AlaiW^ THE BI«iPK|iP 
 
 FEEDI^K3/REARING AND GENERAIJ 
 MANAGEMENT FOR DOMESTIC USE ANi I 
 EXHIWTION OF THE HOUIP* iPVt 
 
MEMORIAL POULTRY LIBRARY. 
 
 ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY 
 New York State Colleges 
 
 OF 
 
 Agriculture and Home EcoNOMirs 
 
Cornell University Library 
 SF 489.H7L47 
 
 A practical guide to the breeding, feedi 
 
 3 1924 003 117 870 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003117870 
 
(jA-e^utfior's JCoudan Cock iCconeC 
 ^To?n a. ,fAoto<^ra.hA-. 
 
A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
 
 BREEDING, FEEDING, REARING & GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 
 
 FOR DOMESTIC USE AND EXHIBITION, 
 
 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 CHARLES LEE. 
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY W. HAWKINS, 3, ALBERT TERRACE, W. 
 And by the Author, 
 21, Westbourne Grove, Bayswater, w. 
 
 1874. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 In page lO, line 4, for "common," read commercial. 
 In page 23, line I, after " shape," insert the word or. 
 
C 0:N T E N T S 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE HOUDAN, AND GENERAL OPINIONS RESPECTING 
 THE BREED. 
 
 PAGE 
 Its origin. Merits of the breed and its characteristics, as al- 
 lowed by various writers. Houdans versus Brahmas. Our 
 first chickens. Points looked for in good specimens, &c. ... 9 — 24 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE HOUDAN FROM AN ECONOMIC POINT OF VIEW, ITS CHARACTERISTICS, 
 TREATMENT, &C. 
 
 Treatment in confined runs. How to utilize limited spaces. 
 Egg-production. Plans for houses and yards. The system 
 we adopted. Importance of cleanliness. , Items in the 
 economy of successful poultry-keeping. The proper 
 period for hatching. Recipe for egg-producing. Laying 
 stock, and how it should be selected. Precocity of the 
 cockerels. The male birds as nurses. Practical manage- 
 ment of stock. Drinking and feeding appliances. Over- 
 feeding and its effects. Systematic feeding advocated. 
 Remarks on the non-sitting instinct. The egg-producing 
 trait, and how capable of being further improved. Value of 
 the breed as table fowls. Early chickens. Economical 
 method of feeding. Cost of chicken-rearing. Utility of 
 the breed as a cross. Poultry-rearing under natural con- 
 ditions. Moveable houses, &c 25 — 64 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FATTENING. THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH SYSTEMS DESCRIBED. ITS 
 RELATIVE VALUE IN A DOMESTIC AND COMMERCIAL SENSE. 
 
 Fattened and un-fattened chickens compared. The value of 
 fattening for market purposes. A review of the English 
 system. The French mode explained. Extra fattening. 
 The crapiming system. Feeding by machinery. Caponizing 
 and poularde facturing. The art described. Treatment 
 after the operation. Usefulness of capons, &c 65 — 82 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 POULTRY-FANCYING, AND WHAT IT NECESSITATES. PAGE 
 
 Amateurs and "professional" fanciers. Remarks on purchasing. 
 Auctions and shows — their advantages and disadvantages. 
 Commencing operations. Poultry honours, and questionable 
 means of obtaining them. Disappointment from buying 
 at random. Inferior and first-class chickens compared. 
 Advantages of unrelated pens. Dravrbacks of indiscriminate 
 crossing. Stocking new yards. Points to be considered 
 in mating. Size, crest, comb, colour, &c. — instructions 
 for breeding for. Defects, and how capable of being re- 
 medied. The sex, how influenced by mating, &c 83 — 100 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ON THE MANAGEMENT OF CHICKENS FOR EXHIEITIVE PURPOSES. 
 Eggs, their general appearance, and how they should be selected 
 for hatching. Fertility, how easily ascertained. Disappoint- 
 ments in hatching, and how most frequently caused. 
 Treatment during incubation. Hatching by artificial means. 
 Hitherto supposed causes of failure. Results of our later 
 experiments. The young broods. Coops. Early distin- 
 guishing signs of the sex. Appearance of the chicks 
 when first hatched. Feeding. Means of attaining size. 
 Feeding folds. Crooked breasts, and their preventative. 
 Artificial mothers. Picking out waste chickens. Retarding 
 laying. Advantages of medium-sized runs. Enemies to 
 chickens. Means of ensuring early eggs, &c. ... ... lol — 124 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SUGGESTIONS ON EXHIBITING. 
 Special feeding. Selecting and matching. Points to be observed. 
 Best plan to follow. Final treatment of the birds. Mr. 
 Long on exhibiting. Treatment before and after showing. 
 Characteristics of exhibitors. Scales for judging, &c. ... 125 137 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 WHITE HOUDANS. 
 White fowls and their admirers. Origin of the white variety. 
 Appearance of the earlier specimens. Best plan for attain- 
 ing size. Points to be cultivated. A correspondent's ex- 
 perience. How further success may be best attained. Scale 
 forjudging 138—149 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 We believe it waa Max Schlesinger who once observed of pre- 
 fapes, that they were mainly modest pleadings in which writers 
 anticipating public censure, and well knowing how deserving they 
 were of it, adduce various reasons why their books were not shorter 
 or longer, and, in fact, altogether different, from the volumes 
 which then and there are coupled with their names. For ourselves, 
 if we are to plead giiilty on any particular count, it ought, per- 
 haps, to be for our temerity in appearing in print at all. But, 
 seeing the oft-repeated enquiries in the leading poultry journals 
 for information respecting one particular class of fowl, the Houdan, 
 BJid being earnestly solicited by friends who were acquainted with 
 our long practical study of the breed to pen the result of our ob- 
 servations, and thus give the public the benefit of our experience 
 of its merits, we have at length overcome our personal scruples, 
 and complied with their requests ; not, however, without much 
 diffidence, for we feel that we could with propriety and advantage 
 to ourselves have left the discussion of the subject to far abler 
 heads than ours ; for it is easier by far to criticise the ideas of 
 others than to advance opinions of one's own, and it, moreover, 
 falls to the lot comparatively of but few men to be equal adepts 
 with their pen and well acquainted with their subject. No prac- 
 tical writer being disposed to treat specially of this breed, we 
 have ventured to pen the accompanying remarks, in the endea- 
 vour, as we have already intimated, to provide a want still existing 
 amongst a certain class of poultry-keepers for information as to 
 the culture of a breed of fowl whose merits have required no 
 puffing to make it popular, both in the poultry.yard and on the 
 table. 
 
 The Game, the Brahma, the Dorking, the Cochin, the Polish, 
 the Spanish, — but why recapitulate them 1 suffice it that almost 
 every other domestic variety has been ably represented by its re- 
 spective admirers, and in one or more cases has formed the subject 
 fur an entire and special work. The fowl which has been the 
 
VI INTEODUCTORY HEMARKS, 
 
 object of our study, and whicli forms the subject of the following 
 pages, has been comparatively neglected. It has been generally 
 described in lately-published poultry books, we admit, and a great 
 many valuable observations of it have been recorded. But it has 
 been treated rather as one of the French breeds instead of — in our 
 opinion — the most valuable of them all Whenever general notes 
 are made of a group of varieties, it is next to impossible, however 
 anxious and painstaking an author maybe, to do full justice to a 
 particular subject. In seeking, therefore, to supply this deficiency 
 in poultry literature, we trust that we have not been too pre- 
 sumptuous in assuming that a small volume relating entirely to 
 the Houdan will be acceptable. 
 
 In a report lately issued by the British Consul at Calais, rela- 
 tive to the supply of eggs from the French districts, and the intro- 
 duction of French ' poultry for egg-production into this country, 
 there is much valuable information. We gather from his remarks 
 that the latter proceeding has not hitherto been attended with the 
 degiee of success anticipated ; or, in other words, that, notwith- 
 standing the productive alacrity displayed by French hens in 
 certain parts of France, the results in England bave not justified 
 expectations founded upon it. Without attempting to question 
 the alleged unproductiveness of French poultry generally, in our 
 " tight little island," this cannot be said to apply to one type at 
 least of Gaelic fowls, for " the Houdan " is not only particularly 
 well adapted to the English climate, and a very formidable rival 
 to our celebrated Dorking, but is not to be surpassed as an egg- 
 producer by any other pure breed of fowl, if we judge it by, and 
 breed for, the useful qualities only, as is done in France, instead of for 
 the " fancy " points which, commercially, are of comparative 
 inutility. Well may a writer in a daily paper * remark that we 
 Britishers are very stupid egg-farmers ; and that, although we can 
 breed, with very few exceptions, the most splendid poultry to be 
 found in the world, " we rear our Bantams, Cochin-Chinas, and 
 Black Spanishers, &c., more with a ' fancying ' than a commercial 
 view ; and display more ambition to take prizes at poultry shows 
 than to enjoy cheap eggs and cheap fowls as food." The writer 
 moreover, points out that " the dairyman charges Londoners two- 
 pence halfpenny for a 'new-laid egg,' which is often a very 
 ' ancient ' afiair ; and a poulterer confidently asks five or six 
 
 * Daily Telegraph, Sept. 15th, 1874. 
 
INTRODUCTORY EEMARK8. Vll 
 
 shillings foi' an attenuated chicken which a French menagere would 
 think decidedly dear at two francs twenty-five centimes." 
 
 The report of the British Consul, to which we have previously 
 alluded, would lead us to believe that a pecuharity of soil, such as 
 is found in the pas de Calais, is essential to a large production of 
 eggs. We believe this to be exaggerated ; fowls must, of course, 
 have some kind of grit with which to form the shell of the egg, 
 and to keep them in health ; but we feel assured that the success 
 of French poultry is less dependent upon the ingredients of the 
 soil than upon a proper knowledge of the nature of the fowls, and 
 upon their more general treatment. If they are to give the maxi- 
 mum returns irf egg-production, the habits and peculiarities of each 
 distinct breed must be observed and studied, and the fowls must 
 be fed and treated accordingly. 
 
 With the sole idea of guiding the poultr3'-keeper in this respect, 
 we have penned the following pages — the result of close and 
 careful study of the " one " breed to which we have for years 
 specially devoted our attention. If an abundant supply of fine 
 and fresh eggs is desired, the fowls must be kept with that view 
 steadily before the eyes of their owner. If he wishes to have 
 large and toothsome poultry, he will learn, we hope, how to pro- 
 cure such in the " Houdan Fowl." If his ambition points to exhi- 
 bition fame, no worthier representative of poultry beauty can be 
 seen than the fine antlered, crested, and bearded birds which are 
 the subject of our book. 
 
 But the purpose for which the fowl is kept should be distinctly 
 understood by the poultry-keeper. The Houdan is capable of 
 realizing either of the just-named results for him, if treated con- 
 sistently for the object desired ; the mistake too frequently is 
 made of treating the birds in the proper way for one purpose, — 
 say, for instance, for exhibition, and expecting them at the same 
 time to provide an abundant supply of eggs, or to be of great size 
 and flavour on the table. Fowls, it must be always borne in mind, 
 which are continually on the move from one exhibition to another, 
 always kept more or less in " show form," are rarely fit for scarcely 
 anything besides. Birds which are being fitted for the table are 
 not those we should expect many eggs from ; and genuine and 
 abundant egg-producers are not the birds to have their necks 
 broken or for competition in the show pen. 
 
 In compiling this little brochure, we may say at once that our 
 
VUl INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 aim throughout has been to be strictly practical rather than en- 
 tirely original, and this announcement will possibly obviate not 
 only the necessity of apologising for the various notes embodied, 
 but answ^er any objection which may be made as to our pretensions 
 for the task which we have, as we have already intimated, with 
 the greatest difSdence undertaken. We have necessarily re-trodden 
 portions of the well-worn track of some of our predecessors, but it 
 is to be hoped that the results will justify the means. The cor- 
 rectness, too, of some of our views may possibly be questioned. 
 We can only say that they are either the results of personal 
 observation, of practical tests of other people's experience, or of 
 information supplied to us by fanciers of this variety, on whose 
 veracity we could entirely rely. - 
 
 Apart from the many acts of assistance and advice which have 
 been volunteered by esteemed friends and correspondents — and 
 which would be but ill-requited on our part if we here omitted to 
 tender Our deepest obligations — reference has not unfrequently been 
 made to "The Poultry Book" and "The Illustrated Book of 
 Poultry," and we here take the opportunity of gratefully acknow- 
 ledging to the respective and respected authors of both works 
 many valuable suggestions. They have treated the general sub- 
 ject of Poultry and Poultry, keeping in a very elaborate manner ; 
 they have minutely described many details which it has been only 
 necessary to touch more or less lightly in the following pages. 
 Our object has been to treat of one distinct breed, and to avoid 
 wearying the reader with everything which did not in some wav 
 directly or indirectly relate to it. How we have succeeded, our 
 readers will be best capable of judging. 
 
 With all its faults — and we fear there are many — we now, how- 
 ever, commit our Httle work to the hands of those for whom it 
 was specially written — the Amateur. If its perusal affords him 
 but a tithe of the interest that the pleasure in compiling it in- 
 volved on our part, we shall lay down our pen with satisfaction. 
 
 21, Westbourne Grove, Bayswater, W., 
 October, 1874. 
 
THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE HOUDAN, AND GENERAL OPINIONS 
 RESPECTING THE BREED. 
 
 JMONGST the noisy kings and queens of the varied 
 family of poultry, which year after year compete for 
 distinction — and whose vocal efforts once heard at 
 one of our leading shows are not easily forgotten — the French 
 classes, it will not be denied^ are presenting a fuller and better 
 appearance ; amongst them, as eminently conspicuouSj we may 
 enumerate the Houdan, and when it is taken into considera- 
 tion the manifold useful qualities this fowl really possesses, its 
 fast increasing popularity is not surprising. 
 
 Anterior to 1865 very Httle reliable information seems to 
 have existed in this country respjecting it, although a strong 
 probability of its being not quite unknown some thirteen or 
 fourteen years previous to this date seems apparent from a 
 description (although a somewhat ambiguous one we admit), 
 given by Messrs. Wingfield and Johnson iu 1853, of a certain 
 crested breed of fowl possessing not at all dissimilar character- 
 istics to the one in question. Mention is certainly made at a 
 more recent period, in more than one of the French poultry 
 works, so far as can be gathered from the imperfect description 
 there also given, of fowls which were famous for such indi- 
 vidualities as are peculiar to the Houdan ; but it was left to 
 
10 THE HOUDAH FOWL. 
 
 Mr. Geyelin to first enlighten the English poultry community 
 respecting its true appearance and utility, and which he did 
 in 1865 in a pamphlet entitled " Poultry Breeding from a 
 G#iam6Hr Point of View," as follows: — -p(vc\^lVt 
 
 " Whatever has been said to the contrary, this breed, 
 when pure, is most characteristic ; but it must be ad- 
 mitted that most of the farmers near Houdan know as 
 little of the pure Houdan breed as those of La Fleche 
 and Creve-coeur know of theirs, and if you were to order 
 some first-class breeds of them, irrespective of price, they 
 would, with good conscience, forward fowls of a large size — 
 but, from a want of knowledge, some cross breeds. To illus- 
 trate this, I may mention that I could have purchased at the 
 markets in those localities splendid thorough-bred specimens 
 for about three shillings — the price of common fowls — but 
 which were worth in France even a pound each. There are, 
 however, in each locality some persons who take an interest in 
 their pure breeds, particularly since they have been encouraged 
 by the reward of prizes from poultry exhibitions. 
 
 " The Houdan fowl has a very bulky appearance, its plu- 
 mage invariably black and white spangled, a crest of the same 
 color, comb triple, the outsides opening like two leaves of a 
 book, and the centre having the appearance of an ill-shaped 
 long strawberry. With the cock the comb is very large, whilst 
 with the hen it ought to be scarcely perceptible. The legs are 
 strong <and of a lead colour, with five claws, the two hind ones 
 being above the others. Strongly developed whiskers both in 
 the cocks and hens. This is one of the finest races of fowls, 
 but its qualities surpass even its beauties. Besides the small- 
 ness of their bones and the fineness of their flesh, they are of an 
 extraordinary precocity and fecundity; they lay large white 
 eggs, and the chickens are fit for the table at four months 
 old. The weight of adults is from seven to eight pounds, in 
 which the bones figure for one-eighth. The chickens, when 
 
ITS ORIGIN. 11 
 
 four months old, weigh, without the intestines, about four and a 
 half pounds.''' 
 
 Respecting its origin, little is really known ; the prin. 
 cipal market town of Nantes in the southern part of 
 France, called Houdan, where a brisk poultry traffic was, and 
 we believe is still carried on, has probably been instrumental 
 for the appelation the fowl now bears. But we apprehend that 
 neither it or indeed any other variety of the French tjrpe can 
 fairly claim more title to distinctness of species than some of 
 the different classes of Bantams can be said to do, and which 
 it is scarcely necessary to observe are merely varieties of a 
 domesticated kind which by repeated crosses and careful breed- 
 ing have been brought to their present state of perfection by 
 man's careful art, and certainly present one of the most forci- 
 ble and triumphant examples of what may be accomplished 
 when skill and judgment, seconded by patience and persever- 
 ance, are brought to bear upon a subject. 
 
 Our light-hearted friends in the French provinces have in 
 a similar manner, but to a different end, directed their 
 energies to the improvement of the more useful qualities of 
 their home-feathered stock, thereby showing us how other 
 valuable results may be achieved, for it can now scarcely be 
 questioned that nearly all, if not the whole, of their different 
 varities have been really formed by making choice of fowls 
 famous for certain special individual qualities, crossing these 
 gradually with other fowls of a different breed, but likewise 
 excelling in characteristics equally valuable, upon these again, 
 grafting others of a tantamount value, until they have at last 
 succeeded, in course of years, in producing such specimens of 
 a poulterer's handicraft as cannot possibly be surpassed in 
 economic worth by z.nj pure breed of fowl we possess. 
 
 It has been suggested that the Poland and the Dorking 
 have at some former period, and by such a system as we have 
 
12 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 enumerated, been the principal and original sources of the 
 Houdan's formation and the grounds for such an hypothesis 
 are more than slightj notwithstanding we have seen it asserted 
 that the Dorking and the Houdan have nothing in common. 
 The plea that the colour of the legs and plumage and the non- 
 sitting instinct as being buflB.cient to confirm such an assertion, 
 appears to us to be lio answer whatever, for it is so well 
 known that in breeding, most features and propensities can 
 be, by studied attention more clearly defined, improved, or so 
 diverted from their original source as to leave scarcely a 
 trace ; and in making these remarks we must not overlook 
 the probable fact that both the Polish and the Dorking are 
 also in i/ieir turn merely the offspring of mixed breeds. 
 
 If, however, we accept the theory of a Polish foundation as a 
 correct one, we are at no loss in arriving at the probable 
 source of the crest and muffling, the cavernous nostrils, the 
 wonderful laying instinct, the delicious and juicy flesh, and 
 and the very rare desire the Houdan evinces for incubation. 
 Again, in size and form the type so very closely approaches 
 that of our famous Dorking, that the idea of the blood of the 
 latter having been instrumental in its production is also worth 
 considering, for the deep, square, compact frame offers in this 
 respect strong indications. The readiest solution, too, for the 
 fifth toe which to our minds is really the only objectionable 
 feature in the Houdan, is in this manner more readily to be 
 accounted for. But previous to dismissing this portion of our 
 subject, we perhaps cannot do better than quote the remarks 
 of two able authorities, viz., Mr. Tegetmier, and Mr. Wright, 
 respecting the opinions we have given. The former gentle- 
 man in his masterly work, "The Poultry Book," in page 
 92, speaking of the Dorking, and negativing the supposi- 
 tion of its being descended from the Roman fowls, makes the 
 following significant remark. — "It is singular that the 
 
SIGNS OP THE DOKKING-POIilSH CROSS. 13 
 
 English table-fowlj the Dorking, and the French table-fowls, 
 the Crevc-coeur and the Houdan, should be, as they evidently 
 are, composite breeds, perfected in a long series of years, 
 during which time the sole object of the rearers has been to 
 obtain a firet-class table fowl by breeding from any birds 
 whose form and size was likely to improve the original stock." 
 The probability of a cross at some remote period between the 
 Dorking and the Silver Padoue, or some other variety of the 
 Polish breed, is also spoken of by Mr. Wright in " The Prac- 
 tical Poultry Keeper," page 166, for speaking of the Houdan 
 he there states " This fowl in many respects resembles the 
 Dorking, and Dorking blood has evidently assisted at its for- 
 mation. We believe that a cross between the latter and a 
 White Poland would not be very wide of the mark." Again, 
 in his more recent and elaborate work, " The Illustrated Book 
 of Poultry," page 410, after alluding to the "one point in 
 common," aU the French breeds possess of delicious flavour, 
 he gives it as his opinion that Houdans " moreover show in a 
 very suggestive manner what may be done by a judicious 
 selection in the way of founding, new breeds, since they are 
 evidently built upon the Polish foundation, obtaining from 
 this race the juicy flesh, excellent laying qualities, and absence 
 of incubating instinct, whilst size has been added from foreign 
 sources." 
 
 K further arguments were necessary respecting the certainty 
 of the Houdan being a "manufactured race," it would be 
 best answered, we venture to think, by pointing out the 
 great uncertainty which existed until quite recently of the 
 extra toe, or the crest, or muffling, being reproduced in breed- 
 ing. For it frequently occurred that full-crested, well-muffled 
 birds threw offspring without a particle of these appendages, 
 whilst four-toed chickens were also produced when both 
 parents were in full possession of the objectionable, but in a 
 
14 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 "fancy" sense, necessary "fifth." Scientific breeding has 
 happily rendered these drawbacks less conspicuous than for- 
 merly, and the Houdan, if properly mated, now breeds very 
 true to character. Still as the deviations we have pointed out 
 are not yet extinct, the fact would seem to considerably 
 strengthen the arguments we have adduced. 
 
 Since Mr. Geyelin's description of the breed first appeared, 
 there has been no want of eontributaries to testify to the 
 alleged value of the Houdan, and of the many who have thus 
 given publicity to their experience, it may not perhaps be un- 
 advisable if we briefly quote a few remarks from one or two 
 well-known writers whose authority and testimony will not 
 be questioned. In so doing (and previous to recording our 
 own experience) the reader will have an opportunity of obser- 
 ving how far the results of the last few years has justified Mr. 
 Geyelin's original observations. 
 
 The foUowiDg opinions respecting the merits of the breed are 
 thus given by Mr. F. Zurhorst, of Dublin, and are thus re- 
 corded in Mr. Tegetmier's Poultry Book : — 
 
 " I do not hesitate to commence with the broad assertion 
 that they are by far the most valuable breed that has been 
 added to our collection for many years. Unusual fertility : 
 I never knew an egg fairly set to miss ; very early maturity, 
 extreme hardiness, both as adults and chickens, together with 
 a large compact Dorking body, with little offal, white flesh, 
 and legs only slightly shaded, are the leading characteristics 
 of the breed. Abundant layers of moderate-sized eggs, they 
 in this point far excel the Creve-coeurs, which are only 
 moderate in this respect, and their broken plumage of black 
 and white, handsome crests, and branching coral combs, 
 make them fully their equals in beauty. As a cross with our 
 common breeds they are of inestimable value, not only from 
 
HON. MRS. ARBUTNOT's OPINION. ]5 
 
 the certainty of the introduction of thoroughly alien blood, 
 but also from the valuable characteristics I have named. 
 
 "The abominable fifth claw, which I suppose must be in- 
 sisted on as a mark of purity of the breed, is by no means a 
 certainty, as many chickens come out four-clawed, and would 
 not be difficult to breed out ; but I must say, as far as my 
 observation extends, it has not in this breed the detrimental 
 effect it has on our highly- bred Dorkings, much of whose 
 tendency to disease of the foot and claw I attribute to this 
 monstrosity. ' ' 
 
 We wish we could endorse the correctness of Mr. Zurhorst's 
 opinion regarding the exemption of the Houdan in this re- 
 spect, but time has not substantiated it, for it is but too 
 evident that since the establishment of the fifth toe has be- 
 come absolute, the consequences he speaks of are still on the 
 increase, and although writer follows writer in deprecating 
 the inevitable evils thus produced, this in every sense useless 
 feature is firmly maintained. 
 
 Following the writer we have just quoted, we have at a 
 more recent date the experienced remarks of an authoress of 
 no mean pretentions — viz., the Hon. Mrs. Arbuthnot — 
 better, perhaps, known to poultry cultivators as Mrs. Fer- 
 gusson Blair, who thus sums up their value in her admirable 
 little work, " The Hen Wife " :— 
 
 " I gladly repeat my testimony as to the superior qualities 
 of some of the French breeds, especially the Houdan, whether 
 viewed as table or merely ornamental poultry. My experience 
 has been acquired principally in Scotland ; therefore, if any 
 birds thrive in this cold and often damp climate, they ought 
 to do even better in more favoured quarters. The Houdan is 
 very hardy, and can live anywhere ; they eat little, moult 
 with ease, and are precocious layers. Pullets hatched in 
 May are laying in October, and if their eggs were set at 
 
16 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 oncGj the produce would bring large prices as spring chickens 
 in March. I have it much at heart to introduce these ' model 
 hens ' into our farm-yards, and make them par excellence the 
 farm-yard bird. The Houdans are well known and sufficiently 
 appreciated in France, where they rivals and many think 
 excel, the better-known Creve-coeur and La Heche breeds ; 
 I acknowledge the merits of these, but claim a higher place 
 for the Houdans as a hardier race and of faster growth than 
 either of the others. They lay large, beautifully-formed 
 white eggs, which, like the diminutive Hamburg, seldom 
 fail in hatching. I have kept Houdans in great numbers, 
 and never have had a badly-formed ^^^ from them ; the 
 chickens grow and feather rapidly, and nothing can be better 
 as table poultry — added to which they are very ornamental. 
 They sometimes show a desire to incubate, but their ^orfe lies 
 in laying ; therefore I strongly recommend their being kept 
 as the egg-suppliers of the establishment, and am not afraid, 
 if once tried, of any adverse opinion. '^ 
 
 Mr. R. B. "Wood, again, thus writes in " The Illustrated 
 Book of Poultry," page 411 : — " I have now kept Houdans 
 for nearly seven years, and can safely say that I have not 
 found them fall off in any way, but quite the contrary. I 
 find them good layers of fine eggs, and as table fowls not, in 
 my opinion, to be surpassed. They are very hardy as 
 chickens, feathering and maturing in a much shorter time 
 than either Brahmas or Cochins. I consider them a very 
 valuable breed for any one to keep when non-sitters are 
 required, as it is very rare for them to show the least tendency 
 to incubate. It is also worthy of remark that though good 
 foragers when at liberty, they are easily kept in bounds, 
 being very different to the Hamburgs or Game in this respect, 
 and they will bear confinement as well as most breeds." 
 
 The talented author of the work from which we have just 
 
"bazaar" correspondent's statement, 17 
 
 quoted moreover observes : " We never reared any (Houdans) 
 ourselves but once, some years ago, when we hatched a sitting 
 of eggs sent by rail. We found these chicks hardier even 
 than our Brahmas, and they appeared to feather as if by 
 magic ; but being from a small and recently-imported strain, 
 did not make much weight by the time they were killed." 
 
 So far, then, it will be seen that Mr. Geyelin's first im- 
 pression of the breed is not suggestive of any want of con. 
 firmation ; but, on the contrary, succeeding writers have only 
 strengthened it. But as the proprietor of the "Bazaar" 
 kindly gave insertion to many letters of a controversial 
 nature during the year of 1873 respecting the Brahma and 
 the Houdan, we select the following three letters as bearing 
 more immediately upon the point at issue. Although we 
 can ourselves readily testify as to the many merits of our 
 "feathered-legged friends," the controversy nevertheless 
 afforded us no little pleasant satisfaction in noticing how 
 rapidly the Houdan was then gaining ia the number of its 
 supporters. 
 
 One writer, who assumes the nom de plume of "Cow- 
 bow," says : " Houdans lay so very well, and there is really 
 so little trouble required with them, that I prefer them to the 
 Brahmas ; they are hardy, and never worry any one with 
 their sitting propensities. They also lay as well as the Brah- 
 mas during the winter, and commence earlier. I hatched 
 some last year in July, and they began to lay a fortnight 
 before Christmas, and continued until last month, when they 
 began to moult. I do not pretend to say they have all laid 
 every day throiighout that time, but I only had six hens of 
 that breed, and I had Houdan eggs nearly (if not quite) every 
 day during the first eight and a half months of this year. 
 The size of the Houdan may be increased if less attention 
 were paid to fancy poiats." 
 
] 8 THE HODDAN FOWL. 
 
 The following is from the pen of " An amateur who has 
 made poultry keeping pay, ' ' and if any of our readers should 
 feel disposed to take an incredulous view of some of the state- 
 ments therein contained^ we may observe that they are not 
 at all at variance with the result which we ourselves have at- 
 tained. The writer says: — "1 have kept poultry now for 
 some timej including Brahmas, Spanish, Cochins^ and 
 Houdans, and have long ago arrived at the conclusion that 
 Houdans " bear the palm.^^ As an instance of this, in the 
 last week of Dec, 1871, ten of my own Houdan pullets 
 "came into profit," and from that time until the commence- 
 ment of October, of the present year, viz., forty-one weeks, 
 when moulting began, I never got less than thirty eggs per 
 week, but, generally speaking, forty, forty-five, or fifty, but, 
 at all events, making from the beginning to the termination 
 of their laying season the large number of 1 637 eggs. Of 
 course, good feeding has been my forte. I have tried the 
 above-named breeds, but never could produce anything like 
 the above results I have with Houdans; I have found that 
 Cochins and Brahmas, aye, and Spanish, too, are all enormous 
 eaters. Now my Houdans eat very little more than half the 
 same quantity of food, and give me back the greater pro- 
 portion of it in the shape of good- sized and delicate-flavoured 
 eggs. I say again, for profitable fowls commend me to 
 Houdans. I have heard they have drawbacks, but I cannot 
 certainly say I have experienced any. On the contrary, I 
 maintain they are more hardy, precocious, productive, and 
 profitable, taking them all the year round, than any other 
 breeds I am acquainted with. Creves are being highly 
 extolled just now ; but will they bear comparison with 
 Houdans in any of the above, after providing for their enor- 
 mous appetites and taking the number and weight of a batch 
 of eggs laid throughout the season by each fowl respectively ? 
 
