MOVING THE COOPS, ETC. 65 



with the wooden run placed in front, the young birds 

 should follow at about 9 or 10 a.m., when the dew is 

 well off the grass. If they have been brought out in 

 the incubator, they will be well mixed up ; but the old 

 hens don't mind that not an atom ; any chick is 

 good enough for them. If the young birds have been 

 hatched under hens, take them out as soon as dry. 

 Carry the young birds, as before advised, either in a 

 basket lined with flannel, or, better still perhaps, in a 

 wooden box, with sage grass covering the bottom. 

 This prevents any draughts attacking the young birds 

 en route, and, as the soft grass can be changed after 

 every journey, that object of all my advice, " cleanli- 

 ness," is not lost sight of. A hundred to a hundred 

 and fifty can in this manner be easily and safely taken 

 to the field ; and then, commencing at a coop which 

 he can easily remember, let the keeper proceed to 

 dole out the required number of foster children to 

 each parent ; but, even in such a simple matter as 

 this, there is a right and a wrong method. 



The wrong one is to take up a handful of birds, 

 shove them through into the coop, and try to force 

 them under the hen. She is not going to be coerced, 

 not she ; so try the right plan, and that is, pop the 

 little birds into the wooden yard outside the coop, 

 and let them run in of their own accord to the hen, 

 who will generally commence clucking assiduously as 

 you move away to repeat the same operation at the 

 next coop, and will fondly imagine that her maternal 



F 



