Poultry.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1056, 26 May 1892, Page 27

Poultry.

THE HEN’S NEST. Although I have so often written on this subject before, and many fanciers and experienced poultry keepers may think it stale, yet it is an important one, and I feel suro there are many novices who will be glad to avail themselves of a few hints as to how the nests should be made, and the sittings should be managed. Those who think they know quite enough on the subject need not trouble themselves to read this chapte-, but those who have had no experience, or very little, will no doubt find something in it which they will bo able to turn to good account. There are different ways of setting hens, and a person may be successful any way, or in all. What I mean by this is, some hens have been known to sit on a board in a draughty place and hatch out, a fair brood of chicken, but if another hen sit there she might hatch none. Some readers may ask ‘What makes such a difference?’ the only auswer I can give is that one might not keep her eggs so close as the other did. At another time a hen will lay in a wooden neat box with scarcely a bit of straw in it, and yet hatch out evory egg. Some people may say ‘ Does that prove it to a right way to sot a hen V By no inean3 ; set six hens in just the same way and see how many they will ha l ch, perhaps not one. I was taught to make a lion’s nest with a liitle wheat straw in a nest-box or in a basket. In tho first place, when a nest is so made the eggs rollon the top of each other, then one or two usually get cracked. When tho hen has been sitting a few days the nest becomes flat at the bottom and the eggs roll from each other. In this way some of the outside ones become chilled. The hen 3 turn the eggs at least twice in tho twenty-four hours, or at least should do, and those which are chilled are perhaps pub under the hen’s body, then some of the others get cold, and in this way a large number are spoiled. Wheatstraw is very porous each stem is hollow, aud when an east wind is blowing, or it is a sharp frosty night, the cold air finds its way to the eggs, especially to the outside ones, so much so that the heat of the eggs which are round the outside of the nest falls as low as 60 degrees, while those which are right under the hen's body register from 100 degrees to 103 degrees. If the nest is not properly made and without suitable material, the chicken die at all stages from the third to the seventeenth day, and then people wonder how it is the chicken are dead in the shell. The wonder is how any reach maturity at all. Chicken sometimes die when they have the best of treatment, and whan the hens are properly managed it is bad enough to lose them that way, but do not let us lose them through neglect. It is natural for a hen to make her nest and sit in a hedgerow or big bunch of nettles, but when one keeps a few fowls in a town backyard or cottage garden, it is quite different. We want to get the chicken hatched out before the hedges are in leaf, so we must give nature what assistance we can. When a hen makes her nest away from home and sets on the ground, she can turn her head, or sit in any position, and yet cover the eggs well. When I was a boy I could not help noticing the broods of chicken the hens which sat away used to bring home, inmost cases it was fifteen or seventeen, and in two or three instances twenty-five or twenty-six. It i 3 remarkable that a hen will sit with her head to the wind, so that when the wind blows it does not disturb her feathers. A hen will usually select a dry comfortable place in which to make her nest, lay her eggs, and hatch her young. Even if fairly dry there always a dampness which rises from the ground, and this helps to moisten the inner membrane of

the egg-shell. This is one reason why the chicken hatch out well. Partridges and pheasants are the same, they usually halch out every fertile egg, that is owing to the regular temperature. When a hen’s nest is mado ou the ground a hole should be scooped out and made round, and should be made deeper in the middle than at the sides. It should be made so that the hen can sit comfortably. When the nostis flat at the bottom she canuot do so, as her legs have to lie flat, which often gives her cramp. Her wings, again, do not reach the bottom of the nest, but if the nest is made the right shape, no matter which way the lion sits she is comfortable. It is well to put a little slack lime in the bottom of the nest, At this time of the year it is well to line the nest with a few short feathers. Then put on them a little fine hay, and teat it well down. The nest should be made according to the size of the hen, and the number of eggs required to be put in it. When it is made in this way, it is much more comfortable for the hen to sit in it, and the owner will be well paid for tho trouble. Thirteen egg 3 can be put in it, and the hen will cover them better than nine if put in the ordinary way. When I used to make my own nests, and set the hens myself, I never remember putting less than fifteen in one nest in the coldest weather. In March and April I have put as many as twentyfive eggs under one hen. One year I had two hens hatch fortyfive chickens, one had twenty-three, all strong and healthy chicken ; I did this just to try the experiment. I do not, however, recommend putting more than fifteen at a time. —W. Cook, in The Farm. RAISING INCUBATOR CHICKS. Hundreds of incubators are now in use all over the land, and thousands of the little animated balls are popping out of the shells every day. There is no trouble iu hatching chicks in good, first-class incubators, but the difficulty lies in rearing the chicks after they are hatched. What is wanted to rear them is an even, warm temperature, the same both day and night. One difficulty is in trying to keep too many in one enclosure. Not more than twenty-five should be kept together to ensure success in raising them. When more are together, if they get a little cool, 'hey crowd together, or ‘ huddle,’ as we call it, and then trample each other to death, and in the morning you will throw out from three to ten dead ones ; besides, many others are very weak, hardly able to get around, eating very little ; and the next night the same thing is repeated, and so on from day to day, until the one hundred fine, healthy chicks are reduced to from fifteen to twenty-five, and them you will raise. Then, again, what causes the death of many is, when they huddle through the night they get in a perspiration, and when they separate in the niornnig tho cold air strikes them and they taka cold, diarrhoea sets in, and in three or four days they keel over and bid adieu to their comrades for ever. Wo have never yet seen what wo consider a firat-elas3 brooder. All of them are on the same principle, and not one fills the want so long felt. The world is hungry for a good brooder, and the on a who can bring out a device that will avoid what have described above can make a fortune at the business. We advocate a warm room kept at a temperature of ninety degrees, and this will ensure success. Give them this temperature, and you will never see chicks ‘ huddle ’ and when tired and needing rest they will lie flat down and sleep just like a child. In a warm room, such as ws have mentioned, a plalform should be built two feet above the floor and the chicks confined on this platform. The object of this is so that the warm air cm circulate beneath as well as above the chicks ; and while it is almost impossible to keep the floor of the room at a temperature of ninety degrees, there is no difficulty in keeping the platform at this temperature. If need be let the smoke pipe from your heater pass under this platform once or twice.—W. D. Wilson*’; in the Poultry Chum.