HOTJDANS versus BRAHMAS. 19 
 
 When I state that my yard is only 30ft. by 55ft., it will be 
 seen that those who have larger spaces at command should 
 have no trouble in doing what I have done ; but, at all 
 events, it contradicts the popular error that Houdans ' cannot 
 be kept in confinement.' " 
 
 We give one more illustration as showing the precocity of 
 Houdans, and the small amount of care needed to make them 
 profitable, which we take from the same source as the preceding. 
 This correspondent remarks, ' ' I have two friends, small poultry 
 fanciers, who keep — the one Brahmas, the other Houdans ; 
 he of the Brahmas had a brood in March and more in June, 
 while there were no Houdans hatched till the middle of July. 
 My friends had great success with the chickens nearly all 
 coming to maturity ; but although so miich older than the 
 Houdans, the first hatch of Brahmas did not lay a fortnight 
 before them, whilst the second lot of Brahmas were at least a 
 month behind the Houdans. Both lots were fed on about 
 the same kind of food, but the Brahmas had more of it. The 
 Brahmas had an unlimited grass run, while the Houdans had 
 no more than a few yards of bare earth, with a cabbage now 
 and then. As to the marketable value of the birds, Houdans 
 are greatly preferred to Brahmas, as I have myself ascer- 
 tained. I had a few Brahma cockerels to dispose ofj so sent 
 them to market with some young Houdans, which although 
 much smaller, fetched more than the others, a great deal. 
 To anyone wanting a good hardy fowl that lays well, and 
 makes a decent appearance on the table, I say, "keep 
 Houdans." 
 
 In thus reviewing the foregoing opinions as to the general 
 merits of Houdans, we 'gather the following, then, as being 
 admitted facts. Their noble and distinguished appearance, 
 astonishing hardihood, unprecedented preeociousness, both as 
 to growth and laying instincts, good quality of flesh, unusual 
 
20 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 fertility of their eggs, facility with which the chickens can 
 be reared^ their value as market fowl, and their usefulness in 
 crossing, and thereby improving other breeds. 
 
 Our first personal knowledge of the Houdan was in the 
 spring of 1865, when a friend on business in Paris brought 
 over with him on his return a pen of fowls which had, it 
 appeared, struck his fancy as being somewhat "peculiar," 
 and which he had purchased (to what seemed to us then) 
 for the extravagant price of sixty- six francs. Although 
 presenting the general Houdan type, they were, we can 
 very well recollect, a very different class of fowl compared to 
 what modern breeding has engendered. They stood high 
 upon the leg, the cock bird particularly so, whilst the general 
 groundwork of the plumage was a dirty white, irregularly 
 splashed with brownish-black spots, but of an entirely lustre- 
 less hue, and with an abundance of yellow feathers in the 
 hackles. The cock weighed, to the bes'*' of our recollection, 
 something over 81bs. and his two consorts about a pound each 
 less. Most grotesque looking bipeds we thought them, with 
 their large top-knots and strange looking combs and whiskers ; 
 but they established themselves favourites from the onset by 
 the tame and happy-tempered disposition they evinced by 
 eating out of any body's hand with the greatest sang froid 
 imaginable, and also submitting to be stroked and handled 
 by our friend's children as quietly as a cat or dog. 
 
 From the first day we saw them we took a considerable 
 amount of interest in these fowls, and studied their charac- 
 teristics, as far as we possibly could do, on every occasion ; 
 but the following February of 1866, when a sitting of ten 
 eggs, which had been presented to us' by our friend, produced 
 to our unexpected delight nine lively chicks (for the season, 
 it may be recollected, was a severe one), our interest became 
 redoubled, and although the accommodation at our disposal 
 
OUR FIRST CHICKENS. 
 
 21 
 
 was then of the most limited character^ we, in the face of that 
 and other diflSculties, nevertheless succeeded in bringing up 
 every one of our interesting protegees, and which on the good, 
 though plain, yet liberal feeding we gave them, matured so 
 very fast that at the early part of the following August the 
 pullets (five in number) began to fill our egg basket very 
 rapidly, they being at this time, it must be recollected, not 
 quite five months and a half old. The cockerels grew into 
 splendid birds— we mean in point of size; but the pullets in 
 this respect showed a very considerable falling ofi' as compared 
 to the mother hens. In those days, however, we bad plenty 
 to learn, and never gave a thought to the fact that " very early 
 laying was prejudicial to size ;" but we were fully satisfied 
 with the results, and as year by year since then, with the 
 aid of occasional importations and a due regard to mating, 
 feeding, &c., acquired from a practical study of the breed, we 
 have had no occasion to alter our earlier-formed opinion that 
 "the Houdan was bound to become a very popular fowl." 
 How far this opinion was justified we will leave the reader to 
 deduce his own conclusions. 
 
 But in dismissing these reminiscences of our earlier ex. 
 perienee, and before discussing the general management of 
 the breed, it may be as well to describe those points which 
 characterize good birds. 
 
 A Houdan cock fully grown, and with any pretentions to 
 prize-winning in good company, should not in weight be less 
 than eight or nine pounds, although this is at times exceeded 
 the last mentioned may be considered as good ; but as this is 
 reaUy one of the most important features in the breed, we 
 need scarcely say that " size " should be sedulously cultivated. 
 In form, the body should present a particularly full and 
 square appearance, the shoulders, saddle, and back being 
 very wide, the latter drooping slightly towards the tail. 
 
22 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 whilst the breast should be also conspicuous for breadth and 
 fulness ; the wings carried well up, but properly developed. 
 
 The colour of the plumage should show^ a,s far as possible, a 
 uniformity of black and white, — that is to say a splashing of 
 these two colours, as evenly distributed throughout as possible, 
 but on the breast particularly. In speaking of the black, we 
 do not mean that " dead " black which at one time was but 
 too prevalent, but one of a vivid greenish olive tint. Although 
 in accordance with modern requirements, we have bred the 
 dark variety now all the rage (but not quite so dark, we may 
 observe, as our bird " Lionel " is depicted in the frontispiece) 
 we nevertheless incline towards much lighter coloured birds 
 for show purposes ourselves, as being more in accordance with 
 what Houdans should be. Dark ones we freely admit, on one 
 side or the other, are undoubtedly better adapted for breed- 
 ing purposes, owing to the tendency this fowl has to get 
 lighter after each successive moult ; but we cannot at all re- 
 concile ourselves to the belief that birds almost black (as 
 now shown) are best entitled to prize-taking. 
 
 The head should be surmounted by a large, well-arched, 
 but full tuft of feathers, known as the top-knot or crest, com- 
 posed of long and narrow plumage, falling well back so as to 
 leave the comb fully exposed ; but the face itself, which 
 should be red, is greatly hidden by feathers also, encircling 
 it and the throat, in the form of whiskers ; and in all good 
 specimens there is, moreover, a well-defined bunch of these 
 feathers depending from the under part of the beak, and 
 known as the beard, which altogether give a j)articularly gro- 
 tesque appearance to the bird. The spiral comb which has of 
 late been so much in vogue, we consider altogether a mistake, 
 and no doubt is the resulting effects of crosses with the Creve- 
 coeur, for the production of the dark coloured birds which we 
 have already observed are now so prevalent at our leading 
 shows. The two-leaved comb, or more correctly speaking, 
 
f POINTS OP THE MALE BIRD, 23 
 
 the antlered shape^s described by Mr. Geyelin, viz., " a 
 triple comb with the outsides opening like two leaves of a 
 book, and having the appearance of an ill-shaped strawberry 
 in the centre, is a prominent point breeders should maintain, 
 for the Houdan comb proper ought to be as distinctive in 
 character from that of the Creve as can well be imagined. If 
 this is neglected, and these " dark gems " are in future to be 
 the only prize-takers, the Houdan will gradually merge into 
 a spotted Creve. 
 
 The growth of red skin from the lower mandables of the 
 beak, termed wattles, should be moderately long, rather thin, 
 but particularly red, assimilating in the latter condition to 
 the comb. The nostrils should have a particularly wide and 
 cavernous appearance, the beak be very strong and rather 
 dark in colour, and the eyes of a bright and restless character. 
 From the neck and saddle, elongated narrow pointed feathers, 
 resembling in shape those of the crest, — but of a darker and 
 and more lustrous hue, interspersed with white, and commonly 
 known respectively, as the neck and saddle hackles, should be 
 conspicuous and full, long, and sweeping, which greatly en- 
 hances the general appearance. 
 
 Ked and straw-coloured feathers in the hackles were for- 
 merly prevalent in most of the cock birds, but good breeding 
 has at length overcome this, and any indication of the former 
 in a show bird would now be an objection of a fatal character. 
 But we must observe that a straw-coloured or yellowish tinge 
 is very frequently acquired both in the crest and hackles of a 
 Houdan cock, as he gets older, but which we have in no way 
 found detrimental to breeding. The tail should be vei-y full, 
 carried nearly erect, be well sickled and of a lustrous greenish 
 black hue ; The thighs and legs, in some strains have been to 
 our thinking a little too long ; but this is getting better. 
 Moderately thick, but short, should be the pattern, and of a 
 
24 THK HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 white or pinky-white tint, very slightly, if at all, mottled, and 
 free from feathers. The toes should be well-formed and 
 straight, but the fifth toe should be quite distinct, well devel- 
 oped and curved upwards. There is a proud, upright, yet 
 lively bearing in the deportment of the bird, not easy to de- 
 scribe, but particularly striking. 
 
 In the hen, a fair average exhibition weight may be esti- 
 mated as about six and a half to seven and a half pounds, 
 although in breeding for weight alone we have considerably 
 added to this. She should resemble the cock bird in general 
 characteristics, excepting that her crest, comb, and wattles 
 vary in shape and size, and the markings, in her case, should 
 be altogether of a smaller and more defined character. But 
 our idea of what a first-class Houdan hen ought to be will be 
 gathered from the following : 
 
 " We should in the first place look for a full, square-bodied 
 bird of fair size, with broad straight back, well-proportioned 
 tail, the latter not carried too high. Her crest very full, 
 round, compact, and evenly marked : her comb resembling 
 that of the cock, in shape and colour, but very small. Nicely 
 formed whiskers should join the crest and beard, and slightly 
 hide the eyes and ear lobes. The beard we would prefer of a 
 bell-shaped form depending rather loosely from the beak ; 
 the latter dark, as in the male bird ; and her hackles full of 
 evenly-marked feathers. Nice short, but stoutish shanks, and 
 legs of a light colour should support her body, her claws being 
 all well formed, and the fifth claw in particular well grown, 
 curved upwards, and quite distinctive from the others. Such 
 points as these, united to general uniformity of marking, are 
 not every day to be met with, and such a bird as we have 
 thus described naturally would not fail to carry off the high- 
 est prize, in almost the sharpest competition." 
 
Fig. 1. 
 
 HOUSE AND RUN SUITABLE FOE. A LIMITED SPACE, 
 
Missing Page 
 
Missing Page 
 
TREATMENT IN CONFINED RUNS. 29 
 
 possible occasion. To keep out the excessive heat in summer, 
 or retain warmth in the winter months, a light frame of oiled 
 canvas can, when desired, be placed across a portion of the front, 
 and will-answer these ends without excluding too much light. 
 But situation need not be so much studied in this breed, as is 
 really necessary in the case of delicate varieties, for as regards the 
 hardihood of Houdans we can say from experience that neither 
 as chickens or adults can they in this respect be surpassed. 
 It must not, however, be inferred that this breed can thrive 
 in the face of every drawback (although we have known them 
 do so in a great many) any more than any other class of fowl, 
 and unless a due amount of attention be paid to certain re- 
 quirements which in confinement is absolutely necessary to 
 their welfare, profitable results can scarcely be expected. All 
 fowls in close confinement have not been inaptly compared to 
 the diver whilst pursuing his avocation under fathoms of 
 water ; both certainly are but " artificial " means of existence, 
 to say the least, and precisely as the diver supports life by a 
 continuous supply of fresh air from above, so must fowls have " 
 those requisites they would procure for themselves if at liberty. 
 Therefore grass, or other green vegetable food, lime, grit, or 
 gravel, and a substitute for their natural worm and insect 
 food, they must have. This is readily effected by making a 
 "heap^' at one end of the "run," of earth, grit, and brick- 
 layer's rubbish, say, about a bushel of each, with a few large 
 sods of grass, with plenty of the earth adhering piled on the 
 top ; these sods should be given daily if possible, the other 
 ingredients will last for a long time. Thus employment — 
 which is of more importance to fowls than is frequently sup- 
 posed — and a certain amount of food are provided at the same 
 time ; they will soon level the heap in their search for 
 treasures, but it should be piled up again every morning, all 
 droppings being first removed. Most fowls will do well under 
 
30 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 these conditions — Houdans particularly so — if cleanliness and 
 attention to their trifling wants and comforts be studied. In 
 a state of confinement, which is far from natural to them, 
 never let it be forgotten, they are kept for the pleasure or 
 profit of the owner, and it should therefore be a matter of 
 duty, as well as interest, that they are properly cared for. 
 
 Where eggs and chickens too are wished for, accommodation 
 of a much larger extent than the foregoing will be a matter of 
 necessity. It is not, however, meant to be implied that 
 adults cannot be well kept, and chickens also reared success- 
 fully, unless they have an extensive range, although many 
 writers have certainly ridiculed the idea of bringing up 
 chickens unless in this manner. Such a supposition, how- 
 ever, is not only inaccurate, but even absurd, for, whilst fully 
 admitting the superior advantages of fresh air and green 
 fields, we have known so many instances where aspiring 
 amateurs have shown such an amount of zest for the pursuit, 
 that they have not only reared their young stock under the 
 most surprising and unheard-of disadvantages, but have done 
 so so successfully that they have carried off prizes from birds 
 born and bred in a far more natural manner. The point, 
 then, to be borne in mind is, that where fowls are to be kept, 
 or chickens reared, in comparative confinement, their wants 
 must be supplied as closely to nature as their owner^s circum- 
 stances will admit. The space, then, to be set apart, if really 
 of a restrictive kind, should however still be large enough to 
 allow for at least two distinct houses and runs for separating 
 the adult stock from the chickens, and a plot of grass, or 
 well- gravelled ground — however small it may be— for rearing 
 the latter. 
 
 In suggesting how this may be done both economically 
 and satisfactorily, and also as affording another instance of how 
 not only full-grown fowls can be kept in health and con- 
 
GROUND PLAN. 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 B 
 
 Covered Bun. 
 
 
 a 
 
 1 1 
 
 b 
 
 b 
 
 b 
 
 ^ 
 
 A 
 
 d 1 d 
 
 ode 
 
 d 
 
 
 C 
 
 
 
 Open Bun. 
 
 
 
 d 
 
 
 1 
 
 D 
 
 
 Covered 
 
 P- 
 
 Gravelled Yard. 
 
 P" 
 
 Covered 
 
 ] 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 10 
 
 Scale, 
 15 
 
 20 
 
 S5 
 
 30 
 
 A A Roosting and Laying Houses. 
 
 B B Covered Runs. 
 
 C Open Run. 
 
 D Gravel Yard. 
 
 a a Nests. 
 
 b b Perches. 
 
 c c Holes for Fowls to enter. 
 
 d d Doors. 
 
 (Fig. 2.) 
 
THE SYSTEM WE ADOPTED. 33 
 
 dition, but chickens be raised also, in moderate numbers, on a 
 piece of ground of very small extent, prov it// /if/ d/ie care he 
 only taken, we have briefly sketched the outlines of our own 
 procedure and have given in Fig. 2 the ground-plan of our 
 original home-yard. This was at one time our sole resource 
 for supplying (on a very inadequate scale, it is true) the 
 growing demaud for eggs and chickens which has now ne- 
 cessitated more ample accommodation, for we see no reason 
 for disguising the fact that our recreation has been no less a 
 profitable than a pleasing one. As will be seen from this 
 plan, the space at command comprised an area of only thirty 
 feet wide by about the same in length, if we except an 
 additional storey we had afterwards built ; and on this com- 
 paratively small piece of ground we used frequently to rear to 
 maturity from seventeen to five and twenty of our Houdan 
 chicks yearly — of a healthy and choice kind, too, and which 
 realized very satisfactory sums when disposed of. The three 
 covered runs were made weather proof and wired in with inch- 
 and-a-half galvanized wire-netting, on the sides communi- 
 cating with the open yard, on the same principle as already 
 recommended for fig. 1. It will be perceived that each run 
 had a separate house for the chickens and adult fowls to roost 
 and lay in, and that communication with the whole, when 
 necessary, was easily effected by opening a door or lifting a 
 trap. The yard, we may observe, was shared at intervals, in 
 fine weather, alternately between the occupants of the two 
 side runs. In- these latter dur chickens were fed and allowed 
 to run loose in the open yard in very dry weather only. The 
 back run was reserved for our breeding stock ; our hens were 
 mostly set in some snug and convenient corner within our 
 own dwelling, and we always made it our endeavour to set 
 two or more hens at the same period, when we were fortunate 
 enough to get them broody. For this purpose we preferred 
 
34 THE noUDAN FOWL, 
 
 smallish-sized Brahmas or Cochins, and as soon as the little 
 ones were hatched, to let one hen take charge of two broods, 
 and set the other again with some fresh eggs — we thus 
 economised both time and space. The system of feeding we 
 adopted will have due attention hereafter. When our chickens 
 had attained the age of eight weeks, we separated the pullets 
 from the cockerels. Arrived at the age of twelve weeks, or 
 sometimes even less, our plan was to make a due inspection of 
 the whole lot, removing the inferior ones, mostly for domestic 
 use. By these means we generally had in hand a moderate 
 stock of promising young birds, and by thus continuing to 
 repeat this "weeding out" process, those that we preserved 
 were, if only few in number, certainly superior in quality. 
 The ground in our covered runs being of a very clayey nature, 
 we had it dug out to the depth of a foot and a half and filled 
 in with concrete, and upon this fine earth, lime rubbish, road- 
 side grit, and gravel in equal proportions to about the same 
 depth was strewn upon it, and which we raked over every 
 morning ourselves ; about once a fortnight we had all of it 
 sifted, removing the droppings, and the whole was replenished 
 with fresh material as often as we thought it necessary. In 
 fact, what we wanted in space we made up by cleanliness, 
 and thus kept our yard free from disease. When we borrowed 
 strange hens, as we were always then compelled to do, they 
 were duly examined before we put any eggs under them to 
 make sure they were not troubled by vermin. They thus set 
 closer and more steadily, and we had better broods. During 
 the prevalence of summer heats, we further made a point of 
 sprinkling the floors of the houses and perches with a solution 
 of disinfecting powder, which not only kept the habitations 
 cool and sweet, but certainly tended to free them from para- 
 sites, to the comfort of the occupants. The laying nests, 
 which were simply formed of two strips of wood partitioned 
 
IMPORTANCE OF CLEANLINESS. 35 
 
 off, were replenished with fiesh straw before they were 
 allowed to get musty, and every part of them, also the interior 
 of the houses and walls of the runs, we^e washed over well, 
 twice or thrice a year, with hot lime and water, which not 
 only gave them a cleanly appearance, but really made them 
 so. Our success, then, it will be seen, was really achieved by 
 the strictest observance of cleanliness and system. " Work " 
 and " trouble ' ' were words in our vocabulary, the meaning of 
 which we never fully understood in their relation to the 
 poultry-yard — hence the result. Further details of our 
 general management we need not here particularize, as they 
 will be found in various portions of the work ; but having 
 learnt the importance of cleanliness and sweetness in every 
 department of chicken-rearing ourselves, particularly with 
 limited accommodation, we cannot but advise our readers to 
 attend strictly to these apparently minor details, but details, 
 however, on which mainly depend the healthful success of the 
 undertaking. 
 
 E«specting the profitability, of the Houdan in a domestic 
 sense only, and under such conditions as we have been dis- 
 cussing, the result must be said to depend chiefly upon the 
 amateur himself, for in nine instances out of every ten the 
 pursuit is really undertaken without the least regard to 
 "system;" and unless such is brought into requisition, no 
 breed of fowl can be expected to produce results of a very 
 satisfactory kind. 
 
 Amongst some of the items in the economy of poultry-keep- 
 ing a most important (and frequently neglected one) is a due 
 attention to the age of the laying stock. The latter should 
 be composed of February, March, or April-hatched pullets, a 
 corresponding number hatched in the same months of the 
 preceding year; and a like proportion of two.year-old hens in 
 addition, and the best rule in the matter is, on no consider. 
 
•'P THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 ation to keep any of the stock after their third autumn, * 
 when required simply for laying purposes ; for many as may be 
 the eggs a Houdan pullet will lay during her first season, such 
 will bear no comparison, either in size or in number, to that 
 oi 'ibs, following one; and although we have had instances 
 where this has been equalled the succeeding year, it certainly 
 must be regarded as an exception. Not unlike certain other 
 breeds, the second season of the Houdan must be looked on as 
 the most profitable if considered simply as a layer. But to 
 realize the fullest modicum of profit in every way, immediately 
 a hen discontinues to add to the egg-basket as her third 
 autumn approaches, and directly any indication of moulting 
 is noticed, either the knife, or other means, should terminate 
 her existence without delay ; two years and a half will gener- 
 ally be found the most appropriate period ; the flesh, although 
 of course not possessing the delicate juicy flavour of a cockerel 
 or pullet, will nevertheless be in good eatable condition at 
 this age with or without fattening; but if the fowl is kept 
 longer than the period mentioned, the a^g returns will de- 
 crease, and the carcase be only fit for boiling down to make 
 "stock." 
 
 The next question for consideration is perhaps the best 
 period for hatching, and herein possibly depends the whole 
 result of whether the rearing and keeping of any class of fowl 
 be a loss or a gain ; for the time of year in which chickens are 
 hatched determines whether the pullets will finally pay for 
 their rearing. It will very naturally have been assumed, by 
 many of our readers, from some of our own and previous 
 writers' observations, that Houdan pullets, under all circum- 
 
 * In the question of prize poultry this will not apply, for very frequently 
 the value of a setting of eggs from one hen will he more than an equivilent 
 for many months of feeding, to say nothing of her qualities in a, prize-taking 
 sease. 
 
PROPER PERIOD FOR HATCHING. 37 
 
 stances and conditions^ will beo;'in to lay at the age we have 
 previously specified, namely, between their fifth and sixth 
 month. This, however, will give rise to disappointment, 
 unless the period when they are hatched be systematically 
 regulated. Let us take, for instance, the case of birds hatched 
 in May, and what month in the whole year presents more 
 favourable advantages apparently than this \ but in spite of 
 all the good feeding, it will frequently happen that Christmas 
 festivities are in full swing before the pullets begin to lay. 
 Those hatched a month later, or during June, will do even 
 worse, for in this instance it is not at all uncommon for March 
 to arrive — the pullets being thus nine months old — ere any 
 profit is returned for the food expended. 
 
 The great question, then, of ' ' how to make this branch of 
 poultry-keeping profitable," hangs mainly on early hatching 
 and appropriate feeding . Chickens hatched at the latter end 
 of February or March, or the commencement of April, will 
 necessarily give more trouble than those hatched in May, but 
 they will repay that trouble threefold, whereas the later- 
 hatched birds will almost prove a dead loss. We all know that 
 fowls lay more or less freely in summer, but that is not the 
 thing. The grand "paying" question is, to have them laying in 
 winter, when every ^^^ represents " money," and consequent 
 profit, and winter-laying fowls are to be obtained only by the 
 special rule we have advocated, bearing in mind that no 
 pullet hatched after April will ever bear a real profit to her 
 keeper. 
 
 * 
 
 * Mr. Wright has pointed out theie facts very forcibly in the " Illustrated 
 Book of Poultry," page 21. He there says, " Supposing that the average 
 time for a pullet to commence laying is at the age of six months, and that the 
 cost of her food be — as in large breeds it is — about three halfpence per week, 
 a late May pullet must be fed three months longer, at an additional outlay of 
 one shilling and sixpence, before she yields any return. No fowl — we speak 
 
38 THE nOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 By having the stock of different ages as ah-eady pointed out, 
 there will thus be a certainty of not only having a fair 
 average of eggs during the winter months, but also of having 
 some portion of the stock always ready for domestic require- 
 ments, inasmuch as each autumn the fowls which have just 
 attained their two and a half year will be killed, and there 
 places filled up by the pullets, which August or September 
 should find laying, and which ought to continue laying 
 throughout the winter, if moderately well fed. By the time 
 these leave off, or very frequently before, the year-old hens 
 will have completed their moult, and will contribute their 
 moiety also to the egg basket. This is the only way a con- 
 tinuous supply of eggs can be ensured, either in large or small 
 poultry yards. 
 
 We need scarcely state that any diet of a forcing or 
 stimulating character will promote laying at an earlier period 
 than that of an opposite kind ,■ therefore, the following recipe 
 "for making pullets lay at five months old," which was 
 advertised rather extensively a year or so ago in some of the 
 poultry journals, although not by any means containing any 
 startling information, may nevertheless, as the writer re- 
 marks " be useful to all who are interested in poultry, and 
 
 now of mere ordinary or market stock, not of fancy values — can be expected 
 to recover such a cost; and it is in this way that about half the failures in 
 poultry-keeping are caused. Ordinary fowls become broody of^ener in May 
 than any other month, and the bright warm days tempt the proprietor to 
 choose that time for hatching the chickens. The latter do well, indeed they 
 enjoy themselves and thrive and grow, but they will not pay, whereas chickens 
 hatched from the middle to the end of March, or early in April, will require 
 more attention certainly, and call for much self-denial occasionally, in the 
 shape of braving bad weather, to see they are duly cared for ; but will oftener, 
 if in reach of a town market, repay the whole of their cost even before the 
 New Year." 
 
RECIPE FOK EOG-PUODUt'INC 39 
 
 who also wish an abundant supply of eggs." In furtherance 
 of this end, we therefore quote it in fxienso : — 
 
 " The chief thing I have found, and also the best for egg- 
 producing is malt. I always give my fowls malt from 
 chickenhoodj and I have found by experience that by its use 
 they grow fast, and generally lay in five months. I change 
 the food as often as I possibly can, but never allow one day to 
 pass but that they have malt ; the quantity I give is two 
 handfulls for every six fowls daily. I generally mix it with 
 the soft food, which is composed of boiled potatoes or peel- 
 ings, barley flour, Indian meal, and bran. I have found by 
 experience that it is best to give soft food for the first meal. 
 If the weather be cold, I season the soft food with pepper and 
 salt, and sometimes mix it vrith ale or beer. Twice a week I 
 boil a sheep's bag or bullock's liver, chopped fine, and mix 
 with the soft food — quantity, quarter pound to each fowl. 
 The second meal I sometimes give soft food, and sometimes 
 corn. I always give corn for the last meal, such as barley, 
 Indian corn, and oats mixed, and during the moulting time I 
 mix; with the com hempseed, say one handful to each fowl 
 daily. I always change tlie water twice a day, and in winter 
 add to the water a few drops of solution of sulphate of iron, 
 just enough to give a slight mineral taste. I always take 
 care that they are fed regularly, and never allowed more than 
 what they can eat at a time." 
 
 The rationale of the above treatment, which we may add 
 may be gathered from almost any poultry book, is well 
 enough, we admit, and quite worthy of attention ; but our 
 objection to malt — putting aside its cost as a dietary article 
 for chicken-feeding — is that it engenders " scouring " if con- 
 tinued for any length of time ; but we have found from 
 experiment that profitable results can be produced far more 
 economically, and quite as expeditiously, by the use of 
 
40 
 
 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 " Spratf s Granulated Meat Crissel," if judiciously em- 
 ployed. 
 
 Having now treated upon the system that should be carried 
 out in stocking the poultry-yard^ we must not forget that the 
 female sex is thus far alone represented ; and it is almost un- 
 necessary to add that in choosing hens and pullets for this 
 purpose that their plumage — which in this instance is really 
 of secondary importance — should correspond with that of the 
 cock bird in the main points of the breed, but that size and 
 shape^ which is of more consequeneCj should also be con- 
 sidered ; and apart from any " fancy '' pretentions, they should 
 be healthy, full-grown, bright-looking, vivacious birds, and 
 none of them less than a year old when bred from. 
 
 In the selection of a cock bird, his shape and size, gestures 
 and movements, are alike important to the production of 
 strong and healthy chickens. Liveliness and activity should 
 characterise his every movement. He should have strong 
 legs, supporting a broad body ; he should carry himself with 
 an air of self-importance and defiance, his eyes should be 
 bright and restless, his comb and wattles of a brilliant red, 
 and his plumage tolerably smooth and close. If he answers 
 to this description, looks well, and pays proper attention to 
 his consorts, such a bird as this cannot be too highly valued. 
 
 At two years of age we consider a cock to be in his prime, 
 and if then mated with hens in their second season, we have 
 always found a greater amount of stamina perceptible in the 
 chickens than in those instances where the latter have been 
 produced from younger parents. The vigorous nature, how- 
 ever, of the Houdan is not, we verily believe, to be surpassed 
 by male birds of any other breed, — the game perhaps excepted 
 — either for the early period it shows itself, or for the extent 
 of its duration ; and although very marked exceptions will 
 occasionally arise in the instance of highly-bred specimens, 
 
PUECOCIOUSNESS OP THE COCKERELS. 41 
 
 they merely tend to make the fact more significant. 
 In some of the French districts, where this race is extensive/ 1/ 
 cnltivated, it is nothing uncommon for a Houdan cock to be 
 seen running with twelve, fiLteen, and even a larger numljer 
 of hens, and we have been assured that every egg laid as a 
 ride proves prolific. Climate possibly influences this in no 
 inconsiderable degree, but that it is not mainly dependent on 
 such conditions we will put a crucial case in point : — 
 
 Not many months back an acquaintance, for experiment 
 sake, let a three-year-old cock serve ten hens ; seven-eights of 
 the eggs were not only fertile, but resulted in the production 
 of chickens with constitutions such as the most aspiring 
 amateur would not fail to covet, for their iron-like tendency. 
 
