A broad handbook for keeping poultry
The Practical Poultry Keeper by Lewis Wright covers the accommodation, daily management, breeding and exhibition of poultry, with chapters on many breeds and on birds beyond the chicken yard. This copy is the 1917 reprint of the new edition issued in 1905, published by Cassell and Company, Ltd. The publication history printed in the volume traces the work back to its first edition of May 1867.
The book combines practical management with breed descriptions. Its arrangement begins with the place where the birds live, follows the care of adult and young stock, and then turns to breeding, exhibition and the characteristics of different kinds of poultry. Eight coloured plates and additional illustrations support the text. This is a substantial general reference rather than a short leaflet on a single operation.
Houses, runs and everyday management
The first chapter concerns houses, runs and accommodation. Its opening makes the point that housing is the first practical question whether the intended flock is small or large. Plans and illustrations include small yards, houses with shelters and arrangements of houses and runs. These give the reader concrete examples to compare with the written discussion.
Domestic management of adult fowls follows. The sequence is useful because it relates facilities to the continuing work of keeping birds. A house is not treated merely as an isolated building: the book places it within a system of runs, access, feeding and flock organization. The illustrations of food and water vessels and other appliances add to this practical emphasis.
Natural and artificial rearing
Separate chapters treat natural hatching and chicken rearing, and artificial hatching and rearing. Readers can therefore compare hen-led and equipment-based systems within the same volume. The list of illustrations includes nest boxes, eggs, shelters and coops, as well as incubators, regulators and an artificial mother.
The rearing material includes observations about the behavior of hens with chicks and the design of a suitable coop. These pages show Wright’s attention to the relationship between equipment and the birds using it. They also document the coexistence of natural and artificial systems in early twentieth-century poultry practice, rather than presenting one as the only approach.
Production, farming and breeding
Table poultry, fattening and killing receive a chapter, followed by poultry on the farm and poultry farming. This distinguishes the flock kept as part of a wider farm from a more specialized poultry enterprise. Readers interested in the history of food production can examine how the book connects the raising of birds with their eventual use and market.
Breeding for points and the breeding and rearing of prize stock shift the emphasis toward selection and exhibition. A separate exhibition chapter completes that side of the work. Taken together, these subjects show how a general poultry keeper’s interests could extend from ordinary household production to more specialized breeding goals.
The distinction between utility management and prize breeding is useful when reading the breed chapters. A description of desirable appearance has a different purpose from a discussion of housing or feeding. The book’s structure helps readers keep those purposes in view while consulting material on a particular bird.
Breeds and other kinds of poultry
The breed coverage is extensive. Chapters include Cochins and Langshans, Brahmas, Dorkings, Spanish birds, Minorcas and Leghorns, Hamburghs, Polish and Sultans, French breeds, American breeds and Bantams. Additional groups and miscellaneous breeds receive attention as well. The range makes the volume useful for identifying older names and comparing historical descriptions.
Turkeys, guinea fowl and peafowl share another chapter, while ducks and geese have their own treatments, with swans included in the latter group. Illustrations identify several waterfowl, including Indian Runner, Aylesbury, Rouen, Pekin and Cayuga ducks. These sections broaden the book beyond the management of domestic hens.
Reading this edition today
The final chapter addresses diseases, vices and vermin, followed by an index. Health advice and husbandry methods reflect the book’s period and should be read alongside current veterinary knowledge and animal-care practice. The volume’s strongest present-day role is as a historical reference for understanding how poultry management and breed knowledge were organized.
Farm-history readers, poultry enthusiasts and people researching traditional smallholdings will find a wide-ranging source here. The edition history is particularly important: this is not the original 1867 text presented without qualification, but the later new edition in its 1917 printing. The PDF contains 348 digital pages, including preliminary material and advertisements as well as the main text and illustrations.
Book details
- Title: The Practical Poultry Keeper
- Author: Lewis Wright
- Publisher: Cassell and Company, Ltd., London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne
- Edition: New edition 1905, reprinted 1917
- Language: English
- Format: Illustrated PDF, 348 digital pages, 7,720,873 bytes
