them out in the morning, then about three o’clock in 
 the afternoon. 
 
 To fatten poultry for the table, especially the young 
 ones, we have had most praise for those that have been 
 well fed while allowed to run about. If we put them 
 
IN REARING POULTRY. 
 
 13 
 
 up to fatten, we find the best plan, is to put up from 
 six to twelve in a place, about the size of a common pig 
 stye, with little light, made with wooden pales, suf- 
 ficiently open to admit of a free current of air in each 
 pen, we feed them with barley paste, giving them plenty 
 of clean water and fine gravel for digestion ; we feed 
 them for about a fortnight, and if they do not gain flesh 
 in that space of time, we do not consider them healthy ; 
 but we prefer those, as already stated, who are with 
 plenty of barley allowed their liberty, until they are fit 
 for the table. 
 
 We find our eggs best for hatching chickens from, 
 when allowing ten hens to one cock. But we always 
 object to sitting hens on eggs layed by a moulting hen, 
 or if attended by a cock when in the same condition. 
 
 \ 
 
14 
 
 PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE 
 
 <C(t t tfurkttj. 
 
 Which is now perfectly naturalized among us, was 
 unknown before the discovery of America, to which 
 quarter of the world it is indigenous. It was first 
 imported into France, in the reign of Francis the First, 
 and into England, under Henry the Eighth. The young 
 of the turkey in this country, are among the tenderest 
 of birds, although in their natural forests they are 
 capable of enduring a Canadian winter of six months 
 duration, in which state they are larger and more 
 beautiful than in their state of domestic captivity. 
 
 We have had the Norfolk, the Cambridge, the 
 American and the white breeds, but we find the black 
 Norfolk the best. The Cambridge we class second, 
 the American third, and the white turkey the worst. 
 We principally keep the black Norfolk now, and the 
 white merely as an ornamental bird. 
 
 In rearing our young turkeys we were very unsuc- 
 cessful, until we had our rearing-house built, but since 
 then, have found it comparatively easy ; when the air is 
 cold, they will sit and cry, rejecting food, but when a 
 proper temperature is provided, they soon become con- 
 tented and eat their food with a zest; we give them the 
 same food as the young chickens, keeping them a little 
 
IN REARING POULTRY. 
 
 15 
 
 warmer, and give them as many onion tops, or young 
 onions as we can spare ; milk curds they are also fond 
 of ; they are very tender if exposed to damp or cold, 
 until they acquire that red colour natural to the head. 
 After that all they require is plenty of food. 
 
 They are fond of ranging in the park for bents, grass, 
 clover, or acorns, we also take them to the stubble 
 fields, and give them barley when they come home. 
 We find the best time to hatch them, is in May, and 
 with good feeding till Christmas, have cock birds 
 weighing seventeen pounds each, and hen birds ten 
 pounds each and upwards. We do not take our 
 turkeys up to cram them to fatten them. We sold 
 thirty-five turkeys last December for fourteen shillings 
 each, they were fed with barley paste, and were allowed 
 to range in the park till we wanted to kill them. We 
 do not find second broods pay, having been unsuccessful 
 in six cases to one, the successful ones were in July, 
 1849, one turkey hatched fourteen birds. If we cannot 
 get a second brood by this time, (July) it will pay 
 better if the turkey sits on guinea fowl’s or hen’s eggs. 
 We have six hens and one cock. 
 
 We do not confine the hens while laying their eggs, 
 but allow them to choose the situation, generally under 
 a shrub or tree ; we watch them and take out the eggs, 
 which, although done, they will not forsake to make 
 another. When they want to sit, we give them their 
 eggs at our home, on the ground, with a little loose 
 hay under a coop to make their nest with. They do 
 
16 
 
 PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE 
 
 better making their own nest upon the ground, with 
 plenty of room, than with any nest we could provide. 
 Turn up the coop sufficiently every morning to allow 
 each to come off to feed, without any danger of breaking 
 the eggs, then return the coop to its place, leaving the 
 slide open for each to return ; which if they fail in 
 good time to do, which is about fifteen minutes, we 
 send them on. We take them off to feed if they will 
 not come off without. 
 
 We give each from thirteen to fifteen eggs to sit upon, 
 which require a month to hatch. When first hatched, 
 we allow them to remain with the mother for twenty- 
 four hours before we move them, unless they hatch 
 very slowly ; in which case we take some away and 
 wrap them in flannel, placing them before a fire for 
 warmth, to prevent the mother from squeezing them 
 while sitting on the remaining unhatched eggs, but 
 take them back to her as soon as we think it safe. We 
 take away all the empty egg-shells, that the sharp edges 
 might not hurt the birds in their nest. 
 