 Eespecting the precociousness of the cockerels, at little 
 more than eight weeks old, we have found it frequently neces- 
 sary to separate the sexes, the little rascals at this early age 
 showing their naturally vigorous disposition. We have one 
 cockerel hatched in March last, being, at the time we are 
 writing, not yet two months old, who will answer the crow of 
 his paternal relative in a manner as defiant as it is ludicrous; 
 and, as showing the self-reliant and fearless disposition of the 
 male chickens sometimes at a very early period, we will in- 
 stance the following, which has reference to the cockerel in 
 question : — A short time since we turned into the chicken run 
 a Brahma hen, whose broody propensities we wished to check. 
 Throwing down soon after a handful of barley to the chickens, 
 she once or twice drove them off, and was appropriating to 
 herself a much larger share than she was fairly entitled to, 
 when our little hero, seeing the rapidity with which the grain 
 was diminishing, to his and the other chickens' discomforture, 
 "threw up" his feathers, and, to our surprise, flew at her in 
 the most "game " manner possible, and although the contest 
 appeared about as unequal as a giant and a pigmy doing 
 
42 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 battle (for she was a large hen and the cockerel was small for 
 his age);, he nevertheless completely beat her off, clapped his 
 wings, and gave vent to a shrill but very exulting crow, aa 
 much as to say "try it again, if you dare, old lady." She 
 gave him a wide berth after. 
 
 As it may possibly be inferred from this, that the cock birds 
 evince a pugnacious disposition in some degree, to show this 
 is very far from being the case, and as a remarkable instance 
 of the uses that may be made of them in unusual capacities, 
 the following is perhaps worth narrating : — Mrs. H — , an old 
 and esteemed friend, had the misfortune for a Brahma hen to 
 die suddenly, which had only the fortnight previously brought 
 off a fine brood of nine Houdan chicks. Being rather early 
 in the season, another hen to act as foster-mother could not at 
 the time be obtained. Mrs. H — had no faith in " artificial" 
 mothers, and was in danger of losing the brood, which was a 
 valuable one. Narrating to us the awkward strait in which 
 she was placed, whilst strolling round the yard, we remarked, 
 in a small run, a Houdan cock intended for sale. The circum. 
 stance of cock Turkeys being somewhat extensively employed 
 in certain parts of France for bringing up chickens, had never 
 very favourably impressed us, as to its general adaptability 
 in this country, until that moment; but we thought the 
 opportunity a very eligible one for personally testing what 
 capabilities a male bird really did possess for such an under- 
 taking. At our suggestion the chicks were given to the cock 
 in question — not without misgiving on the part of Mrs. H — . 
 But her fears were of short duration, the " gentleman ' ' looked 
 at the little things for a minute or so, as if not quite satisfied 
 with their intrusion, then called to them as he would to his 
 hens, to which the chickens immediately responded. No hen 
 mother could have been more careful, or more kind and atten- 
 tive, than he proved himself to be, and it was really amusing 
 
THE MALE BIRDS AS NURSES. 43 
 
 when we saw him, about a week after, strutting about the 
 yard — scratching for the little creatures, as seemingly pleased 
 and proud of his charges as if he had hatched them. If, some 
 
 months after, at the B Poultry Show, spectators of a pen 
 
 of remarkably fine birds in the French class, to which the 
 second prize was awarded, could have really known how the 
 early days of the occupants of the pen in question had been 
 passed, it would doubtless have attracted still greater attention. 
 
 Since then we have not failed to take a lesson from the in- 
 cident we -have recorded, for we have on sundry occasions let 
 our old cock birds have the charge of chickens ; and from 
 the very satisfactory manner in which they have discharged 
 their trust, we can unhesitatingly recommend the services of 
 a feathered " step ■" father as being quite as economical and 
 effectual, and at times far less troublesome, than that of an 
 "artificial" mother. 
 
 But returning again to the practical management of the 
 stock, the subject of drink and food merit special attention. 
 As dirty or impure water materially detracts from the well- 
 doing of poultry by germinating the seeds of disease, the im. 
 portance of a continuous supply, pure and clean, cannot be too 
 strictly insisted on. Any receptacle almost can be used for 
 the purpose ; but as we have ourselves derived so much satis- 
 faction from the use of the water fountains, seen in Figs. 3 
 and 4, we have no hesitation in recommending their general 
 adoption ; one is of metal, the olher earthenware, but both 
 possessing decided advantages in point of ornament, useful- 
 ness, and economy, being cleaned in a moment, and not liable 
 to get out of order.* 
 
 Respecting feeding, a somewhat different system must be 
 
 * For these, and for the majority of the illustrations of poultry appliances 
 throughout this little work, we are indebted to Mr. F. Crook, the inyentor and 
 manufacturer, of 20, Motcombe Street, Belgrave Square, S.W. 
 
 D 
 
44 
 
 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 substituted in confinement than where the fowls are running 
 comparatively at large. The morning feed for our adult 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 Kg. 4. 
 
 stock has for some time past usually been equal parts of 
 either barley-meal and toppings, varied by " Spratt's Poultry 
 Food/' or oatmeal, toppings, and boiled mashed potatoes, or 
 even parings, with the " Granulated Meat Crissel ' ' every 
 
 other morning, in the pro- 
 portion of about a quarter 
 of a pint to a dozen fowls, 
 the whole mixed with 
 water to such a consis- 
 tency as to form a doughy 
 paste, which, on being 
 rolled out, can be divided 
 into patons just large 
 enough for the fowls to 
 swallow with ease, and so 
 
 that all have their fair 
 
 Fig. 5. 
 
PEEDINQ APPLIANCES. 
 
 45 
 
 ' proportion. In winter we mix the food with boiling water just 
 sufficient to make the former "crumbly," frequently seasoning 
 it with pepper, and always making it a point of giving it to the 
 fowls while warm. When we formerly adopted the latter plan, 
 we made use of a large shallow earthenware pan, for the ground 
 being, as we have said, of loose earth, a receptacle of some 
 kind was absolutely necessary to prevent waste. But, as it is 
 the nature of fowls to scratch, this proved very inadequate to 
 the purpose it was intended; the fact being that in their 
 hungry endeavours to get it, the food was thrown about in 
 all directions, trampled over, and quite as much spoilt as eaten ; 
 so we at last devised a 
 roughly -framed cover 
 with wire partitions 
 to obviate this, and 
 which was successful 
 to a certain extent ; 
 but Mr. Crook has 
 long since introduced 
 two feeding appli.' 
 ances. Figs. 5 and 6, 
 which carry out the 
 purpose farmore effec- 
 tually. The first, Fig. 5, is constructed for a dozen full- 
 grown fowls to feed peaceably at one time, and Fig. 6 is not 
 only a receptacle for food, but for water also if required. Being 
 made of wrought iron and galvanized, they are both almost 
 indestructible, and, from the facilities afforded for cleansing, 
 are, in a sanitary sense, particularly serviceable. 
 
 Indian corn, both as meal and in grain, we once used 
 largely ; but from its too fattening tendency, which we shall 
 always have cause to remember, we have quite eschewed it as 
 being unsuitable diet for Houdans, unless they have an un- 
 
 rig. 6. 
 
46 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 limited run, and even then we think they are better without 
 it. Beyond an unHmited supply of green food^ either grass, 
 lettuce, or a fresh-pulled cabbage suspended by a string from 
 the roof of the run for them to peak at, and plenty of clean 
 water to drink, our adult stock, if confined, rarely ever have 
 more than we have already enumerated until the evening, 
 when a sufficiency of good heavy barley forms their concluding 
 meal. 
 
 Fowls cannot be expected to lay freely if half starved, we 
 admit ; but, on the other hand, giving them too much food at 
 one time, or giving it too often, is almost as great — indeed, we 
 may say a far greater, evil; and, apart from serious consequences 
 as those to which we will presently allude, an undue amount of 
 food materially decreases not only the number, but even the 
 size, of the eggs. In our opinion, the majority of adult fowls 
 would be more profitable and better in condition if they were 
 ■under rather than over-fed. The rule should be, never to 
 satisfy their appetites to their fullest extent, for they, like 
 children, will eat, if the opportunity but offers, considerably 
 more than is beneficial to them. The above maxim should be 
 strictly enforced where Houdans are concerned, particularly 
 in confinement. The rapidity with which they, in common 
 with most of the French breeds, naturally put on flesh and 
 fat, make them invaluable as table-fowl ; but where other 
 objects are desired, such as good layers or the production of 
 strong and healthy offspring, overfeeding should be carefully 
 guarded against. The other extreme must not, of course, be 
 pursued, or an empty egg-basket will be the result ; but sparse 
 diet should be the rule after chickenhood has passed, or un- 
 timely deaths in the poultry yard will spoil alike the pleasure 
 and the profit. We have paid bitterly for our want of expe- 
 rience of this in our earlier acquaintance with the breed. 
 
 At the time we speak of we recollect how, with perhaps a 
 
EFFECTS OF OVBE-FEEDING. 47 
 
 pardonable degree of pride^ we inspected our stock the last 
 thing at nighty and congratulated ourselves upon the nice 
 " plump " condition the birds were in. But our feelings may- 
 be imagined when, early one morning, we found a valuable 
 hen dead upon the nest, and could not then assign a reason 
 for the fact. We lost another, and yet another, in the same 
 manner; the loss was getting serious, and we half made up 
 our minds to have nothing more to do with the breed in 
 question ; we attributed this calamitous state of things, of 
 course, to everything but the right cause. The following week 
 we were almost at our wits' end by the further loss of three more 
 fine, plump, and valuable hens, two in the above-named manner 
 and the third by her suddenly falling lifeless at our feet. But 
 the secret was now discovered. "Apoplexy, by Jove," said 
 a friend emphatically, who was present at the time — and to 
 whom we had been relating our grievances — "You've been 
 giving them too much grub, and I shouldn't wonder, after 
 what you've told me, that that accounts for the others going 
 off so suddenly.'^ Yes, overfeeding had done it all. We had 
 " killed them with kindness." From that time we were more 
 guarded in our system of feeding. We recruited our stock, 
 put all our fowls on " shorter commons," and only fed them 
 twice a day — morning and evening — with a limited allowance 
 of food, which system we still adopt, and we have never since 
 met with catastrophies of a simQar kind. 
 
 But respecting " systematic" feeding, the ideas enunciated 
 by Mr. Wright have hitherto more strictly accorded with our 
 own in this particular.* " No fowls," he remarks, " require, 
 at most, more than three meals per day, and, as a rule, do far 
 better with two. The first should, or in confinement must, 
 consist of soft or pulpy food of some kind, and be given early 
 
 ' Illustrated Book of Poultry," page 25. 
 
48 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 in the morning. If the fowls be at liberty, or have grass runs, 
 they should have nothing further until half an hour before 
 they go to roost, when they should have a feed of grain. In 
 point of quantity no fixed scale can be given ; some breeds 
 eat double the quantity of others, and even the same hen will 
 require a very different allowance, according as she is laying or 
 not at the time. Nevertheless, there is a rule, simply and 
 easily understood, which will unfailingly secure both health 
 and eggs, and that is to give the birds just as much as they 
 wiU eat with an eager or ravenous appetite, and no more. We 
 are speaking now of adult fowls, and such must on no account 
 ever be allowed to have as much as they will eat ; directly 
 they cease to run, if the food is thrown to them, or commence 
 " picking it over, ' ' if given in a trough or saucer, it should be 
 stopped or taken away. On no account must there be any left. 
 
 " While no absolute scale can be given for the reasons stated, 
 it will generally be found that hens of large breeds, when lay- 
 ing or moulting, require about as much meal or dough as will 
 make a ball two and a half inches in diameter for their feed 
 every morning, and a woman's handful — we mean with the 
 palm downwards — of grain at night. Indeed, for large 
 breeds, this " handful •" system will generally be a safe one as 
 regards the grain ; but smaller fowls, from Spanish downwards, 
 should have rather less, according to size. The only real rule, 
 however, is that which we have given above, and we would 
 add the caution that many on trial will not think it sufficient. 
 We have often had visitors who have remarked that our fowls 
 must be half starving, as they saw them fly up in the air when 
 their breakfast was taken out to them. They are, in fact, 
 always ready for food ; but we are certain, from long expe- 
 rience, that this system of feeding is the best, not only for 
 profit, but for really healthy condition. 
 
 " In bad or cold weather, or when moulting, a little more may 
 
REMARKS ON THE NON-SITTING INSTINCT. 49 
 
 be allowed ; but we never allow our own birds — we speak of 
 adults only — to eat to repletion. Such a course will always 
 destroy the profit of poultry-keeping ; at least, in a confined 
 space. Even in strict confinement^ where every atom of food 
 must be supplied, there should not be a third regular meal, 
 but simply a small handful of grain among every two or three 
 birds, in proportion to their size, to afford them gratification 
 and keep the appetite alive. Occasionally, in such circum- 
 stances, the diet may be varied by giving the handful each of 
 grain in the middle of the day ; and then, instead of corn, 
 a very scanty feed of soft food, not more than half the break- 
 fast, the last thing at night." 
 
 Although Houdans are designated as non - setters, after 
 laying for many months in succession, as they will do, it is 
 not at all uncommon for the hens occasionally to show a broody 
 tendency ; in the case of valuable birds, we never discourage 
 it, but let them remain on the nest if so disposed for three 
 weeks or a month, feeding them liberally, but still in modera- 
 tion ; by this rest we find their moult is considerably facili- 
 tated, and they begin to lay again much sooner than they 
 would do otherwise, thus ensuring a good supply of eggs for 
 early setting. 
 
 The hens of this breed are very seldom to be trusted for 
 incubating their own eggs ; therefore, one or two Brahma or 
 other cross-bed fowls must be kept when chickens are wanted ; 
 but to impute to them the character of never sitting or 
 hatching out a brood under "natural " conditions, is open to 
 grave doubt, and in support of our assertion we have appended 
 the notes of an esteemed correspondent, Mr. H. T. Dudgeon, 
 of Ashford, Staines : — 
 
 " There is one remark made about certain breeds, viz., that they are ever- 
 lasting layers, meaning, of course, birds that don't sit. The leading books and 
 journals of the day will tell you a Spanish hen, a Hamburgh, or aHoudan will not 
 
50 THE nOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 sit, except she te ' one of those very rare exceptions to the almost invariable 
 rule.' I totally deny this, though I know I take up a position at variance with 
 every writer and breeder that I know of. I say every domestic bird will sit, 
 and I would undertake to make them do so, whatever breed was brought me. 
 There is no secret in it. Indeed I am surprised that such assertions should be 
 made by so many practical people. I have found by trial, founded on theory, that 
 all breeds sit. In this way, take a few of the so-called non -sitting breeds, give 
 them unlimited range, particularly where there are coverts to lay away in ; do 
 not interfere with them at all ; let them lay their eggs where they like ; and, 
 if moderately fed, they will lay in the spring. As soon as eleven or thirteen 
 eggs are laid, if never touched or in any way disturbed, they will not fail to 
 not only sit, but bring off and rear a healthy brood of chickens, be they 
 Houdans, Hamburghs, Polands. Spanish, Creves, La Fleche, Breda, Guinea 
 Fowl, or what not. I was always of this opinion, contrary to that of all books 
 or poultry periodicals I have seen, so determined to try it. What first made 
 me think so was, that I noticed most of these " non-sitters," as soon as they 
 began to moult about June or July, get a peculiar faint cluck when they were 
 driven about, or whenever they ran quickly, spontaneously. This is not so 
 apparent with birds of these breeds unless they have an unlimited range. My 
 birds were left to find their own roost in the trees ; and this fact, combined 
 with an unlimited range — though it alters their time of moulting and duration 
 of laying — never fails to rouse their dormant desire for the execution of the 
 laws of nature. The only thing to be guarded against is having too many 
 hens in trying this experiment, if any one should so desire, as there is a danger 
 of their finding out another's laying nest, and so worry her out of it, and 
 instead of a brood of chickens a lot of addled eggs would result." 
 
 Notwithstanding the high repute, both as layers and table- 
 fowl in which Houdans are held, these qualities are capable of 
 being yet further improved by a little judgment and patience. 
 In considering, in the first place, how the egg-producing 
 instinct may be enlarged, it is to be regretted that this trait 
 has to a considerable extent been latterly neglected for points 
 of a fancy nature entirely, and that competitors for prizes^ to 
 get their pullets into a siiitable condition for showing, still 
 systematically retard laying by every means in their power. 
 
 To these causes the deterioration of other breeds besides the 
 Houdan, in an economical sense, may fairly be attributed. 
 From the same causes may be traced the fact that good &^^- 
 
SELECTION OF STOCK. 51 
 
 producing fowls arCj as a rule, not so plentiful as formerly. 
 The point, therefore, to which we should direct our readers' 
 attention is simply this, that any one rearing poultry as a 
 matter of business should carry ouj; the same care in selection 
 as the fancier. Their views may be different, but the result 
 will be the same. The one seeks beauty of form, the other the 
 egg-producing capabilities of his poultry ; and by due care and 
 attention in selecting his stock, he will decidedly obtain it. 
 In our dairy farms we observe the same thing. The best 
 milking-cows, or those who produce the greatest quantity 
 of milk, are invariably the offspring of cows known for 
 their great milk -bearing qualities; therefore we should ad. 
 vise all who desire to have a poultry yard on a large scale, 
 and at the same time to make it a profitable pursuit, to select 
 their stock from breeds well known as first-rate egg-pro- 
 ducers. 
 
 We need scarcely say, then, that the eggs from the best 
 laying hens should alone be chosen for sitting ; of the pullets 
 hatched from them, those only partaking of their mother's 
 special qualities again selected, and the process repeated until 
 the desired object is attained. 
 
 As a table-fowl, again, although some strains will bear 
 favourable comparison even now with the Dorking, as to 
 quality and quantity of meat, by carrying out a similar pro- 
 ceeding as the above in the selection of stock, but directed of 
 course to a different end, will show the merits of the Houdan 
 in its fullest perfection. The farmer,* above any class of the 
 
 * " Farm-yards are seldom stocked witli profitable poultry ; in them, too 
 often, is the pernicious adherence to the system of breeding in and in, seen in 
 its worst aspect ; the result is certain degeneracy. Farmers look upon poultry 
 as a trifling and unimportant item in the farm stock, only to be kept as layers 
 of eggs daring summer, and are quite satisfied if their chickens bring a fair 
 market price. But why not rear fowls that will weigh eight instead of four 
 
52 THE HOTJDAif FOWL. 
 
 poultry-breeding community^ should achieve these results, for 
 he has all the facilities for doing so advantageously, to the 
 envy of many an owner of but a few yards of run. He has 
 only to profit by the valuable precedent the French breeders 
 have already established by mating Im breeding stock in the 
 same manner they have done generation by genferation, and to 
 the exclusion of all other points excepting those which are 
 most admired in a table fowlj viz., short-legged, white- 
 skinned birds, carrying an abundancy of flesh of good quality 
 where the carver and his guests most appreciate it — the breast. 
 The Houdan's economic worth in these particulars, notwith- 
 standing what has already been accomplished in this direction, 
 appears to us to have as yet far from attained its maximum, 
 and we feel justified in giving it as our opinion, both from 
 experiments we have made and witnessed, that the breed can 
 be cultivated to surpass the Dorking in all those points for 
 which the latter is most esteemed ; but it must be done sys- 
 tematically, and bred exclusively for the points already men- 
 tioned, precisely the same as the Dorking itself has been 
 brought to its present state of perfection as a table or market 
 fowl, for it is material to bear in mind that no characteristics, 
 whether viewed from fancy or economic principles, can be 
 established unless it is ly breeding for them. 
 
 pounds ? and at the same cost of feeding, Surely such weights will command 
 higher prices than merely those of the market, which is often supplied with 
 birds scarcely worth the name of fowls, creatures of every conceivable form 
 and colour, with long black legs, narrow breasts, and twisted breast-bones, 
 certainly possessing a superabundance of tail ; but that adornment goes for 
 little or nothing in the cook's eye. These miserable results are by no means 
 the consequences of want of food. A farm yard is the paradise of poultry, and 
 nowhere can they live in greater plenty or comfort. It is just because the 
 birds want frame on which to put flesh and fat ; bone is deficient, and all the 
 lapsful of oats, barley, and wheat which the farmer's wife may filch for them 
 from the gude man's barn are wasted on a worthless crew." — ' The Hen.Wife,' 
 by the Hon. Mrs. Arbuthnot. 
 
HOUDANS AS EARLY CHICKENS. 53 
 
 The deep compact body of the Houdan, its broad breast, 
 light pinky legs, and the small amount of bone and offal it 
 has, compared to most fowls, is undeniable ; and it has long 
 been a matter of surprise why the breed has not been more 
 largely cultivated in this country, as it combines the qualities 
 most looked for and desirable in spring chickens, rapid growth 
 being not one of the least of them. There appears to be less 
 difficulty, too, in rearing Houdans than almost any other 
 variety. There are fowls in plenty, we aver, that when /ulli/ 
 grown, are the 6eau ideal of hardihood, but very delicate while 
 growing. But Houdan chickens, from the very day they are 
 hatched, are strong and lively, and feather so very fast that 
 they easily triumph over obstacles which would be death to 
 any other breed ; for the race seems to thrive almost as well 
 on cold damp soils, with scarcely any care or attention, as they 
 do in more favoured quarters, and when their wants and com- 
 forts are anticipated. Early chickens certainly pay the best ; 
 miserable skinny creatures will not, of course, command a re- 
 munerative price ; but if they are really good-sized, plump 
 birds, such as the cockerels especially will become on good 
 feeding from twelve to sixteen weeks old, the demand is 
 always more than equal to the supply ; but meaty fowls can 
 scarcely be expected from any breed without proper attention 
 is paid to feeding ; and to ensure fine chickens they should be fed 
 from break of day, irrespective of the time of year. Barley- 
 meal, oatmeal, and toppings, mixed warm, will bring them on 
 wonderfully ; and, if circumstances will admit of milk being 
 given to them to drink, they will repay it by making flesh 
 the faster, and by being ready for the market at an earUer 
 date, will thus realize better prices. 
 
 The suitability of Houdans for early spring chickens certainly 
 merits attention, and we cannot but endorse the testimony of 
 writers who have preceded us respecting the very early period 
 
54 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 at which they are ready for the table, and what plump, fleshy, 
 and toothsome fowls they really are ; and the fifth toe — which 
 although in our idea is certainly the only objectionable feature 
 of the breed — is nevertheless no bad criterion of the fowl's 
 value in the general estimation of the poulterers. We fully 
 believe that, under favourable circumstances, no other breed 
 can possibly compare with this, in the rapid manner with 
 which they put on flesh as "chicklings." As an instance of 
 this, last summer, whilst paying a professional visit to an 
 agricultural acquaintance, and strolling over his farm, we 
 were particularly impressed by the sight of some Houdans, 
 which we knew were hatched the early part of the preceding 
 March from our own eggs, being then, as nearly as possible, 
 thirteen weeks old. "Ah!" said the farmer, noticing our 
 look of evident pleasure, " I call those 'summut^ like chickens." 
 " They are the best sort I ever see." Come now, he continued, 
 with a certain amount _ of pride, " I'll wager that the littlest 
 of 'em weighs over three pun ! and I'll bet you what yer like 
 about it." "Perhaps you have weighed them already" was 
 our rejoinder, smiling. " Oh, no I havn't," was the answer. 
 But upon our declining, at all events, to stake anything on 
 the doubt, yet being at the same time still very curious tp 
 ascertain what they really did weigh, a few of them were 
 caught and placed in the scale ; two of them (pullets) weighed 
 respectively nearly three and a quarter pounds ; another, three 
 pounds and a half; and Lhe joint weight of two cockerels 
 turned the scale at seven pounds and three quarters. " How 
 do you feed them, farmer?" we asked. "Oh, I give 'em 
 warm soft mash in the morning early, and a good blow out of 
 grain afore they go to roost ; but atwixt you and me, Doctor, 
 I don't believe so much in the grain, though I don't spare it 
 either, but my opinion is, it's the precious lot o' slugs and 
 worms they picks up as makes 'em so fat." 
 
ECONOMICAL METHOD OF TEEDINO. 55 
 
 We perfectly coincided with the latter remark of our worthy 
 old friend, for it instantly recalled to our recollection a very 
 ingenious and economical method of feeding poultry for the 
 market, which we witnessed some years ago whilst footing it 
 through France ; and as it may possibly afford some useful 
 suggestions for large cultivators, it may perhaps be here worth 
 recording : — 
 
 It was in the ploughing season, and by the wayside we 
 noticed a large but rickety old caravan, somewhat similar to 
 those used by our gipsies. Peeping in as we passed, we 
 noticed that it was fitted up for fowls. It appeared that at 
 that season an enterprising peasant bought a number of half- 
 fed fowls at a low rate, hired the caravan, and took it to the 
 field side. At break of day they were all let out to swarm 
 over the fields, and gorge themselves with the worms which 
 the ploughman turned up as he opened the furrows. The 
 farmer was only too glad to get rid of the worms and slugs, 
 and the poultryman to have his birds thus fattened. At 
 sundown the birds were recalled by the enticement of a little 
 barley or buckwheat, and were thus trained to come and roost 
 in the caravan. During the day a young woman sat there in 
 the shade, with her knitting needles, to mind the fowls, and 
 the peasant, when he had done his day's work elsewhere, came 
 back in the evening to examine them and to see that all was 
 going on right, and, if necessary, to arrange for the shifting 
 of quarters for the following day. By the time the ploughing 
 of the district was finished, the fowls had attained a fair degree 
 of fatness, and realised a good profit to their owner in the 
 neighbouring market. 
 
 For the farmer, then, or to those who have space at their 
 command, and are thus inclined to turn their attention to 
 to poultry rearing for the market, thus adding an additional 
 profit — and no inconsiderable one either — to their existing 
 
56 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 •resources, the Houdan, it will be seen, oflFers unexceptionable 
 opportunities. 
 
 Mr. Kinard Edwards, in a lecture delivered by him to the 
 members of the Breconshire Chamber of Agriculture, entitled 
 " The Poultry-yard and the Profits derived from it,'^ in advo- 
 cating a more extensive culture of poultry by our farming 
 community, points out the following facts : — 
 
 " The cost of rearing a chick from the time it leaves the shell until it 
 attains a marketable age — say fourteen to sixteen weeks — does not exceed 
 ISd. to the farmer, as it must be remembered that he obtains their 
 necessary food at wholesale prices. Well, at the age of sixteen weeks, 
 you have a fowl or chicken weighing over 6 Jibs., or lllbs. the couple; 
 such chickens will realize over 8s. at 9d. per lb. There can be no 
 difficulty in getting such a price, for you can yourself see the market 
 quoted weekly, and that fine, well-fatted chickens command Is. per lb. in 
 most of our large towns, and that poulterers are always ready to give an 
 extra 2d. per lb. for a large, well-fatted chicken In preference to smaller 
 birds. It is, however, necessary in keeping fowls for the production of 
 meat, to keep a sufficient number, as the trouble is much the same to rear 
 and send six or eight dozen to market as to send one dozen, and a smaller 
 number will not pay for the necessary trouble and attention. 
 
 "The cost of rearing a chick to the average laying age, say seven months, 
 does not exceed Is 6d.; she then commences to retxirn a profit for her food, 
 and during the following two years will produce — Hamburghs, 440 ; Hou- 
 dans, Leghorns, and Andalusians, 400 eggs per bird (from some of our pre- 
 vious remarks, it will have been gathered that we place a far higher standard 
 on reaUy good laying strains o£ Houdans than Mr. Edwards does). During 
 theee two years each bird will cost you, on an average, Id. per head per 
 week, allowing them to be well fed. Fowls that have a good grass run, as 
 most farmers fowls have, can be kept in first-class condition at this cost, for 
 it must be remembered that fowls gather a considerable quantity of food for 
 themselves at no cost to their owner ; they consume quantities of green food, 
 such as grass, also seeds, waste grain, kernels, worms, slugs, grubs, flies, 
 &c. Such feeding, added to the lib. or 18oz. of grain per week, will be 
 found ample for the largest fowls. I purchase nearly all the grain I give to 
 my fowls at retail prices, and I find that my fowls cost me less than Id per 
 week per head. Now let us come to the debtor and creditor account : cost 
 of rearing chick to egg-producing age, Is 6d.; two years' feeding at Id. per 
 week, 8s. 8d.; total cost, 10s. 2d. To set on the credit side, we have, say 
 
UTILITY OP THE BREED FOR CROSSING. 57 
 
 440 eggs at 9d. per dozen, £1 79. 6d.; the value of the hen killed at this • 
 age, at the rate of 4d. per lb., 2s 6d.; total £1 lOs.; add to this the value of 
 its manure during the two-and-a-half years — and on the value of fowl dung 
 I shall have more to say further on— allowing loz. per day of dry dung to each 
 fowl, wUl give 33. id. at five shillings per owt. This, added to the £1 10s., 
 brings the total to £1 13s 4d. as the return from each fowl killed at the age 
 of two-and-a-half years ; deduct expenses or costs incurred, 10s. 2d., and 
 we have a net profit from each bird of £1 Ss. 2d., or over 200 per cent." 
 
 In thus giving a portion of Mr. Edwards' remarks, we 
 must make due allowance for losses, deaths, &c., which he 
 has apparently failed to take into consideration ; and, on the 
 whole, we should be inclined to look upon the sum set down 
 for expenses as being insufficient. But after this is said, and 
 full provision made for the above items, we think that Mr. 
 Edwards has conclusively proved that poultry farming can be 
 made sufficiently profitable to induce its more general adoption. 
 
 In reference to the value of the Houdan, as a cross with 
 other breeds, we may as well say at once that, although some 
 very valuable results may be obtained, such as a gain of vigour 
 and early maturity such a cross possesses, so far as our actual 
 experience has enabled us to ascertain, no merits whatever in 
 mere beauty of appearance, but, on the contrary, certainly 
 deteriorates it. In instances where hens of certain breeds 
 have been employed as a cross with the Houdan cock, the 
 undermentioned results have been noticed. 
 
