70 The Business Hen. 



horse to the buckboard, and got under way, it is seven o'clock. His tools 

 are a small fire shovel for dipping the wet mash, a large iron spoon for 

 scraping any dirt from the troughs and a couple of feed pails. A medium- 

 sized shovelful represents 12 ounces of dry feed, and his aim is to allow a 

 shovelful of mash to each eight hens. Glancing at the figures on the 

 inside of the door of pen No. 1 tells him that this flock contains 49 hens 

 (last count) and he gives them six shovelfuls of mash, and opens the small 

 drop door which allows them free range and a drink of water at the brook 

 or pond. There are 35 flocks, and this is repeated until all are served. 

 He finds a few troughs that are damp, showing that yesterday's supper 

 had not been all eaten until morning. These have their allowance slightly 

 reduced. By eight o'clock he is back to the barn, and has a couple of pails 

 of feed left in his box. We have settled down to two feeds a day of this 

 mash for the hens, and nothing else except what little grass, grit, water, 

 etc., they find in the fields. Price of wheat and corn has got so high that 

 we find the balanced ration at $30 per ton is less expensive, and I expect 

 less sickness and better health than where grain is kept constantly before 

 them. Jesse only found two dead chicks under the brooders this morning, 

 and no dead hens. This is less than our usual mortality. Crushed oyster 

 shells are always kept scattered about in abundance. 



PLAN OF BUILDINGS.— "The houses I use for laying stock are only 

 10x13 feet on the ground, with shed roof. The front is eight feet high, and 

 faces south. The north side is five feet four inches high. On the south 

 side is a door for general use, a small drop door 6x8 inches for hens to 

 pass in and out, and one good-sized window. The large door is near the 

 east end, the small door near the middle, and the window near the west end. 

 This permits the afternoon sun the greatest sweep of floor space in Winter. 

 The table for droppings is 2^ feet above the floor, and extends along the 

 whole north side of the room. Under the table, on this north side, is cut 

 a small door 2^'2 feet high and one foot wide. Aside from this, the house 

 is as near airtight and windproof as matched boards and building paper 

 will make it. The small door under the roosting table on the north side 

 is kept tightly closed in Winter, and in Summer it is protected with wire 

 cloth and kept open. This permits a free current of air to circulate 

 through the house and out at the open window on the opposite side, with- 

 out striking the hens on the perches above the table. I formerly kept 

 40 hens in each house, but recently have increased to 50 each. The 1,500 

 hens probably roam over nearly haff of our farm of 70 acres, as their 

 roaming ground covers quite a distance from the buildings in all directions. 



BROODER LAMPS. — "Next on the programme come the trimming 

 and filling of the brooder lamps. These rest on the floor, and are put 

 under the brooders from the hall, through large openings in the partition, 

 leaving them exposed to full view from the hall, and giving them plenty 