 We have stated that the young ones are very sus- 
 ceptible of cold while under the age of five months, 
 and should they take cold during that time are liable 
 to disease in the head, which will swell to an unusual 
 size, and acquires an appearance of a solution of gum 
 water, which in time changes to a thick curd of a yellow 
 colour ; at this stage of the disease, the eyes are closed, 
 and the nostrils stopped, and rejecting all food, mope in 
 a corner to die. 
 
IN REARING POULTRY. 
 
 17 
 
 In 1849, our flock of young turkeys were in a heavy 
 shower of rain, when three months old, which brought 
 on this disease, and in a month’s time, one was in the 
 extreme state described ; and seeing all the birds were 
 getting worse, notwithstanding having applied al] the 
 usual remedies recommended as well as my own, I 
 took as a last resource, a sharp pointed pen-knife, and 
 cut through the skin close to the top of the bird’s beak, 
 I then gently pressed out all the secreted matter, washing 
 the head well with warm water. As soon as this 
 operation was performed, I put the bird on the ground, 
 with some food, which it immediately began to pick up, 
 and seemed to get relief, yet it ultimately died. I had 
 twenty diseased in a similar manner, but applied the 
 same remedy before they were so far gone, and every 
 one recovered and did well. But this needs caution, as 
 by opening the skin before the virulence is sufficiently 
 ripe, the head will become festered a second time and 
 be longer in getting well ; while by allowing it to come 
 to too great a head, you cut off any chance of saving 
 them. I have cut more than one hundred afflicted with 
 this disease, and have only lost one, whereas formerly, 
 we suffered considerable loss from the same disease. 
 
 The turkey is fond of roosting upon trees, and 
 require care in bringing home for safety, which should 
 be attended to early in the afternoon. 
 
 We have brought up a cat with our poultry, which 
 we find very useful in keeping sparrows and other small 
 birds from eating the chicken’s food. She will kill any 
 
 D 
 
18 
 
 PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE 
 
 small birds that come within her reach, but have never 
 known her to destroy one head of poultry. She will 
 even allow the chickens to pick her victuals while she is 
 eating; and once this year, when we had put eight 
 young turkeys on the hearth before the fire for warmth, 
 she gathered them in a brood for three quarters of an 
 hour, and she generally sleeps in the rearing-house at 
 night, to keep mice from the barn, &c. 
 
IN REARING POULTRY. 
 
 19 
 
 &jjt inittca /nml 
 
 The Puitada or Guinea Fowl is partially known in a 
 domestic state, all over Europe; but is most common on 
 the Mediterranean coasts. Africa appears to be its 
 native country, and it was probably introduced into this 
 country from Guinea. 
 
 We find this fowl very profitable to rear, and at our 
 commencement had two hens and a cock, but the latter 
 was strange to our place and did us very little good. 
 One of our guinea hens laid one hundred and eighty 
 eggs, from April to October, 1851. 
 
 We never allow them to sit on their own eggs, but 
 prefer giving them to a turkey, which will bring them 
 up as cautiously as any hen, in fact we would recommend 
 turkeys, who lose their first brood to be set on the 
 guinea fowl’s eggs. A turkey can sit on from twenty 
 to twenty-four eggs, whilst a common hen only upon 
 fifteen eggs. 
 
 They do not like confinement, and if near a good 
 park, where they can range, will find more than half 
 the food they require. The best way we find to render 
 them tame is to feed them in one particular place, and 
 at one specific time, when they will not fail to come to 
 the accustomed spot. They are very fond of roosting in 
 
20 
 
 PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE 
 
 trees, if you are not particular in getting them to roost 
 early; but as we are careful of ours in this respect, we 
 can drive them home at an early hour as easily as a flock 
 of sheep. They cannot be put up to fatten, but must 
 be allowed a good range, with plenty of food. 
 
 We can generally sell them in February for five 
 shillings a couple. 
 
 To rear guinea fowls, we allow a good sitting hen 
 fifteen eggs, as soon as they are hatched, they will run 
 about and be very wild. We place the hen and brood 
 under a coop, with a lift, similar to that used by keepers 
 in rearing young pheasants, and are careful that there 
 are no apertures through which they can get out, for in 
 that case they would get to a stack of wood, or some- 
 thing of that sort, from which it would be very awkward 
 to get them out again. Keep them very close within 
 this coop for ten days, and give them plenty of ant’s 
 eggs in the left compartment of the coop, and if you 
 can procure sufficient, they will require no other food; 
 indeed they will not do well without them. Any one 
 who can rear pheasants or partridges may rear guinea 
 fowls. 
 
