Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/648

 G24 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. three feet from the ground, with little ladders within and without, to prevent the visits of pigs. This hole has a slip shutter, within rebated cheeks, open in the daytime, but let down every evening, lest dogs, cats, or foxes should enter. Care should be taken that this opening be not so large as to admit the thief's little son or confederate, unless secured by a keyed bolt in the inside. The perches for fowls and turkeys are fixed at different heights from the floor, observing that no one perch be directly over another, nor should they extend over the laying-boxes. A flat board with steps nailed on is placed against one of the most central perches, to assist in mounting the chickens to their roost. All round the fowl-house, except at the door, is fixed a range of boxes for nests, as in the plan, fig. 1 1 93. Ducks and geese have their breeding-boxes close to the floor ; the doors being open during the day, and shut at night. On this account the doors should open into the orchard, or other enclosure where pigs are not allowed to come. These nestling-places, as well as those of fowls, are always bedded with clean straw frequently changed ; and chalk eggs lie in them to attract the notice of the layers. 1327. General Management of Poultry. The following valuable practical remarks are by Mr. Main. They well deserve the attention of all those who are about to build poultry- houses, or who possess them already. Few persons are now aware of the great importance of such an arrangement of places, for all manner of fowls, as will admit not only of the most perfect cleanliness in management, but even of the renovation of the floor, sides, and fittings up, by extraordinary purification, every two or three years. Mr. Main's remarks on this subject are the result of much experience and long observation ; and we have no doubt they will have their due weight both with Architects and poultry-feeders. " Every kind ot poultry," Mr. Main observes, " should have a separate house, different kinds being exceedingly pugnacious towards one another. The individuals of every species are also vei y pugnacious among themselves ; and, on this account, the number of cock birds is always limited. One cock to seven hens, one gander to six geese, one drake to six ducks, are the general proportions with regard to the commoner kinds of fowls ; and one turkeycock and one peacock, are considered quite enough, on a moderately sized farm, for breeding purposes. The turkey, guinea-hen, and peahen are very fastidious in the choice of nests, and therefore require watching. If the latter fix on some secluded spot in the wood or hedges, she must not be removed ; and, while sitting, will come home, call for food, and fly back to her nest. In such places they are in great danger of being killed by the fox ; but, if a circle of peeled rods be placed archwise on the ground, at some distance round the nest, it wiU scare the marauder. Pea-fowls seldom roost in houses, preferring the tops of buildings, or the branches of trees. Every farm should have a place for fatting poultry, containing coops like those shown in figs. 1194 and 1195, fitted up for that purpose. Fowls are usually fattened with barley-meal and milk or water ; and, if this is made thin enough, they need no drink. Geese are fattened with oats, given them in shallow earthen pans of water. Turkeys are best fattened with barley-meal and milk ; but, with professional feeders, many rich and unnatural ingredients are mixed with their food, and forced down the throats of the helpless birds. Ducks are fattened like fowls, but must be allowed plenty of water. Tlie flesh of poultry acquires flavour according to the quality of the food on which they have been fed. Musty or otherwise damaged grain is sure to be tasted in the fowl, goose, turkey, or duck that has been fed on it, however dressed : on the other hand, general cleanliness and sweet food improve the flavour of the flesh. Rotten or musty litter will taint the birds as well as tlieir eggs. In fact, no poultry of any kind will thrive, if not kept perfectly clean ; and, even with the utmost care, a place where poultry have been long kept becomes what the housewives call tainted, and where they will thrive no longer. The surface of the ground becomes saturated with their exuvia?, and therefore no longer healthy. To avoid this effect, some poulterers, in the country, frequently change the sites of their poultry-houses, to obtain fresh ground ; and, to guard against the same misfortune, farmers, who cannot change their hen-houses and yards, purify the houses by fumigations of blazing pitch, by washing with hot lime-water, and by strewing large quantities of pure sand, both within and without the poultry-houses. Washing the floor of the house every week is necessary ; for which purpose it is also necessary that it be paved either with stones, bricks, or tiles. The insides of the laying-boxes, fig. 1193, require frequent washing with hot lime-water, to free them from vermin ( Pediculus g-allinaj and Pulex irritans Lin.), which greatly torment the sitting hens. For the same purpose poultry should always have a heap of dry sand laid under some covered place, or thick tree near their yard for them to dust themselves in ; this being their resource for getting rid of the lice and fleas with which they are annoyed. Geese may hatch eleven or thirteen eggs ; ducks the same ; fowls thirteen ; turkeys, guinea-hens, and pea-fowls choose their own number. Turkey chicks cannot be reared, if hatched after the end of September. Chickens are subject to a disease called the roop or croope, which seizes them when about three weeks old, or just as the feathers appear on the head. It is caused by small worms breeding