 With the Spanish hen the production was a fowl of rather 
 a nondescript character, so far as the plumage only was con- 
 cerned, but an enormous producer of very large eggs, an excel- 
 lent sitter, but rather an indifferent mother. 
 
 With the Cochin hen we get a bird also of common appear- 
 ance, but the flesh is of good quality, although rather deficient 
 in breast meat ; it matures rapidly, and is an excellent sitter 
 and mother. These fowls as chickens are rare specimens of 
 hardihood, and feather infinitely faster than Cochins. 
 
58 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 With the Brahma hen we have a fowl of rather small 
 proportions as compared to some other crosses ; but it matures 
 early, the quality of the meat is not to be despised, and we 
 get an astonishingly good layer and large eggs. 
 
 With the Dorking hen the plumage varies considerably — 
 the chickens appear to almost always lay well — they are par- 
 ticularly hardy, and greatly surpass the Dorking breed itself 
 in their early maturity and for the quantity and excellent 
 quality of the meat. This is, perhaps, one of the very best 
 crosses we are acquainted with. These chickens rapidly attain 
 a great weight, and, when plucked, their fine white and fleshy 
 bodies, and five toes, present a superior appearance. 
 
 High-class or prize stock may, if the farmer be at all am- 
 bitious of winning exhibitional honours, be also both econo- 
 mically and successfully raised under such unexceptional 
 opportunities as a farm affords, and we should suggest the 
 practicability in this case of his employing moveable houses 
 without bottoms, for the fowls will thus give to the ground, 
 in the shape of ordure, a far greater equivalent than the green 
 food they rob it of. Such houses should be stationed so far 
 apart that the mixture of the different broods is wholly pre- 
 vented, and all the advantages of a wide range are obtained. 
 Regarding the hens under this more natural condition of 
 poultry-rearing during the hatching season, they should be 
 provided with single coops, roofed and closed on all sides but 
 the bottom and front. The form of one very generally known 
 is represented by Fig. 7 ; but if further protected by what has 
 been termed a ' ' shelter board ' ' in front, as suggested in 
 "The Fanciers' Gazette," and which is easily affixed by a 
 pair of hinges to the under side of the roof— thus being left 
 open or closed as may be desired by a holdfast and staple — its 
 utility will be greatly increased. These coops should be 
 placed in any advantageous spot, either beneath the trees or 
 
POULTRY-REARING UNDER NATURAL CONDITIONS. 
 
 59 
 
 elsewhere. This is the nearest affinity to game-rearing we 
 are acquainted with, and has the same result in giving to the 
 fowls a similar beauty of plumage so remarkable among all 
 game birds in their native state. Another great advantage 
 from this system is, that the hens never become unhealthily 
 fat, but yet yield a very fair scale weight. 
 
 Fig. 7. 
 
 Where a well-kept lavpn or paddock happens to be within 
 the amateur's resources, the lively bearing and ornamental 
 appearance of the Houdan is then seen to advantage ; and a 
 prettier sight on a fine day than a few properly-matched first- 
 class birds of this breed, with their variegated black and white 
 plumage and handsome crests, contrasting as they do so 
 pleasantly with the green velvety turf, any lover of poultry 
 could scarcely wish for. Under such conditions a similar plan 
 may be followed as we have already recommended for the 
 rearing of fancy poultry on a farm — viz., the use of moveable 
 houses — for the stock can thus be kept with every facility, and 
 the chickens be bred with very little trouble and expense. 
 
60 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 It may not here^ perhaps, be out of place if we observe that 
 during the moulting season the sexes should be separated; — 
 firstly, because the service of the male bird at this time is of 
 little, if any, value, — and by thus parting the sexes at a com- 
 paratively early period of the year the eggs will show a higher 
 degree of fertility ; secondly, that when fowls are kept for 
 fancy purposes, the incipient feathers of the hens would be 
 injured by attentions simply of a vexatious and fruitless nature ; 
 and, further, that at this period there appears to exist a certain 
 morbid irritability somewhat peculiar to all crested fowl, but 
 more particularly conspicuous in the Polish and French breeds, 
 of picking away one another's crest feathers whilst they are 
 but partially developed. This practice not unfrequently exists 
 in both sexes, but the crest of the male bird seems to suffer 
 the most. As this proceeding, so far as we have noticed, 
 appears more generally confined to the period stated, we Ijave 
 concluded, from the manner in which the cock will remain 
 perfectly still and allow the budding feathers to be thus ab- 
 stracted by the hens, coupled with the sense of positive relief 
 which it seems evidently to aiford him, that irritation of a very 
 excessive kind manifests itself at this period, and at this par- 
 ticular spot, and which is, perhaps, attributable to the length 
 of time these feathers will sometimes remain in the sheath. 
 Under these circumstances, nature seems to have endowed 
 the crested fowls with the instinct of mutual assistance. They 
 work upon the old motto, " Scratch me, and I'll scratch you ;" 
 but in their great desire to aid and relieve each other, often 
 produce a disfigurement grievous to the eye of their owner. 
 
 Closelyallied to this proceeding is anotherwhich is occasionally 
 productive of annoyance in confined yards, — it being that 
 Houdans,* not content with plucking out the crest feathers as 
 
 * We were some years back disposed to believe that this habit was special 
 to the breed in question ; but we find, in course of correspondence, that it is not 
 
FEATHER EATING. 61 
 
 already narrated, at times will take a fancy to other por- 
 tions of one another's plumage, and actually devour it. The 
 cause of this moi'bid appetite has hitherto remained unex- 
 plained, although various reasons have been assigned and 
 remedies without number suggested. Uncleanliness, insuf- 
 ficiency, or even a superabundance of animal food, thirst, and 
 want of occupation, have all been adduced on not at all un- 
 founded grounds as being directly or indirectly the origin of 
 it. In alluding to this unnatural habit, Mr. Wright, in bis 
 compendious poultry work, attributes thirst especially, as being 
 directly accountable, and gives his grounds for such an in- 
 ference, thus : — 
 
 " We have again and again seen it commence when the 
 fountain was empty or absent, or filled with sun-warmed water, 
 and have verified the conclusion repeatedly by withholding 
 water from a hen known to be addicted to it for a few hours 
 in warm weather. The inference is obvious ; keep cool fresh 
 water always in reach, and many cases at least would be 
 avoided. Idleness is also a great cause, and we have known a 
 whole yard cured by burying corn in the ground so as to give 
 the birds occupation in scratching. It is for this very reasson 
 useful to hang up a whole cabbage by a string just within 
 reach of the birds ; by its bobbing about it gives occupation 
 and green food at the same time. By combining such measures 
 with the medical treatment given,* and secluding any par- 
 ticularly wicked fowl till the habit be in a measure forgotten, 
 
 so, and that amongst Malays, Brahmas, Cochin.s , and Polish, it has recently 
 been very prevalent. 
 
 * One-fourth of a grain of acetate of morphia daily, and twice a week a 
 grain of calomel; these, combined with carbonate of potass sufficient to give 
 the water an alkaline taste, is the remedy alluded to by the writer, with the 
 further external application of carbolic disinfecting soap made into a stiff 
 lather, so as to render the parts where the tops of the feathers have been 
 removed, less attractive to the fowls' palates. 
 
62 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 and any bleeding one till healed, we believe this disgusting 
 appetite may be successfully checked in the majority of cases." 
 
 It is worth remarking that we have had considerably 
 fewer cases of this kind amongst our own fowls since " bone 
 meal" has entered iato our category of poultry-food^ and which 
 was inadvertently omitted when describing our own system 
 of feeding, but concerning which a word or two will be found 
 in another chapter. 
 
 We have found that during the last few years the cock 
 birds, after their second season, have been rather susceptible 
 to their feet becoming " corny." The affection (which in the 
 Dorking is commonly known as "bumble-foot") manifests 
 itself by a small corn or ulcer at the bottom of the foot ; with 
 time it increases in size, ulcerates in a more or less degree, 
 lameness ensues, and, if neglected, the bird after a time be- 
 comes a useless appendage to the establishment. As no other 
 class of large and heavy fowl that we are aware of, save the 
 Dorking, appears to suffer from it, the high perches and the 
 hard gravelled yards which have been so frequently ascribed as 
 its chief cause does not, in our belief, afford a satisfactory 
 solution ; they may, we admit, accelerate the mischief, but 
 are, we cannot convince ourselves, the exciting causes of it. 
 We adhere to the opinions of others, already promulgated, that 
 to the extra toe — which ought not in any large breed to have 
 been perpetuated — ^the real cause must be looked for. It is a 
 startling fact that the complaint never made its unwelcome 
 appearance in the Houdan until the fifth toe became an estab- 
 lished requirement; for, even now, so far as we have been 
 enabled to ascertain from various sources, it rarely, if ever, 
 appears in the four-toed birds. 
 
 If the mischief has been allowed to proceed to any great 
 extent unnoticed, or uncared for, it is almost a fallacy to 
 attempt doctoring "from the low state of vitality," as re- 
 
TREATMENT FOB " BUMBLE-POOT." 63 
 
 marked by Mr. Tegetmier, " existing in the feet of birds, and 
 the inability to rest them when diseased;" but in early stages 
 we have successfully adopted a somewhat similar course of 
 treatment * as that also recommended by Mr. Wright. A 
 low platform, littered with straw, is the best roost the bird can 
 have until it has entirely recovered ; indeed, we object at any 
 time to high perches ; to broad and flattish ones, and very 
 low, we now give our decided preference. 
 
 The chief objection made by unappreciative neighbours to 
 the keeping of fowls in town yards or gardens is the vocal 
 serenade they are favoured with at day- break by the " lord 
 of the harem." It is only a natural effort, of course, for him 
 thus to exercise his throat and lungs ; but, in confinement, he 
 really seems to persevere with even still greater vehemence, 
 simply we suspect, like Molly Bawn's lover, " because he's 
 nothing else to do." Happily, however, the crow of the 
 Houdan will bear favourable comparison — that is to say, if 
 there be any question of tastes — with the hoarse volubility of 
 the Cochin, or the very loud and prolonged solo of the 
 Brahma ; neither is it as shrill as in many other breeds. 
 
 As staunch supporters of the Houdan we have at times, 
 when advocating its manifold excellences, been met with the 
 remark — by ladies particularly — that nothing would induce 
 
 * "Some cases appear incurable, but if taken in good time, the daily 
 application of lunar caustic, in the ordinary manner, will often effect a cure 
 or the pigment of iodine of the British Pharmacopoeia may be daily painted 
 over the spot with a brush. Later on actual excision becomes necessary. In 
 cases where the tumour is soft and full of pus, or in the form of an abscess, 
 a free puncture may be made, after which the matter is pressed out, the part 
 fomented with warm water, and, after a day or two, caustic applied as already 
 directed. In other cases the tumour appears hard, and the incision should be 
 made ia the form of a cross, when a sharp squeeze will generally expel the 
 offending matter through the wound."— "The Illustrated Book of Poultry," 
 page 186. 
 
64 THE noUDAN FOWL. 
 
 them to keep top-knotted fowls of any kind, for the simple 
 reason that they have beard that crested birds are always more 
 or less infested with parasites. From careful observation 
 we cannot refrain from believing- that if ever such a state of 
 things has been found to existj it has proceeded, not from any 
 peculiar predisposition in the breed itself, but from culpable 
 neglect or want of attention to their commonest requirements, 
 the same as in all fowls. For where they have the oppor- 
 tunity of revelling at will in their heap of sand or dry sifted 
 road-side grit — which is as important to them as the bath is 
 to man — no fowls will be cleaner in this respect. 
 
 We maintain that if cleanliness is properly observed, 
 Houdans, no more and no less than the rest of their feathered 
 kind, should enjoy perfect immunity from tormenting strangers 
 of an insect description. If poultry-keepers would only follow 
 our own example by never admitting a purchased bird without 
 previous careful examination, and if, upon there being th^ 
 slightest indication of such uncleanliness as we speak of, make 
 liberal use of a common pepper-castor containing carbolic 
 powder, Persian powder, or even ordinary powdered sulphur, 
 and dust the contents once or twice, or oftener if necessary, 
 well into the roots of the feathers, and keep the fowl where it 
 can have a dust bath to itself, there would be, we are convinced, 
 little cause for such complaints as these. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 FATTENING — THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH SYSTEMS DESCRIBED — ITS 
 RELATIVE VALUE IN A DOMESTIC AND COMMERCIAL SEMSE. 
 
 HE rapid flesh-acquiring properties of the Houdan, as 
 befitting it for the spit iu an incredibly short period, 
 we have already shown in the preceding chapters ; 
 
 bat this natural predisposition to make flesh has given a 
 stimulus to the art by which the process is increased, and both 
 weight and appearance still further improved, and this seems 
 a fitting opportunity for making a few observations respect- 
 ing it. 
 
 It is no use denying the fact that fowls are bought to please 
 the eye by their whiteness and extraordinary size, far more than 
 to gratify the palate. A well-fed chicken, however plump and 
 tender, could not compete in the market with one which has 
 been skilfully fattened. The latter would realize more money, 
 even though the fat which had been forced upon it either 
 found its way into the dripping-pan or marred the delicate 
 flavour of the flesh. 
 
 We hold that it is quite unnecessary to cram or otherwise 
 force the fattening of the better breeds of fowls, and the cross 
 breeds from them — as unnecessary as it is to whip and spur a 
 horse that is eager to put forth his full power. If we kill a 
 fowl for our own eating, or to share with a friend who can 
 really appreciate what is put before him, we never put the 
 knife into a fattened one. We should take up a young 
 cockerel of three or four months old with an empty crop — a 
 Houdan or La Fleche, or a cross between either and a Dorking. 
 From the time the bird was hatched — in our own estimation 
 
66 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 — he has been prepared for the table by being properly fed 
 and well cared for. He has known no irritating confinement, 
 and has needed nothing but what he took eagerly as it was 
 scattered at early dawn and dewy eve, or what he found in his 
 rambles in the fields and hedge- rows. To cram such a fowl 
 would be, in our opiaion, wasteful as well as cruel. We say 
 wasteful, as it really would be, when fowls are not reared for 
 the market ; but the fact, unfortunately, must be recognised 
 that it is not wasteful when we look to the market value of 
 the bird. So long as people will have fattened fowls, so long 
 will the latter be the subjects of ingenious inventions to 
 gratify the demand. 
 
 Further, the fattening process enables an old or inferior 
 bird to "take the shine out of " a young one naturally fed, in 
 the eyes of most purchasers. The dealers get a better piice 
 for them, and consequently they will be supplied. If we wish 
 to keep fowls profitably for market purposes, it is then evident 
 we must fatten them, and in order to do so as quickly and as 
 economically as possible, we must do it systematically. 
 
 In former times, a few barn-door fowls were put into a coop 
 with a railed bottom to allow the droppings to fall through. 
 The fowls were regularly fed three or four times a day with 
 barley-meal, giving them as much as they could be induced to 
 eat at each meal, and no more. Some farmer's wife or 
 daughter hit upon the improvement of keeping the birds in a 
 state of darkness during the intervals between their meals, by 
 having a cloth to drop at pleasure over the front. This made 
 the fowls more ravenous when it was lifted. Of course the 
 fowls were taken from the same run, so that there was no fear 
 of any fighting, and the only struggle was how, in blissful 
 ignorance, to achieve the object of their owner. If birds 
 quarrel, it is, of course, useless to attempt fattening them 
 together. Gradually it was found that fowls of each sex were 
 
ENGLISH SYSTEM OF FATTENING. 67 
 
 better cooped together, even to the extent of being removed 
 from the sound of each other's voices, which reminded them 
 that they might have been hatched for something besides 
 eating. 
 
 Another henwife, a cleanly woman, found that lime- whiting 
 the hen-coop to prevent the annoyance of the birds by vermin 
 and placing them in a snug warm comer, away from all 
 draughts, increased the comfort of the fowls, and gave them, 
 in short, nothing to do or to think about but eating and di- 
 gestion, and thus enabled her to make a better show and 
 suffer fewer disappointments on the subsequent market-day. 
 The fowls were likewise kept scrupulously clean, and water, 
 as much only as they would drink, was given with the food. 
 
 Regularity in feeding the fowls, when thus confined, was 
 another improvement. Then came the food. Barley-meal 
 alone gave place to a mixture of barley-meal and oatmeal. 
 Sifted buckwheat meal was fancied by others, whilst all seemed 
 to acknowledge that some of the skim milk which the pigs 
 relished so much, made both barley-meal and oatmeal more 
 nutritious and tasty than simple water for the fowls. Then 
 the milk was warmed before mixing, and so, like all great in- 
 ventions, the process of development was gradual. Many 
 things, of course, were tried and pronounced failures. With 
 these, however, we need not here concern ourselves. 
 
 When fattening was carried on, on an extensive scale, as 
 in the neighbourhood of Dorking, for the London poultry 
 market, the birds were, in a rough kind of way, crammed; but 
 we question much whether they would not have done as well 
 without that treatment. Sixteen or eighteerr days was deemed 
 a sufficient time to keep a fowl imprisoned before execution. 
 If left any longer, he was liable to waste away, and if he did 
 not fatten in that time, it was not economical to give him any 
 more. It was found best to clear the whole lot off, fresh 
 
68 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 lime-wliite the coop, and begin again with another lot, for it 
 would never do to clear out the fattened ones and supply their 
 places with others. It was long ago an accepted maxim with 
 henwives that fowls of different degrees of fatness should not 
 he cooped together. The age at which the birds were cooped 
 for fattening depended much upon the breeds or rather the 
 growth of the bird. Generally, it was any time between three 
 and six months, according to the demand. Frequently an old 
 feather-eating or egg-eating hen has been put into the coop, 
 as into a "Rachel bath/' to recover the appearance of youth. 
 We have known such a thing as a six-year-old hen, past 
 laying, and apparently valueless, reappear from the coop to 
 die, coupled with a plump young cockerel, and be selected by 
 a purchaser in the open market. There is no doubt, then, that 
 cooping and fattening improve the appearance of the fowls 
 when trussed for the purchaser, and we may sum up the expe- 
 rience of the old farmers'" wives who made a practice of it in 
 a few words. 
 
 They put a lot of birds of the same sex, and from the same 
 pen, together in a lime-whited coop, scrupulously clean, with 
 a lathed floor. They shut them up in darkness, except when 
 at regular intervals they fed them, in a warm snug corner 
 free from draughts or other annoyances. They fed them on 
 barley -meal and oatmeal, mixed with warm milk. They killed 
 them at the end of sixteen or twenty days. 
 
 •Thus much for the English practice. But the French, who 
 created and gratified the taste for ^afe* de foies gras, soon 
 turned this rude practice into a fine art. They found in their 
 own country the finest breed of fowls in the world for their 
 flesh-acquiring qualities, and by the practice of their art they 
 have certainly succeeded in rendering good birds extraordinary 
 ones. The ordinary English coop, which, in an improved form, 
 is still manufactured and extensively used here, and of which 
 
FRENCH MODE OP FATTENING. 
 
 69 
 
 an illustration is given in Fig. 8, is in France contracted into a 
 series of narrow compartments, eight inches wide, so that the 
 fowls cannot turn round. The outer walls and partitions are 
 closely boarded, the bottom only made with rounded spars of 
 one and a half inches in diameter, running lengthways of the 
 coop, on which the fowls perch, their dung falling between 
 the bars. The top consists of a sliding door nearly as wide 
 as the compartments by which the chickens are taken in and 
 out. These fattening coops, constructed on either plan, we 
 may observe, can now be obtained of Mr. F. Crook. 
 
 Rg. 8. 
 
 Prom the time the birds are put into these "condemned 
 cells,'" until fhe moment they are taken out for execution, 
 the only comfort they derive is the focd which they receive, 
 and this depends entirely upon the judgment of the feeders, 
 for the food which, in English coops, the birds take eagerly, is 
 in the French plan administered by the attendant. It is 
 dough composed of buckwheat-meal and milk, cut up into 
 rations and subdivided into ' ' patons ' ' about the size of a 
 woman's finger. These boluses are soaked in water, put into 
 
70 THB HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 the mouth of the bird, and rammed with the forefinger, well 
 into the gullet. This is continued until the attendant's notion 
 of the bird's wants is satisfied. "It may happen that the 
 tracheal artery is compressed with the gullet, which makes the 
 creature cough, lut it is not of any serious consequence y The 
 whole system is, however, minutely described in a translation 
 of Mdlle. Millet Robmet's treatise, " Oiseaux de Basse-Cour," 
 which appeared in the Royal Agricultural Society's Journal. 
 The food, we are there told, is thus administered : — 
 
 " The attendant puts on an apron which will stand being 
 soiled or torn, and takes the pullets on a board, with a bowl 
 of clean water, then takes the first fowl from its cage, gently 
 and carefully, not by the wings or the legs, but with both 
 hands under the breast. She then seats herself with the fowl 
 upon her knees, putting its rump under her left arm, by which 
 she supports it. With the left hand the mouth is opened, which 
 with a little practice becomes easy, and with the right hand 
 takes up a pellet, soaks it well in the water (this is essential), 
 shakes it on its way to the open mouth, puts it straight down, 
 and carefully crams it with the forefinger well into the gullet. 
 When it is so far settled down that the fowl cannot eject it, 
 she presses it down gently with the thumb and forefinger into 
 the crop, taking care not to fracture the pellet, for if some 
 scraps of it remained in the gullet they might cause inflam. 
 mation. Other pellets follow, until the feeding is complete. 
 The fowl when fed is again held with both hands under its 
 breast, and replaced in its coop without fluttering it. And so 
 on with each fowl." 
 
 The utmost punctuality in feeding is insisted on to avoid 
 loss of weight, either by keeping the stomach idle or by over- 
 loading it and causing indige.'^tion. In this way, beginning 
 with two or three pellets a meal, the number is daily increased 
 until it reaches twelve to fifteen pellets. The crop is handled 
 
EXTRA FATTENING. 71 
 
 at each meal to see that the last is properly digested. If it is 
 not, a meal is omitted. Two or three weeks, it is said, is time 
 enough for ordinary fattening, but for extra fat poultry from 
 twenty-five to thirty days are allowed. An average fowl takes, 
 it is said, rather more than a peck of buckwheat to fatten it. 
 Full directions are given for killing the unfortunate fattened 
 prisoner, but they do not differ from the ordinary practice 
 pursued by every one who keeps fowls for the table. The 
 fowl has, of course, previously fasted for ten or twelve hours, 
 and is then either stuck in the mouth deep enough for the 
 knife to enter the brain, or a largish wound is made just below 
 the ear. Immediately after the bird is stuck, it should be 
 hung up to allow it to bleed freely, the head being held so as 
 to prevent any violent fluttering. The free bleeding insures 
 whiteness of the flesh. 
 
 The difference mentioned by Madlle. Millet- Robinet between 
 'fattened" and "extra-fattened" reminds us that in the 
 French markets they have " half -fatted " and " fully- fatted " 
 fowls. The fully-fattened ones will frequently realize as much 
 as fifteen francs each, and, nevertheless, the half-fattened 
 ones are preferable to them for eating. In the French mar- 
 kets these fully-fattened fowls present an appearance of having 
 scarcely any bones. Their bodies look more like portions of 
 legs of lamb than fowls. This peculiarity is produced by their 
 being bandaged, when killed, to the desired shape ; they are 
 then wrapped in clean linen rags, which have been soaked in 
 mUk, so as to give an additional pearly whiteness to the skin. 
 The Houdan and La Fleche birds are more especially treated 
 in this way. In fact, these are the breeds which the French 
 are most partial to, and of which the heavily-fattened fowls 
 chiefly consist. 
 
 There is yet another experiment in the art of fattening' 
 fowls, which we owe likewise to our neighbours, and which 
 
72 
 
 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 has been used for many years in the best French poultry dis- 
 tricts. It is by feeding the birds with semi-fiuid meal. The 
 fowls are caged as before described ; but instead of the 
 pellets,, some meal without the husk is mixed with equal parts 
 of mUk and water till it assumes the form of thin gruel. This 
 is poured down the bird's throaty by means of a funnel made 
 of ordinary tinned iron, just large enough to contain one meal. 
 The bird is held between the knees ; with one hand the head 
 is stretched out, the beak is opened, and the funnel is intro- 
 duced with the other, right into the bird's throat. It requires 
 a little tact to avoid injuring the throat, and, still further to 
 prevent any mishap of this kind, the small end of the funnel 
 is either furnished with a thin rim or covered with india- 
 rubber. When the funnel is fairly introduced, it is filled by a 
 ladle from a vessel placed beside the operator, who feels the 
 crop to ascertain when it is full, and, if necessary, to hasten 
 the passage of the food into it. 
 
 This rude way of administering the ftuid food has been im- 
 proved upon. A machine has been invented to shoot it into 
 the bird's crop. A cylinder, with a neck at the end, shaped 
 something like a champagne bottle, is filled with the food ; 
 the operator takes the bird in both hands, opens its mouth, 
 inserts the nozzle, presses the treadle with his foot — this being 
 connected with a piston inside the cylinder — and squirts the 
 meal into the bird's crop. By this way, it is said, two 
 hundred birds can be fed in an hour. 
 
 A similar plan of cramming the fowls has been invented 
 in this country by Mr. F. Crook (see illustration, Fig. 9). 
 Instead of the treadle, he uses a rack and pinion, and this ne- 
 cessitates two persons to work it instead of one ; but the wants 
 of a larger number of fowls can be provided for in a like period. 
 When required for use the cylinder is brought into an upright 
 position by means of a pivot. It is then filled with the liquid 
 
CRAMMING POULTRY. 
 
 73 
 
 food and returned to its horizontal position. The flexible 
 nozzle is inserted in the bird's throat, and the piston which 
 ejects the food from the cylinder is moved by the rack and 
 pinion. It will be seen by the illustration that the wheel 
 has three handles. One-third of a turn injects a sufficient 
 quantity into the fowl's crop. In the French system a gra- 
 duated dial is fixed to the machine to regulate the quantity of 
 food for fowls of different ages or of different degrees of 
 fatness. 
 
 Fig. 9. 
 
 Such are the inventions which the rage for fat poultry has, 
 it may be said, necessitated on the part of those breeders who 
 supply the market. Nothing of the kind is really necessary 
 for those who supply their own tables, and are anxious only 
 to provide their gTiests with something worth eating rather 
 than looking at. We are told by one inventor that the fowls 
 seem to like the injecting process. We can understand their 
 being glad when that and the three weeks' roost on a barred 
 floor is over, and can believe that it makes death quite a 
 luxury to them. It is a little to be preferred, perhaps, to 
 starvation ; but the two extremes meet very nearly, we fancy, 
 on the score of cruelty, and every lover of poultry will rejoice 
 when the disgusting fashion which demands such treatment 
 passes away in favour of one more wholesome and natural. 
 
 An indirect mode of fattening fowls — and one which is ex- 
 
74 THE nOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 tensively practised, not only in France, but in every country 
 where the rearing of poultry is regarded as a business^ and 
 where it is carried out in the most thorough manner — is by 
 destroying their reproductive organs, and turning the young 
 cockerels into what are subsequently called capons, and the 
 pullets into what are by the French a^^A. poulardes. It is an 
 acknowledged principle — and the practice of it is a sign of 
 civilization — that all animals thus deprived increase wonder- 
 fully in fleshj and likewise in the delicacy of it ; and we can 
 instance for size the "no sex" classes of our cat-shows. We 
 may also refer to the oxen and sheep, which are in this respect 
 the delight of our markets and our tables. 
 
 Caponising aud poularde-making are not very extensively 
 practised in England. We are not sufficiently advanced in the 
 art of making a fine-looking dish ; and really, when we con- 
 sider that the poor fowls have to die for our delectation, we 
 think, as there are plenty to supply us, it is hardly worth 
 while to impose any further pain upon them. Without 
 questioning the matter as to oxen and large animals, we do 
 not believe that any man, blind-folded, could discover the 
 particular delicacy of a capon or poularde above that of an 
 ordinary pullet or cockerel. For our own eating, therefore, 
 and for our own table, we hold it to be unnecessary. 
 
 It is said by some writers that the fowls feel no pain under 
 the operation. We will believe it when we have the fowl's 
 evidence, and not before. Nevertheless, having given our own 
 opinion, we must admit that, commercially, fowls so treated 
 have a higher value, and consequently, as long as the con- 
 sumers ask for them and will have them, they must be sup- 
 plied. This being the case, we have to consider how best to 
 supply the demand with the greatest profit to the rearer. The 
 better and more skilful the operation, the more satisfactory 
 will it be to the owner, as the bird wiU the sooner recover, 
 
THE ART OF CAPONIZING. 75 
 
 and commence to repay the owner by acquiring tlie desired 
 size. 
 
 We have said that the English do not systematically prac- 
 tise the art. Our French friends do, and to them we must 
 look for guidance in it. We have it best described in the 
 work already referred to by Madlle. Millet-Robinet, quoted by 
 Mr. Tegetmier.* She says : — 
 
 "The name of capon is given to young cocks which have 
 been deprived of the faculty of reproduction. In this state 
 they grow to a very large size, and fatten more readily ; their 
 flesh, also, is more delicate. 
 
 " It is desirable to submit the cocks to the operation when 
 they are about four months old, and it is very important to 
 choose a time when the weather is somewhat cool, rather 
 moist than dry, and especially to avoid performing the 
 operation during the great heats of summer. 
 
 " The instrument employed in the operation should be very 
 sharp. A surgeon's small operating knife, termed a curved- 
 pointed bistoury, is far better than an ordinary knife, as it; 
 makes a much neater wound and so increases greatly the 
 chances of healing ; or a curved-pointed penknife may be used. 
 A stout needle and waxed thread are also requisite. A small 
 curved surgical needle will be found much more convenient in 
 use than a common straight one. 
 
 " It is necessary that there should be two persons to per- 
 form the operation. The assistant places the bird on its right 
 side on the knees of the person who is about to operate, and 
 who is seated in a chair of such a height as to make his 
 thighs horizontal. The back of the bird is turned towards 
 the operator, and the right leg and thigh held firmly along 
 the body, the left being drawn back towards the tail, tlius 
 
 * " The Poultry Book," page 139. 
 
