Our Domestic Birds Part 5

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 59. White Polish Bantam hen]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 60. White Polish Bantam c.o.c.k]

No evidence of the existence of a dwarf race of fowls in Java has ever been produced. The Chinese and j.a.panese bantams did not come to Europe and America until long after the name "bantam" came into use. Dwarfs occur and undoubtedly have occurred frequently in every race of fowls.

Usually they are unsymmetrical and weakly, and are called runts and put out of the way as soon as possible. But occasionally an undersized individual is finely formed, active, and hardy. By mating such a specimen with the smallest specimen of the other s.e.x that can be found (even though the latter is much larger), and by repeated selection of the smallest specimens, a dwarf race may be obtained. It could be made, though not so rapidly, by systematic selection of the smallest ordinary specimens and by keeping the growing chicks so short of food that they would be stunted. The latter process, however, is so tedious that no one is likely to adopt it. Usually the idea of making a new variety of bantams does not occur to a breeder until he sees a good dwarf specimen of a race of which there is no dwarf variety. Then, if he undertakes to make such a variety, he is likely to use in the process both small specimens of large races and birds of long-established dwarf races.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 61. Black Cochin Bantam pullet[6]]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 62. Black Cochin Bantam c.o.c.kerel[6]]

[6] Photograph from Dr. J. N. MacRae, Galt, Ontario.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 63. Rose-Comb Black Bantam c.o.c.k]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 64. Rose-Comb Black Bantam hen[7]]

[7] Photograph from Grove Hill Poultry Yards, Waltham, Ma.s.sachusetts.

Dwarf types of most of the popular breeds have been made here and exhibited, but the originators were given very little encouragement to perfect them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 65. Silver Sebright Bantam c.o.c.kerel]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 66. Silver Sebright Bantam pullet]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 67. Dark Brahma Bantam c.o.c.kerel]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 68. Light Brahma Bantam hen with brood[8]]

[8] Photograph from Brook View Farm, Newbury, Ma.s.sachusetts.

=Varieties of bantams.= The most popular bantams in this country to-day are the Cochin Bantams, formerly called Pekin Bantams because the first that were seen in Europe and America had come from Peking. Only the self-colored varieties--buff, black, and white--are natives of China.

The Partridge variety was made in England, where there are several other color varieties not known in this country. The Common Game Bantam is a dwarf Pit Game fowl; the Exhibition Game Bantam is a dwarf type resembling the Exhibition Game, developed from the Common Game Bantam.

Rose-Comb Black and Rose-Comb White Bantams are diminutive Hamburg fowls; Polish Bantams are diminutive Polish. The Sebright Bantams are of the same general type as the Rose-Combs, but in color they are laced like the large varieties of Polish, not spangled like the party-colored Hamburgs. They are further distinguished by being "hen-tailed," that is, the males having tails like hens. Sebright Bantams were made in England about a hundred years ago, by Sir John Sebright, for whom they were named. Although the large Brahmas and Cochins are originally of the same stock, no bantams of the colors of the Brahmas have come from China. The Light and Dark Brahma Bantams were made in England and America in very recent times. From j.a.pan has come a peculiar type of bantam with very short legs, a large tail carried very high, and a large single comb. In their native country the j.a.panese Bantams are not separated into distinct color varieties. In England and America there are black, white, gray, black-tailed white, and buff varieties.

CHAPTER V

MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS

The methods of managing fowls vary according to the conditions under which they are kept and the time that the keeper can give them. Fowls ought to have an outdoor run, and it is desirable that this should be large enough to be kept in sod; but very few people in towns can give their fowls gra.s.s yards, and the advantages of an outdoor run will not in themselves compensate for neglect in other matters. Hence we often see fowls under poor conditions, with good care, doing better than fowls, in a much more favorable environment, that are given indifferent care. No absolute rules for keeping fowls under any given conditions can be made. In general, small flocks of fowls that have free range or large, gra.s.sy yards need very little attention, while those that are closely confined require a great deal.

With good care the egg production of fowls in close confinement is often better than that from fowls at liberty, but if the cost of caring for the fowls is computed at current rates for common labor, the rate of compensation is often higher on fowls running at large than on fowls in confinement which are producing many more eggs. The question of profits from amateur poultry keeping, however, should not be considered solely with reference to the compensation for time used, nor should such work be adjusted wholly with reference to economic results, for it combines recreation, education, and money compensation, and the first two results should have as much consideration as the last.

In this chapter the methods adapted to small flocks are first described for the instruction of the pupil, and then descriptions of operations on a larger scale are given for his information.

SMALL FLOCKS ON TOWN LOTS

=Numbers in flocks.= The average number of fowls kept by a town family for its own use is about one dozen. Very few who keep hens have less than half a dozen, and not many who plan only to supply their own tables have more than a dozen and a half. Six fowls, if well cared for, will produce all the eggs used by an average family of two or three persons during the greater part of the year.

=Houses and yards.= For a dozen medium-sized fowls the house should be about 8 ft. 8 ft. on the ground, with the highest point of the roof about 6 or 7 feet from the floor. The general rule is to make the poultry house face the sun, and have the windows and the outside doors in or near the front. The object of this is to get as much sunlight in the house as possible in winter, when the sun is low, and to have the walls tight that are exposed to the prevailing cold winds. In the Northern Hemisphere the front of the house is toward the south; in the Southern Hemisphere it is toward the north. In tropical and subtropical countries houses are often so constructed that they can be kept open on all sides in summer and closed tightly, except in front, during cool weather.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 69. Small house used for fowls and pigeons]

If the land on which a house stands is sandy and well drained, the floor may be of earth. The common practice where earth floors are used is to fill the earth level with the top of the sill and renew it once a year by removing the soil that has become mixed with droppings of the fowls and putting in fresh earth. When a house stands on wet land or on clay soil, it is better to have a floor of boards or of cement.

