232 



OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



food is given them at regular hours, they will 

 run to it punctually from all sides. Whatever 

 their food is, it should be eaten up immediately, 

 so that nothing be left. It should be a fi.xed 

 rule never to overfeed them. More chickens 

 die from eating too much than from eating too 

 little. They ought to be taught while young 

 not to gorge themselves ; at the same time, 

 however, they should be fed often. 



Their drinking water should be pure and 

 cool, and their coops ought to be cleaned every 

 day. Sand and gravel must be 

 within e a s )■ reach 

 While the coops are 

 being cleaned 

 the chicks 

 should be 

 exam- 

 ined 

 to see 

 if they 

 h a \' e 

 a n \' 

 vermin. 

 If they 

 have, the 

 coops must 

 be washed 

 out with s o m e 

 one of the disinfect 

 ants sold for that purpose 

 If vermin is found on the chicks a few 

 drops of kerosene should be rubbed in 

 under their wings, for many of them perish 

 from lice, while the cause is attributed to other 

 things. Certainly fifty per cent die in this way. 

 In short, if healthy and vigorous chickens are 

 desired, two special points must be attended 

 to, namely, feeding (but not overfeeding) at 

 regular hours, and the frequent cleansing of 

 their abodes. 



VII. Inclosures .and Poultrv Y.ards 



To establish a fine inclosure space is neces- 

 sary. The first thing to be done is to surround 

 with a wire trellis the whole space devoted 

 to this purpose, which again is divided into 



The First Egg 



three or more parts by similar trellises. The 

 first division is the place where the chicks are 

 to be raised ; the second is for the hens whose 

 eggs are taken for the incubator ; the third is 

 for the hens who brood upon their own nests. 

 The division for the chicks should be subdivided 

 into spaces about ten feet wide by seventy-five 

 feet long, in each of which one hundred chicks 

 are allowed to run. When they are six weeks 

 old this space should be doubled. The second 

 division, suitable for a cock and ten hens, should 

 be sixteen feet wide and from 

 ne hundred and fifty to 

 two hundred feet 

 ong. Chopped 

 straw should 

 be strewn 

 in this 

 inclo- 

 sure 

 with 

 grain 

 s c a t- 

 t c r e d 

 through 

 it to com- 

 pel the birds 

 to seek their 

 wn food. They 

 111 soon eat up what 

 is nearest to their coop 

 r house. It is proper every day or 

 two to spade up a corner of this 

 inclosure so that the birds may grub for 

 worms and other animal food, but it is essen- 

 tial that much of the inclosure be left in 

 grass, which is indispensable in large poultry 

 vards. 



The third division, reserved for the pro- 

 duction of chicks from the nests, should be 

 a large field with sheds or henhouses, each 

 able to accommodate from fifty to sixty hens. 

 These henhouses should be about twelve 

 feet wide and thirty feet long, made entirely 

 of wood. 



Persons who have no such space as the above 

 at their command, the inhabitants of towns, for 

 instance, can still enjoy the luxury of raising 