76 THE HOUDAN FOWL. ~ 
 
 exposing the left flank where the incision has to he made. 
 After removing the feathers^ the skin is raised up, just 
 behind tlie last rib, with the point of the needle, so as to avoid 
 wounding the intestines, and an incision along the edge of the 
 last rib is made into the cavity of the body sufficiently large to 
 admit of the introduction of the finger. If any portion of 
 the bowels escape from the wound, it must be carefully re- 
 turned. The forefinger is then introduced into the cavity, 
 and directed behind the intestines towards the back, somewhat 
 to the left side of the middle line of the body. 
 
 " If the proper position is gained (which is somewhat 
 difficult to an inexperienced operator, especially if the cock is 
 of full size), the finger comes into contact with the left 
 testicle, which, in a young bird of four months, is rather larger 
 than a full-sized horse bean. It is moveable, and apt to slip 
 under the finger, although adhering to the spine ; when felt it 
 is to be gently pulled away from its attachments with the 
 finger, and removed through the wound — an operation which 
 requires considerable practice and facility to perform properly, 
 as the testicle sometimes slips from under the finger before 
 it is g^ot out, and, gliding amongst the intestines, cannot be 
 found again readily ; it may, however, remain in the body of 
 the animal without much inconvenience, although it is 
 better removed, as its presence is apt to excite inflammation. 
 
 "After removing the left testicle, the finger is again 
 introduced, and the right one sought for and removed in a 
 similar manner. It is readily discovered, as its situation is 
 along-side of the former, a little to the right side of the 
 body. Afterwards the lips of the wound are brought together, 
 and kept in contact with two or three stitches with the waxed 
 thread. No attempt should be made to sew up the wound 
 with a continuous seam, but each stitch should be perfectly 
 separate, and tied distinctly from the others. 
 
TREATMENT AFTER OPERATING. 77 
 
 "In making the stitches great care should be taken; 
 the skin should be raised up so as to avoid wounding the 
 intestines with the needle, or including even the slightest por- 
 tion of them in the thread — an accident that would almost 
 inevitably be followed by the death of the animal. 
 
 "After the operation the bird should not be permitted to 
 roost on a perch, as the exertion of leaping up would unques- 
 tionably injure the wound. It should, therefore, at roosting 
 time, be turned into a room where it is compelled to roost 
 on the floor, previously covered with some clean straw. After 
 that the bird had better be put under a coop in a quiet situa- 
 tion, and supplied with drink and soft food, such as sopped 
 bread. It is best, after a few hours, to let him have his 
 liberty, if he can be turned out in some quiet place removed 
 from the poultry yard, as, if set upon by the other male 
 birds, the healing of the wound would be endangered. 
 
 " For three or four days after the operation the bird should 
 be fed on soft food. After that time it may be set at liberty 
 for a short period, until it has recovered entirely from the 
 operation, when it should be put up to fatten. 
 
 " In France it is customary to cut off the combs of the 
 capons. This is regarded as a distinguishing mark of the 
 operation having been performed, and consequently the birds 
 do not sell so freely if they are allowed to remain. 
 
 "If the animal mopes about on the day following the 
 operation, it is desirable to look at the wound, and, should it 
 be inflamed, to bathe it with a little tepid water. If, how- 
 ever, the intestine has been wounded, there is no chance of 
 recovering. Some persons place oil and other applications on 
 the wound, but there is no doubt that they retard the healing 
 process. As a rule, it may be stated that if the operation 
 has been skilfully performed it rarely fails of success." 
 
 " It is a very singular fact," remarks Mr. Tegetmier, " that 
 
78 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 after giving the above specific and very correct details of 
 the operation of caponizing, the author of the treatise denies 
 the possibility of making what are termed ' poulardes/ that is, 
 pullets deprived of their power of reproduction in order to 
 induce them to fatten rapidly, and states that the birds which 
 are sold under that title are simply pullets fattened before they 
 have commenced to lay. 
 
 " The operation is, however, much easier than the corre- 
 sponding one on the cocks. The pullet is to be placed in 
 the same position on the lap of the operator, the left leg being 
 drawn forwards so as to expose the left flank, in which a longi- 
 tudinal incision is to be made close to the side bone ; this will 
 bring to view the lower bowel, and along side of it vpill be found 
 the egg-passage or egg-pipe. If this is drawn to the orifice 
 of the wound by a small hooked wire, and cut across — or what 
 is perhaps better, a very short piece of it removed — the de- 
 velopment of the ovary, or egg-producing organ, is entirely 
 prevented, and the birds fatten rapidly, attaining also a very 
 large size. It is most important to perform the operation 
 before the pullets have begun to lay. 
 
 " We would beg to impress most strongly the desirability of 
 practising these operations, in the first instance^ on dead birds 
 of the same age, so that the operator may become acquainted 
 with the situation and appearance of the parts concerned. By 
 this means a greater amount of success will be obtained in the 
 first instance, and much unnecessary suffering saved to the 
 animals." 
 
 Respecting the value of capons for other purposes besides 
 eating, on the Continent they are employed instead of hens 
 for taking charge of young broods of chickens, and which 
 these " no-sexed " birds — from their larger size and plenti- 
 tude of feathering — it is asserted perform quite as efficiently ; 
 and if we may judge of this, from our own experience 
 
USEFULNESS OF CAPONS. 79 
 
 of our old cock birds in this capacity, and as mentioned in 
 the preceding chapter, we see no reason to question it. The 
 plan adopted abroad is described by Mr. W. M. Lewis, 
 thus : — 
 
 ' ' The moment the chickens are hatched they are taken 
 from the hens and given to a capon, who rears them with all 
 the care of a parent, often having a small bell attached to his 
 neck, the tinkling of which serves the purpose of keeping the 
 brood near him, similar to the clucking and maternal sounds 
 of the mother. Should he show a disposition to treat the 
 young chickens roughly at first, he may be confined alone for 
 a day or two in a dark place, after which, if they be put 
 with him, he will be pleased with their company and con- 
 tinue to take care of them. The hens are cooped and well 
 fed until they regain the flesh and strength lost while sitting, 
 and then turned out to lay again. In this way the poulterer 
 is enabled to raise a large number of chickens from a few 
 hens, and the capon generally brings double or treble the 
 price|of common poultry." 
 
 Like everything else, there is a right and wrong method in 
 poultry-fattening, and as the preceding writer has observed, 
 "a. long and a short mode of accomplishing the object desired." 
 For while on the one hand many classes of our poultry-breeding 
 community who really profess to supply the market, yet 
 leave their fowls to themselves, and in a great measure de- 
 pend upon their ultimate marketable condition for the waifs 
 and strays of sustenance which the birds are obliged to 
 seek for themselves in the best way they can — another portion 
 (and by far the most sensible) constantly supply their stock, as 
 theji would machines, with a proper sufficiency of suitable 
 material, and which is thereby quickly converted into a 
 nutritious article of diet. It therefore appears evident, 
 — in spite of some of the disadvantages attached to high feeding 
 
80 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 where the egg-product only is required — that the best manner 
 of fattening Houdans for the market, and where such is made 
 a true business pursuit, to make it a profitable one also, con- 
 stant high heepfrom the very earliest days of chickenhood is the 
 rule to be pursued, as they are then always ready for the 
 market with little or no preparation. 
 
 In concluding this portion of our subject, a few remarks 
 which we take from "The People's Practical Book" on 
 "picking and packing" the fowls may possibly prove of 
 service to those who may be inclined to engage largely in the 
 branch of commerce we have been discussing. 
 
 "The mode of picking while the bird is warm is called 
 ' dry picking,' and is the favourite method of dressing poultry 
 for the Philadelphia market. There is one objection to this , 
 system — that it does not improve the appearance, although it 
 does the flavour ; and while cooking, it will " plump up ' ' and 
 come out of the oven looking much finer than it went in. 
 In addition, it will keep much longer than when dressed on 
 any other plan. Another method is, after the bird is picked 
 as above described, to plunge it in a kettle of very hot water, 
 holding it there long enough to cause the bird to " plump," 
 then hang it up by the foot until thoroughly cooled. This 
 scalding makes the fat look bright and clear, and the fowl to 
 appear much fatter than it would if picked dry." 
 
 " On the subject of boxing poultry for market. Dr. Bennet 
 says — " It should be carefully packed in baskets or boxes, and, 
 above all, it should be kept from the frost. A friend of mine, 
 who was very nice in these matters, used to bring his birds to 
 market in the finest order possible, and always obtained a 
 ready sale and the highest market price. His method was 
 to pluck them dry while warm, and dress them in the neatest 
 manner ; then to take a long, deep, narrow, tight box, with a 
 stick running from end to end of the box, and hang the birds. 
 
MODE OF FACKINO. 81 
 
 by the legs over the stick, which prevents bruising them or 
 disfiguring them in the least." The way poultry is frequently 
 forwarded to city markets is enough to disgust almost any 
 one, and throws odium on breeders as a class. 
 
 " All poultry should be thoroughly cooled before packing. 
 Then provide boxes ; place a layer of rye straw that has been 
 thoroughly cleansed from dust on the bottom. Commence 
 packing by bending the head of the fowl under it ; theiji lay 
 it in the left-hand corner with the head against the end of the 
 box, with the back up ; continue to fill that row in the same 
 manner until completed ; then begin the second row the same 
 way, letting the head of the bird pass up between the rumps of 
 the two adjoining ones, which will make it complete and solid. 
 In packing the last row reverse the order, placing the head 
 against the end of the box, letting the feet pass under each 
 other ; should there be a space loft between these two rows 
 wide enough to lay in a few sideways, do so, passing the 
 feet under the same way ; but, should it not be wide enough, 
 then fill up tight with straw, so that the poultry cannot move. 
 This gives an uniformity of appearance and a firmness in 
 packing that will prevent moving during transportation. Over 
 this layer place straw enough to prevent one layer coming 
 into contact with the other ; then add other layers, packed in 
 the same manner, until the box is filled. 
 
 " Care should be taken to have the box filled full, in order 
 to prevent any disarrangement of the contents ; for, should 
 they become misplaced, the skin may become so badly dis- 
 figured as to cause a depreciation of the value to the owner. 
 Great care should be taken, in packing, not to skin the bird, 
 for during transportation the skinned places turn black and 
 make it look badly. To those having extra fine poultry to send 
 to market we should advise paper to be put over each layer 
 before placing 'the straw on it; this prevents the dust settling 
 on it, and adds much to its appearance. 
 
82 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 " A little practice will soon make a person quite expert in 
 packing, and an expert packer is valuable ; his skill will pay 
 the owner ten times his cost^ for very frequently the first sight 
 of a box of poultry sells it. 
 
 "To those wishing to market capons we would say they should 
 be dry picked, with the feathers on around the head and the 
 tip of the wings ; also the tail feathers left in ; the small, or 
 pin feathers, should be aU removed." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 POULTRY-FANCYING, AND WHAT IT NECESSITATES. 
 
 |0 far it will have been seen that we have directed our 
 attention to the Houdan solely on its economic bear- 
 ings. We now, however, enter upon the subject 
 exclusively from a fancier's point of view; and, in doing sOj it 
 will scarcely be deemed inconsistent if we make a few general 
 remarks ere we enter into details. 
 
 The fanciers of poultry may be divided into two very dis- 
 tinct classes, namely, amateurs, who take up the matter as a 
 pursuit from which they are careless as to the question of gain ; 
 and "professional^' fanciers, who are not without a dash of 
 the amateur in their proceedings, but who keep an eye to the 
 question of profit or loss in their attempts to improve the 
 breed in which they take most interest, and take care that 
 their yearly account of expenses and receipts, shows a balance 
 in their favour. The well-known names in the catalogues 
 corresponding to the pens, which, as the winter approaches, 
 are filled with rare and beautiful birds at Birmingham^ the 
 Crystal Palace, and elsewhere, would, upon analysis, prove 
 the truth of this classification. 
 
 The latter class is by far the larger of the two ; and as 
 plain figures are more convincing than mere general state- 
 ments, we have no hesitation in citing the experience of a 
 large breeder of "fancy poultry" in the Eastern counties, 
 " that after the payment of his expenses, journeys to poultry 
 shows, and interest of money expended on his premises, his 
 clear profit from prizes, and sale of eggs and birds, amounted 
 to oue hundred and fift^ pounds a year." This gentleman was 
 
84 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 engaged in a large business requiring much of his time and 
 thought, and it was in answer to a suggestion of a friend of 
 ours, that his poultry must needs pick up much of the profit 
 arising from his bread-winning business, that he produced his 
 " poultry books, ' ' and exhibited the above result. Undoubt- 
 edly there are many breeders whose returns would show an 
 equally large profit, but the example we quote is a fair specimen 
 of the well-doing of a poultry fancier who has taken up the 
 subject as one from which he derives not only much pleasure, 
 but, as the figures prove, a very fair share of profit also. 
 
 It is our intention, in these remarks, to throw together a 
 few practical hints, to assist the efforts of tyros, and spare 
 them, it may be, some cost and trouble upon their entry upon 
 the matter of " poultry fancying,''' which, like " amateur 
 farming," may become a deep, devouring gulf, in which much 
 money may be swallowed up, with but a shadowy prospect of 
 return, and the poultry-yard become only less costly than 
 training stables, out of which there is nothing turned but 
 " platers " and ' ' outside colts." 
 
 Those who are acquainted with such places as Cheltenham 
 or Leamington, will remember the satisfaction with which old 
 Indian officers, who are found in abundance in these localities, 
 will take their visitors round the poultry-yards at the back of 
 Chutney Villa, or Mango Lodge, and point out with pride and 
 triumph their prize cock from Bingley Hall, or their Bantams 
 from Nottingham. These gentlemen are not supposed to make 
 a fair profit, or indeed any profit at all. They are, in the 
 strictest meaning of the term, "fanciers," and indulge their 
 tastes with that lofty disregard for money which is the 
 enviable possession of the wealthy. All goes on well until 
 some day an exceptional fit of economy takes possession of 
 these " fanciers ; " on discovering that their home-bred poultry 
 costs them, perhaps, four or five shillings a pound, they 
 
REMARKS ON PURCHASING. 85 
 
 mentally consign their fowls to the furies, and sell their " plant ■'■' 
 and stock to some new enterpriser in the same line, and never 
 after carve a chicken at their own table without thinking of the 
 time when the formerly prized "feathered tribe" picked up 
 guineas in the now abandoned poultry -yard. 
 
 Now to save a tyro in poultry keeping, or rather poultry- 
 fancying, from disappointment, a little sound and wholesome 
 advice may not be unacceptable, which may enable him to 
 commence the pursuit with a fair prospect of making it 
 moderately profitable ; assuming that it is for such, our re- 
 marks are designed. 
 
 In the first place, in purchasing poultry, whether to secure 
 a pen at a show, or at an auction, or to go to dealers and 
 amateurs, is a question necessarily deserving a few words. 
 In a dealer, a good reputation for fairness should be required ; 
 and in such a man, with an established reputation for fair 
 deahng, confidence could not reasonably be misplaced ; a 
 good price paid to one of this character would be better than 
 laying out less money and getting birds that may turn out 
 worthless. 
 
 Auctions are generally thought to be risky sources for 
 obtaining stock, and are now in disrepute. Disease is not 
 unfrequently brought into a healthy yard by means of poultry 
 bought at auctions. An amateur may send surplus stock to 
 be sold by public auction, which, from some cause or other, he 
 would hesitate to ofier to private applicants. This is the evil 
 of auctions, which the would-be purchaser has to risk. On 
 the other hand, if the buyer knows a good and healthy bird 
 when he sees it, — and only such men ought to think of pur- 
 chasing birds there — good bargains and good birds may 
 there often be had. Many people who buy eggs from good 
 birds really do not know the good chickens from the inferior 
 ones; they send their surplus stock to an auction, for the 
 
86 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 simple reason that they, having no reputation as breeders, 
 cannot privately sell their birds, and they realize more in this 
 w&j than they would do as table fowls. Thus good birds are 
 often to be picked up at such sales by those who can recognize 
 them in spite of the way in which they are offered for sale, 
 and many well known fanciers at times find this method of 
 disposing of their surplus stock far less troublesome, and just 
 as profitable, all things considered, as selling it to private 
 applicants. Again, that popular journal "The Bazaar," by 
 the security it offers its private advertisers against fraud, is 
 unquestionably an excellent medium for purchasing, disposing, 
 or exchanging, not only eggs and stock, but indeed every 
 other requirement of the poultry yard. 
 
 The disadvantage of buying at shows, arises from the fact 
 that the buyer, again, has nothing to rely on but his own 
 eyes and judgment ; and, supposing that be secures a pen of 
 fowls, they may have been put together for the identical 
 purpose of selling, but, from conneciion, unfit to mate. Again, 
 from being shut up for many days in an exhibition, they 
 often become roupy and weakened. 
 
 Prom these remarks, then, it will be gathered that in the 
 first place it will not be wise for a man to go with " money in 
 his sack" to the first "crack" poultry show he sees adver- 
 tised, and buy — even if his means will admit of his so doing 
 — the " first-prize" cock and pair of hens that strikes his 
 fancy, by their points or beauty, regardless of the price 
 marked in the catalogue. The birds are perhaps merely 
 exhibited for that particular occasion, and may be, as we 
 have said, very improperly mated. The pen may, in fact, be 
 "made up " to win a prize, in the same manner as the un- 
 sophisticated rustics of a country village, will club together 
 a basket of picked potatoes from several gardens, and thereby 
 "sell" the judges of a cottage garden show, and in the 
 
PRIZE BIRDS NOT THE BEST ADAPTED. 87 
 
 evening divide the prize at the village inn. Alas ! that such 
 things should be ; but, as the fat knight in " The Merry 
 Wives of Windsor ' ' declares, 
 
 " There is naught but roguery in TiUainous man ! " 
 
 Apart from this, and assuming that the birds are really v^hat 
 they seem to be, there is still much risk incurred by the 
 purchaser^ arising from his want of knowledge as to the 
 means of not only feeding the costly specimens, but of keeping 
 them in good condition when he gets them home. 
 
 Should our tyro in poultry breed from his expensive prize- 
 birds, in the event of their being, as we have before suggested, 
 improperly mated, the eggs will fail to produce a continuation 
 of the apparently first-class stock, and should he dispose of the 
 said eggs, he may run the chance of receiving an indignant 
 letter from some customer complaining that he has been 
 "taken in." 
 
 A gentleman of our acquaintance once made a purchase of 
 flower roots in Holland, of which the promise ran " that the 
 finest anemones, tulips, and ranuncululi that ever blossomed 
 in an English garden would delight himself and family the 
 following spring." The spring came at last, and with it the 
 Dutchman's flowers came up and blossomed too. But " what 
 a falling off was there ' ' from the previously-formed expectations. 
 Our friend says that he still groans over the lost florins that 
 went into the pocket of that '' Rotterdam deceiver ! " 
 
 So we would say to the beginner, do not " go in " for prize 
 birds without experience ; this golden heritage will come to 
 you, as it does to all men, in time ; but it is no more in- 
 herited than is the power of balancing a straw on the tip of 
 the nose, or making a speech on the Malt Tax. 
 
 A man who buys a racer to win a prize therewith, if he 
 succeeds, he simply wins the consequences of his investment. 
 So it is with poultry "honours :" any one with a few pounds 
 
88 THE nOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 in their pockets can buy a prize-gaining bird ; but the only 
 true honour in such a matter rests with the individual who by 
 care and perseverance has actually hrought that bird to its then 
 present state of perfection, and through whose means alone it 
 has distanced all its competitors. Poverty may compel such a 
 man, even as it does in every rank of art and industry, " to 
 sell his birth-right for a mess of pottage/' — for the poor man 
 it often is who in the majority of cases^ is the genuine 
 fancier ; — but the day almost assuredly arrives when, with but 
 comparatively indifferent materials left him to work upon, he 
 finds his ' ' labour of love ' ' requited in the production of a 
 bird equal, if not in fact surpassing, the one he was necessi- 
 tated to part with, perhaps the season before, and which carries 
 all before it. 'Tis said that " money makes the mare to go ; " 
 doubtless it does, but here the case is slightly different. 
 Money alone never produces, or ever will produce, a first-class 
 strain ; without the necessary skill and ability the cash will 
 be simply wasted and the efforts fruitless. 
 
 A tyro is no more able to pronounce on a fowl's value with- 
 out knowledge and a trained eye than he is capable of dis- 
 tinguishing a cremona from a common fiddle. The man who 
 buys expensive birds from season to season, may keep up a 
 certain amount of continued success ; but this kind of success 
 is perfectly well understood by all who " read between the 
 lines." The inferior character of the progeny bred by such 
 persons from even the best birds, mated hap-hazard, brings 
 the whole pursuit into ill favour amongst those who purchase 
 eggs or chickens from such random stock, and who are dis- 
 appointed in proportion, as their expectations are raised of a 
 first-class variety, by the extravagant prices they have paid 
 for birds of a so-called * " prize strain." 
 
 * All the facts known to breeders or fanciers tend to diminish very 
 materially the value of any of the specimens so constantly advertised as 
 
STEADY PERSEVEUENCE ADVOCATED. 89 
 
 Regarding some of the more important details of poultry- 
 fancying, we perhaps cannot do better than again have re- 
 course to " The Illustrated Book of Poultry/' and quote the 
 able remarks of its indefatigable author, who, after showing 
 in a particularly lucid manner that no strain of fowl can be 
 brought to anything approaching perfection unless it "be the 
 result of ai-tj care, and study, and even of time," thus con- 
 tinues : — 
 
 " It cannot be attained all at once, except by adopting 
 some one else's ready made, and requires a real and steady 
 interest and some perseverance. Without these qualifications 
 it is impossible ever to arrive at it ; but assuming the in- 
 tending fancier to possess them, we wiU now say how, in our 
 opinion, he ought to proceed. And first, if he have no friend 
 on whose judgment he can rely, but be left entirely to his own 
 resources, the great object for some little time must be not to 
 snatch any sudden success, but to acquire knowledge, and 
 more particularly the special knowledge of the particular 
 breed preferred. Such study of the hreed is the first great 
 essential to success, and should in all cases be commenced at 
 once, every possible show being visited and particular attention 
 being given to the variety in question. This study must be 
 
 being vaguely of a "prize strain." Taking this expression at its best, and 
 supposing it to be — as it is not always — ^honestly used, we may take it to mean 
 that certain animals are the product of others which hare won a prize: Some 
 one having won at a certain show, advertises eggs, or chickens, or pups, of his 
 " prize strain " and we are frequently asked to give our opinion of the value 
 of such. It is not going beyond the truth to assert that such produce may be 
 worth almost aay sum ; but that it may also be — and is far more likely to be 
 — ^worth just common market price and no more. And, though this is certainly 
 an extreme case, comparatively seldom to be affirmed, yet still in sorne cases 
 it is the fact, that the worthless specimens may be descended from parents 
 quite equal in value as show specimens to the ancestors of those which are of 
 the highest worth. — " Fancier's Gazette." 
 
90 THE HOIJDAN FOWL. 
 
 thorough, and systematic, for it is not only needful to know 
 good birds when they are seen, but to know definitely what 
 makes them superior to others. No breed can thus be 
 " learnt" all at once^ though some require much less study 
 than others. The descriptions should be carefully read and 
 mastered, and compared, point by point, with the best speci- 
 mens to be seen in the show pen. 
 
 " Before actually meddling with very expensive stock, it is 
 most desirable to have attained some practical knowledge of 
 fowls and success in their management by real experience with 
 ordinary birds. Where both kinds of knowledge have to be 
 acquired together, we should advise in most cases the purchase, 
 in the first instance, of a few inferior specimens (as regards 
 colour or other matters) from good stock, of the variety to 
 which the preference inclines, which can generally be obtained 
 of good breeders at a small sum. Thus the amateur will gain 
 both the needful experience in management and some practical 
 knowledge of the breed itself at the same time, while such 
 stock after a little may be made highly useful, by comparing 
 first-class specimens with them and training the eye to see 
 where the great difference in show value between the Iwo con- 
 sists. Until some amount of this knowledge be in one way 
 or another acquired, large sums should tiot be spent upon 
 fowls, if it be desired to avoid serious mistakes and consequent 
 loss. Such a course demands patience, which many perhaps 
 may not feel inclined to bestow; we can only say that very 
 little time need be lost by it, while much useless expenditure 
 may be saved. 
 
 " Supposing the taste to have been imbibed, as may pro- 
 bably be the case, at one of the great winter shows, and a few 
 birds to have been thus purchased at a moderate price, we 
 should expect that by March or April some real and discrim- 
 inating knowledge of the breed had been obtained. "We would 
 
IKPEEIOU AND FIKST-CLASS CHICKENS AT VARIOUS AGES. 91 
 
 then advise that a few sittings of first-class eggs be procured 
 from sources which can be depended upon, and, if possible, 
 from more than one. The owner's own inferior stock 
 should also to some extent be bred from j and in this 
 way another kind of most valuable and necessary inform- 
 ation will be obtained — that of the appearance of JirsUclass 
 chickens at different ages, and as compared with inferior 
 ones of the same breed. It must not be assumed that 
 all the chickens from the purchased eggs are first-class^ for 
 this will not be the case. If birds could be thus bred, 
 their value would cease. The choice specimens are always com- 
 paratively few, and, even if one-fourth of any brood are more 
 or less fit for competition^ it will be very good indeed. Neither 
 will all hatch, except in very rare cases. Highly-bred stock 
 are not quite so fertile, as a rule, and there is some risk in the 
 railway journey. Many chances may even spoil the whole 
 hatch ; and if chickens are found dead in the shell, the vendor 
 must not be blamed ; since they were there, it was not his 
 fault that they did not come to maturity. Out of several sit- 
 tings, however, there ought to be at least a few really good 
 birds ; * and as it will be seen very early that the various little 
 chickens differ greatly in their appearance, careful note should 
 be taken of themj and observation made as to which of them 
 turn out the best at six months old, when they will have assumed 
 then* adult plumage. To the fancier with limited space no 
 knowledge is more necessary than this, as it enables him to 
 hatch about three times as many chickens as he can rear, and 
 
 * Care and time are of course boti required in raising good specimens in 
 this manner ; but the outlay of money is comparatively small, as eggs from 
 first-rate fowls may often be purchased, new and carefully packed, at prices 
 varying from half-a-guinea to a guinea a setting, which may be relied on ; 
 but in this, as in buying stocks at shows or auctions, the integrity of the seller 
 is the only sure dependence. 
 
 G 
 
92 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 clear them off at an early period, so as to leave the ground 
 at liberty for the best alone." 
 
 Mr. Wright then proceeds in showing how the tyro, by prac- 
 tically studying the good and bad points of any breed, by noting 
 how certain features in the growing chickens are precursors of 
 greater or lesser value, in a purely exhibitional sense, may, in 
 the course of a season, provided " a genuine interest in the 
 subject " be taken, be tolerably competent to judge of a fowl's 
 value, and qualified to purchase really good birds, with every 
 probability of success. In the event, too, of his having " a 
 first-class chicken or two of his own," and which he thinks will 
 bear favourable comparison with those belonging to others, it 
 is suggested that he should exhibit them, discarding, however, 
 any expectation of winning, but really more for the sake of 
 affording him an eligible opportunity of comparing " his own 
 best chickens with those from other yards," and thus adding 
 many and important discoveries to his already-existing store 
 of poultry knowledge. 
 
 In commencing quite a new strain, the writer again shows 
 the advisability of the tyro having — if his means will allow it 
 — as many " unrelated pens ' ' as possible, as , by these means, 
 a strain is confined within the limit's of his own breeding yard 
 for a lengthened period ; in fact, sufficiently long to define its 
 qualities and put it on a firm basis without the necessity of 
 buying a cock bird every year for "fresh blood," as is fre- 
 quently advocated. Two advantages at least, it is evident, 
 accrue from this proceeding, — the first being that the tyro 
 can cross his birds with others in his own possession, and of 
 whose merits and imperfections he is already acquainted with 
 and by exercising a certain amount of judgment season by 
 season, he, with a greater degree of certainty, attains the sum- 
 mit of his ambition ; but if, on the contrary, fresh cock birds 
 are frequently introduced "to recruit "such a strain, "the 
 
DRAWBACKS OF INDISCRIMINATE CROSSING. 93 
 
 breeder," as Mr. Wright justly states^ " never knows what he 
 is doing, and may spoil all, after years of labour^ by an unlucky 
 cross, which brings with it some lurking fault not visible in 
 the bought bird, and therefore never suspected, but which 
 contaminates the whole yard for that year. The danger of 
 this is all the greater from such constant crossing, preventing 
 the home strain from acquiring any strong individual character 
 of its own, which can stand the foreign influence ; whereas, if 
 it be carefully bred for some years, the strains of which it was 
 first composed will amalgamate, and it will develope more or 
 less defined features of its own, by which Mr. H.'s strain will 
 by degrees become known to other breeders. It is, in fact, the 
 ideal or standard of the breeder which becomes stamped upon 
 it; and as the eye becomes trained to perceive the fine shades 
 of difierence, these individual distinctions between various 
 yards are easily recognized, just as the different herds of Short- 
 horns, all of which arise simply from the ideal standards of 
 perfection as conceived by different breeders." 
 
