74 The Business Hen. 



the Fall there is no produce to market but eggs and butter, and these are 

 sold at wholesale and sent by a neighboring butcher. Our market, Harris- 

 burg, is eight miles away. Then, being relieved from the press of Summer 

 work, I give my first attention to the care of the hens and other live stock. 

 To show how well such work may be made to pay even in a small way, I 

 will state that the gross receipts at present for the butter and eggs from 

 two cows and 130 hens are at the rate of about $60 per month. The five 

 or six hours each day that are not required for this work I usually devote 

 to pruning and general preparations for the next season's work. 



WINTER MANAGEMENT. — Having on hand the proper number of 

 hens or pullets — the latter preferred — well-bred, well-reared and vigor- 

 ous as possible with the first approach of uncomfortably cool weather 

 in Fall they are confined to their houses in the early morning and on 

 stormy days. As the season advances they are shut in entirely, ex- 

 cept that when the weather is fine and there is no snow they are oc- 

 casionally allowed to run in the yard for 10 or 15 minutes, and then re- 

 turned. During mid-winter they have been constantly confined for 

 two months at a time with no bad results. The entire flock is housed 

 in two separate apartments which are by no means ideal. The larger 

 of these is a room 12x28 feet, arranged in the northwestern end of the 

 basement of a bank barn. Necessarily the windows are in the north- 

 west and southwest sides ; hence, they are not well adapted for the admis- 

 sion of either sunshine or ventilation. These defects are reduced by a 

 door which opens to the southeast under the "overshot" of the barn. This 

 door is fitted with a screen, hence can be left open when necessary. The 

 rear wall of this room of course is of stone, the other three are of matched 

 boards. The floor consists of packed clay, except a section 12x12 feet 

 in the rear, which is of boards ; this is occupied by the roost. As may be 

 supposed from its location, this room is just barely dry enough not to give 

 trouble. The smaller is a house of the common shed-roof construction, 

 measuring 7x30 feet. This is built of rough boards and battened. It has 

 a good exposure, but is too high and narrow, which makes it colder than 

 it would otherwise be. The floor is of clay throughout. The roost in this 

 house occupies a space of 7x10 feet. In each house the perches are low, 

 18 inches, are built in one piece trestle fashion and rest on the floor, so 

 they are easily kept free from lice and moved for cleaning the house. 

 Besides the roosts the furnishings in each house consist of a row of a dozen 

 nest boxes, a self-feeding shell-box, a galvanized iron trough for water, a 

 box for the dust bath and several wooden troughs for feeding mash. 

 There is nothing about the buildings that may not be arranged or built 

 on almost any farm at moderate cost. The space not occupied by the roosts 

 is covered with a litter of forest leaves, in which all the grain is fed. 1 

 have never found anything near so well adapted to the purpose as leaves. 



