ACCESSORIES TO THE POULTRY-HOUSE. 



69 



CURIOUS NEST. 



A cute Yankee down east, it is said, has in- 

 vented a hen's nest, ' in the bottom of which 

 there is a kind of trap-door, through which the 

 egg, when laid, immediately drops ; the hen, 

 looking round and seeing none, lays another. 



SECRET NESTS. 



The following plan for fixed and secret nests 

 is from the " American Poultry-House," which 

 the author says " has lately been contrived in 

 Connecticut, and I have tried it with complete 

 success. Hens are well known to be anxious to 

 deposit their eggs in secluded places. The se- 

 cret nests, sections of which are here given, are 

 well adapted to satisfy this natural propensity. 

 They are made thus : ' Place a platform of 



boards two feet 

 ~~d wide, and say ten 

 feet long (though 

 it may be made 

 of any length), 

 against a building 

 or a close board 

 fence, about three 

 feet from the 

 ground. Along 

 the outer edge of 

 this platform nail 

 a board length- 

 wise and upright, about one foot high leave a 

 space open in the middle and at each end, eight 

 or nine inches wide, and divide the remaining 

 space inside the nests a foot square ; this leaves 

 a passage-way nearly a foot wide behind the 

 nests. The top must slope from the wall, and 

 open partly or entirely with hinges. These nests 

 are easily examined, and give the fowls all the 

 secrecy they seem to require.' " 



CHICKEN COOPS. 



To give the chickens the best chance of life 

 the hen should be confined in a coop, under 

 ;i shed or outhouse, until they are about four 

 weeks old ; and in cold weather a week or two 

 longer. The coop, however, should be moved 

 into the sunshine, and on grass, if possible, 

 whenever the temperature is sufficiently mild. 



The most common method employed for the 

 purpose of confining the hen with her young 

 brood, is to drive stakes into the ground in front 

 and make a pen about two feet square and cover 

 with boards ; but a better plan is to lay a flour- 

 barrel on its side, with one end out, and drive 

 a few sticks into the ground in front. This 

 makes a very dry and comfortable coop, pro- 



BARBEL COOP. 



tecting them from rain and winds, and allows 

 the chickens to range about the yard, where they 

 are enabled to pick up seeds, insects, and worms, 

 by which means they obtain a large share of 

 their living. 



We say nothing of the poor hen's state of 

 mind while, confined herself but with her youn# 

 brood at large, she witnesses their erratic con- 

 duct, and their danger from hawks, rats, cats, 

 or ill-temper, or spitefulness of some of her own 

 race, which often terminates in her "scrabbling" 

 to death (a truly emphatic term, indicative of 

 her peculiar notions under excitement of this 

 kind) those of the brood which first answer 

 the summons of recall while others are still 

 truant. Her feelings, therefore, should be stud- 

 ied for our own sake, no less than for her's. 



MARQUEE OR TENT COOPS. 



The marquee or tent-shaped coops, of which 

 the following figure is a representation, we have 

 found very efficient during the summer, if we 

 avoid placing it on grass anywise damp during 

 the early days of its inmates, though it does not 

 afford the same degree of shelter as the one to 

 be described hereafter. 



The marquee coop is formed by nailing pieces 

 of boards, two feet long, in such a way as to form 

 two parts of a triangle, the ground forming the 



