1886 



gleani:ngs in uee cultuue. 



367 



OUK POULTBY-HOUSE. 



A BETTKIl PICTURE OF IT THAN WK GAVE LAST 

 MONTH. 



ITp S the engravers disappointed us in get- 

 ^M^ ting our engraving ready, we were 



pi^ obliged to use, last month, a simple 

 •^-*^ outline picture. Since tlien they have 

 made so nice a picture that we con- 

 cluded to give it here. 



The large building in the background be- 

 longs to Neighbor IT. You will remember 

 that NeighboVlI. and myseif married sisters, 

 so it comes about that we have houses on 

 opposite sides of the street. Neighbor II. 

 does not raise chickens— that is, he is not a 

 chicken-man, although lie gets a good many 

 eggs in the good old-fashioned way by just 

 letting the fowls "slide." lie is a most en- 



have now been turned out for bad behavior. 

 After I put them outside, every little while 

 somebody kept telling me that my rabbits 

 were loose, or that my ducks had got out. 

 I replied by telling them that both had been 

 excommunicated for bad conduct. The 

 Light lirahmas are now the sole occupants 

 of the yard, except a little Brown Leghorn 

 hen that is my especial pet. She will let me 

 pick her up any time I wish, even when she 

 is Avalking across the lawn. She has raised 

 one brood of chickens since the iirst of Jan- 

 uary, and is now diligently presiding over a 

 sitting of thirteen. By the Avay, ray heavy 

 " "t work well as sitting 

 so heavy they keep 

 1 lixed their nests in 

 ever conceivable way, but they keep crush- 

 ing their eggs with their great clumsy feet. 



Light Brahmas don' 

 hens, for they are 

 breaking the eggs. 



OUK POULTRY-HOUSE AS IT APPEARS ON OUR GROUNDS AT THE "HOME OF THE HONEY-BEES." 



thusiastic bee-man, however, and just now 

 liis household, as well as the little cousins 

 across the way, are full of enthusiasm over 

 a new " queen-bee,'' in the shape of a new 

 girl-baby, only afcont ten days old, belonging 

 to him. 



The picture of the poultry-house above 

 shows very plainly the way in which the 

 roosts run clear thrcu:?!! the whole of the 

 buildings, although the engraver forgot to 

 l)ut in the little doors that permit the fowls to 

 sleep in the shed or in the inner apartment, 

 according as the temperature of the weatlier 

 may move them. During the winter we 

 permitted the rabbits and Pekin ducks to 

 occupy the yard with the fowls ; but both 



no matter what 1 do. while my trim little 

 bit of a Brown Leghorn covers about as 

 many eggs as the Brahmas, and she was 

 never known to break an egg in her life. It 

 really seems as if she laid an egg every day 

 of her life, when she is not sitting. It has 

 been suggested, that the Brahma eggs have 

 too thin shells. Now. they have bone meal 

 right before them all the while ; but some- 

 where I saw it mentioned in the poultry- 

 journals, that overfed fowls are apt to lay 

 very thin-shelled eggs, even if abundantly 

 supplied with lime. May be that is the 

 trouble ; but I would much rather have it 

 said that I feed my domestic animals too 

 much thiin that I feed them too little. 



