THE DOMESTIC FOWL. 121 



broad, and fourteen inches high, with a lid open, a 

 wooden sliding bottom to draw out for cleaning, and a 

 long, narrow trough along the front, resting on two 

 very low stools, for holding their food. Perches are to 

 be fixed in the basket for the more advanced to roost 

 on. A flannel curtain is to be placed in front and at 

 both ends of the mothers, for the chickens to run 

 under, which they soon learn to push outwards and 

 inwards. These mothers, with the wicker baskets 

 over them, are to be placed against a hot wall at the 

 back of the kitchen fire, or in any other warm situa 

 tion, where the heat shall not exceed 80 F. 



When the chickens are a week old, they are to be 

 carried with a mother to a grass plot, for feeding, and 

 to be kept warm by a tin tube filled with some hot 

 water, which will continue sufficiently warm for about 

 three hours, when the water is to be renewed. To- 

 wards evening, the mothers are to be again placed 

 against the hot wall, and thus continued, from day to 

 day, until the chicks are strong enough to take care 

 of themselves. 



CHICKEN COOPS. 



THE simplest, and perhaps the most common method 

 employed for confining the hen after hatching her 

 young brood, is to lay a flour barrel on its bilge, 

 knocking out one head, and driving a few small stakes 

 into the ground directly in front. This makes a very 

 comfortable shelter for the hen, protecting her and her 

 chicks from the sun, wind, and rain, and allows the 

 latter to range about the garden or yard, where they 

 are enabled to pick up seeds, insects, worms, &c., and 

 thereby obtain a large share of their living. 



This plan is objected to by many, in this countiy, 

 on the ground that the chickens are more exposed to 

 the depredations of hawks, minks, rats, &c., than they 

 would be if protected by their watchful mother by 

 their side. But, as it is necessary in all cases to have 

 the coop near the garden or house, not only on account 

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