1166 CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK AND COMPLETE STOCK DOCTOR. 



advantage of the sun's warmth in winter. The windows should also be 

 provided with iron netting, so the sash may be raised to admit air in 

 summer, and also in mild weather in winter. One portion should be half- 

 dark, for the laying and sitting hens, and a proper dust bath must also be 

 provided. Have the perches not more than two feet from the floor in the 

 roosting place, and all on one level ; let them be large. A two by four 

 scantling, well rounded and set on edge, is not too large for heavy birds. 

 The whole house should be whif ewashed once a month in summer, and kept 

 scrupulously clean at all times. If lice make their appearance, fumigate 

 thoroughly, and after cleansing, whitewash with lime to which a little car- 

 bolic acid is added. Sprinkle Scotch snuff among the feathers on the 

 backs of the fowls, and give fresh materials for dust bath. 



The proper coops for hens with young chickens will readily suggest 

 themselves. A barrel with one head out, laid on its side, and with stakes 

 driven along one end to admit the passage of the chicks is a good make- 

 shift. The ordinary triangular coop is well known. The best coop is a 

 square box 18 by 24 inches, and roofed to shed rain ; from the open end of 

 this a runway is thrown nine inches high and as wide as the coop, so 

 closely slatted at the top that old fowls cannot get their heads through 

 to feed. At the end arc orifices to give egress and ingress to the 

 chicks. In this way they may be fed without interference from the 

 mother hen or other fowls, and it also furnishes a safe place of refuge 

 from danger. 



XrV. Peed Boxes and Drinking Fountains. 



Both the feed boxes and drinking fountains should be self-feeding. A 

 three-gallon jug filled with water, and turned mouth down in a suitable 



dish, and properly supported, makes a toler- 

 able drinking fountain, and will suffice to 

 convey the idea. For a larger number of 

 fowls, a five or six gallon keg, with a faucet 

 with a long spout to rest near the bottom of 

 the drinking trough is good. If filled, 

 bunged tight, and the faucet opened, just 

 enough water will be given up to keep the 

 supply in the trough at a uniform height. 

 A GOOD FORM OF FOUNTAIN. ^eed boxcs are made on the same general 



principle, a box narrowing to the bottom, and with an orifice large 

 enough to allow a free flow of grain, and resting near enough the bottom 

 of the feeding box so that but little will be given down at a time. Slats 

 sufficiently wide apart so the fowls can feed through them, also 

 the poultry from wasting the grain. 



