302 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



A plain building, suited in size to the number of fowls 

 to be sheltered (twelve by twenty feet is ample for one 

 hundred and fifty), is all that is needed; let the sides be 

 made of pieces one inch by three, nailed on horizontally, 

 a space of one or two inches being left between them, ex- 

 cept half way up from the bottom on the north and west 

 sides ; here let there be room to fit in temporarily, during 

 the winter, the three-inch wide slats, " battens," so as to 

 make the sides in these places solid, and shut out the win- 

 ter winds. 



This will give ample ventilation, and yet keep all foes 

 at bay, if the base-boards are close and the lower one sunk 



below the surface. 



A good many of the old Florida settlers say to new- 

 comers, ''Don't put a tight roof on your hen-house; let 

 the rain come through on the chickens when on the roosts, 

 it will kill the lice." 



Pay no attention to such advice ; it is bad from begin- 

 ning to end, and fatal to the health of the poor, helpless 

 chickens, who are thus compelled to sleep (if sleep they 

 can) with a heavy drip, drip, drip, of water on their heads, 

 gradually soaking and chilling them, just when their sys- 

 tems are most relaxed and they should be most carefully 

 protected from wet and wind. No, no ! put a good, tight 

 roof on your hen-house, and let it run well over the sides 

 too, so that the heavy rains we are subject to in Florida 

 can not drive far inside; and as to that idea of "killing 

 the lice," in the first place, they "hadn't oughter" be 

 there, and will not be, if proper care is taken ; and, in the 

 second place, only boiling water will kill them ; and, even 

 in this semi-tropical climate, it is very semi-occasionally 

 that the rain comes down at this temperature; and, mean- 

 time, the ordinary rain-water will kill chickens in long- 

 continued doses. 



