62 



THE AMERICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



and then plastered outside and in with clay and 

 short salt hay ; and when dry, a good coat of 

 lime whitewash. This gives a neat, pretty look, 

 and is warm and cheap. 



" Now for the inside of the house this should 

 be arranged with order and neatness, for neg- 

 lect on these points will be a serious evil ; first, 

 the nests : these may be formed by placing 

 boards sixteen inches apart, beginning from the 

 ground (do not floor it) ; then divide them into 

 boxes by partitioning every sixteen or eighteen 

 inches, and partly blind the front by nailing a 

 board against them, leaving just room for the 

 hens to pass out and in ; a little piece of shin- 

 gle can be placed across the bottom of the en- 

 trances to prevent the eggs from rolling out, and 

 a perch can be so placed along the front as to 

 assist them in getting up and into them. Choose 

 those on the ground to hatch in, as the earth 

 retains the temperature of the eggs better than 

 hay or straw. Little doors would be convenient 

 to place before the sitting heiis to prevent their 

 being disturbed. 



"Perches for their nightly accommodation 

 and roosting should be placed across so as not to 

 have them dirty on one another, and down into 

 the nests ; and they should also be placed at 

 different elevations, so as they can easily get 

 up and jump from one to another. The perches 

 or roosts should be of a good size, round, and 

 stout as a man's wrist or arm, to make them 

 steady, and to prevent the hens contracting the 

 deformity of a bent or a crooked breast-bone, 

 which is common from this cause ; they should 

 also be so far apart that the fowls can not from 

 one perch peck those of another. Some fowls 

 have a trick of doing this, and I have had sev- 

 eral instances of the hens being almost stripped 

 of feathers on the head and neck from others 

 they did not agree with, and yet they would per- 

 tinaciously adhere to the situation that subjected 

 them to the painful operation." 



The hen-house should never be much larger 

 than sufficient to accommodate the number of 

 fowls to be kept in it ; for if too large they hud- 

 dle together in one corner, and, as it has been 

 before observed, hens produce eggs more abund- 

 antly in a small apartment than in a more spa- 

 cious building. But warmth and cleanliness 



should be particularly attended to, and it should 

 be rendered in every respect comfortable and 

 agreeable to the birds that inhabit it ; for, if 

 that be not done, they will seek to lay away 

 from home instead of in the nests provided for 

 them, and if they can not succeed, they will to 

 a certainty produce fewer eggs than if their pro- 

 pensities and tastes were better indulged ; but 

 if they have a clean, quiet, warm place to retire 

 to, they will lay regularly and abundantly, and 

 will repay both the trouble and expense. 



RHODE-ISLAND POULTRY-HOUSE. 



The following plan of a poultry-house is tak- 

 en from the Albany Cultivator, and differs very 

 considerably from those already given. The 

 writer who furnishes the plan remarks, " Some 

 farmers are of an opinion that a few boards 

 tacked together, or set against the side of n 

 wall, answer very well for the purpose of a hen- 

 roost; but I have come to the conclusion that 

 to render our fowls profitable, as much care 

 must be taken of them as of our horses and cat- 

 tle. This house may be built of pine boards, 

 or it may be clap-boarded and plastered with 

 lime ; in either case it should have a good plank 

 floor. It is twelve feet long, eight feet wide, 

 and seven feet high, from the bottom of the sill 

 to the top of the plate." 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. '2. 



EXPLANATION. 



Fig. 1. View of the east end : A, a door, 

 two feet wide and five feet high; E, a small 

 window for ventilation. 



Fig. 2. View of the west end : NN, two holes 

 one foot square for the entrance of the fowls : 



