104 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



tubs on a cart. The cart also carries a barrel of water. As he 

 reaches each house the driver, with a shovel, throws what dough 

 the hens need on the grass near the house. Then he fills the 



FIG. 103. Moving one of the houses in Fig. 102 



water pail and drives on to the next house. The hens require 

 no more attention until evening, when the man collects the eggs 

 and gives more water where it is necessary. 



Some of the smaller stocks of fowls on these farms flocks 

 that have been selected with care and are given a little more 

 attention than is usual give an average annual production of 



FIG. 104. Colony houses at Iowa Agricultural College. (Photograph from 



the college) 



eleven or twelve dozen eggs a hen, but the general average is 

 only eight or nine dozen. Although the profit per hen is small, 

 the compensation for labor and investment is better than on 



