Yin. PHEASANT REARING (PART VII} 129 



Such additions as sliding doors, hinged fronts, or 

 sparrow-proof wire runs to pheasant coops are one 

 and all unnecessary ; they only add to expenses ; and 

 hinged or drop fronts of any kind are best adapted to 

 crush and otherwise injure young birds.* 



The chicks can be far more safely and quickly 

 shut into a coop when a detached front is used. The 

 fronts should be all of a size, and thus interchange- 

 able one coop with another an arrangement that 

 often saves much trouble. 



Take care of your coops, store them during the 

 winter clear of the ground in a dry shelter, with their 

 fronts unfixed. 



Once the rearing season is over, a keeper is apt to 

 throw his coops pell-mell into a damp shed, or even 

 hide them under trees, as if they would never be re- 

 quired again. 



"With proper care, and an annual coat of black 

 varnish, the coop described here should last quite 

 ten years. 



A carpenter can turn out four coops per day with- 

 out assistance, if he receives the wood ready cut into 

 lengths. 



If made by contract by a country carpenter ten 

 coops will cost 



* Of all new-fangled contrivances, avoid a coop with a bottom 

 board. If a hen treads on a chick with wood underneath it she 

 will soon kill it, though if she presses one under her feet on the soft 

 grass it may escape injury. 



II K 



