46 AX EGG FARM. 



eating and egg-eating. No system of diet will remove 

 the liability of fowls that are habitually kept indoors to 

 learn to pluck each other. If the room is large and the 

 flock small, there may be no risk of this, but the expense 

 of such quarters would be fatal to success. When fowls 

 are allowed freedom they never learn to eat feathers. 

 If anybody wants to keep poultry in narrow quarters 

 under some highly artificial plan, with no provisions 

 made for securing exercise, and prevent outdoor range 

 in winter in order to promote laying, he is welcome to 

 do so. But nature, if thwarted, is sure to have her 

 revenge, if not in one way, then in another. Whether 

 indoors or out, the birds must be busily employed every 

 day, and then they will be happy and contented, and 

 not learn egg-eating, feather-plucking, or other abnor- 

 mal practices. Without a chance to scratch in earth or 

 straw, they will be as badly off as a rich man with noth- 

 ing to do. Straw is scattered under the sheds, and on 

 pleasant days a few handfuls of feed are buried under it, 

 using a fork; but covering grain by hand in this way 

 takes time and should be resorted to only in case of very 

 bad weather. When the weather admits, a large pile is 

 used for a scratching place, situated south of the feed 

 room, where it can be moved by the aid of a team, as 

 stated on a previous page. The arrangements for bury- 

 ing grain indoors have also been already described. 

 The ground is raised a few inches by plowing in the fall, 

 where the sheds are to be placed. 



When the house is placed upon the dust bin, B, waste 

 strips of cloth, called "headings," obtained at the 

 woolen factories, are used to make the joints air-tight 

 between the two. The passage leading to the feed room 

 is represented at (7, the feed room itself not being shown 

 in the illustration, but given in Fig. 11, as was stated. 

 A small opening, /), at each end of the house is for ven- 

 tilation, and must never be closed. A projecting cap 