 4 
 
IN REARING POULTRY. 
 
 21 
 
 «jrt Witis fork. 
 
 This fowl we rear for sliooting, for the table, and for 
 ornament. Before we commenced rearing it, the game- 
 keeper had it under his charge, and it had no more care 
 than the other game intrusted to him ; it was left to find 
 all its own food, which it had often to seek for at a 
 distance from home, and consequently so much exposed 
 to the sportsman’s aim, that with us it was becoming 
 scarce. We had not sufficient for ornament, and of 
 course none for either shooting or the table. We have 
 a fine piece of water for them, but had considerable 
 trouble before we found out the best way to manage 
 them. 
 
 v 0#r best success has been found in allowing them to 
 lay their eggs where they choose, but we take them 
 away till the three first weeks in April. From the last 
 week in April, till the end of May, we take their eggs to 
 be hatched by our hens. This we do for the following 
 reasons, — we do not leave the early eggs with the duck, 
 to prevent her from sitting ; and we do not set any hens 
 before May, because when they are hatched earlier the 
 water is too cold, subjecting the young broods to cramp, 
 which kills them. The best time we have found for 
 them to take the water is at the end of June. 
 
22 
 
 PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE 
 
 When first hatched, we put them in a coop with a 
 lift, and covered at the top with wire. They are very 
 wild, and require different treatment from the tame 
 duck ; hut if you feed them with plenty of worms, cut up, 
 they will be as easily reared. With a sufficient quantity 
 of worms, they will require no other food for the first 
 month We then give them stiff barley paste in a small 
 garden pan, with a little water to dabble in, which 
 nutriment we find suits them best. 
 
 It is remarkable, that within a month, these little 
 creatures seem quite to undergo a change, at first they 
 will run anywhere to avoid observation ; but afterwards, 
 when they hear your footstep, they will run out of the 
 coop, with one eye turned up and outstretched neck, 
 while on tiptoe they look out with eagerness for their 
 accustomed meal of chopped worms. 
 
 After they are about a month old, we take the hen 
 and brood of ducks under a coop, boarded at the back, 
 with open spars in front, to within fifty yards qf the 
 water, placing it with the back, or boarded side towards 
 the water, that the hen may not see the young ducks 
 take to the water, and lifting the openings for the young 
 brood to get to their element, which they generally do 
 in a day or two. From this period we give them nothing 
 but the barley paste, as they find worms in a sufficient 
 quantity themselves. While here we give the hen barley, 
 and as soon as they can eat the same, and do without the 
 hen, we allow her to go ; entering the young ducks in 
 our book as worth a shilling each. When they are about 
 
IN REARING POULTRY. 
 
 23 
 
 three months old, we make a place for them close to the 
 water to resort to in haste, like a crate ; covering the top 
 with straw as a thatch, and in this we drive them home 
 every night, feeding them with barley. We pull the three 
 first quill feathers from under one wing to prevent them 
 from flying into the corn fields, where they might be 
 shot ; whereas, by confining them to our own water, they 
 may be shot if required while whirring over it on the 
 wing, as the wing will have new feathers by the month 
 of October. Sometimes we have 130 together for orna- 
 ment and sport. We feed them regularly, otherwise they 
 will not remain on the premises. 
 
 They will not breed like the tame duck, having one 
 drake to several ducks. We once shot too many mal- 
 lards, and few of the ducks during the next season bred. 
 Some of our ducks hatch and bring up their broods of 
 their own accord, but they generally drag their brood 
 about the ditches, until from want of food or proper care, 
 many of them are lost, unless indeed, when she hatches 
 very late in the season. The rat is fonder of the young 
 wild duck than any other of our poultry. The pike will 
 take them ; and we lost 30 in one day by these fish 
 when they were a month old. As to the colour, we con- 
 sider the darkest the best ; the plumage of the drake 
 gets very like the duck, at the close of the season, (ie ) — 
 summer. We do not keep the tame duck, so have given 
 no remaks upon it ; but those who rear other poultry 
 than we have described, will require but little more 
 instruction. 
 
24 
 
 PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE 
 
 Cmtcluratt. 
 
