298 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



interested. The pickets, or wires, should be set closely 

 together, that the half-grown birds may not push their way 

 through. 



As to the young chicks, fi-om the day they are hatched 

 until they are fully two months old, and in some cases yet 

 longer, they should be kept in a separate yard set apart 

 especially for them and their mothers. 



Let the fence of the " nursery" be eight-foot pickets set 

 on top of two ten-inch boards laid on edge horizontally, 

 one above the other, half of the lower board being sunk 

 into the ground ; either this, or else ten-foot pickets with- 

 out the boards at the base, but with, instead, a strip of wire 

 netting, two feet wide, nailed on at the bottom, its edge 

 sunk a little below the surface of the ground. 



This bottom protection is very important, both to keep 

 the little ones in and their four-footed foes out; for in 

 Florida, as in all newly-settled countries, skunks and opos- 

 sums go about literally ''seeking what they may devour," 

 and sometimes foxes too come prowling around, for dearly 

 do they love chickens, young or old. 



A fence of this description will do more than merely 

 protect the chicks from their four-footed foes, it will save 

 them from their most deadly enemy, the hawk, whose fell 

 swoop is made not at night only, when it could be guarded 

 against, but at all hours of the day, from sunrise to sunset ; 

 and within this close fence, that will prevent the chicks 

 from straggling outside, they can be protected effectually. 



When we first settled in our- Florida home, our young 

 poultry shared the fate of those belonging to our neighbors ; 

 they "soared heavenward on the wings of a" — hawk, whole 

 broods often vanishing, one by one, till no more were left 

 to appease the fowl appetite of the marauder. 



We had a small yard apart from the main one especially 

 for the little chicks, to preserve them in the daily rush for 



