124 DOMESTIC ANIM.\iS. [Chap. I. 



yard in two parts, and plow and sow grain in one, and when it gets largo 

 enough for the hens to eat, tnrn them in and plow and sow the other. 



liens that run at large are oftpn very tronblcsoine, soinctinios doing 

 "more niiscliicf than their necks arc worth." The following device is fur 

 Buch mischievous pests. 



173. Shoeing Ileus. — "We observe a recent notice, in some paper, of the 

 practice of making woolen shoes (or rather boots), to prevent hens from 

 scratching. A Hock of fit'ty fowls, like our own, would require considerable 

 labor in the maTiufacture of a hundred woolen boots, which might be worn 

 through in a short time and need renewing. It is much better, we think, to 

 procure a breed that will not scratch. There is another point of import- 

 ance — that is, to keep the animals well fed during the season wlien scratch- 

 ing is most feared." 



One man says : " I keep from tliirty to fifty of tlie white Slianghae — a 

 very quiet, well-behaved, and profitable fowl — and adopt the most econom- 

 ical mode, namely, regular feeding with grain ; and although there is no 

 barrier between tlieir ordinary range and the kitchen garden, they do not 

 scratch yearly enough to do twenty-five cents' damage." 



17i. Kiimbfr of Hens to Keep, and Time to Sell.— A correspondent of the 

 Illinois I'rairie I' a rm o' s^ys: "We have kept as many as 150 fowls, and 

 fed them three pecks of shelled corn daily. But our experience has been, 

 that we could get more than half as many eggs from twenty-five foAvIs as 

 we could from one hundred. "We have carried chicks the size of quails to 

 market and foMud tlicm ready sale at twenty-five cents each. We might 

 have kept them four months longer, and found them dull sale at a dime 

 apiece." 



175. FeedJ!!!? Hens Meal. — We have been advised to feed plenty of moat to. 

 our hens, if we wanted them to lay stcadil}'. Kow there is a time to feed 

 meat and a ti,me not to feed it. When the temperature is low and the 

 ground is frozen, feed meat, but when the weather is warm, or even mod- 

 erate, if the cliickens can scratch the ground and find worms and insects, 

 they need no meat. The insects and worms furnish meat sufficient, and too 

 much in many cases, causing them to lay eggs without any siiell. They 

 should then have plenty of lime or old mortar, gravel, etc. 



Young chickens generally do best in coops, raised some inches from the 

 ground, until they are six or eight weeks old ; if they droop after this, the 

 next hour of warm sunshine will bring tliem up again. A corres])ondent 

 says, tlie last time he tried to raise them on the ground, he lost 59 out of 

 CO. lie has often raised 60 or 70 at a time since without losing one, simply 

 by cooping them away from the ground until six weeks old. 



A writer in the English AfjricuUural Gazette recommends that a i)iccc of 

 iron be kept constantly in the water to which fowls have access. Iron rust, 

 he says, is an excellent tonic. A roll of brimstone is also recommended to 

 be kcjit in the water. 



ITtJ. How to Keep Ileus Shut up. — It is one of the most important matters 