 F rom the result of our observations, we would advise 
 poultry to be well kept, if you expect to receive remune- 
 ration for your trouble ; give them as much food as they 
 require — that is as much as they will eat up at a time 
 when given them. You must not merely allow them 
 standard measure per head ; for some will lay more freely 
 than others, so require more food. They cannot pro- 
 duce good eggs from a mere measured allowance ; and in 
 addition to this, they require a comfortable domicile ; 
 and w r e, from experience, advocate the adoption of glass 
 houses in preference to the usual method generally 
 adopted. 
 
 Damp kills poultry in a variety of ways, therefore, we 
 advise its prevention as much as possible. The speci- 
 mens now in our possession will give a decided proof, 
 that a due care of them will not fail to produce profita- 
 ble results. Warmth, light, and cleanliness at all times 
 are essential to their productiveness ; cold air, and dirty 
 food, generate innumerable diseases with them as with 
 the human race ; and if by these remarks, we can induce 
 a greater care, doubt not but you will experience accom- 
 panying results. 
 
IN REARING POULTRY. 25 
 
 ABSTRACT OF ACCOUNTS, FROM MAY 9th, TO 
 DECEMBER 31st, 1847. 
 
 
 £. 
 
 S. 
 
 d. 
 
 £. 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 May 9th, 1847. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Value of Stock 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 17 
 
 0 
 
 Dec. 31, 1847. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 60 Fowls 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 
 20 Chickens 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 
 8 Turkeys 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 
 12 Guinea Fowls 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 
 100 
 
 £12 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 
 Increase in value of Stock 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 13 
 
 0 
 
 1131 Eggs sold or used 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 16 
 
 4 
 
 17 Chickens killed 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 12 Turkeys killed 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 0 
 
 12 Fowls killed 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 41 Produce 
 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 12 
 
 4 
 
 Loss in 1847 . . 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 EXPENSES. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 29 Bushels of Barley 
 
 7 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 
 6 Bushels of Barley Meal 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 
 14 lbs. of Rice 
 
 0 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 Wages for the year 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 
 
 £19 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 £19 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 E 
 
26 
 
 PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE 
 
 ABSTRACT OF ACCOUNTS, FROM JANUARY 1st, TO 
 DECEMBER 31st, 1848. 
 
 Jan. 1st, 1848. 
 
 Value of Stock 
 Dec. 31st, 1848. 
 
 80 Fowls 
 
 20 Chickens 
 
 14 Guinea Fowls . 
 9 Turkeys , 
 
 £. s. d. £. s. d. 
 
 12 10 0 
 
 6 0 0 
 
 1 10 0 
 
 1 15 0 
 
 3 16' 0 
 
 123 
 
 £13 1 0 
 
 Increase in value of Stock 
 3590 Eggs sold, &e 
 
 18 Fowls sold 
 
 95 Chickens sold ] 
 
 23 Turkeys sold > 
 
 6 Guinea Fowls sold \ 
 
 24 Wild Ducks sold ' 
 
 166 Produce 
 
 EXPENSES. 
 
 41 Bushels of Barley 
 
 19 Bushels of Barley Meal 
 
 6 Bushels of Tail Wheat .... 
 
 Wages for year 
 
 Wages for Boy to assist 
 
 1 9 0 
 12 16 6 
 
 22 0 3| 
 
 36 5 9| 
 
 9 4 11 
 
 3 15 9 
 
 1 3 6 
 
 10 0 0 
 
 1 18 3 
 
 26 2 5 
 
 Gain in 1848 10 3 4| 
 
 £36 5 9j £36 5 9f 
 
IN REARING POULTRY. 
 
 27 
 
 ABSTRACT OF ACCOUNTS, FROM JANUARY 1st TO 
 DECEMBER 31st, 1849. 
 
 
 £. 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 £. 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 Jan. 1st, 1849. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Value of Stock 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 Dec. 31st, 1849. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 Turkeys, 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 
 16 Guinea Fowls, 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 
 80 Fowls, 
 
 8 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 
 20 Chickens, 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 
 128 
 
 £15 
 
 14 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 
 Increase in value of Stock, 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 13 
 
 0 
 
 4100 Eggs sold, &c 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 22 Turkeys sold 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 55 Fowls sold j 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 44 Chickens sold > 
 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 18 
 
 0| 
 
 15 Guinea Fowls sold ] 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 41 Wild Ducks sold 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 177 Produce 
 
 
 
 
 36 
 
 18 
 
 CO 
 
 EXPENSES. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 51 Bushels of Barley \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 Bushels of Barley Meal. . . . ( 
 
 15 
 
 g 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 10 Bushels of Tail Wheat. . . . 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bice and Groats / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Wages and Boy to assist 
 
 11 
 
 17 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 5 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 Gain in 1849 
 
 9 
 
 12 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 £36 18 34 
 
 £36 18 34 
 
28 
 
 PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE 
 
 ABSTRACT OF ACCOUNTS, FROM JANUARY 1st TO 
 DECEMBER 31st, 1850. 
 
