170 



AN" EGG FARM. 



ideas are the dropping of grain and ringing a bell to call 



the birds out of the tilt box, a flap or revolving door to 



shut them out, the dropping of grain 



onto litter, the stirring or mixing of 



the litter and grain together, and, 



finally, allowing the birds admission 



to the tilt box ; all these stages being 



accomplished by an operator at one 



extreme end of the building. 



To turn the shaft which supports 

 the tilt boxes, a winch, Fig. 138, may 

 be employed, such as is used for 

 hoisting, provided the line of tilt 

 boxes is a long one. Or, a long iron 

 crank may be employed, as in Figs. 

 78, 79 and 80. It may be two and 

 a half to three feet long, and one or 

 one and a quarter inches in diameter. 

 It will suffice for twenty or thirty 

 chick tilt boxes, or five or six layer 

 tilt boxes, and may be made by any 

 blacksmith and attached by set 

 screws. The figures last named show 

 tilt boxes of the shape of Fig. 143, 

 which is a very good style, these 

 being built of wire wherever possible,' 

 for the sake of light and air, and the 

 box being deepest at the rear to re- 

 ceive the windrow. The axle is not 

 at the center, but nearest the rear, 

 so as to allow revolving more easily 

 on the return trip. In Figs. 78, 79 

 and 80, the call -cylinder axle and 

 the axle of the regular feed dropping 

 cylinders have the sort of handwheel attached that is 

 shown in Fig. 68, a brake wheel procurable at car shops. 



