MOVING THE COOPS, ETC. 73 



mended, at 6, 10, 2, and 5 to 5.30 p.m., you should go 

 through the shifting process at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., as 

 .the two operations should not be combined, as is very 

 commonly done, for reasons that shall presently be 

 explained. Let us presume that your coops are placed 

 from twenty to forty yards apart ; the former distance 

 is about the average, especially where fields are valu- 

 able and birds are many, the fortunate keeper who 

 has been lucky with his hatching having sometimes to 

 put up with fifteen yards, or even less space, between 

 one hen and the next. Turn your chicks out and 

 feed at 6 a.m. ; then at 8, when the grass is getting 

 dry, shift the coop, with the hen inside it, from one to 

 two yards in the case of very young birds, increasing 

 up to five or six as they grow larger and stronger. 

 The proper way to perform this apparently simple 

 operation is, first to drive your young birds out of the 

 coop into the birchen bough which has been pegged 

 down handy for their occupation, then from behind 

 gently lift the coop a couple of inches from the ground, 

 and walk the old hen, inside, in a sidling manner to 

 the spot which you have in your own mind fixed upon 

 as her next location. You should in the case of very 

 young birds for the first two or three shifts carry with 

 you an extra bough, which, as soon as the hen has 

 been moved, should be pegged down as before in front 

 of the coop, to form a new harbour of refuge. Throw 

 down a bit of food for the hen, just a morsel in front 

 of her coop ; this food need not be of extra " Franca- 