 To those who are really desirous of studying this subject in 
 all its various bearings, we should recommend the perusal of 
 some able articles on " Pedigree Breeding," by the author in 
 question, as it will well repay the reader ; but in a small work 
 like the present, space is by far too limited for us to enter 
 into the matter at length. We cannot, however, refrain from 
 subjoining the following excellent extracts from the journal 
 alluded to,* being worthy of special mention, as showing, 
 in a particularly explicit manner, how all tendencies and 
 peculiarities are capable of being strengthened or diverted 
 into one definite channel, where skilful breeding is exercised. 
 The writer, it will be noticed, has selected as an example " the 
 fifth toe " as an explanatory medium ; but similar reasoning, 
 
 * The " Fancier's Gazette." Cassell, Fetter, and Gralpin, Ludgate HilL 
 
94 THE HOTJDAN FOWL. 
 
 as he remarks, is almost equally applicable to every other point 
 in poultry breeding': — 
 
 " It is by no means uncommon for a bird, through some 
 cross with the Dorking of which all traces beside have long 
 since vanished, to appear with some signs of the fifth toe. 
 Though, strictly speaking, this is owing to a tendency in- 
 herited long since from the cross, we may for present purposes 
 call it an accidental variation, occurring, perhaps, only twice 
 amongst a thousand chickens supposed to be pure from all 
 Dorking taint. If one of those chickens be bred from it, it is 
 probable that a few of her progeny, but still few, will also 
 show this fifth toe ; the greater part, however, reverting to 
 what we may call the usual type of the yard. If we mate 
 this cock to a hen showing a tendency in the same vvay, the 
 number of five-toed progeny will be somewhat increased ; but 
 still (supposing, as we do, that there is no appreciable Dorking 
 taint in the yard at all) they will not be many ; and Vi^o. four- 
 toed chickens they produced will have little tendency to breed 
 with five toes. But now suppose we select from the chickens 
 produced from these two five-toed parents a pair also five-toed 
 and breed them together. We shall now find the tendency 
 vastly increased ; so much so, that very likely a full half of the 
 produce will be five-toed, and even those which are not, will 
 show an evident tendency to breed five-toed birds. "We have 
 accumulated into one direction — that of producing five toes — 
 the transmitting powers of two generations — parents and grand- 
 parents. If we breed from this third generation again, still 
 selecting five-toed individuals, the tendency to produce the 
 peculiarity wdl be increased enormously; and in a generation 
 or two more, a bird not five-toed will be as rare as the five-toed 
 specimens originally were. We now have what is called a 
 strain, so far as regards this one point of five toes — that is, 
 we have produced a race of birds which we can depend upon 
 
FOUNDING A STRAIN. 95 
 
 with almost absolute certainty, to produce nothing but (ive- 
 toed birds. Such a strain is the Dorking breed itself. 
 
 " Now let us put this instance in another light. Supposing 
 the first pairj which showed the feature accidentally, to have 
 been kept alive for ten years, as might easily be the case, 
 whilst their descendants have been successively selected and 
 bred from in the manner supposed. It will readily be seen 
 that it may be very easy to select from the tenth generation a 
 pair of fowls which to the eye appear precisely like the original 
 pair from which operations were commenced. In plumage, in 
 comb, in shape, and in the toes, the closest scrutiny may fail 
 to find any essential difference. But, as we have seen, the 
 difference in breeding value is tremendous. The first pair 
 have scarcely any tendency that can be relied upon to produce 
 the desired five toes ; the other pair can be depended upon as 
 regards nearly every one. The first pair presents nothing to 
 a breeder save the foundation upon which he may, by care and 
 perseverance, found a structure hereafter ; the other represents 
 work fully done, and a " strain^' which, as regards the one 
 point we have considered, is perfected and established, and 
 only needs ordinary care to preserve in the same perfection for 
 an unhmited length of time." 
 
 Thus far it will have been seen that poultry-fancying, like a 
 good many other things, presents more or less difficulties in the 
 commencement ; but the first steps and the first obstacles once 
 overcome, they clear the way for the onward progress which 
 is in comparison easily attainable. The chief and necessary 
 point, after having partially developed a strain, is in the 
 simple fact of paying due and unceasing care in keeping the 
 breeding stock " up to the mark " by retaining such stock birds 
 as show any particularly desired feature ; by so doing both de- 
 fects and beauties will alike be detected — the one corrected, 
 the other be brought out and still further cultivated. Of 
 
96 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 course, to effect this perfect beauty of form and feather is not 
 the work of a day, or a series of days : it is really the work of 
 time and care. The heterogeneous mixture of the different 
 strains which we have hitherto supposed to have made up our 
 fancier's yard, and the consequent difficulty in making a 
 proper selection for breeding from, will more or less retard his 
 efforts at first ; but here again patience and perseverance will 
 have their due reward. Each season will develop fresh beauties 
 and consequently less defects, till little by little, some of the 
 stock will finally gain the ultimatum of our fancier's hopes and 
 aspirations by achieving for him not only the honour but the 
 accompanying profits attached to the coveted winner of the 
 first prize or cup. This is the real work to be done, as Mr. 
 Wright has pointed out — " the result not of mere money, but 
 of your patience and skill — and it is work of this kind we 
 wish to encourage and see more of. Merely to win a prize 
 with a bought bird is nothing ; but to create a new strain 
 better than all your predecessors is to be of some real benefit, 
 and to be a real "poultry fancier." 
 
 In stocking a new yard, then, where the experience of 
 poultry fancying is but limited, it is not really important, or in 
 the majority of cases even judicious, to expend any considerable 
 sum in the purchase of " tip top " birds, for the reasons already 
 enumerated. A limited stock of medium quality, but descended 
 from a thorough good strain, should really be that sought for, 
 and the endeavotir well studied in such stock to counteract 
 existing defects in either sex, by ensuring that the corresponding 
 part in the opposite one is well developed. This will be made 
 clearer as we now proceed to show how the stock should be 
 mated for obtaining such points of excellence as is really 
 desirable. 
 
 In breeding for size,regard should be paidtothosepoints which 
 in a table fowl the Houdan should in particular possess, v\z. , 
 
POINTS TO BE CONSIDEUED IN MATING . 97 
 
 great depth and fulness of breast — the length of the latter bone 
 being very deep in the keel — which should extend prominently 
 from the fore-part towards the tail, that there may be ample 
 room for abundant formation of flesh. Massiveness of body, 
 combined with moderate length, depth, and width, is a 
 great desideratum ; large heavy wings and breadth of back are 
 also important points. Thighs should, in addition, be large 
 for flesh purposes, -with straight legs, firm and moderately 
 thick, but without a particle of feather. 
 
 Provided, however, that the hen be very large, we do not 
 object to a moderate- sized cock, such being as a rule far more 
 active and vigorous than some of the large and heavy birds we 
 have seen exhibited, and which are in fact completely spoilt 
 for brood stock by over-feeding. We have already pointed 
 out one of the most direct consequences of this, and only refer 
 to it again to more particularly impress upon the fancier's 
 mind that the ofispring (if any) of over-fed stock-birds in- 
 variably result in chickens showing a decided want of stamina. 
 Experience, too, has moreover proved that the future form 
 and size of the chickens are mainly dependent upon the hen. 
 It therefore follows that a largely-developed hen and a com- 
 pact, closely-built cock are more likely to breed an improved 
 progeny for the point in question than if such proportions 
 were the other way. Indeed the fact seems apparent that 
 while 'Hoe frame is supplied by the hen, the just and proper 
 proportions are filled in by the cock — an example in the 
 economy of nature which may be illustrated by a similar de- 
 velopment in other animals, the tall mother, for instance, pro- 
 ducing the stalwart son. 
 
 In breeding for crest, our experience in mating the parent 
 stock has been this : — We formerly attributed more influence 
 to the cock bird for the reproduction of this feature than to 
 our hens; and as regards cockerels only, see no reason to 
 
98 THE nODDAN FOWL. 
 
 change our opinion — getting finer-crested young cocks from a 
 hen but mediumly furnished, provided her consort be really 
 good in this respect — than in choosing a full crested hen but 
 an indifferent top-knotted cock ; the importance then of a 
 judicious selection in the male bird need scarcely be pointed out. 
 
 In pullet-breeding, on the contrary, we would from necessity 
 rather breed from a cock with comparatively hardly a particle 
 of crest, &C.J if those of our hens were relatively full and 
 large, than from birds on both sides under the average in 
 this particular. If pullets, then, be the end in view, a full 
 globular crested hen must be depended on, for the more certain 
 realization of the fancier's wishes. If the parents on both 
 sides possess the point advantageously in common, the results 
 naturally will be still more favourable. 
 
 In breeding for colour, our own preference lies more towards 
 dark-bodied hens and lighter-plumaged cocks ; the progeny 
 from such an union being generally very handsomely marked, 
 cockerels and pullets both, but variable results will at times 
 ensue respecting such. Two seasons back, for example, all 
 our best marked chickens resulted from mating a very dark 
 cock with three particularly light - coloured hens. While, 
 therefore, no rule can be depended upon, it is evident that the 
 sexes should vary in colour ; and if a very dark cock bird be 
 used, his hens should be proportionately light, and where, on 
 the other hand, the hens are of darkish plumage, a lighter 
 marked cock should be employed. At present no standard 
 has been formed for "breeding to feather," and which has 
 doubtless tended to keep the real merits of this breed to a 
 greater extent unimpaired than would otherwise have been 
 the case. Provided that show-birds present an uniformity of 
 black and white speckled plumage, is all at present that 
 modern judging requires in this direction. 
 
 In breeding for comb, this feature in the cock is important, 
 
BREEDING FOR COMB. 
 
 99 
 
 for we believe his influence is greater than the hens in repro- 
 ducing it It should, therefore, in his case^ be of good shape 
 and well developed, and, as described in our opening ehapterj 
 of the inte Houdan type. In the hen the endeavour should be to 
 procure it of the precise shape as that of the cock Ijird, but in 
 miniature. Although the unadvisability of breeding from an 
 ill-shaped combed cock will thus be seen, the comb of a hen 
 may, perhaps, be badly formed, yet, when such a hen is bred 
 from by a cock with a large well-shaped comb, the chicks 
 may not, perhaps, exhibit the objectionable deformity of the 
 mother in the slightest degree. 
 
 And so it is really throughout all the points which make up 
 the ensemble of real or fancied beauty; the want of such in 
 the hen may be supplied in the chickens if care is taken to 
 select a cook in which they exist, and vice versa ; but to an- 
 ticipate any special characteristic to excel in the chickens will 
 prove an unprofitable task, unless one or both of the parents 
 possess it in a minor or major degree. 
 
 Supposing, for instance, the birds about to be mated are 
 full grown and handsome, tolerably perfect in all points 
 characterising Houdans excepting the crest ; if this should be 
 unusually small in both birds, it would be time, trouble, and 
 care merely uselessly expended to breed from them, this being, 
 as we have said, a feature of importance. But if, on the con- 
 trary, the hen possessed this desideratum in perfection, although 
 the cock's crest might be particularly scanty, we should not 
 only have no hesitation in breeding from them, but, moreover, 
 anticipate some good crested jow^/efe. 
 
 Or, again, it may be that both cock and hen are creditable 
 specimens of the breed they represent, save that the fifth toe 
 in both birds is deficient — (would that "four" toes were 
 the established requirement of judges) — but as custom requires 
 the fifth, its absence under the present standard disqualifies. 
 
100 THE HOUDAN FOWl. 
 
 Under these circumstanceSj four-toed birds musl naturally 
 be rejected as breeding stock. Or assuming, again, that 
 a hen was fairly good in size and " head gear,''' yet lighter 
 in colour than could have been desired, and a crooked toe 
 or defective toe-nail unfitted her for showing, she would 
 probably prove a valuable hen for breeding notwithstanding ; 
 the faidty toe may have resulted very likely from an accident 
 during chickenhood, and if thus originated^ would be of no de- 
 triment, and the lightness of plumage referred to might be easily 
 compensated by mating, as already shown, with a dark cock. 
 We might illustrate these facts at greater length; but it is 
 to be hoped that we have succeeded in showing how good 
 birds may, with a little judgment, be bred from parents lacking 
 very essential particulars in the matter of perfection, and be 
 accomplished, too, for a moderate pecuniary outlay only. 
 
 The eggs of pullets will occasionally produce very fine 
 chickens ; but the general opinion and practice is right, which 
 lay down the rule that the best chickens come from the mating 
 of hens in their second season with two-year old cocks. The 
 chickens that are the ofispring of fowls thus mated cer- 
 tainly grow much faster, and we always faney, in the case of 
 Houdans, are altogether stronger built birds. But it is 
 worth noting that a pen in which cocks are mated with pul- 
 lets invariably produces a greater number of pullets in a brood 
 than where hens are running with cockerels. Again, cockerels 
 will show a marked preponderance over pullets, particularly 
 during the earlier part of the breeding season, where the male 
 bird is young and vigorous, and the hens are of mature age, but 
 few in number. And again in birds of the same age being put 
 together — no matter whether old or young — the sex of the 
 issue appears uncertain ; but if the female portion is not well 
 represented in point of numbers, and the male bird be very 
 vigorous, cockerels will almost for a certainty abound. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ON THE MANAGEMENT Or CHICKENS POK EXHIBITIVE PURPOSES. 
 
 j]N entering on this section of our subject, we are directly 
 reminded of the old adage relating to the unwise pro" 
 ceeding of reckoning the interesting little strangers 
 before they are hatched, and this is at once suggestive of a few 
 words both as to the selection of the eggs and the hen we 
 usually look to for the promotion of our desires. 
 
 Respecting the eggs, they vary much both in size and colour 
 too, at times ; but are generally quite white, with rather a 
 rough.faced shell. Fair average layers appear to produce the 
 largest eggs ; very prolific birds those perhaps a trifle smaller, 
 whilst the very smallest and most unproductive eggs it has ever 
 been our lot to see have been laid by highly-bred adult hens. 
 So long, however, as they are not the product of fat, un- 
 healthy fowls, whether the said eggs be large or small, is not 
 a matter of great import ; but for ourselves, we may remark, 
 that if any of the eggs from any favourite hen that we may 
 be desirous of breeding from, present any deviation in shape 
 or size in any considerable degree from those she in ordinary 
 lays, we unhesitatingly reject them. 
 
 To ascertain the number of fertile eggs in a batch, no 
 simpler or more effective plan can be adopted than that recom- 
 mended by Mr. Tegetmier, " of examining them at the expi- 
 ration of seven or eight days by the aid of a candle, or, still 
 better, a paraffin lamp, and a piece of cardboard, such as the 
 cover of an octavo volume, with an oval cut in the centre 
 not sufficiently large to allow an egg to pass through. The 
 cardboard is held near the light, and the egg to be examined 
 
102 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 placed against the opening. After being sat upon for a week 
 the fertile eggs are always opaque, excepting at the larger end 
 where the air- vesicle exists, and the sterile eggs are readily- 
 distinguished by the adjective clear which is usually applied 
 to them. A little practice renders the distinction easy. The 
 clear eggs being removed, more room remains for those that 
 are fertile, and they receive a greater amount of warmth. ' ' 
 
 Disappointing results in hatching frequently ensue from the 
 non-observance of the most simple precautions ; the freshness 
 of the eggs, limitation as to number, and the condition of the 
 hen previous to the commencement of her duties, are among 
 the most prominent of the shoals and quicksands on which 
 so many a young fancier's hopes and expectations are 
 wrecked. We prefer those eggs which have not been laid 
 more than a fortnight. The number is more or less dependent 
 on the size of the hen ; but as we prefer smallish hens our- 
 selves, we therefore limit the batch to nine, and early in the 
 year to seven eggs at most. We make sure the hen in question 
 is really broody, and not apparently so, and therefore give her 
 three or four hard-boiled eggs to sit upon for a couple of days, 
 to test her in this respect before we risk a valuable batch. 
 We never attempt to set a hen without due examination, and 
 if any signs of uncleanliness prevail ; we adopt the treatment 
 we have recommended in p. 64. A damp spot is generally 
 acknowledged as the best suited for hatching, but we have had 
 as many, if not more, chickens from "high level" nests as 
 upon the ground. When we adopted the former expedient, a 
 layer of damp earth, four or five inches thick, formed the basis 
 of the nest ; on this we put a freshly-cut turf slightly hollowed ; 
 in very early spring we covered this lightly over with hay, but 
 substituted straw of short lengths if the weather was at all 
 mild, afterwards sprinkling the whole well with manganeze 
 or black sulphur. If, after setting for a fortnight, and the 
 
HATCHING BY ARTIFICIAL MEANS. 103 
 
 weather happened to be diy and warm, we removed our hen at 
 night — she being then quiet — and poured a tumbler full of 
 warm water over both eggs and nest, and then carefully re- 
 placed her ; we have also found it advisable to repeat this 
 about forty-eight hours before hatching was due. Such was 
 our usual modus operandi, and we were generally rewarded 
 with good batches ; »but for the future we hope to be less 
 reliant upon our hens than we have done hitherto. For 
 many breeders now find it far more advantageous to their 
 interests to employ artificial means for incubation, time 
 being, as they aver, in the first place better utilized, besides 
 the avoidance of waste of flesh and strength incurred by the 
 hens while sitting. If such results can be satisfactorily de- 
 pended upon, the value of incubators for hatching — not only 
 the eggs of Houdans, but those of all non-sitting breeds — is 
 at once apparent, and worthy of a passing remark. 
 
 Although there is nothing new in the idea — chickens being 
 hatched by various artificial processes in an age long gone by, 
 before even such men as Aristotle, Pliny, and others lived 
 and flourished — it is only within the past few years compara- 
 tively that fanciers have given this subject any considerable 
 degree of attention. Coming back, however, with a bound to 
 a more recent period than the Roman era, since M. Eeaumer, 
 who we believe, was the first European experimentalist in this 
 direction — several eminent names, amongst which Cantello, 
 Bonnemain, Carbonnier, and others figure prominently in 
 having devised, altered, and improved upon the efforts of their 
 predecessors. In a like manner, more modern appliances still 
 have formed the subjects for a vast amount of thought, skill, 
 and ingenuity on the part of various manufacturers ; and at 
 the present time there are several machines which are ascribed 
 as being more or less efficient in action. Amongst these may 
 be enumerated one of a very simple character, but to which 
 
104 
 
 THE HOUDAN FOWL, 
 
 nevertheless its inventor, Mr. Crook, has devoted many years 
 care and attention, and represented by Fig. 10, which appears, 
 judging from the remarks and experiments of Mr. Wren, of 
 Lowestoft, to carry out the ■ object of its inventor, in a far 
 higher degree than any other, being apparently the only one 
 in which actual success has been achieved. The comparative 
 failure of nearly all incubators hitherto introduced appear to 
 have originated chiefly in a want of proper and through venti- 
 lation, such as is af- 
 forded to the eggs 
 through the feathers of 
 the sitting hen by every 
 movement of her body, 
 and this drawback at 
 length seems to have 
 been — or is now in a 
 very fair way, at all 
 events, of being — re- 
 medied by a continuous 
 supply of fresh air 
 being artificially pro- 
 vided for. 
 
 Owing to this im- 
 portant condition being 
 ^ig- 10. overlooked, simple as 
 
 were the rules enjoined for ensuring success in the abstract, 
 in actual working, unless in very experienced hands, disap- 
 pointment was not the exception, but the invariable rule ; for 
 this reason — our own experience of incubators having been 
 rather of an unsatisfactory character — we have given our 
 preference to hens, setting two or more at one time, trans- 
 feiTing the chickens when hatched to one hen, and a fresh 
 complement of eggs to another, as already described in page 
 
THE UTILITY OP INCUBATORS. 105 
 
 34, but we must candidly admit that later experiments have 
 convinced us that if incubators are not to be relied on for the 
 entire fulfilment of the ordinary duties of a sitting hen, they 
 can at least be made particularly serviceable in completing 
 what she has already begun, and which some remarks by Mr. 
 Halsted, who has also investigated the subject of artificial in- 
 cubation at great length, will at once make apparent. He 
 writes as follows in the American ''Standard of Excellence :" — 
 
 " Set your eggs under the hen, and at any time after ten 
 days incubation remove them to the machine. You can then 
 put another setting of eggs under the hen ; in fact, three or 
 four sittings in succession will not injure her. By this process 
 your eggs are almost certain to hatch, your chicks come out 
 strong and healthy, free from vermin and disease, none are 
 trod to death in the nest, and none are left by the hen and 
 chilled before fairly dry." 
 
 We consider that it scarcely falls within our province to 
 dilate in any way upon the working details of hatching by 
 artificial means — although admitting its importance — firstly, 
 from the very narrow compass in which our task is necessarily 
 confined, and that full instructions for management can be 
 obtained from the manufacturer — and, secondly, that in 
 "Land and Water," the secret of success is, for the first 
 time described, in a series of talented articles on " The Art of 
 Artificial Incubation," and to which our readers should refer. 
 
 Providing, however, that incubators and artificial rearing 
 appliances — respecting which we shall have occasion presently 
 to say a few words — are, by our fancier not brought into requi- 
 sition, when the eggs are all hatched, or as many as are 
 likely to do so, the hen and chickens should be cooped in such 
 a shed as we have before described if early in the season ; but 
 if the weather be favourable, i.e., warm and dry, the coop may 
 then with advantage be placed out of doors upon dry gravelly 
 
106 
 
 THE HOUDAlf FOWL. 
 
 ground. The form of coop is a question hardly worth dis- 
 cassing, and there are, moreover, plenty to choose from. The 
 one already alluded to (Fig. 7) with a hinged board for shelter, 
 as suggested, is well adapted ; also the triangular one seen in 
 
 Fig. 11, with a wire 
 
 run for the protection 
 of the chickens, and 
 which can be obtained 
 complete for a few 
 shillings. A more 
 elaborate and useful 
 contrivance, again, is 
 represented by Fig. 12, 
 such being constructed 
 Fig. 11. entirely of galvanized 
 
 and japanned iron, and therefore very durable. Its usefulness 
 speaks or itself. On a grass run, thus confined, the chickens 
 are safe from cats or rats, and can run to the hen mother to be 
 brooded when they require it. 
 
 Perhaps, however, one of the most complete and efficient 
 hen coops and chicken protectors that we have yet seen is the 
 Portable Game and Poultry Coop, depicted in Fig. 13, manu- 
 factured by Mr. E. Lloyd, of the Horticultural Works, Grant- 
 ham, Lincolnshire. These useful contrivances are made in 
 sizes varying from six feet long by two or three feet wide 
 to twelve feet long by six feet wide if required. One end is 
 covered as a protection against inclement weather, and the 
 rest panelled with galvanized iron wire netting, removable 
 at pleasure. Small wheels are easily attached, so that these 
 houses can be shifted daily to fresh ground with the utmost 
 ease. For the convenience of transit, all can be taken to 
 pieces, packed in a very small compass, and put together again 
 by almost any person. Unlike most poultry' coops, these can 
 
EARLY DISTINGUISHING SIGNS OF THE SKX. 
 
 109 
 
 be utilised nearly all the year round, aSj by simply substituting 
 glass for the iron in the panels, they form the prettiest minia- 
 ture greenhouses it is possible to conceive. They are, in fact, 
 as useful for all practical purposes as they are ornamental in 
 appearance or moderate in price. 
 
 The great rapidity with which the chickens fledge has always 
 been a matter of surprise, but it shows the necessity of good 
 and nutritious feeding until the process is completed, so as to 
 compensate for the unusual call upon the system. It seems a 
 remarkable fact, however, that, unlike most of the fast- 
 feathering breeds, the Houdan appears to undergo fewer draw- 
 
 Fig. 13. 
 
 backs in this respect than any other class of fowl we are 
 acquainted with. The day following they are hatched, the 
 wing feathers are visible, and feathering proceeds at such an 
 amazing rate, that at an age when chickens of other breeds 
 are still in their furry down, the Houdan is all but fully 
 feathered. The sex can be distinguished at a very early age 
 by the combs, the cockerels speedily showing it, whilst the 
 pullets will very frequently not have the slightest indication 
 of it until their adult plumage is complete ; moreover, the 
 wing feathers of the cockerels, as in most breeds, are more 
 pointed than those of the pullets, the latter being rounder and 
 wider. 
 
 H 
 
110 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 They are pretty little creatures when first hatched in their 
 black and lemon-coloured furry garb, and one of the principal 
 tests as to their probable future value as show birds is soon 
 made known as regards "crest," by the size of the small 
 projecting poll of fluff, the extent of this determining the 
 future amount of crest the bird will possess when fully grown, 
 for in proportion to the size of this projection, so wUl the 
 crest be fully or imperfectly developed in the adult bird. 
 This in a measure also applies to the mufHing. 
 
 In now treating of the chickens we have assumed that they 
 are of the better class, and therefore that any trivial addition 
 to the ordinary cost of feeding will not be grudged. To rear 
 them to the greatest size is the point in question, and for this 
 object there cannot be a better kind of food employed than 
 grass or lettuce cut very small, dry bread well crumbled, and 
 course oatmeal in equal parts, with half a part of bone-meal * 
 
 * This useful addendum to cHcken-feediug, bone meal, can be obtained 
 from Ellis & Sons of tbe Sparkenhoe Manure "Works, Leicester, at a very- 
 moderate cost. Its valuable properties are now generally acknowledged, for 
 it is without doubt one of the greatest desiderata in the feeding of poultry. 
 "We quite agree with others that, used with discretion, it certainly not only 
 tends to prevent hens from laying soft or shelless eggs, but enhances the red- 
 ness of their combs and gives to their plumage a far more brilliant appear- 
 ance. "We have, moreover, given it as our opinion, in page 62, and in this 
 opinion are supported by Mr. F. Crook, whose poultry experience needs no 
 comment from us, that by its judicious usage the hens will not be so much 
 addicted to eat each others feathers, frequently observable in very small yards ; 
 this peculiar habit we have opined, arising from a craving induced by such 
 confinement or artificial treatment in which, as we have said, they cannot 
 procure that material "bone meal," so amply and so successfully seems to 
 supply them with ; for this evil is not observable in either game or poultry 
 raised in a semi- wild state, and who doubtless provide themselves with some 
 animal substance, which the bone meal is intended to substitute in the case 
 of poultry reared entirely tmder artificial conditions. In addition to 
 the advantages already claimed by the use of bone meal, Mr. Wright, 
 in his little work on " The Brahma " states, " that there is a marked 
 difference both in the size and stamina of birds reared with it over others. 
 
MEANS 01' ATTAINING SIZE. Ill 
 
 added, the whole to be mixed to a proper consistence' with 
 new milk ; the bread, which may be loss freely used as the 
 youngsters grow older, is a good medium for absorbing the 
 milk and giving just the crumbly consistence to the food that 
 is required. Oatmeal should not be used alone, as the 
 chicks often tire of it, and it is, when unmixed with the chop- 
 ped grass and bread, too heating. More milk may be used 
 after two months, and then barley-meal and toppings may 
 be used instead, or " Spratt's Poultry Food," if it is found 
 that oatmeal palls upon the appetite ; but the bread and bone 
 meal should form a part of the food, and which should be so 
 mixed with the milk that it crumbles easily. When but a 
 day old, food should be given every two hours ; later, every 
 three hours will do ; but so long as the chickens seem really 
 hungry, the intervals of feeding should not be very extended. 
 This particular care, both in a dietary and systematical sense 
 must be taken when " size " is the object to be gained ; smaller 
 birds, but still very good ones, may be reared with less strict 
 attention. Twice daily, in addition to their food, milk should 
 be given ; all young animals ■ appreciate it, and it greatly 
 assists their development, particularly if hatched early in the 
 year ; but in very hot weather, or after a course of seven or 
 eight weeks, it should be abandoned ; crushed hempseed we 
 have also found a very useful auxiliary to chickens food when 
 cold weather prevails. Chopped grain of some kind — we 
 prefer grita — should form the last meal at night ; but after 
 
 It adds to the size of the birds ; it postpones their maturity, or ' set- 
 ting ' as poultrymen call it, after which growth nearly ceases ; it greatly 
 prevents leg- weakness in the cockerels ; and it tends to produce full and 
 profuse feathering, and to assist in fledging. Burnt bones, or phospha,te of 
 lime, have not the same effect by any means ; and raw bones crushed have 
 the fault of inducing early laying in the pullets, whereas the bone dust 
 rather postpones it." 
 
112 
 
 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 they are a week or ten days old, canary seed, hempseed, or 
 buckwheat may be given whole From the middle of winter 
 up to early spring, this last meal should be given them as late 
 at night as possible ; and if thus fed as recommended, the grain 
 will take longer in digesting, and thus afford their little 
 bodies a greater amount of heat. Toast and ale was a very 
 favourite food with us at one period ; but our later experience 
 has shown us that Houdans are none the worse for being 
 " Good Templars " of the feathered tribe ; a little meat, how- 
 ever, once a day, or " Spratt's Graaulated Crissel." we have, 
 on the other hand, found particularly serviceable in bringing 
 them on. 
 
 During the earlier period of chickenhood, as a means to 
 prevent waste, we have very successfully made use of a feed- 
 ing cage like, the one seen 
 in Fig. 14, and where ex- 
 pensive food, as it frequently 
 is, is far from an unimport- 
 ant item in a fancier's ex- 
 penditure, its utility is 
 apparent. An unlimited 
 supply of green food is 
 absolutely essential to all 
 chickens that are bred in 
 confinement ; cut up fine with a sharp knife, or shears, they 
 will take it eagerly, and in fact eat more of it too, than if 
 they had a grass run, when this trouble would not of course 
 be necessary. 
 
 There are possibly but. few well-established poultry-yards 
 in the present day in which "iron solution " is not used, and 
 thanks to Mr. J. Douglas — who, we believe, was the first to 
 make its useful properties generally known — several com- 
 plaints incidental and formerly prevalent amongst fowls are 
 
 Fig. 14. 
 
FEEDING FOLDS. 113 
 
 now comparative strangers. It is simply made thus : — the 
 ingredients being 
 
 Sulphate of Iron lUi. 
 
 Sulphuric Acid loz. 
 
 These are dissolved in a jug of hot water capable of holding 
 a quart, and allowed to remain undisturbed for four-aud- 
 tweuty hours. It should then be added to a gallon of spring 
 water, and bottled for use. The dose being a teaspoon full 
 to every pint of the water in the drinking vessels, every 
 other day for chickens, and once or twice a week for the 
 adult stock. During the moulting season it should be always 
 used. It is a fine tonic, and one of the best preventatives of 
 disease. 
 
 When the mother begins to "shake off" the chickens, 
 they should be moved to fresh ground, their late quarters 
 being thus utilized for a 
 younger brood if neces- 
 sary. There is no doubt /•',."' ' •' ' 
 that the growing chick- .• ,. ." "%, 
 ens do best where each ^jS^t\ h, \ '•*■' 
 brood can be accommo- |ji^ ," • 4*' 
 dated with a separate Sit^ 
 house and run ; but it ' ■ / 
 very frequently happens . l'-i\ - 
 
 that the amount of room ', ' i 
 
 this necessitates is not at 
 the disposal of the 
 owner, and in this case Fig. 15. 
 
 chickens of about the same age will do better when put 
 together than if tbey vary much in this particular. But if 
 from want of accommodation, chickens of different ages are 
 unavoidably compelled to be fed together in the open yard, 
 the older ones will tyrannize over their younger companions 
 
 t: 
 
114 
 
 THE HOXJDAN FOWL 
 
 and gorge themselves with food, while the lesser ones will for 
 a certainty " go short " unless some provision be made that 
 all enjoy their proper modicum. This is most effectually pro- 
 vided for by using the 
 ' lattice chicken folds,' 
 as represented by Figs. 
 15, 16, 17, for it will 
 be seen that chickens 
 of different sizes are 
 thus enabled to have 
 their due share with- 
 out being disturbed, or 
 driven about by older 
 ^^' ' birdsin theirquestof it. 
 