 Jan. 1st, 1850. 
 
 Value of Stock 
 Dec. 31st, 1850. 
 
 14 Turkeys 
 
 100 Fowls 
 
 15 Chickens 
 
 62 Guinea Fowls . 
 
 £. s. d. £. s. d. 
 
 15 14 0 
 
 4 16 0 
 
 10 0 0 
 
 0 15 0 
 
 7 15 0 
 
 191 
 
 £23 6 0 
 
 Increase in value of Stock 7 12 0 
 
 4500 Eggs sold, ,&c 12 10 5| 
 
 40 Turkeys sold 
 
 67 Fowls sold ) 
 
 24 Chickens sold > 28 16 5 
 
 73 Ducks sold j 
 
 12 Guinea Fowls sold ' 
 
 216 Produce 
 
 EXPENSES. 
 
 80 Bushels of Barley 
 
 42 Bushels of Barley Meal .... 
 
 11 Bushels of Tail Wheat .... 
 
 7 Bushels of Pollard 
 
 Rice and Groats 
 
 Boy’s Wages and Salary 
 
 Gain in 1850 11 3 1| 
 
 37 15 
 
 48 18 10J 
 
 £48 18 10| £48 18 10J 
 
IN REARING POULTRY, 
 
 29 
 
 ABSTRACT OF ACCOUNTS, FROM JANUARY 1st, TO 
 DECEMBER 31st, 1851 
 
 Jan. 1st, 1851. 
 
 Value of Stock 
 Dec. 31st, 1851. 
 
 14 Turkeys 
 
 16 Chickens 
 
 100 Fowls 
 
 65 Guinea Fowls . 
 
 £. s. d. £. s. d. 
 
 23 6 0 
 
 4 13 9 
 
 0 16 0 
 
 10 0 0 
 
 8 2 6 
 
 195 
 
 £23 12 3 
 
 Increase in value of Stock 
 4500 Eggs sold, &c 
 
 44 Turkeys 
 
 136 Fowls 
 
 58 Wild Ducks . 
 
 56 Guinea Fowls 
 
 0 6 3 
 
 12 10 0 
 
 38 7 9 
 
 294 
 
 Produce 
 
 EXPENSES. 
 
 51 4 0 
 
 87 Bushels of Barley . 
 
 52 Bushels of Barley Meal 
 13 Bushels of Pollard . 
 
 5 Bushels of Tail Wheat 
 5 Bushels of Beans .... 
 Rice, Groats, and sundries 
 
 Wages, Boy, &c 
 
 Gain in 1851 
 
 42 18 3± 
 
 5 84 
 
 £51 4 0 
 
 £51 4 0 
 

 
 
 
 
 
PART II. 
 
 AN 
 
 INTERESTING ACCOUNT 
 
 OF 
 
 EXPERIMENTS 
 
 IN 
 
 ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION, 
 
 CARRIED ON WITH A VIEW OF COMBINING THE SAME 
 WITH HORTICULTURE, SHOWING ITS ADVANTAGES 
 AND ECONOMY. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOSEPH NEWTON 
 
MrnimrfiatL 
 
 In bringing before the public my plan and experi- 
 ments in hatching and rearing poultry by means of 
 warm air, every idea herein expressed and followed out, 
 has sprung from the study of nature in the practice of 
 horticulture, closely observed in the production of 
 plants of different kinds, according to the proper tem- 
 perature applied. 
 
 As for instance, the melon requires the skill and atten- 
 tion of the gardener, with a temperature more adapted to 
 the growth of the plants than our atmosphere affords, 
 if success is expected in the fruiting season. So a good 
 horticulturalist who is successful in forcing on the tank 
 system of heating, would not require a greater outlay 
 than two or three pounds, to combine the hatching and 
 rearing of poultry with horticulture. And feeling quali- 
 fied to give rules and plans with a certainty of success, 
 I shall feel happy in assisting any persons who feel in- 
 clined to apply to me for instructions. 
 
