PERFECTING THE DETAILS. 197 



Figure 104 shows the lid, Pig. 105 gives an end view of 

 the sieve, and Fig. 106 a series of sieves in position, 

 each over a separate pen, two stout wires being stretched 

 under the sieves to hold them level. The hoppers of 

 tin in the lid, Figs. 104 and 100, are to facilitate charg- 

 ing with grain, the lid being necessary to keep off spar- 

 rows and pigeons. Figure 108 gives a top view of a 

 sieve when the lid is off. To drop the grain, strike 

 with a hammer on the end of a pipe that is shown in 

 the foreground in Fig. 106. This end should be plugged 

 with iron to prevent battering. This pipe may be quite 

 a long one if desired, and the feed will drop in nearly 

 the same quantity at every sieve affixed throughout its 

 entire length, the jar being practically of the same force 

 at one end of the pipe as at the other, unless the pipe is 

 of extreme length. A coiled spring or a bar spring, not 

 shown in the cut, should be attached, to bring it back 

 to the first position after each blow of the hammer. 



This sieve will do very well in lieu of cylinders for 

 both indoor and outdoor exercisers for grown fowls, 

 but cylinders deliver grain in more accurate doses than 

 sieves, and the former are therefore preferable for 

 brooder chicks for things must be done exactly thus 

 and so with small chickens. For indoors, where cords 

 or wires can be conveniently attached overhead, this 

 whole line of sieves may be suspended, swing fashion, 

 instead of resting on a framework. In this case no 

 spring is needed, the whole series of sieves returning by 

 force of gravity to the original position after being 

 jarred by the blow of the hammer. This method of 

 suspension and swinging is the same as described earlier 

 in this book in connection with the use of feed shelves. 



A hammer to be held in the hand for striking a row 

 of sieves or a shelf nearby, should weigh one to three 

 pounds, according as the shelf or the pipe connecting 

 the sieves is 100 to 300 ft. long. For a row of distant 



