The Hen's Habitation. gi 



food and call them into the run, close it up, then drive them 

 into the coop and drop the door. It can all be done in half a 

 minute, while, if they were in charge of a silly old hen, it 

 could not be done within ten minutes. While my neighbors 

 have sometimes lost over half their chicks in the sweeping 

 showers that burst upon us without any warning, I have never 

 lost one. Bed the coop only while the chicks are small, and 

 be sure that the bedding is short, fine stuff, and don't forget to 

 close the door every night. 



THE BEST POULTRY-HOUSE FLOOR. 



In the beginning of my present poultry business and in 

 building my first poultry-house, I believed that a floor of earth 

 would be just the thing needed, if properly constructed and 

 dry. I was careful to place a good drain under the foundation- 

 walls and fill inside to a depth of two feet with stone and 

 gravel, with a foot of dry loam on top, to be changed twice a 

 year if necessary. The house was built at odd spells during 

 the summer, and was thoroughly dry when the hens were put 

 in it September i fifty in each apartment 12x20 feet. At 

 first, all went well ; the hens were out in the parks a good 

 share of the time ; the windows were open on warm, sunny 

 days, and the floors kept dry and in good condition ; but as 

 winter set in with a fall of snow that remained all the season 

 and the hens were consequently confined entirely to the house, 

 the floors soon began to show dampness from the droppings, 

 which condition grew continually worse until about February 

 i, when, in spite of my efforts to keep the floor in proper 

 shape by using cut straw, chaff and other absorbents -freely, it 

 was far from satisfactory, being damp and sticky to a depth of 

 five or six inches. Although dry below that, there was con- 

 tinually arising a strong, disagreeable odor, which I finally suc- 

 ceeded in checking by a free use of plaster ; but the floor re- 

 mained damp and grew worse until spring came, when, with 

 warm days and open windows, it dried into a hard crust six or 



