174 POULTRT-CRAPT. 



chicks of other hens, picking and worrying them whenever they come near. 

 This can only be prevented by making it impossible for the hens to get at 

 strange chicks ; or, making it easy for the chicks to escape from angry hens. 

 With coops as shown in Fig. 44, having the slats of the coop pens perpen- 

 dicular, the chick which wanders into a strange coop will almost invariably 

 get away before being hurt. The coop shown in Fig. 45, gives still more 

 complete protection, but is too expensive to use unless it is necessary to 

 protect from hawks and cats, for which purpose that coop was specially 

 constructed. 



With a coop that is tightly built, and can be closed tight, chicks can be 

 reared outdoors in winter when the thermometer ranges to 20 below zero. 

 (Chicks hatched in winter stand cold much better than late chicks early 

 summer chicks stand extreme heat). This, of course, cannot be done 

 when there is much snow, but in a snowy country such coops can be set 

 under a rough shed where the ground is tolerably dry, and good chicks reared ; 

 not on a commercial scale for market, but for hardy stock birds of the large 

 breeds. 



Sometimes hens do not brood their chicks as much as they should on cold 

 bleak days. In that case they should be shut into the coop house, and the 

 door left open just enough to let the chicks pass in and out. The coop should 

 be made quite dark. In the dark the hens will brood the chicks whenever 

 they come to them. 



When coops with perpendicular sides are used, shade can be given by 

 spreading pieces of burlap over the tops of the runs. A grain sack, which 

 gives two thicknesses of burlap, will keep the ground inside the pen dry 

 through quite a long shower, and dry all day through a drizzling rain. 



Coops placed on grass should be moved every few days. When coops are 

 kept permanently in one spot, the ground under the coop pen should be 

 frequently cleaned of droppings. The coop houses need cleaning about twice 

 a week while the chicks are small. As soon as the chicks are so large that 

 one night's use of the coop leaves it dirty, coops should be cleaned daily. 



If the coop floors become damp, and there is not sunshine to dry them, a 

 few handfuls of dry chaff, or a little dry road dust or coal ashes, should be 

 spread over them. 



252. Making Hens Lay While Brooding Chicks, and keeping them 

 brooding chicks after commencing to lay, relieves the poultry keeper at the 

 same time of two of the most objectionable features of the natural method. 

 Generally the hens wean their chicks shortly after beginning to lay. If they 

 continue brooding the chicks they rarely lay. In coops with roomy pens the 

 hens can be got to laying in about a fortnight after the chicks are hatched, 

 and will continue laying and brooding the chicks as long as is desirable. The 

 hens are put in laying condition by being fed only three times a day, instead 

 of five or six times, as when fed with the chicks ; all but three of the feeds 