Fowls may be confined to a house for a year or more and lay well and be in apparently good condition at the end of such a period, but as the chickens hatched from the eggs of fowls that have been so closely confined for even a few months are almost invariably less vigorous than those produced from fowls that live a more natural life, this plan is not much used except by those who keep a few fowls for their eggs only and renew the stock by purchase as often as necessary.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 70. An old-style small poultry house and yard]

To give a flock of a dozen fowls outdoor air and exercise enough to keep them in good condition, a yard containing about 300 sq. ft. is necessary. There is no perceptible advantage in giving more yard room than this, unless the yard can be made so large that gra.s.s will grow continuously in the greater part of it. On most soils this would require a yard containing from 750 to 1000 sq. ft. in sod before being used for poultry.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 71. Coop and shade for flock of Bantams[9]]

[9] The coop is an old dry-goods box; the shade is a burlap bag.

Makeshift arrangements are not always nice looking, but some of the finest chickens are kept in very poor quarters.

When fowls are confined to their houses, or to the houses and small yards, the droppings must be removed at frequent, regular intervals. To facilitate this it is customary to have a wide board, called the droppings board, under the roost at a distance of eight or ten inches.

All the droppings made while the birds are on the roost fall on this board and are easily collected and removed. It is a good plan to keep a supply of dry earth in a convenient place, and strew a little of this over the droppings board after each cleaning. Sifted coal ashes, land plaster, and dry sawdust are sometimes used instead of earth on the droppings boards. The droppings of fowls, when not mixed with other matter, are often salable for use in tanning leather, but in most cases the difference in their value for this purpose and for use as plant fertilizer is not great enough to pay for the extra trouble which is made by saving them for the tanners. Poultry manure is one of the most valuable fertilizers and can always be used to good advantage on lawns and gardens.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 72. Neat house for six hens]

If the floor is of wood or of cement, a thin layer of earth or sand spread upon it makes it more comfortable for the fowls. On all kinds of floors the modern practice is to use a few inches of litter of some kind. There is a great variety of materials that will serve this purpose. Lawn clippings raked up after they are dry, dried weeds and gra.s.s from the garden, leaves collected when dry and stored to be used as wanted, straw, hay, cornstalks cut into short lengths, and shavings, such as are sold baled for bedding horses and cattle, are all good.

Fresh litter should be added in small quant.i.ties about once a week.

About once a month the coa.r.s.e litter on top should be raked aside, and the fine litter mixed with droppings underneath removed. Once or twice a year all the material should be taken out and a fresh start made.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 73. House for a dozen fowls. Floor, 8 ft. 8 ft.; height at sides, 4 ft.; height in middle, 7 ft.]

When kept in a house having an earth floor, fowls will scratch aside the litter from small s.p.a.ces and wallow and dust themselves. In houses having hard floors, shallow boxes about 2 ft. square, containing several inches of dry earth, are placed for the birds' dust baths. Fresh earth must be provided frequently or they will not use the bath as freely as is desirable. For use in winter the earth must be so dry that it will not freeze, but the birds prefer earth that is slightly moist.

The first function of the dust bath is to clean the feathers, and damp earth does this much better than earth that is very dry. In wallowing to clean their plumage fowls also rid themselves of lice. When it is not convenient to store much earth, the same material may do double service--first in the dust bath, then on the droppings board.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 74. Small houses in back yard]

In a bare yard the soil should be turned over often, all the matter that can be raked up with a fine rake having first been removed. A yard that is in gra.s.s requires little care except near the house, where the ground may be bare. Here it should be forked over occasionally.

=Feeding.= The feeding of a small flock of fowls is a very simple process. The table and kitchen waste of an ordinary family will furnish all the soft food that they need, and usually enough green food to prevent their suffering for lack of such foods if no other provision is made for supplying them. This waste should not be carried from the house as it is made, and thrown on the ground for the fowls to pick out of the dirt. A better way is to provide a covered jar large enough to hold the acc.u.mulation of this material for a day. Into this may be put all the leavings from the table, except such things as orange and banana peelings, large bones, and pieces of fat meat. Once a day, at whatever time is most convenient, the contents of the jar should be mixed with as much corn meal and bran (equal parts by measure) as will take up the water in them and make a moist but not sloppy mash. This should be fed in a clean trough. If the trough stands high enough from the floor to keep the contents clean, it will do no harm if more food is given than the birds will eat up at once, but the quant.i.ty given should never be so great that it will not be eaten before the next feeding time.

Most people find the morning the most convenient time to give the mash.

If the mash is fed in the morning, a small feed of hard grain should be given about noon, and a more liberal one an hour or two before sunset.

Some poultry keepers feed the different grains separately; others mix them before feeding. Advocates of different practices often imagine advantages for that which they favor, but no advantage can be demonstrated for either. Wheat and cracked corn are the grains most used in this country; they are about equal in feeding value. As corn is nearly always cheaper than wheat, the usual practice is to feed about twice as much corn. When the grains are mixed, one part (by measure) of wheat is used to two parts of cracked corn. When they are fed separately, it is usual to feed the wheat at noon, as the light feed, and the corn in the evening, as the heavy feed. All the common grains except rye make good poultry foods. Why fowls do not like rye is one of the puzzles of poultry keeping. In some countries it is used for poultry to a greater extent than in the United States, and fowls forced to eat it here have done very well for short periods, but will not eat it readily if they are accustomed to other grains and can get enough to sustain life without it. Fowls do not like dry oats so well as corn and wheat, but have not such a dislike for them as for rye. They are very fond of oats soaked in water and partly sprouted.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 75. With curtains closed]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 76. With one curtain open]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 77. As an open-front house]