POULTRY KEEPING 253 



more of the food when the hot mash is fed just before 

 they go upon the roost at night. Scraps, if not fed in 

 the mash, should be given two or three times a week or 

 be kept in slatted troughs all the time, as should be 

 fresh cut bone and oyster shells. An abundance of fine 

 gravel, or grit and charcoal should also be supplied. 



Roosts. 



Roosts should not be placed so high that the heavy 

 birds will find it difficult to get upon them. If the 

 roosts are placed high, there should be lower poles upon 

 which such fowls can easily reach the higher. Round 

 poles not over two and one-half inches in diameter are 

 best, as the fowls can hold themselves firmly upon 

 them. Insects are supposed not to thrive upon sassa- 

 fras and sweet birch poles, and where these woods are 

 available they should be used, but any kind of wood 

 will do if frequently painted over with kerosene with a 

 little linseed oil in it. The linseed oil does not evaporate 

 but hardens upon the poles, and when it comes in contact 

 with the insects destroys them and fills up the crevices 

 in which they hide. In very cold houses curtained 

 roosting places are often arranged. The curtains of 

 burlap may be thrown up in the morning and dropped 

 at night, or the fowls soon learn to go under them. 



Nests. 



Nests for laying hens should be in some secluded 

 place, and are frequently located under the roosts. 

 This, however, is not a good place unless great care is 

 taken to clean out often and whitewash with a mixture 

 containing kerosene. If a passageway is made through 

 a house, outside the pens, and raised a foot or two above 

 the level of the floor, nests may be located under the 

 passageway floor and the eggs taken out through small 



