File:American homes and gardens (1912) (17536160333).jpg

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar91912newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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October, 1912 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 365 At any rate, it is a precaution too important to neglect. If hens must be relied upon, it is advisable to place chicken wire with a half-inch mesh around the nest; otherwise some of the poults are pretty sure to stray away. The newly- hatched birds are very active and start out to see the world as soon as fairly dry; and they can crawl through an as- tonishingly small hole. Often some of the eggs are tardy in hatching, so that the birds which first break out of their prisons are running about long before the hen is able to leave the nest in order to look after them. Brooder poults, too, must be confined with a closely woven wire netting as soon as they begin to wander from under the hover. A little wire yard made in the shape of a half circle will pre- vent their straying away from the heat too far, and as they work their way along the wire, they will soon find themselves back in the hover. A custard made of eggs and milk together may be given after the poults are 36 hours old, and this ration continued three or four days, when a change to very small grains and seeds with a little Hamburger steak three times a week may be made. The little birds will eat only a small amount at first. In raising pheasants abroad, ant "eggs," which are the pupae of ants taken from ant hills for insect food, are considered very valuable in raising young birds. In this country maggots have been cultivated for the same purpose. There are concerns in England now which market ant "eggs" in boxes for the purpose of feeding young pheasants. By the time the poults are four days old they will begin to forage a bit and should be given in an open-air run on sod. A few piles of brush scattered about make good shel- ters and the young birds will seek them at the slightest alarm. When the poults are nine or ten weeks old they are well feathered out and ready to dispense with the ministrations of the mother hen, if hen-reared. After that age is reached, they also become hardier and if permitted to follow their natural bent, will take to roosting in the trees. When four months old they are nearly full grown. Mature pheasants may be fed like common poultry twice a day, over-feeding be guarded against. Mating pens should be made in February. When pheas- ants for breeding purposes are purchased, it is well to have them delivered in the Fall or early Winter, so that they will become accustomed to their new surroundings before the breeding season arrives. The eggs are not laid in nests, but on the floor, often in the most secluded spot available, but in no regular place. Sometimes they are dropped from the perches, in which case the latter may be removed during the laying season, but as a rule, the eggs are laid in the early evening, and of course, must be gathered at once, so that they will not be broken and the egg-eating habit formed. There are many handsome varieties of pheasants, but (Continuedon page 372)
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A typical pheasant nest containing eggs which are so small that twenty may be covered by a setting Bantam

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