 When the runs are extensive, planting shrubs in them is 
 highly advisable ; they give shade to the birds, and have also 
 a pretty appearance. Another excellent method is to plant, 
 
 towards April, various 
 sorts of cabbages in a 
 portion of the run set 
 apart for that purpose. 
 This cabbage planta- 
 tion will be found of 
 great advantage when 
 chickens of three or 
 four months old, or 
 even older^ are turned 
 into it. 
 
 Chickens should not 
 be permitted to perch 
 Fig- 17- too soon, or crooked 
 
 breasts will in all probability be the "result. This pecu- 
 liarity is really caused by the reason of their being so 
 
CROOKKt) BREASTS AND THEIR PREVENTATIVE. 115 
 
 profitable; the more profitable the more tbey are liable to it, 
 for they put on flesh very rapidly, more rapidly at times than 
 they form stout bone to carry it, and consequently the tender 
 cartilage is bent or twisted by the weight it has to bear when 
 the chicken is on the perch. It is not often that a disfigure- 
 ment equally affects a bird reared for exhibition and for the 
 table, but it is so with this defect; in fact, it is more unsightly 
 when the fowl is trussed and dressed than when it is alive^ 
 for then it needs to be examined and handled before this 
 malformation is disclosed. This is a serious defect in the 
 prize pen, and certainly an unsightly one at the dinner table. 
 The best way to prevent it is the daily use of the bone meal 
 already alluded to, and to litter the young chickens, as is 
 done with a lot of young pigs. Upon a dry floor covered 
 with sifted earth, put a good litter of short straw ; the straw 
 should be daily lifted and shaken, and all uncleanliness re- 
 moved. Or dry ashes, if preferred, about a couple of inches 
 in depth, can be substituted ; but they should be taken away 
 every morning and replaced by a fresh supply. Either of 
 these plans will keep the chickens warm all day, and at night 
 — when the temperature is colder — an " artificial " mother 
 aflbrds a capital means of guarding against its effects. Fig. 
 18 shows a really useful rearing apparatus of this description 
 which will prove of infinite value in bringing up the young 
 stock without the services of a hen at all, if so desired, the 
 necessary heat being very simply afibrded by a water vessel 
 and lamp. It is no use to have the chickens warm at 
 night, if during the day, they are exposed to chills ; they 
 should have extra means of warmth during the hours when 
 the greater degree of cold exists ; in the artificial mother, 
 huddled together, they get this additional warmth ; and if 
 light screens are placed in front of the runs, as suggested in 
 page 29, such an emergency is at once provided for. 
 
1]6 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 Indeed, when poultry operations are extensively conducted, 
 and it is intended to raise a large proportion of chickens 
 with comparatively few hens, we quite agree with Mr. W. M . 
 Lewis, for it is -asy^ practically corroborated " that they can be 
 just as well reared — and in some cases even better — by artificial 
 than by the natural method. The only use of the hen ," as 
 he observes, " is to prevent the natural heat of the chick's 
 body from cooling — to break up the food, and protect them 
 from danger. In fact, chickens do not really require a hen. 
 They only require a suitable covering for their bodies until 
 fuU-fledged to preserve their natural heat, so as to keep their 
 bodies warm the same as full-grown fowls. 
 
 " The artificial mother is very convenient to persons raising 
 poultry, either on a large or small scale, to get early chickens 
 in January or February, when the weather will not permit 
 them to run out, and to have fine large fowls for exhibition 
 in the fall months. For large poultry-dealers a good light 
 house is required, with good ventilation, without a draught ; 
 a dry and well-gravelled floor ; sun-light, and a small run, 
 with a little fire, in very cold, damp, chilly, and rainy days, to 
 keep the atmosphere dry, is all that is needed to raise as fine 
 chickens as may be desired. The artificial mother, however, 
 is a great economizer of time and labour — saves the necessity 
 of any coops which would otherwise be needed. It protects 
 the little chicks from the changeableness of the weather ; and 
 by this mode they are also completely under control, and 
 where they can be given all sorts of nourishing drinks and 
 food without fear or trouble from the mother hen." 
 
 Mr. Crook, the inventor of the apparatus of which we have 
 given an illustration, further claims that " the young chicks, 
 artificially reared, are not subject to so many risks as when 
 the hen is with them ; they are not liable to be called into 
 danger nor into wet places. The only thing required is a little 
 
PICKING OUT ATASTE CHICKENS. 
 
 117 
 
 extra watching to feed and provide for them as near to nature 
 ns possible, and they will thrive with every appearance of 
 natural means having been employed, and with full reward 
 for the little extra attention bestowed upon them." 
 
 To get fine birds, the cockerels, at eight or nine weeks old, 
 should be separated from the pullets, or, from their vigorous 
 propensities, they will attain maturity too soon, notwith- 
 standing all the trouble that may be bestowed to get them 
 large and well proportioned. 
 
 At this time, or within a week or two later at most, the 
 whole of the youngsters should be well scanned, and all but 
 
 Fig. 18. 
 
 the really promising ones disposed of ; twisted or fallen crests, 
 deficiency or deformity of the toes, crooked backs or beaks, will, 
 of course, preclude any idea of prize-winning ; but a scantiness 
 of beard at this age, in comparison with the crest, is very com- 
 mon, the chickens being sometimes three parts fledged ere the 
 beard developes itself in the cockerels to any considerable 
 degree ; also, if bred from well-marked, darkish birds, no 
 chicken, if otherwise good, should be slightingly passed over 
 for presenting a rather light appearance at this period, for 
 although, after their first moult, the adult fowls certainly do 
 
118 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 get lighter coloured, the chickens, on the contrary, will get con- 
 siderably darker as they get older. But if the semi-Cre ve-coeur 
 type (alluded to in our opening chapter) is to gain still further 
 ascendancy (we now speak of colour only) we must then co- 
 incide with Mr. E. B. Wood, that pullets and cockerels both, 
 must be very dark indeed to make good-coloured birds in 
 after years ; and, further, that although such birds may be too 
 dark for immediate competition, they may, neverthless, pro- 
 vided they are good in other respects, be useful for showing 
 or breeding at a future time. 
 
 In fine seasons, early-hatched pullets, fed as we have 
 recommended, will almost for a certainty lay at about five 
 months old ; and to prevent it, is at times diifioult, the in- 
 creasing warmth of the year developing all animal growth 
 and fecundity in a wonderful manner ; meat, in any form, 
 should not be given at this time to either sex ; it will cause a 
 premature enlargement of the combs of the young cocks, and 
 give the pullets a direct tendency to carry out nature's 
 dictates too early for the attainment of that " large " size so 
 desired, but bone-meal should still be used. When the combs 
 of the pullets become enlarged and red, thereby exhibiting a 
 sign that may lead one to suspect in them a tendency to lay, 
 they should be shifted to fresh quarters as soon as possible. 
 Changing their runs, in most cases, has the efiect, for 
 a short period generally, of checking the instinct ; indeed, 
 by its studied repetition, some breeders have thus put off for 
 several weeks its actual fulfilment, — but to the fowl's deprecia- 
 tion after, we must add, more or less in its value as an egg-pro- 
 ducer. In moderation, and begun at a comparatively earlier 
 period — say when they are about fifteen or sixteen weeks old — 
 not quite so much harm is, perhaps, done to their future 
 laying prospects by shifting them . about from run to run 
 every two or three weeks ; and laying may be thus postponed 
 
RETAKDINr, LAYING. 119 
 
 even in early-hatched birds considerably bej'ond the usual 
 time. 
 
 From some remarks made by Mr. T. Waterman, in the 
 " Fancier's Gazette," wo gather that of a brood of chickens 
 hatched in January three in the following May began to lay ; 
 seeing this, he at once transferred the remainder to a different 
 pen, and gave them the following food, viz., equal propor- 
 tions of barley meal and sharps in the morning — but rather 
 limited as to quantity — and, with the exception of green food, 
 represented by a suspended cabbage, and of good heavy barley, 
 one feed, and that about three o'clock in the afternoon, was 
 all they received till the following morning. But this altera- 
 tion of diet and run procured in a measure the result he 
 aimed at, their haby-lihe appearance being maintained, and 
 growth proceeding rapidly. Sharps, barley-meal, boiled meat 
 minced and incorporated with a slight seasoning of ground 
 carraway seeds and cut grass with crushed oyster shells, was the 
 previous course of feeding he had adopted. The roosting houses 
 of the pullets subjected to the altered treatment, he adds, 
 " were quite open in front and ends, so as to be as cold as 
 possible for the season of the year." He gives it as his opinion 
 (and one, moreover, in which we perfectly concur) that "warm 
 housing promotes laying quite as much as diet ;" he recom- 
 mends the above as being " the best method for retarding the 
 laying of young pullets, and finds it succeed by removing them 
 to another pen every month." 
 
 In thus briefly pointing out what latitude can be given in 
 this direction, we must candidly admit that the practice is 
 considerably deteriorating the " laying " qualities not only of 
 Houdans, but most other breeds ; and so long as this really 
 valuble instinct is sacrificed for mere beauty of form and 
 feather, Yfe are afraid there wiU be little chance of improve- 
 ment in this respect, unless it be whilst the one class of poultry 
 
120 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 breeders are directing their energies to the furtherance of 
 certain points of a " fancy " value, others encourage and en- 
 deavour to ii/iprove the laying instincts as suggested in a 
 previous chapter. 
 
 We have found that the chickens certainly get in finer 
 condition with a wide range ; but the worst of it is they ma- 
 ture far too rapidly to make large exhibition fowls. Con- 
 finement, on the contrary, and want of sufficient exercise, 
 although productive of size, if appropriate feeding is combined, 
 tell to a certain extent upon tbe carriage of the birds, which 
 from this cause is, perhaps, not quite so sprightly as is seen 
 in other chickens that have been allowed more latitude in 
 their bringing up. It follows, therefore, that runs of medium 
 extent, just sufficiently large to ensure a constant plenti- 
 tude of green food, and no larger, affijrds the best facilities 
 after aU ; they, moreover, are conducive to that regidarUy of 
 feeding we have already alluded to, and which is so essential, 
 but which it is almost impossible to carry out where the range 
 is very extensive. 
 
 As sad havoc is at times made not only with food, but eggs 
 and chickens likewise, by rats and cats, a few simple hints to 
 obviate this and set these unwelcome visitors at defiance de- 
 serve attention. A correspondent to the " Poultry Bulletin," 
 who, it appears, sufiered considerably by the food in his 
 poultry-houses being eaten by rats, after trying many unsuc- 
 cessful experiments, at length devised the following simple 
 expedient, which he remarks " may be as old as the hills to 
 many readers," but it was new to him, and may be to many 
 others who would like to profit by his experience : — 
 
 " Take a round tin pan, punch three holes at equal dis- 
 tances near the rim, and fasten a piece of wire or cord, about 
 fifteen inches long, in each hole ; secure the ends together, 
 and attach them to a single cord, and suspend the pan from 
 
KNEMIKS TO CHICKENS. 121 
 
 the ceiling of your poultry-house so that the bottom of it is 
 about six inches from the ground. Your fowls can easily eat 
 out of the pan ; but the rats are unable to, on account of the 
 swinging motion, the pan giving away as soon as they touch 
 it. It is, of course, necessary to suspend the feeding trough 
 or pan, which ever you like to call it, clear of any boxes or 
 anything from which the rats can get into it." 
 
 Poison is undoubtedly the best safeguard against rats — and 
 many writers aver for " cats " too — but as we are no advocates 
 for unnecessary slaughter, we are of opinion that other means 
 may be found that are quite as effectual. Of the former class 
 of intruders we are happy to say we have been hitherto free, 
 and, as regards the latter, we may observe that we never give 
 them a chance of harming our young stock, the latter being 
 too well protected. In other yards we have known a piece of 
 wood saturated with valerian oil and Battle's Vermin Killer 
 well incorporated with a piece of meat, and attached to the 
 wood, to be thoroughly efficacious for rats. The wood is to 
 be placed in a rat run, properly secured, and, need we say, 
 wholly beyond the reach of the hens. Rats are not bad 
 judges of some of the good things of this Hfe. To eggs, in 
 particular, they evince a strong partiality ; and, as it has 
 been known that even those under a setting hen have with 
 impunity been abstracted by them, it of course is not sur- 
 prising that where readier access is obtained — such as to 
 the ordinary laying nests — the eggs will at times rapidly dis- 
 appear if not collected very frequently. 
 
 Several methods have been suggested for checking Pussy's 
 depredations, but to be really effectual involve more or less 
 cruelty. The two following plans, given by a correspondent 
 in the " Fancier's Gazette," are not, however, quite so open 
 to this objection ; they appear to have been successful, and, 
 therefore, worth repeating, and, moreover, a fancier by these 
 
122 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 means incurs no risk of being brought within the clutches of 
 the law. He writes thus : — 
 
 " I discovered a notorious ' chicken-eater ' concealed in a 
 hamper, quite close to the ' run,' quietly contemplating the 
 chance of a plump chicken for dinner. I immediately pro- 
 cured a bucket of cold water, and treated the depredator to a 
 cold bath, which had such an effect on his nervous system 
 that he never attempted to come near the chickens again. 
 In justice to Miss Watts, the celebrated breeder of fowls, I 
 must say that it was through her that I heard of the experi- 
 ment. T think if some of your readers would try the cold 
 water cure when trapped, they will find it act successfully, as 
 I have proved. 
 
 " Another experiment. I secured our house cat close to 
 the young chicks, placing one within easy reach of the cat. 
 When I found the cat inclined to pounce upon the chick, I 
 applied a thin switch to his sides, and, after treating him to 
 the rod two or three times, I allowed him to move about with 
 the chickens. He soon became reconciled, and now moves 
 about amongst them, never attempting to molest them." 
 
 Eggs from first-class brood stock being of considerably 
 greater value during the early period of the year — either for 
 selling or Lome sitting — than later on, it is a matter of no 
 small importance to consider how they can be best ensured. 
 It was our intention to have animadverted on this subject at 
 the close of the preceding chapter, but a few words in 
 concluding the present one relating thereto may we think with 
 due propriety be admitted. At first sight, this object would 
 appear to be very easily accomplished, as in September, at the 
 very latest, early-hatched pullets will prove productive if 
 special means, as already pointed out, are not taken to p7-event 
 it. But from what we have elsewhere stated, it will be 
 gathered that their eggs are not quite so well adapted for 
 
MEANS FOR ENSURING EAHLY EGGS. 123 
 
 hatching purposes as those from mature hens. We said in 
 page 49 that it was not at all uncommon for the hens, during 
 the latter part of the season, to occasionally evince a broody 
 tendency ; and we also there further mentioned our reason 
 for encouraging it, when the birds were of value,— as the 
 reader will perceive by referring to the page in question, — for 
 nothing will facilitate the object here in view more than this. 
 But as it happens that the larger pi-oportion of the hens of 
 this breed never take to the nest excepting for the purpose 
 of depositing a more or less valuable product, — keeping on 
 laying in fact for an indefinite period if fed to this end, — our 
 suggestion in this case is in no way applicable, for they 
 would be leaving off at the very time their eggs were most 
 wanted. 
 
 As then, in the instance of pullets, a somewhat similar 
 course of treatment must be carried out as the autumn ap. 
 proaches, keeping them from the cock bird until three weeks 
 or a month before their eggs are wanted, frequent changes of 
 run being resorted to, and every kind of stimulating diet un- 
 flinchingly withheld. By these means there will be a moderate 
 proportion of fertile eggs which can be depended upon when 
 most required. We have said a moderate proportion, because 
 a very large number on which reliance can be really placed in 
 the very early season can scarcely be expected. For, notwith- 
 standing the admitted vigorous nature of the Houdan cock, 
 an older bird of any breed, as a rule in cold weather, will fail 
 to impart that fertility to the egg which may be expected 
 in a younger compeer ; but much may be done to produce 
 it by special feeding, not only while separately confined, but 
 after the breeding pen is made up for the season. The mode- 
 rate use of stimulants and tonics as accessories to the ordinary 
 diet will now prove particularly serviceable ; but these must 
 at all times be regulated according to the condition of the 
 
] 24 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 fowls and the state of the weather. There is no harm, how- 
 ever, in giving animal food daily, and while the occasional use 
 of condiments cannot but prove advantageous, their continual 
 use is to be condemned. 
 
 Perhaps one of the most useful prescriptions for the inden- 
 tical purpose we are now considering is the following : — 
 
 Gentian Koot loz. 
 
 Carbonate of Iron 4oz. 
 
 Sulphate of Quinine loz. 
 
 Aniseed loz. 
 
 Cayenne loz. 
 
 These ingredients must be all finely powdered and thoroughly 
 mixed, and kept in a stoppered bottle for use ; this formula 
 being, perhaps, a somewhat expensive one, a . lesser quan- 
 tity can be made up if desired, care being taken to observe 
 the above proportions. For use, just a sufficiency should be 
 added to the morning meal of soft food to flavour it, but not 
 to impregnate it too strongly. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SUGGESTIONS ON EXHIBITING. 
 
 _ __|S October approaches, and shows follow one another 
 l^wl thick and fast, ere our fancier launches his bark 
 upon the deceptive waters of prize-poultry competi- 
 tion, a few hints may not prove unacceptable as a guide to the 
 haven of success. For however good birds may be, as remarked 
 by Mr. W. H. Nichols, " they all require more or less 
 attention in preparing them for the show-pen. No one who 
 keeps race-horses, and who had any expectation of winning, 
 would send an untrained horse to run in a race, neither will 
 an experienced exhibitor send his birds to a show without 
 first preparing them." 
 
 When showing, then, is really decided upon, a rather 
 higher, and more liberal class of feeding than we have 
 hitherto advocated, is in the fi.rst place usually found 
 more or less necessary ; therefore daily, for a week or 
 two preceding exhibition, stimulating diet, such as linseed 
 jelly, meat, hempseed, &c., are frequently given with the 
 ordinary food, such ingredients adding considerably to the 
 " plumpness" of the birds, and to the lustre of their plumage ; 
 but excess should be strictly avoided ; and no approach to 
 fattening be allowed. In the case of cockerels only, the 
 daily use of raw crushed bones meet with favour at the hands 
 of several of our well-known exhibitors ; and from their 
 gelatinous composition they certainly facilitate full and 
 profuse feathering ; but a friend of ours, when congratulated 
 two seasons back at the " Palace" show upon the splendid 
 condition of a cockerel, told us afterwards in confidence 
 
 I 
 
126 THE HOTJDAN FOWL. 
 
 (there is no harm in now divulging it, as, poor fellow, he has 
 " gone the way of all flesh") that he was indebted for the 
 result to several extensive repasts of crushed " snails" he 
 had regaled the bird with for the previous month." Such 
 diet, however — we are speaking now of raw bones — beneficial 
 as it may be for the cockerels or the older male birds, should 
 be very cautiously used where pullets or hens are concerned, 
 all stimulating food having a tendency to produce inflammation 
 of the egg-organs. Sulphate of iron solution gives a 
 great brilliancy to the comb and plumage, and also that tone 
 usually expected in a first-class cup-winner. These auxiliaries 
 should therefore not be lost sight of in getting birds ready 
 for exhibition. 
 
 Where the fowls are kept on a large range, or in the ease 
 of newly-purchased ones to test their merits, or restrain their 
 wildnesSj we advise the fancier having a shed at disposal, and 
 therein to form a few pens — this a week or so before the in- 
 tended exhibition will be found in every way almost necessary- 
 These pens shoiild be placed from three to four feet from 
 the ground, and be of different sizes, according to the size of 
 the birds. Each pen should be fitted with a wire front ; in such 
 they (the birds) may be kept perfectly safe for some con- 
 siderable time, if so desired, soft food, grass, small gravel and 
 water being of course requisite. The advantage of such pens, 
 moreover, are, that the iatending exhibitor can thus compare 
 his best birds not only leisurely and quietly, but thoroughly 
 scrutinize them, point by point, before he absolutely determines 
 which is the best ; for this is not always the easy matter which 
 anyone unacquainted with the matter would suppose, and, in the 
 present day, owing to the excellent standard to which show birds 
 are, as a rule, now brought, it is simply cost and trouble use- 
 lessly expended to send ofl' any but the best with a view to 
 prize-taking. 
 
VALUE OF TAMENESS IN SHOW BIIIDS. 127 
 
 Tamonoss, in all intended exhibition birds^ should bo 
 encourai>'cd by every possible means. How frequently re;illy 
 good specimens are passed over by a judge simply because, 
 they, being of a wild or timorous nature, crouch into corners, 
 and look their "worst," instead of their "best," many an 
 exhibitor knows but two well-; whereas a tame bird will stand 
 bolt upright and defiant, in front of the pen, appearing only 
 too pleased to court observation. We therefore maintain 
 that any treatment conducive to such results should not be 
 lost sight of. " If they can be kept for a time in a yard by 
 the house " remarks Miss Watts, " where crumbs and scraps 
 from the table are thrown out, and where they can have 
 notice from children and other members of the family, the 
 familiar tameness they will acquire will tell well in their looks 
 in the exhibition pen, where the scared look of a wild fowl, 
 or the self-possessed, quiet demeanour of a tame one, makes a 
 great difference." 
 
 As a good method of preparing choice cockerels for the 
 ordeal of exhibition, it has been suggested to place them, 
 like younger school-boys under the ken of a superior and 
 older monitor, who by his influence can keep the youngsters 
 under surveillance. To any one observant of the manners 
 and habits of poultry, this domineering spirit of the older 
 cocks is naturally familiar, and forms an excellent discipline 
 for training the younger birds previous to their entree into 
 " female" society. Nature is nature all over the world, and 
 as a boy is ever proud of being flirted with by the opposite sex, so 
 likewise we see how young male animals, and birds particularly, 
 strut and plume themselves when placed in consort with 
 females of the same class. To those who have regarded the 
 consequential bearing of a young cock subjected to the delicate 
 attentions of two or three wide-awake hens, this must have 
 been plainly obvious, and has led more than one successful 
 
128 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 breeder to pursue this plan of placing — some few weeks be- 
 fore the intended exhibition — a promising cockerel with one 
 or two hens, thereby bringing him out with no mean opinion 
 of himself, so that when he appears at the show he will, 
 after the previous treatment, exhibit his quality and style to 
 the greatest perfection. 
 
 Valuable birds are frequently unfitted for exhibition through 
 the untimely loss of their feathers, more particularly those of 
 the tail. This is mainly caused in small yards by their being 
 constantly worried by tyrannical companions; to get away 
 from them the unfortunate bird rushes into corners and out 
 of the way places to escape punishment, and the mischief is 
 done. Every care, then, should be taken to avoid this irre- 
 parable loss of plumage by the removal of either the quarrel- 
 some or the unoffending inmate. Again, when handling is 
 necessary for any particular purpose, and a bird of recent in- 
 troduction evinces a marked dislike to the process, remove it 
 at night from its roosting place, when it will be free from 
 alarm or resistance. 
 
 Where selection can be made from a tolerable number of 
 birds, the " matching" of a pen will be greatly facilitated ; 
 for this task is another by no means an easy one ; a pen of 
 good birds being unnoticed very frequently simply because 
 the exhibitor has, in this respect, lacked the necessary judg. 
 ment. Where a pair of Houdan hens or pullets are intended 
 to be sent, premising that they are of good size and shape, 
 their heads, crests, and beards should be the counterpart of 
 one another in appearance, and the plumage should also match 
 and be as evenly marked as possible, on the breast particu- 
 larly, even if the other parts do not so closely con-espond, but 
 general evenness of marking should be studiously endeavoured 
 to be maintained, for a " pair " of such birds, correct in every 
 particular of form and feather, are always worth at least three 
 
MAKIKG UP THE PENS FOR EXHIBITION. 129 
 
 or four times the price of a single bird, owing to their increased 
 usefulness in an exhibitional sense, although the points of the 
 single one may be equivalent in every degree. 
 
 In examining and comparing the two hens or pullets^ great 
 care must be taken ; their,legs and plumage should in general 
 correspond as to colour, and their combs, crests, and general 
 form be also similar in size and proportion. Having taken 
 these precautions, a further examination must be passed, as 
 regards the neck-hackles, backs, and tails, which should be of 
 the same colour and marking ; the breast and wings must 
 be also carefully examined. Having gone thus carefully 
 through these details, our fancier must endeavour to form 
 some opinion of his own what chance his birds possess of win- 
 ning. For, whilst insisting on the absolute necessity of a 
 thorough scrutiny on their behalf, and that he should be 
 perfectly cognizant of any shortcoming regarding them, 
 nevertheless, a certain margin may safely be left for what we 
 may term the balance of chances. 
 
 Naturally, faults of too prominant a character, cannot be 
 expected to pass muster ; but there is this to be said, that 
 even after taking into consideration the now generally 
 acknowledged goodness of show specimens, it yet happens 
 that every point of a bird seldom culminates in absolute per- 
 fection. Therefore if the blemishes in the amateur's own 
 birds be of a slight nature only, there is still good hope of 
 winning, inasmuch as few birds (if any) are, as we have 
 aleady intimated, wholly without them ; and consequently 
 the imperfections in one pen will be compared with others, 
 thus giving a fair chance to all. 
 
 Weight is another thing that must not be overlooked; 
 for the largest looking birds are frequently far from the 
 heaviest when placed in the scale, and this item always gains, 
 in this breed, a judge's casting vote, other points being of 
 
130 
 
 TliE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 equal value. To acertain a bird^s exact weight iu the easiest 
 
 and readiest manner, the fancier will find the apparatus 
 
 Fig. 19 invaluable. 
 
 The cock must match the females he is to accompany in 
 
 general appearance, but his comb and wattles should be well 
 developed in contradistinction to these 
 comparatively rudimental appendages 
 in the hens or pullets, and the mark- 
 ings in his case will be a trifle larger in 
 size. 
 
 Of recent years " single'^ classes seem 
 to have been creeping into favour at our 
 large shows, and as many a fancier 
 may have possibly a cook or hen of 
 a really first-class kind, such should be 
 sent in preference to making up an 
 indifferent pen, and thus mn the risk of 
 being unnoticed. 
 
 The best way for our tyro to follow, 
 when he has decided to exhibit, is to 
 apply to the different secretaries of forth- 
 coming shows for schedules of prizes, in 
 which all particulars connected there- 
 with will be given ; he will, as a matter 
 of course, choose the one which appears 
 to him to be the most advantageous 
 and suitable to his birds. When this 
 point is definitely settled and the " entry 
 form,'' carefully filled up, has been 
 forwarded, there will be generally an 
 interval of two or three weeks for final preparation previous 
 
 to the departure of the birds. 
 
 Washing, if effected with care, certainly enhances the 
 
 appearance of the plumage, and the generality of exhibitors 
 
 make a point of doing it the night before they send their 
 
 Fig. 19. 
 
PINAL TREATMENT FOR EXHIBITION. 131 
 
 birds off. Regarding the Brdinary variety, the process is not 
 absolutely requisite^ if they have had a fair- sized grass run ; 
 but it will be found necessary to cleanse their legs with soap 
 and water by means of a tolerably hard nail-brush ; and also 
 to wash their eombsj wattles^ and faces ; and their crests in 
 particular will probably require some attention. In the case 
 of the "white" variety, however, washing is more particularly 
 required for the attainment of that almost absolute purity 
 of feather which competition demands, and in fact necessitates, 
 in the case of all white birds. Further details on this subject 
 will be found in the short chapter we have devoted to "White 
 Houdans. ' ' 
 
 To improve the look of the birds, some exhibitors "■ oil the 
 red," as it is technically termed ; that is, with a slightly 
 greased piece of clean rag or sponge they gently rub over the 
 comb and wattles; it certainly gives a very soft, brilliant 
 appearance ; but the objection to it is that, if at all overdone, 
 the least exposure to dust makes the parts thus anointed look 
 infinitely worse for the operation : diluted vinegar, similarly 
 applied, will give the desired result, without any attendant 
 drawback. 
 
 A strong round or oval-shaped hamper is, perhaps, the best for 
 the conveyance of the birds ; clean, short straw or hay should 
 be placed at the bottom ; a small cabbage and a largish piece of 
 the bottom of a loaf, slightly moistened, both well secured 
 with string to opposite sides of the hamper, should also be 
 provided for them to peck at during their journey; where 
 the latter is of considerable extent, port wine is sometimes 
 given to the birds to make them sleep during the greater part 
 of it. We may add that any damaged feathers, that is to say 
 bent ones, should be carefully removed, and the plumage 
 smoothed in the proper direction with a very soft cloth before 
 the birds are placed in the basket. 
 
133 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 "There is much. fmsse in exhibiting," remarks Mr. Long,* 
 "intelligent fanciers necessarily think for themselves, and 
 discover innumerable little wrinkles whereby their stock may 
 be improved and expenses lessened. Birds are usually 
 forwarded "without delay" by the railway, and in most 
 cases they may be left on their runs until within an hour or 
 less of their departure by a train, which may be fixed upon as 
 certain to land them in sufficient time. 
 
 "At some shows the rules are so stringent, that five 
 minutes after the stated time a pen would be disqualified, an 
 entry refused or forfeited, or a slight clerical error admitted 
 as an objection to a prize winner. As a rule, these narrow 
 views are adopted by the agricultural shows, where poultry 
 are admitted as the small fry, for the pleasure of the farmer's 
 wife and those towns-folk who are unable to delight in 
 cattle. As examples we know of one case in which a cup, 
 awarded to Brahmas, was withheld through their being acci- 
 dentally described in the catalogue as Bantams ; and in another 
 entries were refused the day after "closing," although four 
 times the amount was offered for each. At all properly 
 organized poultry shows, however, a fair margin is allowed, 
 and an omission in description, age, &c., does not disqualify. 
 
