134 



AX EGG FARM. 



FIG. 41. LAID BY HENS. 



but during the summer and fall their feed should be 

 such as to restrain rather than promote laying, while 

 the fowls of the main stock should be crowded all their 

 lives without any intermission, by plying them with a 

 diet growing richer and more stimu- 

 lating, because containing a greater 

 proportion of chandlers' scraps, or 

 an equivalent in some other kind of 

 animal food, the older they become. 

 Cayenne pepper is the cheapest and 

 best stimulant, with ground mus- 

 tard and ginger for a change. Be- 

 gin with a very little, and increase 

 the quantity gradually, and be sure 

 to have these fiery condiments mixed evenly and uni- 

 formly through the mass of soft feed, by first scalding 

 them in boiling water and mixing the infusion, dregs 

 and all, with meal, mashed potatoes, or whatever the 

 material of which the mess consists. 



The chicks of the breed the main laying stock com- 

 prises are all that receive the indirect feeding previously 

 described, which is another reason for locating them at 

 a part of the ground distant from the pedigree chicks 

 and sitting breed chicks, but all, irrespective of breed, 

 may be housed at night in the "A coop," Fig. 33, a pat- 

 tern which the writer's experience of over forty years 

 of use has not enabled him to improve, cost being con- 

 sidered. To secure its full advantages, however, it must 

 be used properly. The chief foes of young chicks are 

 wet and rats. Unless the coop has a floor, the hen will 

 scratch holes in the ground, which a hard rain will fill 

 with water, and unless the floor is movable it cannot be 

 readily cleaned. To arrange for the night, to avoid 

 rats and at the same time give air, slide the coop toward 

 the small rear door before pegging down the lid, a, as 

 previously directed. This will give a crack at the edge 