#nral lUmarlta 
 
 Having conceived in my own mind, that the elements 
 of a seed, and the egg of a fowl, were essentially the 
 same ; and knowing by practice, I had frequently suc- 
 ceeded in generating seeds from a diverse temperature, 
 I considered something might be done with the egg, if 
 subjected to similar treatment ; accordingly, I put ther- 
 mometers several times under the sitting poultry, turkeys 
 as well as fowls, and found the heat to vary from 100 
 degrees to 108 degrees; now arose the question, what can 
 I make to keep the heat at from 104 degrees to 106 
 degrees, allowing two degrees to move or change, knowing 
 the difficulty of obtaining a fixed heat, as warm air is 
 continually moving, and subject to change. While stand- 
 ing in the chicken-house, I perceived a spare place about 
 four feet long and two feet six inches wide — a chimney 
 being there ; I immediately said this is the place, and 
 went to mark out my plan on paper and build it as here 
 shown. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF INCUBATING STOVE. 
 
 1, Chimney — 2, damper — 3, a tin, three feet six inches long, 
 one foot six inches wide, and three deep — the top lifts off ; and the 
 boiler part is eight inches square by nine deep, all soldered in one 
 
 F 
 
34 EXPERIMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 
 
 piece. The dark mark on the top of door 4, is a piece of stout 
 sheet iron, to secure the boiler from the action of the fire. No. 5 
 is the drawer in which the eggs are laid, the bottom of which is 
 perforated zinc. I lay a thin plate of zinc on the top of the eggs ; 
 there is a space between the edge of the drawer and the top of the 
 zinc plate which lays on the eggs and the warm tin ; the heat of 
 the warm tin is radiated on the zinc plate ; the cold air acting on 
 the top and bottom of the zinc plate, brings the plate to 104 de- 
 grees of heat ; this resting on the eggs, and the bulb of the ther- 
 mometer, gives me the proper temperature, of which I take notes 
 as hereinafter shown by tables, during the process of given incuba- 
 tion. No. 6 is one side, and a bottom of an old glass-box put in the 
 space between the wall and the stove, to answer the purpose of an 
 air box, to act as a mother for the chickens, to bring into during 
 the first stages of life. No. 7 is a board with a pane of glass 
 puttied in, to keep the chickens in, and give them light under the 
 temperature for the regulation of that for the eggs. 
 
 The thermometer must be of metal — a wooden scale will crack 
 and break. The tin boiler cost me seventeen shillings, and the 
 thermometer one shilling and sixpence. But for an outlay of from 
 thirty to forty shillings,, one may be constructed of iron to hatch 
 100 eggs at once. 
 
 My first apparatus would burn the waste cinders of 
 the house, and require attention to regulate the heat 
 every four hours ; but the larger one I have now fixed of 
 iron will require less attention. I hatched some chickens 
 with it on November 25th, 1851, and did not attend to 
 it from between ten o’clock at night till seven in the 
 morning ; during the day, it was under the care of a boy 
 under fourteen years of age, and during this time, it was 
 cold and frosty for a fortnight together. I have not shown 
 
INCUBATING STOVE 
 

 
EXPERIMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 35 
 
 this plan of my new apparatus that I have recently car- 
 ried on my experiments with, as one for a model, but 
 merely as that by which I have established my principles, 
 and that too, with more ease and success than I antici- 
 pated. But having now the poultry to show in return 
 for my trouble — and having had the most respectable 
 witnesses on various occasions to view my work, have no 
 hesitation in submitting it to public notice. 
 
 In the Birmingham and the Midland Counties Exhibi- 
 tion of Poultry in 1851, I exhibited, as per catalogue, 
 class 26, No. 552, six silver-pencilled Hamburgh fowls. 
 These chickens were hatched on the 24th of May, and 
 reared by artificial heat without the assistance of the hen, 
 and the plan combines horticulture with artificial incu- 
 bation ; also in class 40, No. 695 in the same exhibi- 
 tion, (Dorking and barn-door fowls), one cock and three 
 hens, hatched 1st of May, 1851, and reared by artificial 
 heat. One of these hens layed on the 25 th of November, 
 and all three by the 22nd of December. Also, No. 696, 
 same class, six chickens, hatched 18th of August, 1851. 
 Class 46, No. 1019, two Guinea fowls, hatched 30th of 
 May; and extra class, No. 1053, wild ducks, hatched 
 30th of May. All these I presented for public in- 
 spection at the above exhibition for 1851. 
 
