No. 4.] POULTRY KEEPING. 429 



yard the lower the fence needed, and thus the relative cost 

 of fencing is much less for hens in large than for hens in 

 small flocks. 



When hens have abundant room, feeding is a much easier 

 matter than when thev are closely confined. "Little and 

 often " is the feeding rule of most intensive poultry keepers, 

 liens that have room in which to be contented, — room to 

 roam about without coming to a fence every few steps, and 

 perhaps opportunity to pick a small part of their living, 

 can be fed, and fed right, by giving food only twice a daj' ; 

 and if it is necessary to do so, it is possible in such cases 

 to arrange so that all the feeding can be done at one time, 

 the soft food to be eaten at once and the grain through the 

 day as the hens want it. 



In feeding young chickens the same thing is true. With 

 abundance of room they require far less care. The best ar- 

 rangements I have ever seen for growing young chicks have 

 been on farms of breeders of choice exhibition fowls, who 

 want to give their chicks the best possible chance to grow 

 into fine specimens, and endeavor to aid nature in every 

 possible wa}\ I visited such a farm not long since, where 

 the broods of chicks were distributed at good intervals along 

 the edges of the mowing fields. The coops were placed out 

 this way quite early in the spring, as fast as the chickens 

 were hatched. The fences were lined with vines and shrub- 

 bery, making a fine shade for the chicks. Before the grass 

 was ready to cut a narrow strip w r as mowed with a scythe 

 along the edge near the coops, giving ample room for the 

 chicks while small. Then after the hay crop was taken off 

 the orowino; chickens had all the land to themselves. Such 

 an arrangement as this is possible anywhere, and for ordi- 

 nary stock it is possible to care for chicks in this way with 

 very little work. Food and water can be by them all the 

 time, and with opportunity and the disposition to exercise, 

 with plenty of green stuff and bugs and worms to be had, I 

 have seen chicks thus grown on cracked corn alone and with 

 little labor. 



