Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Transcriber's Note. Hyphenation has been standardised. ================================== [Illustration: White Dorking Cock. Coloured Dorkings. Duck-winged and Black-breasted Red Game.] POULTRY A Practical Guide TO THE CHOICE, BREEDING, REARING, AND MANAGEMENT OF ALL DESCRIPTIONS OF FOWLS, TURKEYS, GUINEA-FOWLS, DUCKS, AND GEESE, FOR PROFIT AND EXHIBITION. BY HUGH PIPER, AUTHOR OF "PIGEONS: THEIR VARIETIES, MANAGEMENT, BREEDING, AND DISEASES." ILLUSTRATED WITH EIGHT COLOURED PLATES. Fourth Edition. LONDON: GROOMBRIDGE & SONS. MDCCCLXXVII. LONDON: BARRETT, SONS AND CO., PRINTERS, SEETHING LANE. PREFACE. This work is intended as a practical guide to those about to commence Poultry keeping, and to provide those who already have experience on the subject with the most trustworthy information compiled from the best authorities of all ages, and the most recent improvements in Poultry Breeding and Management. The Author believes that he has presented his readers with a greater amount of valuable information and practical directions on the various points treated than will be found in most similar works. The book is not the result of the Author's own experience solely, and he acknowledges the assistance he has received from other authorities. Among those whom he has consulted he desires specially to acknowledge his obligations to Mr. Tegetmeier, whose "Poultry Book" (published by Messrs. Routledge & Sons, London) contains his especial knowledge of the Diseases of Poultry; and to Mr. L. Wright, whose excellent and practical Treatise, entitled "The Practical Poultry Keeper" (published by Messrs. Cassell, Petter & Galpin, London), cannot be too highly commended. CONTENTS. GENERAL MANAGEMENT. PAGE CHAPTER I.--INTRODUCTION 1 Neglect of Poultry-breeding--Profit of Poultry-keeping--Value to the Farmer--Poultry Shows--Cottage Poultry. CHAPTER II.--THE FOWL-HOUSE 6 Size of the House--Brick and Wood--Cheap Houses--The Roof--Ventilation--Light--Warmth--The Flooring--Perches--Movable Frame--Roosts for Cochin-Chinas and Brahma-Pootras--Nests for laying--Cleanliness--Fowls' Dung--Doors and Entrance-holes--Lime-washing--Fumigating--Raising Chickens under Glass. CHAPTER III.--THE FOWL-YARD 18 Soil--Situation--Covered Run--Pulverised Earth for deodorising--Diet for confined Fowls--Height of Wall, &c.--Preventing Fowls from flying--The Dust-heap--Material for Shells--Gravel--The Gizzard--The Grass Run.