CHAP, v.] FARMING FOR LADIES. 117 



The chicken requires no food during the 

 day on which it has been hatched ; for it is 

 supposed that the. yolk which it has taken into 

 its body will sufficiently sustain it until the 

 next day. It is therefore unnecessary to place 

 anything before them; though many people 

 force crumbs of bread and peppercorns down 

 their little throats : not that an occasional 

 peppercorn, particularly in cold weather, if 

 given at a proper time, can do harm ; but, at 

 that moment, it only occasions pain, and should 

 be deferred to the next day. The morning 

 after, however, a few split groats with the yolk 

 of a hard-boiled egg, cut very small, may be 

 offered to them ; and if they show strength and 

 animation enough, they may then be taken from 

 the nest, and placed along with the hen, either 

 in a wicker basket about three feet square and 

 two high — as at No. 1, — having openings be- 

 tween the rods large enough to allow of the 

 chicks passing through them, with a door to 

 admit the hen, and having a loose cover over 

 it impervious to the rain ; or in a wooden crib 

 covered and closed at both sides, but lathed 

 at the ends, in the manner of No. 2. 



No. 3 represents a coop, roofed with wood 



