Fowls for Layers. — The layers must be of a breed that
affords chickens easily reared, for success in the nursery depart-
ment is all-important; they must be at the head of the list of
prolific layers of fair-sized eggs. None but a non-sitting race
will answer, for sitters make fully double the labor during
half of the year; and the feathers must be light, because dark
ones show badly when chickens are dressed. There is at pres-
ent no breed that fulfills all these conditions so well as the
White Leghorn. It may degenerate in time, as other races of
fowls have done, by being bred for fancy instead of utility, but
it possesses now more vigor than any other non-sitting breed. '
In breeding poultry, show and utility do not get on well
together in the long run. To fanciers unquestionably belongs
the credit of originating improved breeds, but afterwards, in
fixing conventional points for the show-room* the stock is
often ruined on our hands. To prevent the freezing of their
combs and wattles during severe winters, they should be
**dubbed" when the birds are two thirds grown. The opera-
i^OULTRY. ^63
tion IS not so painful as might appear, and, if shears are used,
the blood-vessels are pinched, and but little blood will flow.
The layers are relied upon to produce the principal part of
the income, and, as they are chief in point of numbers, the
detached stations where they are kept from the main part of
the establishment, to which the breeding and sitting depart-
ments are merely tributary. Most of the layers must be kept
only until the age of from fifteen to twenty months, and then
killed for sale, and their places supplied by /omig pullets.
This course is necessary, because the yield o' -T'&p^ is greatest
during the first laying season if the hens are oi; ^'■. early-matur-
ing breed, and are fed high, and stimulated r) th'^ utmost, as
they must be, to secure the highest profit ¥o.. rough hens
are still vigorous at two years, it will be found ':hat after a
course of forcing to their greatest capacity mrough the first
season, they cannot be made to lay profusely during the
second. If we choose not to put on the full pressure of diet
the first year, but to feed moderately high for two or three
years, a fair yield of eggs would be afforded during each.
But such a course would not pay so well as to keep pullets
only, and maintain a forcing system constantly from the time
they commence to lay until they stop, and then market them
before they eat up the profits in the idleness of fall and winter.
Pullets grow fast during the early part of their lives, and give
a return in flesh for what they eat then. After they commence
laying, their eggs are prompt dividends, and, besides, their
bodies increase in weight until the age of a year or more.
Young hens may be killed a fortnight after ceasing to lay, and
if they have been skillfully fed, their flesh will prove excellent
for the table as compared with fowls that are two or three years
old. It is no wonder that there is little liking for the adult
fowls the markets ordinarily afford, for they comprise many
that are very old and unfit for food. But regular customers
will soon approve fowls a year old, which have been supplied
with the cleanest food, and brought to just the proper fatness,
and delivered freshly killed and neatly dressed, and our experi-
ence proves that the families upon the egg ro
Page 183
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Fowls for Layers. — The layers must be of a breed that affords chickens easily reared, for success in the nursery department is all-important; they must be at the head of the list of prolific layers of fair-sized eggs. None but a non-sitting race will answer, for sitters make fully double the labor during half of the year; and the feathers must be light, because dark ones show badly when chickens are dressed. There is at present no breed that fulfills all these conditions so well as the White Leghorn. It may degenerate in time, as other races of fowls have done, by being bred for fancy instead of utility, but it possesses now more vigor than any other non-sitting breed. ' In breeding poultry, show and utility do not get on well together in the long run. To fanciers unquestionably belongs the credit of originating improved breeds, but afterwards, in fixing conventional points for the show-room* the stock is often ruined on our hands. To prevent the freezing of their combs and wattles during severe winters, they should be **dubbed" when the birds are two thirds grown. The operation is not so painful as might appear, and, if shears are used, the blood-vessels are pinched, and but little blood will flow.
The layers are relied upon to produce the principal part of the income, and, as they are chief in point of numbers, the detached stations where they are kept from the main part of the establishment, to which the breeding and sitting departments are merely tributary. Most of the layers must be kept only until the age of from fifteen to twenty months, and then killed for sale, and their places supplied by young pullets. This course is necessary, because the yield of eggs is greatest during the first laying season if the hens are of an early-maturing breed, and are fed high, and stimulated to the utmost, as they must be, to secure the highest profit. Though rough hens are still vigorous at two years, it will be found that after a course of forcing to their greatest capacity through the first season, they cannot be made to lay profusely during the second.If we choose not to put on the full pressure of diet the first year, but to feed moderately high for two or three years, a fair yield of eggs would be afforded during each. But such a course would not pay so well as to keep pullets only, and maintain a forcing system constantly from the time they commence to lay until they stop, and then market them before they eat up the profits in the idleness of fall and winter. Pullets grow fast during the early part of their lives, and give a return in flesh for what they eat then. After they commence laying, their eggs are prompt dividends, and, besides, their bodies increase in weight until the age of a year or more. Young hens may be killed a fortnight after ceasing to lay, and if they have been skillfully fed, their flesh will prove excellent for the table as compared with fowls that are two or three years old. It is no wonder that there is little liking for the adult fowls the markets ordinarily afford, for they comprise many that are very old and unfit for food. But regular customers will soon approve fowls a year old, which have been supplied with the cleanest food, and brought to just the proper fatness, and delivered freshly killed and neatly dressed, and our experience proves that the families upon the egg route