Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/261

 have had of this disease was in a very valuable Brahma rooster, and after trying caustic and all sorts of other remedies, I hit upon a new treatment, viz., a poultice of fresh cow dung. I swung the bird in a sort of hammock and applied fresh poultices two or three times a day till the gathering broke, then I put on bread poultices to clean it, and very soon the bird was as well as ever. If the swelling is noticed at first and painted with iodine it may be arrested before it comes to a serious gathering.

This is very often the result of giving the same food always. Hens require a variety of food as much as human beings do, and unless they get it they will not repay keeping. Hens kept in small yards will sometimes eat their eggs. Broken oyster shell, burnt bones, or bone meal should be given.

Fowls kept in confinement and with no grass run will require a great deal more food than those who have a big run and an open paddock, also their diet must be made up to represent as nearly as possible the food they would pick up themselves if free. For instance, for twelve hens and a rooster in a wire cage you will have to give a first feed, say at six o'clock in the morning, of soft food—pollard and sweet potatoes is very good, or kitchen scraps consisting of potato peels, meat, waste bread, &c., all boiled together and mixed with enough pollard or meal of some kind to make it into a stiff dough, and allow for each bird a lump about the size of a cricket ball. Instead of scattering the soft food it should be put into a long narrow trough, so that all can get at it easily. About twelve o'clock give one handful of grain for each bird, and scatter it well about their cage. Half an hour or so before bed time they should have another feed of grain, allowing a little more than the handful each. Fowls in confined runs require amusement, or rather something to employ them, or they will take to feather eating and picking, or some other bad habit. Straw laid down in their cage and the grain scattered amongst it gives them something to do, as well as exercise, which is equally necessary. Another plan is to hang a cabbage up just above their reach, they will amuse themselves for hours together jumping up to pick at the heart of the cabbage. With young game roosters this is a favorite way to train them to stand up properly and hold their heads up. A piece of raw liver or a cabbage is hung in their cage for them to peck at, and through the constant reaching up they get into the habit of carrying their heads high and haughtily. It is a good way of giving your fowls green food and employment at the same