214 COOP 



should be with their tight sides facing the direction of the pre- 

 vailing cold winds and storms. No bottoms should be attached 

 to such coops, but the hens should be allowed to brood their 

 young upon the bare ground, unless it be in cold weather, when 

 a little hay, or other dry substance may be provided. 



To prevent rats and other nocturnal depredators from gain- 

 ing an entrance, a board should be attached to the outside, 

 hung on hinges, and to be raised at night, and buttoned up ; 

 and to be let down by day, as a feeding board for the young 

 chicks to take their meals on. An easier way, is to drive down 

 a small stake at each corner of the coop, and to slide the 

 board down between the stakes and coop at evening, when the 

 brood are all in, and to raise it in the morning. A board one 

 foot wide is sufficient, as the hen and chicks will require all the 

 fresh air that can be admitted in warm weather. Some people 

 make coops of barrels, by placing them in a horizontal position, 

 with one end out, and with stakes driven down in front, to 

 correspond with the laths on the " marquee," or tent-shaped 

 coop just described. In such cases, the end of the barrel in 

 which the head is not removed, is raised a few inches to allow 

 the water that may beat in during storms, to run out at the 

 front. I have used such coops, but do not like them. They 

 afford no opportunity for hens to wallow and scratch in the 

 dirt, so congenial to their nature and health, and it often hap- 

 pens that whole broods of chickens are drowned in them, in 

 cases of severe, driving rains, when by any oversight the headed 

 end happens to be a little too low. 



Perhaps, by extra pains and expense, some other styles of 

 coops may be made, equal in practical value with that shown 

 in the cut, but nothing superior to that style, can, in my 

 opinion, be constructed, hence that form is the standard for the 

 whole world, as I deem it. 



There are many considerations pertaining to the care and 

 management of young chickens, that cannot be fully dwelt on 

 here, and which must receive attention according to circum- 

 stances and the good judgment of their owner. I will, how- 

 ever, try to point out those of a most prominent nature. One 

 of these considerations is, the distance coops should be set from 

 each other ; and that will depend on how many coops you have 

 in use and the entire space you have to accommodate them. 

 It often happens that chicks are killed by running into coops 

 in which they belong. The breeder can guard against such a 



