212 CHICKENS RAISED WITHOUT A MOTHER. 



old. The yard to be twenty-five or thirty feet square for one 

 hundred chickens. In one corner I construct their lodgings, to 

 be well ventilated in warm weather, yet admitting no rain. 

 Around, at the sides of this little building, within, I place a 

 continuous row of sheep-skins, with the wool down, and sup- 

 ported on light framework. The distance from the floor is 

 about two inches at first, and raised, as the chickens grow, to 

 three or four inches. I am particular to afford a circulation of 

 air on all sides of the skins, and if a few air-holes be made in 

 the centres of them, the better, as chickens cannot live without 

 fresh air, at any season. The chickens being placed under 

 these skins once or twice, will retire of their own accord there- 

 after, and the animal heat generated by them in a body, keeps 

 them warm. In stormy weather, they should not be allowed 

 to leave their domicil, which should be large enough to give 

 them room to eat, &c., without being crowded. This little 

 building should be kept clean, and have ashes and lime sprinkled 

 on the floor, and the skins should be aired occasionally, and a 

 little spirits of turpentine sprinkled over the wool, would be an 

 excellent preventive of lice. 



When the chicks are old enough to fly over a fence eighteen 

 inches high, (that is a suitable height,) let them do so, and 

 ramble about at pleasure, but you should have facilities for their 

 return, as they will not be so eager to fly into the yard as out 

 of it. Some logs of wood, or anything, may be placed against 

 the outside of the fence, to enable them to return with ease. 

 It is not prudent to allow them to run at large, till they can 

 fly over one or two boards. 



On one occasion I had three hundred chicks hatched out 

 within the same week, or rather less time than a whole week, 

 and I placed them in a pen by the side of a potato field, into 

 which they ran when of a suitable age, and grew finely, pro- 

 curing nearly their entire support in bugs, <fec. All went on 

 remarkably well, none died of any account, and I never before 

 saw chicks grow so rapidly. When about a month old, a 

 thunder-storm came on so suddenly, that it caught them all 

 out, and the wind blew so furiously that they were bewildered, 

 and knew not what to do. I endeavored to call them in, but 

 could not ; they had taken a precarious shelter beneath the 

 potato vines, and there they were drenched for two hours. 

 Then it cleared off with a raw, cold wind, that stiffened them, 

 and more than half perished. This result, however, is no 



