164 FARMING FOR LADIES. [chap. vii. 



fowls, tells US that he coops all his white-meat 

 poultry, which he sometimes keeps for weeks 

 together, feeding them night and morning 

 upon milk boiled in rice, which is removed 

 after their being fed, and in the middle of 

 the day a few grains of barley and gravel, or 

 a powdered bone or egg-shell, are left in the 

 trough. The coops are cleaned out as occa- 

 sion requires, and if the fowls appear uneasy, 

 they are let out for a few moments into a 

 small closet, upon the floor of which ashes are 

 spread, upon which they roll themselves. 



The coop, being moveable, may be placed 

 in any dark, quiet, warm corner, and made for 

 any number of fowls. It should have partitions 

 just large enough to contain a fowl within 

 each, without allowing it to turn round : the 

 front having bars to admit the head and neck 

 of the fowl, with a trough underneath to con- 

 tain grain and water ; the back being merely 

 railed across with rods, which may be drawn 

 out when a fowl is to be put in or taken 

 out, as well as for its more easy cleansing; 

 and if the floor of the back part of the coop 

 be made in a slanting form, it will catch the 

 dropping of the bird without retaining it. 



