252 PROFITS IK POULTRY. 



window with a shutter in the south gable end, and a 

 large sliding-door in the side facing the east, are the only 

 ventilators. Over one hundred hens were kept in this 

 cheap house last winter, terribly cold as it was, without 

 being frost-bitten. A few hens laid all winter, and a 

 large number began to lay on the first of February. I 

 have a much smaller house close by, where hens lay and 

 set. I find this detached house better for them, and 

 more convenient for me. Both houses are whitewashed 

 inside, and have gravel floors. In the sleeping-house 

 the roosts are made like ladders, and very slanting to 

 allow the fowls to go up and down easily. Early in the 

 morning I take the setting hens off their nests and feed 

 them before opening the door of the larger house to give 

 the others their liberty. The sitters never stay from 

 their nests over ten or fifteen minutes, and so are soon 

 out of the way of the rest. I have a long row of coops 

 (made by myself), where I keep the hens that hvae 

 hatched until the little ones get quite strong. 



I always feed the chicks curds and corn-meal mixed 

 three times a day. I have a long, narrow, shallow trough, 

 always full of milk or whey, where all the chickens, 

 young and old, can drink at will. This, I suppose, is 

 the reason that they are always fat and healthy, and why 

 the hens lay so well. I have three feeding coops for the 

 young chickens. One with the slats just far enough apart 

 to admit very little chicks. The next in size for those 

 whose mothers have left them, and the largest coop is for 

 full-feathered chickens. In this way the little ones are not 

 bullied out of their share of the feed. I have another house 

 eight by ten feet inclosed with a lath fence, in a small yard 

 fourteen feet square, where I place those chickens I wish 

 to fatten for eating at home and for market. I can make 

 them very fat in ten days, at the most, on corn-meal, 

 curds, and boiled rice. They have all the milk they can 

 drink it requires very little to satisfy them and chop- 