 " It is important in some cases where an entry is made in 
 a " variety" class ; if the exhibitor keep two or more varieties 
 competent to enter, he is bound to send that entered if he 
 give the exact description, whereas it will be noticed that the 
 leading exhibitors give neither name of variety, or age, in 
 such cases. 
 
 "When all is ready, and the train selected, the hamper to 
 which the secretary's printed label has been tied may be 
 dispatched, and perhaps, if a catalogue is sent for, patience 
 
 * "Poultry for Prizes and Profit," James Long. 
 
TREATMENT AFTER SHOWING. 133 
 
 maybe rewarded," although, as the writer judiciously observes, 
 "too much should not be expected at first; and unless the 
 birds are su£ficiently good to warrant being " high up," they 
 had better stay at home. Many an amateur has split upon 
 the rock of hope, and swam to shore on the wings of disap- 
 pointment." 
 
 The above remarks are worth remembering, for, as wOl have 
 been gathered from observations in the Chapter IV., the grand 
 object with the amateur fancier in exhibiting is, that he may 
 judge his birds by comparison, and thus discover from time 
 to time how, and in what manner, he can improve his 
 stock ; as his birds improve with his own more matured 
 knowledge, exhibition generally will be found to decrease his 
 expenditure by bringing himself, and his birds, more 
 prominently forward ; and thus, by creating a market for his 
 eggs and stock, place a very satisfactory balance on the 
 proper side of his " poultry book." 
 
 Fowls should on no consideration be sent off to a show with 
 their crops full of hard grain, such a practice being particu- 
 larly unadvisable ; they get hot and feverish, and thus lose 
 condition. Their treatment on their return is frequently 
 of still more importance ; and as the feeding even now, at 
 many shows, is guided more by a sense of convenience than 
 by what is really necessitated on the part of the birds, the 
 latter often evince a feverish tendency when they arrive home. 
 If such is apparent, a very moderate repast of warm soft 
 food, with very little drink, for the next four and twenty 
 hours, should be given; and by administering to each bird 
 one tea- spoonful of castor oil the last thing at night, and a 
 moderate supply of green food the next morning, they will soon 
 come round. It occasionally happens that fowls are so weakened 
 and exhausted from the cruel practice of over-showing that 
 the use of stimulants becomes almost a necessity ; port wine. 
 
134 THE HOUDAN FOWL 
 
 or a pill of barley-meal, well seasoned with pimento, ginger, 
 camphor, or cayenne pepper, are the usual remedies. We 
 need scarcely say that on the part of fowls so invalided, 
 separation from the rest of the stock is necessary. 
 
 Although Houdans will stand the fatigue and excitement 
 of showing equally with most breeds, it is painful to witness, 
 as we so frequently have done, these uncomplaining creatures — 
 ?Micomplaining, be it always recollected, from their utter 
 inability to do otherwise — literally "done to death." 
 Viewing the mere act of exhibition and what it involves, 
 even in its most favorable light, — that is to say when 
 such is really conducted with some due regard to the 
 health and comfort of the birds — the proceeding is not 
 entirely devoid of a certain degree of cruelty, notwithstanding 
 what is said on the contrary. Let any reader picture to 
 himself, if he can, what his own feelings would be, in being 
 placed in a hamper, consigned to the dark recesses of a 
 railway luggage van for several hours ; on arriving at his 
 destination, being taken out and confined within the narrow 
 limits of a barred cage, scarcely large enough to admit of his 
 turning about with any moderate degree of ease ; to be kept 
 in such a cage for two or three, or even more, days at a 
 stretch, in frequently an oppressive atmosphere ; again 
 transferred to the hamper to repeat a similar process perhaps 
 miles hence, and then the final journey home. If any 
 exhibitor can truly realize these conditions, let him reflect 
 upon the feelings of the birds, drooping gradually in their 
 prisons, with no excitement about the honour of winning and 
 anxious only for the termination of their confinement and a 
 return to the open air, grass fields, and liberty; and 
 let us hope, for humanity's sake, he will for the future 
 show some slight compassion on his feathered prisoners, even 
 if it may be to the loss of a money prize or cup. 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF EXHIBITORS. 135 
 
 To the genuine fancier, who is always something of an 
 enthusiast, these remarks in no way apply ; for he cares for, 
 and really values, his birds, as "pearls above price." It is to 
 that class of exhibitors, who are reckless as to the consequen- 
 ces, so that tliey win — such indeed as we have alluded to in 
 page 88, and to which we more particularly direct our 
 present remarks. The difference between these two classes, 
 it will thus be seen, is considerable ; one attaches merely a 
 monetary value to his birds, proportionate with their 
 capabilities, for the time being, of fanning the flame of their 
 owner's supposed popularity. The other devotes his time 
 and attention to the pursuit '' for the love of it," and when 
 he does carry off a prize, he has the inward satisfaction of 
 feeling that he has honestly earned his success. When 
 fanciers of the latter class compete, their birds are certain 
 to be properly looked after, and however hard it may be at 
 times to "lose,^' if their rivals also exhibit in the same 
 spirit which instigates themselves, their want of success is 
 less keenly felt, for honest rivalry is the very back-bone and 
 essence of poultry-fancying and exhibiting. 
 
 In reference to judging, well-proportioned bulk, combined 
 with healthy condition, should in our opinion have precedent 
 over most other points in every case where decision wavers, 
 although we may add the rule is seldom observed ; the 
 utility Qii the Houdan, rather than its mere ornamentability, 
 we think ought to be considered far oftener than appears to 
 be the case. 
 
 It win be seen that we have appended three different 
 scales of points for deciding the relative merits of the 
 breed in the show pen. The first, which was framed by Mr. 
 Tegetmier, is taken from " The English Standard of Excel- 
 lence," as follows : — 
 
136 
 
 THE HOUDAN FOWIi. 
 
 PaiiUs in ffoudans. 
 
 Size 
 
 Crest 
 
 Symmetry 
 
 Plumage... 
 
 Condition 
 
 Five claws 
 
 4 
 4 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 Disqualifications in Eoudans. 
 
 Absence of crest 
 
 Deformity of any kind. 
 
 Main colour, or ground colour, 
 
 any other . than Black and 
 
 White. 
 
 Since competition, however, has increased with such 
 gigantic strides, it has been thought that the total number of 
 15 points, as above given, are for various reasons practically 
 inadequate for arriving at correct decisions ; this has induced 
 our Transatlantic cousins to add considerably thereto in 
 framing a standard of their own ; in fact, to bring it up to 
 100 points, as the following schedule from " The American 
 Standard of Excellence" will testify : — 
 
 Disqualifications. 
 
 Absence of crest, muffling, and 
 fifth toe, deformity of any 
 description, the ground colour 
 any other than Black and 
 White. Colour not matching 
 in pen. Ked feathers in any 
 part of the plumage. Feathers 
 on legs. 
 
 Meritorious points in Eoudans. 
 
 Size 
 
 ... 25 
 
 Crest 
 
 ... 15 
 
 Breast 
 
 ... 10 
 
 Comb 
 
 ... 10 
 
 Symmetry 
 
 ... 15 
 
 Plumage 
 
 ... 15 
 
 Condition 
 
 ... 10 
 
 
 100 
 
SCALES FOR JUDGING. 137 
 
 The superiority of this scale over the preceding, and the 
 facility with which it carries out the object of its compilers, 
 is very obvious. But as certain differences in value between 
 the sexes, even by this standard, are not provided for, 
 Mr. Wright has shown the propriety of attaching values to 
 defects only, rather than to points of merit, which the subjoined 
 table from the "Illustrated Book of Poultry," will readily 
 convey : — 
 
 VALUE OP DEFECTS IN JUDGING. 
 
 Defects to ie Deducted. 
 
 Bad comb 7 
 
 Deficiency in crest or muffling 12 
 Straw-coloured feathers ... 9 
 
 Points of Merit. 
 
 A bird perfect in shape, car- 
 riage, and colour, and in 
 perfect health and con- 
 dition, to count in points 100 
 
 Plumage too light, or to dark, 
 or unevenly broken ... 8 
 
 Want of size 20 
 
 „ condition 15 
 
 ,, symmetry ... ... 12 
 
 DisquaUcfiaiions.— Absence of fifth toe, absence of muffling, of beard, or 
 of crest. Red or brown feathers in plumage, or total absence of black or 
 white. Yellow or feathered shanks. Wry tails, or any other bodily defor- 
 mity , any fraudulent dying, dressing, or trimming. 
 
 We should mention that, in appending the foregoing scales, 
 our object has been rather, to afford the amateur opportunities 
 during his leizure moments, of advantageously studying the 
 points of his birds, and thus forming for himself some 
 accurate opinion of their actual competitive value — than as 
 suggesting on our own part any fixed or arbitrary table for 
 judging them — for this must of necessity be guided, to a 
 great extent, by increased competition as the standard of 
 perfection yet further advances. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WHITE HOUDANS. 
 
 |HITE Houdans, although not so generally known as 
 their more familiar mottled kindred, are nevertheless 
 far from being uncommon^ either in England, France, 
 or America, and appear to us to demand a few words entirely 
 to themselves. 
 
 This variety shows aU the usual characteristics of the breed, 
 excepting colour, which should be pure white. A town yard, 
 however, is certainly not best adapted for them, owing to their 
 their plumage becoming soiled so easily, not but what white 
 birds of other breeds have, we know, been not only kept in 
 space of a very limited extent, and under other great disadvan- 
 tages, which have proved a source of no inconsiderable 
 profit to their owner, beating, in fact, darker colours of the 
 same variety, frequently in the show pen ; and we can allude 
 to Cochins in this respect as an example ; but this must 
 necessarily be attributed more to the large amount of skill 
 pourtrayed in preparing them for the contest, than to the 
 delicacy of appearance their plumage would otherwise have 
 presented. 
 
 Of all the white fowls of the various denominations, each, 
 it would appear, possesses its own ardent admirers ; and there 
 seems to be no reason why a white Houdan variety should 
 prove an exception. However well adapted, too, birds of the 
 ordinary marked character may appear on a lawnor well-kept 
 plot of grass, it will be allowed that they must suffer by 
 comparison with any white compatriots as to Striking beauty 
 and dignity of appearance. Indeed, what Miss Fairhurst has 
 
ORIGIN OF THE WHITE VARIETY. 139 
 
 said of the white Dorkings might, we think, be said with equal 
 justice of this variety, " that their dress of pure white satin, 
 with its red coral ornaments, is a regal court suit, in which 
 they are fit for presentation to their Sovereign any day, on 
 the grassy banks of whose mansion no more lovely ornament 
 could be placed. They are equally to be desired for the 
 country villa, wherever a grass run can be secured in front of 
 the garden, protected by a wire or sunk fence, so that they 
 can be seen, along with the flowers, giving life and beauty 
 to the scene." 
 
 It has been suggested that the white Houdan has been 
 produced by breeding from the ordinary, but very light- 
 coloured birds, and continiiing this selection from season to 
 season until the results have been obtained. But from 
 observations, founded on our actual experience, coupled with 
 the results we have further received from ma.ny esteemed 
 correspondents, the white Houdan — unlike the white Dorking 
 to which Mr. Tegetmier has ascribed' as being the probable 
 originator of all the other varieties of that breed — is an 
 undoubted sport from the ordinary black and white birds. 
 In many cases these "'sports" have been bred from at a 
 comparatively recent date with very favourable results, and 
 we are moreover aware that more than one cultivator of the 
 ordinary type of fowl are directing their attention at this 
 very time to the culture of what may eventually prove a 
 popular, pleasing, and no less ornamental addition to the 
 better-known variety. 
 
 White Polands must not be confounded with white 
 Houdans, however, which has been done more than once; 
 but any one really possessing the slightest acquaintance with 
 the two respective breeds, the difference we should imagine 
 would soon be apparent. The bluish tinge of leg, faint 
 though it may be in the white Polish, is nevertheless 
 
140 THE nOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 particularly characteristic — to say nothing of the fleshy 
 excrescence of skull, which is more marked in this breed, 
 together with the length of tail and the general bearing, 
 presenting a wide contrast. 
 
 The major portion of the earlier specimens were, as a rule, 
 minus the extra toe, which inclines us to believe that in 
 breeding from them a cross with the white Creve-cceur had 
 very judiciously been employed, but failed simply because 
 a hen of that breed had been introduced instead of a male 
 bird. Latterly we have seen several specimens in which the 
 fifth toe was not only, present but perfectly developed, and the 
 crest and muffling very fairly proportioned; but the birds 
 themselves showed a marked falling off in size. This, too 
 may possibly be accounted for by the present existing small 
 number comparatively of the white breed, necessitating the 
 breeding from very intimately-related blood. If the sphere 
 of its culture, however, be encouraged, as we think it might be 
 by poultry-committees awarding distinct prizes, we certainly 
 believe there is every expectation of seeing quite as high a 
 standard in this respect realized as is already attained in the 
 spangled birds which fanciers are better acquainted with. 
 
 To our thinking, the better plan to be pursued to attain 
 size, without injuring the general character in any considerable 
 degree, would be to mate a couple of pure white hens of the 
 largest make obtainable with a perfectly black Creve cock ; 
 by so doing not only a fair proportion of five-clawed chickens 
 might naturally be expected — the hen's influence in this 
 respect being greater than the male bird's — but the desired 
 white plumage would be more probably insured. It may 
 appear strange, and doubtless it is, but it is a well known 
 fact nevertheless that it is the black-plumaged birds which 
 so frequently throw the white chickens. Indeed, of all 
 changes of colours, a pure white from a jet-black is, perhaps, 
 
POINTS TO BE CULTIVATED. 141 
 
 one of the very easiest to be obtained, and is exemplified in 
 many instances in poultry breeding.* 
 
 Like the ordinary variety, the characteristic features of 
 white Houdans should to a great extent assimilate, ex- 
 cepting that the plumage should be of an uniform, 
 pure rich white ; but the following points we should like to 
 see cultivated : — The crest in the cock bird to be as profuse as 
 possible, falling gracefully over the sides and the back of the 
 neck, in a semicircular sweep, showing the antlered comb in 
 its fullest proportions and perfection. The brilliant redness 
 of this last-mentioned feature, together with the wattles, 
 which should be thinnish at the edges, and which might, we 
 think, with every advantage to this variety be longer and more 
 pendulous than are usually met with, their greater scope and 
 florid appearance affording a more marked and prettier contrast 
 to the otherwise snowy whiteness of plumage. The whiskers 
 should cover the face to some extent — ^beak be black ; neck 
 nicely curved ; body deep and broad ; saddle also broad, and 
 corresponding somewhat to the width of the shoulders; a 
 fullish breast ; thighs very strongly made, but short ; legs 
 tolerably thick, but short also, set well apart, and as white 
 as possible ; all the toes, with the exception of the fifth, firm 
 and straight, but the orthodox ^^A — if it must be 
 retained — should curve with an upward tendency, and be 
 quite distinct from the rest ; the tail very full, well sickled, 
 
 * It is a singular circumstance, that when a variation of colour takes 
 place m the plumage of birds, the change from black to white appears to be 
 much more easily effected than from any other colour to white. Thus, 
 when black-red and white Game fowls are crossed, Piles are produced, in 
 which the black disappears, but the red of the saddle and hackle remains. 
 By crossing a Golden-spangled and white Polish, these spangled buff or 
 Chamois Polish are produced, in which the black spangle of the Golden 
 bird is changed into the white spangle of the Buff, the ground colour re- 
 maining almost unchanged. — "The Poultry Book," page 221. 
 
 K 
 
142 THE HOUDAN po^tl. 
 
 and somewhat erect ; an upright carriage will enchance that 
 commanding, graceful, and attractive appearance which the 
 Houdan breed so pre-eminently possesses. 
 
 The hen should resemble her male companion in contour 
 and carriage ; but her crest be as solid-looking and globular 
 in shape as possible, with an antlered comb similar to the 
 cock, but of larger size than in the ordinary variety, and the 
 wattles also, for the reason already given ; the beard and 
 mufEing full, but distinct ; in fact, as in giving our own 
 conception of what a first-class hen ought to be, ia page 
 24, as there described, of a bell-shaped form, and hanging 
 somewhat loosely from the under part of the beak ; the beak 
 itself black, as in the cock ; a well- arched neck ; nice square 
 and deep body ; with a fuUy developed breast ; well formed, 
 but short thighs and shanks, white in colour, and tolerably 
 well apart, as in the male bird, so as not to look out of 
 character with th"fe broadness of the body ; feet similar ; and 
 the tail well carried and moderately proportioned. 
 
 Like the generality of white-plumaged fowls, white 
 Houdans appear to prove no exception to the proverbial 
 straw or lemon tint manifesting itself as they mature ; but 
 more particularly conspicuous in the neck-hackles, shoulders, 
 and saddle of the cock birds ; for neither ourselves or others 
 have apparently noticed it so much in the hens. This should 
 be guarded agaiust, as far as it is practicable, by breeding 
 from specimens as free in this respect as it is possible to 
 procure them. But to infer that a pure rich white is nev6r 
 to be met with in the males, we would not for a moment 
 urge ; for a very promising male bird we saw last year — 
 owned by a lady fancier of rising merit — whose plumage 
 betrayed at the completion of his second season scarcely any 
 departure from the white tint so desired. 
 
 We have said that town yards are not the most suitable 
 
THE PLUMAGE I HOW BEST KEPT CLEAN. 143 
 
 for white- plumaged birds; but the variety we are discussing 
 appear to be somewhat harder aud closer feathered — judging 
 from what we have seen — than the ordinary spangled fowls ; 
 and therefore their plumage is less likely to be affected by a 
 smoky atmosphere than that of white birds perhaps usually is. 
 To keep the plumage in truly white condition, the fowls 
 should not be unnecessarily exposed to the scorching rays of 
 the summer's sun — this, beyond a doubt, influencing the 
 yellowish tinge previously spoken of, and which is so highly 
 objectionable to all white-plumaged birds of the domestic kind. 
 Covered runs are the best preventative, combined with 
 country road-side grit of a very clean description, for them 
 to dust in. Lime has also been recommended as an addition 
 to the dust bath, — its utility in a sanitary sense is evident — 
 but this is, we are convinced, instrumental in producing the 
 very efiect it is desired to prevent. More than one 
 individual breeder of white fowls have, we believe, thus 
 cared for, sent their birds to shows, where they have taken 
 the highest honours without any other preparation 
 whatever ; but we must admit that all white-plumaged fowls 
 certainly appear to greater advantage by a preparatory 
 washing. In his practical little work,* Mr. J. Long has 
 penned a few brief remarks respecting this operation, which, 
 although so frequently performed, is seldom carried out 
 effectually. He says " White birds may be well washed in a 
 large pan of hot soap suds. The bird should be thoroughly 
 immersed, well lathered with yellow soap, rinsed in cold 
 water — tepid in winter — and placed in a basket of clean 
 straw before a good fire. When we say ' well washed,' we 
 mean it ; some persons have an idea that it is necessary only 
 to scrub the bird's legs, and sponge down his hackle, saddle, 
 wings, &c., with a sponge or flannel which has been well 
 
 * " Management of the Poultry-yaid," page 23. 
 
1 44 THE HOUDAN FOWL, 
 
 soaped ; this is a mistake, as the bird usually looks worse 
 for his cleaning. The bath should be made to the consistency 
 of a wash-woman's ' suds,' and the fowl bodily immersed ; 
 let him stand in it during the operation, and when he is well 
 lathered with the soap, the hand may be well rubbed into 
 the ' fluff' passed amongst the feathers of the cushion (if a 
 hen) and well worked over the breast, hocks, &c. Some 
 fanciers use a small, moderately hard brush for the hackle, 
 using it well soaped, and brushed downwards over the feather. 
 In drying, it is well to place the hamper a foot above the 
 ground, that the heat may get under the bird. Even when 
 thoroughly clean, the wet feathers look dirty, and only 
 display their whiteness when yielding to the gentle heat they 
 open out into their normal form." 
 
 The undermentioned particulars respecting this variety 
 have been very kindly forwarded by a gentleman whom we 
 may observe is a fancier of great celebrity, but whose name 
 we are not authorised to mention. They probably will be 
 read with some degree of interest, and it is to be regretted 
 that the sequal proved so unfortunate, for the endeavour 
 would appear to have given hopeful promise of far more 
 prosperous results. Our correspondent writes thus : — 
 
 " My first experience of white Houdans was amongst a 
 brood of newly-hatched chickens, when I was surprised to 
 observe that one of the little ones presented a marked 
 contrast to the black and whitish-yellow furred appef>,rance 
 of the others, which characterises the Houdan ia its incipient 
 stage, for it more closely resembled a canary in colour than 
 any thing else, and I at once concluded that an egg from 
 one of my cross-breds had got mixed with those of my 
 Houdans, and hatched accordingly. Knowing, however, that 
 from the care T had always taken, this could not very well 
 occur I was rather nonplussed. At all events I left it with 
 
A correspondent's experience. 145 
 
 the others ; and, with the rest of the little ones, it grew apace, 
 throwing out a perfectly pure white plumage, and when 
 full-grown certainly presented — at least, to my mind — a 
 particularly novel and attractive appearance, being, in fact, 
 as pretty and tame a pullet as it has ever been my lot to 
 meet with. 
 
 "After a time, being ambitious of propagating a white 
 variety if I possibly could, but not succeeding in procuring 
 an entirely white cock — although I searched 'up hill and 
 down dale ' in the endeavour — ^I matched her at last, with as 
 light a coloured cock as I could get, with a full and well- 
 furnished crest, &c., which accorded well in this respect 
 with the pullet, but in other details he was only moderate. 
 From this union, every egg produced I carefully saved ; but 
 the first batch set were every one spoilt through the vacillating 
 disposition of a borrowed hen. The next lot hatched out 
 very well, but I looked in vain for any canary-coloured 
 chickens, such as I had been anticipating, all turning out 
 ordinary-marked youngsters. However, I didn't despair, 
 and in the next batch I was at length rewarded by two out 
 of eight chicks, showing the future indications of being 
 quite white, nor was I disappointed. But sad to relate, before 
 my ' spotless ' beauties were of ' marriageable ' age, T lost 
 my white hen from misdirected kindness, I verily believe 
 on my part, by over-feeding ; for, as I have said, she was a 
 particvdarly tame bird, and I seldom went into the yard 
 without throwing her something. 
 
 " My hopes now rested on the two pullets, which certainly 
 promised to equal their departed parent ; and being really 
 very good in most points, at the instigation of my old friend 
 Mr. B — , I was induced to enter them at a forthcoming 
 show. The night previously, I washed them well, put them 
 in a hamper nicely littered with short straw — and strictly 
 
146 THE nOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 according to the instructions for poultry exhibition — placed 
 them before the fire to dry. I really think that I was that 
 night more solicitous about the birds in the basket than I 
 was about anything else in my life. Before I retired to rest 
 I removed them, looking, to my eye, marvellously well, 
 still in their basket, to a nice warm out-house, and engaged 
 a man to call early in the morning to take them to the 
 neighbouring railway station, whence they were to make 
 their first journey in what I fondly fancied would be an 
 eventful career. I dreamt that night that I had founded a 
 new colony with my white birds. In the morning I awoke 
 before my usual time ; the excitement — it is, perhaps, foolish 
 to admit it — would not suffer me to sleep, and the musings 
 at early dawn were really a prolongation of my dreams. 
 It is not without a certain amount of grim humour that I 
 now record the sad termination of them : — 
 
 " I was impatient to get at my birds, and start them on 
 their journey — so impatient that before I had barely finished 
 my dress, I sent the servant for the baskets. Presently I 
 heard cries of ' Oh ! sir ! please, sir ! come out directly !' — 
 I did'nt know what to think ; I hurried out, with only one 
 boot on, and the whole weight of cruel disappointment and 
 blighted ambition then fell upon me — a certain indescribable 
 confusion in the yard, — the open door, — the basket turned 
 over, — some scattered white feathers, and disturbance of the 
 gravel outside, revealed the catastrophe too plainly to me. 
 Some brutal surburban thief had entered my yard, and 
 carried off my hopes ; — alas ! too plainly I saw it — with 
 some four other birds. I could — as bereaved folks sometimes 
 say — have foregone all the others, if mj'' two had only been 
 spared me. I hastily summoned the local policeman ; he 
 found the thief's footprints, told me how he had got in, and 
 how he had got ont ; he reported the case, called again upon 
 
MEANS OP INCREASING THE WHITE VARIETY. 147 
 
 me, but brought me no tidings of the thiiaf, whose evil 
 steps were on that fatal night directed but too successfully 
 to the shed where I had unhappily placed my promising 
 white birds. I have got over it now ; but failing to meet 
 with any more white pullets good enough for my purpose, 
 I have since confined myself to the breeding of the old 
 variety, but if a favourable chance presents itself, I shall 
 again turn my attention in the former direction, feeling 
 convinced that the white variety will sooner or later make a 
 rare name for themselves." 
 
 Respecting our correspondent's concluding remarks, there 
 no doubt is a wide field opened for persevering breeders in 
 this direction ; for it appears to us that a few seasons 
 devoted to the proper selection and breeding of this 
 ornamental class would make a very ample return for 
 the trouble expended. But success can only be obtained by 
 carefully watching each new development, and making use 
 of every ascertained fact in breeding ; or, in other words, by 
 strictly following out everything which gives promise of 
 satisfactory results. "We, can however, frame no golden 
 rule for achieving immediate success. In addition to what 
 we have previously suggested, we might perhaps advise that, as 
 good white specimens as nan possibly be secured should hold 
 precedence, in point of mating, and that all birds which 
 have already thrown white offspring should also be bred 
 from largely. From such, one or two chickens almost for a 
 certainty would make themselves conspicuous in this desired 
 feature, although the majority would naturally revert to the 
 ordinary spangled type. But by mating the few chickens 
 thus produced with others also of white plumage, the 
 chickens in the next generation, may fairly be expected 
 to show this desired feature in greater numbers; and by 
 further care and attention in the same direction, a charac- 
 
148 
 
 THE HOUDAN FOWL. 
 
 terized white plumage would, with time, become thoroughly 
 established. 
 
 Like their mottled-plumaged brethren, it is worth re- 
 marking that white Houdana appear to feather and grow 
 equally fast, are quite as hardy, and to rival them in their 
 egg-productive faculties. 
 
 As the white variety is as yet but comparatively in its 
 infancy, our presumption will doubtless be questioned for 
 attempting to frame a standard forjudging it. But as we hope 
 soon to see it come to the front in formidable array, we have 
 ventured to construct a scale based upon Mr. Wright's 
 system — and as already given by him for estimating the 
 show value of the ordinary variety, 
 
 SCALE FOE JUDGING WHITE HOUDANS. 
 
 Meritorious Points. 
 
 A bird perfect in size, shape, 
 style, condition, &c., and 
 of good colour, to reckon 
 in points 100 
 
 Imperfections to he deducted. 
 
 Smallness of crest or muffling. 12 
 
 Faulty comb 8 
 
 Bad colour 14 
 
 Crooked breast... 
 
 Want of size ... 
 " Symmetry 
 " Condition 
 
 16 
 20 
 12 
 15 
 
 Disqualifications. — Wry-tails, absence of the fifth toe, or muffling, beard or 
 crest, any coloured feathers in plumage. Legs any other colour but white, or 
 pinkish white, or having any signs of feathers. Any fraudulent dressing, 
 colouring, or trimming of either combs or plumage. 
 
 Although the real utility of the above scale can be deter- 
 mined only by actual test, we nevertheless venture to think 
 
THE REAL VALUE OF STANDARDS. 149 
 
 that it will be found to approximate, more or less correctly, 
 to that which hereafter possibly will prove, on trial, the 
 best adapted. But what we have already said respecting 
 the previous standards applies with equal consistency to 
 this — viz., that in appending one and all of them, we have 
 done so really with the view of assisting the amateur — and 
 which ,we believe they will do in a very great measure — 
 by enabling him to arrive at a tolerably correct idea of the 
 true show value of the birds rather than by framing any 
 fixed scale, which, after all, must of necessity be more or 
 less empirical, i 
 
 Walter Hawkins, Printer, 3, Albert Terrace, Paddington, W. 
 
Ath'artisi^moiU. 
 
 HOUDAN EGGS. 
 MR. CHARLES LEE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF THE 
 
 PRACTICAL GUIDE TO THE BREEDING AND GENERAL 
 MANAGEMENT, &c., 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HOUDAN FOWL, 
 
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 to dispose of eggs from first-class breeding stock at 1 8/. 
 per sitting (carefully packed). All Orders, which will be 
 executed in strict priority, must be accompanied by Post- 
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 SURPLUS STOCK 
 
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 From the reputation these Meat Fibrine Cakes have now gained, they 
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 Gentlemen, — For the last five or six years I have used Spratt's Patent Cakes, and 
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 FKAJirE ADOOOK. 
 ffo the Manager of Spratt*a Patent. Eoyal Kennels, Sandringham, Dec. 20, 1873. 
 
 Dear Sir, — In reply to your enquiry, I beg to say I have used your biscuits for tho 
 last two years, and never had the doga in better health. I consider them invaluable for 
 feeding dogs, as they insure the food being perfectly cooked, which is of great import- 
 ance.— Toura faithfully, C. H. JACKSON. 
 
 SPRATT"S PATENT POULTRY & GAME MEAL 
 la the greatest egg-producing food and fattener of dueks and poultry known ; un. 
 equalled for raising young Pheasants, Chicks, and Duclclings ; and also of great value in 
 feeding during the voyage small birds exported for acclimitiza tion. 22s. per cwt, 
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 chickens so well.— Yours truly, JAMES WATTS. 
 
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 and also 2 cwt. of Grissel, as I find it suits my fowls so admirably. I have not lost a 
 chick as yet, and as I have several broods now hatching, I hope you will be able to 
 forward it at once, as I do not wish to feed them on other food, my others having done 
 so well.— Yours faithfully, H. FEAST. 
 
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 birds were fed on your food. 
 
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 Gentlemen, — I have reared this year, most successfully, near 700 heads of chickens, 
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 SOAP FOR WASHING DOGS, 
 
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 prepared for us, ao we can recommend its use. It can be had of any of our Agents. 
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