1090 



THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



upon the above allowance of floor-room will enable any one to 

 determine the size of a building required to accommodate any 

 given number of chicks until they reach a marketable age, re- 

 membering that if one proposes to hatch, say two hundred and 

 fifty chicks, every three weeks, space must be allowed for some 

 seven hundred and fifty chicks in the building at one time, for 

 the first lot will not be ready for market until after the third 

 lot comes out. 



The runs and the bottoms of the brooders must be covered 

 with dry earth, sand, or gravel, which must be renewed often 

 enough to keep clean; and every thing about the chicken-house 

 must be kept clean. Neglect in this respect will cause the chicks 

 to die off at an alarming rate. 



Incubator chicks raised with artificial mothers require the 

 same kind and quantity of food, drink, etc., as early chicks that 

 are raised with hen mothers. As soon as the weather is warm 

 enough, and sitting hens are plenty, incubator-hatched chickens 

 may be raised out of doors with hen mothers. Fill the incuba- 

 tor with eggs and set a number of hens at the same time ; when 

 the chicks hatch those from the incubator can be divided among 

 the hens eighteen or twenty chicks to each hen. 



Coops and Runs for Young Chicks. Fig. 19 shows the 

 style of coop that the writer has in use on her poultry farm, 



and it comes about as near 

 perfection as any coop that 

 we ever tried; at least we 

 \ never heard the hens or 

 chicks say a word against 

 it. The upper half of the 

 front is of wire netting 

 which admits air and light, 

 while the projecting roof 

 no. 19.-MODEL CHICKEN-COOP. k eeps out sun and rain. 



The lower half is made with perpendicular slats, and a door 

 which turns up on hinges and fastens with a wooden button, 

 making all snug and tight. When down this door makes 

 an excellent place to feed the chicks. In one end there is a 