 My first practice as shown by my note sheets, was to 
 see to what height I could go before I killed the chicks. 
 When they were fifteen days old I put twenty eggs to 
 this experiment, and broke an egg each day to observe 
 the process of incubation going on in every egg. I found 
 
36 EXPERIMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 
 
 a live chick at 110 degrees — one day at 117 degrees; 
 but this at 1 1 7 degrees I tried for a short time only ; on 
 the fifteenth day I had only five eggs left. This day I 
 observed the thermometer at 120 degrees for ten minutes, 
 this I observed twice ; the next day, on breaking the re- 
 mainder of the eggs, I found the chicks dead. There 
 were three rotten eggs in the twenty, — and have found 
 by observation, if the heat is kept as high as 1 1 6 degrees, 
 they will die from excess of heat — and at 80 degrees for 
 eight hours at a time, from the want of heat. When the 
 birds have got so near the hatching as to absorb nearly 
 all the yolk in their body, they die of cold at 90 degrees. 
 I have observed them at the different states from one 
 day to another ; and in taking them out of the shell 
 while alive, have found the colour of the blood change 
 from excess of heat or cold. 
 
 On the 12th of April, 1851, I put fourteen eggs in my 
 drawer, and broke three at different times to see the 
 process, all of which contained live embryo. On the first 
 of May, 1851, my first experiments were developed. 
 I saw at three o’clock p.m., on that day, that one 
 chick was coming out; and hy five o’clock,, four more, 
 from the fourteen eggs, I had eight fine chickens ; three 
 I had killed by examinations, and three were rotten eggs. 
 I hatched, likewise, three Guinea chicks out of four eggs ; 
 also eight wild ducks, and two turkeys about the same 
 time. I had two eggs of the tame duck for the first 
 fifteen days, I kept one in my incubating drawer, and 
 the other the hen sat on ; I then exchanged them, and 
 
EXPERIMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 37 
 
 both were duly brought out with fine chicks at the 
 proper period of time. I brought up these eight wild 
 ducks, and six others without any mother in a cucumber 
 house ; they did not require so much warmth as my other 
 chickens, and my place was already crowded with the 
 stock I then had. In August, I tried another twenty 
 eggs in my apparatus, and in this hatch I had only three 
 bad eggs ; but I must remark, the difficulty is not quite 
 overcome when the chickens are hatched ; they must also 
 be provided with warmth, or they will soon die ; and 
 this will be well provided for in the plan I will give to 
 those who may apply to me for instructions. I have 
 taken a brood of chickens from the hen as soon they 
 were hatched, and brought them up in my small box ; 
 when the air is warm enough, they will be still, and 
 quiet, but if the air is too cold, they will cry and reject 
 their food ; and if they are long exposed to a colder air 
 than they require, would soon be attacked with the 
 disease called the gapes. 
 
 In this climate, and in an unfavourable place, chickens 
 are subjected to this and other diseases, which would be 
 obviated by rearing them under glass-houses, and kept 
 sufficiently warm. One of my plans to combine this with 
 horticulture, and carry on a large economy, is to have 
 two vineries, a propagating, and a green-house, heated on 
 the tank, polmaze, and flue system — all can be heated 
 with one fire, one house, or all, to be worked at the same 
 time, and be so fitted with my apparatus, as to hatch and 
 rear as many chickens as the size of the tank will allow. 
 
38 EXPERIMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 
 
 By such an arrangement, you may bring up the chickens 
 for fourteen weeks without interfering at all with the 
 horticultural work ; and this plan is so arranged, that 
 should the proprietor decline to continue the poultry 
 part, the apparatus might be taken out at a trifling ex- 
 pense, and the houses might be heated on a principle of 
 equal economy. 
 
 The success I have met with in heating houses 
 generally, warrants me in stating the principle to be 
 successful ; without glass, and some plan based on what 
 horticulturalists consider proper for half-hardy plants, no 
 plan for artificial incubation will recompense the labour. 
 Glass now is cheap, and with it we can have any tempe- 
 rature our plants require ; why not extend the same ad- 
 vantages to our poultry ? We might then contrast the 
 comforts they enjoy in warmth, to the sneezing little 
 chickens we see out in a cold rainy day. 
 
 Consider this plan of having two vineries, divided in 
 the centre by propagating or incubating house, with 
 greenhouse, with moveable partitions to each house, so 
 that all might be of the same temperature if required. 
 
 The four houses would form the accom- 
 panying diagram. — Each house to be fitted 
 with moveable lattice-stages for plants to 
 stand on. 
 
 To commence propagating, the 1st of February and 
 put eggs for incubation, the 7th of February, to hatch on 
 the 28th. Gently begin to force one vinery 1st of 
 .March ; when the vines have well broken, move the 
 
EXPERIMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 39 
 
 chickens from propagating or incubating house, by 
 removing the partition ; let the chickens have the bot- 
 tom of the vinery to run and live in ; do not pave the 
 floor, but let the soil remain as before its erection ; lay 
 a moveable lattice on the floor to walk on, the flue, or 
 hot water pits will do for the chickens to lean against, 
 and keep themselves warm. By about the 21 st of March, 
 the chickens will be about three weeks old ; and if your 
 plants are for bedding, they will require potting out. 
 This done, start the other vinery, and move the plants 
 to get root. The chickens will not be able to fly up to 
 hurt the grapes before they are six weeks old ; give them 
 then the green-house, if this house is divided by a 
 moveable partition, you can give up as much room to the 
 chickens as they require, the other part of the house can 
 be used for plants. The three dotted lines as marked 
 round the cut, forms the yard opening from the green- 
 house, by this plan, the chickens cannot get into 
 the other houses. They should be here two months, 
 that is until they are fourteen weeks old. By the last 
 week in May, they will require no further protection, 
 whether they are kept to lay, or for fowls. I should 
 then send them away, and only use the houses for hor- 
 ticulture, till the following February. 
 
 This then is the same as we bring up our half-hardy 
 plants for ornamenting our flower-gardens, and my ex- 
 perience in rearing both plants and fowls, has often given 
 me an opportunity of seeing how closely the success of 
 the one is shown in the treatment of the other. But as 
 
40 EXPERIMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 
 
 chickens are considered enemies to the gardener, it may 
 appear singular that I should advocate the combination 
 of poultry with horticulture ; but my object in recom- 
 mending this to the attention of gardeners is, knowing 
 that a knowledge of the regulation of a healthy artificial 
 temperature is of great use in such constructions as ap- 
 plicable to both purposes, while the agriculturalist has this 
 to learn to make him successful. I would advise the 
 adoption of a plan similar to that of our poultry-house, 
 extended in length more or less according to the number 
 of poultry, and different kinds intended to be kept. The 
 roof to be all of glass, and the interior to be divided by 
 moveable glazed partitions. 
 
 The table, or sheet I used for noting down the dif- 
 ferent degrees of heat, was similar to the following, but 
 extending to twenty-four hours, with lines across for as 
 many days as are required for incubation. 
 
 I had two thermometers, one to give the heat at the 
 top of the eggs, the other for that under them ; every 
 observation being noted down when taken, the paper 
 was filled up on the day of hatching. 
 
 
 a.m. 
 
 A.M. 
 
 P.M. 
 
 P.M. 
 
 P.M. 
 
 A.M. 
 
 
 Date. 
 
 5 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 Remarks, &c. 
 
 
 104 
 
 106 
 
 105 
 
 100 
 
 102 
 
 104 
 
 
 August, 13th 
 
 96 
 
 99 
 
 91 
 
 91 
 
 95 
 
 96 
 
 
 „ 14th 
 
 V 
 
 V 
 
 V 
 
 >> 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 In order to have strong birds, there ought to be a dif- 
 ference in the temperature of the heat applied to the top 
 
EXPERIMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 41 
 
 and bottom of the egg, of from eight degrees to ten de- 
 grees. 
 
 PROPER TIME FOR INCUBATION. 
 
 For Turkeys from 30 to 3 1 days, 
 
 „ Guinea Fowls from - 28 to 29 ditto, 
 
 „ Fowls from - - 20 to 21 ditto, 
 
 „ Ducks from 22 to 29 ditto. 
 
 Keep the temperature from 104 degrees to 108 degrees 
 on the top of the eggs ; we find this with the sitting 
 poultry. From the time the bird chips the shell, to 
 coming out from three to twenty-four hours ; but we 
 generally find the best come out first. 
 
 The eggs I turn over every day, and move them once 
 in eight hours, by putting my hand on the top of the 
 eggs ; moving them backwards, and once forwards. 
 
 I take the drawer out for a quarter of an hour each 
 day for the eggs to cool, to be the same as if the hen 
 went off to feed ; indeed I take the habits of the hen in 
 all I observe of her as my guide. 
 
 R. J. DANGERFIELD, PRINTER, BOOKSELLER, ETC., DUNSTABLE. 
 
* 
 
 
 

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