THE AMERICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



may enjoy their food without being disturbed 

 by the older fowls. This we effected by driv- 

 ing strips of board or stakes in the ground, leav- 

 ing spaces between just wide enough to pre- 

 vent the grown fowls from entering, encircling 

 a space from four to five feet in diameter and 

 about two feet high, covered with boards, through 

 which was a small aperture or door, where the 

 feed was put into the hoppers of the feeding- 

 box, which was made on purpose. 



PENS AND COOPS. 



It is sometimes necessary to separate some 

 fowls from the rest ; such as those which are 

 diseased, which are liable to be ill-treated by 

 the rest, as also strangers, and fowls of particu- 

 lar breeds. Pens or coops are useful for this 

 purpose, which may be made in various ways. 



PEN COOP. 



The above figure represents a very useful pen 

 t'or keeping a cock and three or four hens for 

 breeding, where they can enjoy the sun and 

 fresh air, and yet be protected from stormy 

 weather ; and it may serve instead of a poultry- 

 yard. It has a house to roost, lay, and hatch in, 

 and an open part for exercise. 



The dimensions are as follows : The shed or 

 pen may be four feet high in front, the roof 

 sloping to three feet in the rear, with holes in 

 the ends to give a free circulation of air. It 

 may be six feet long and four feet wide. The 

 entrance, which is not shown in the figure, is 

 in the yard. The yard may be ten feet long 

 and six feet wide to correspond with the shed. 

 The yard may be inclosed with pannels of lath 

 and rails four feet high, and the top covered 



also with lath to secure the birds from flying 

 over. 



This same plan may be reduced to a size suit- 

 able for a hen and chickens. The coop for that 

 purpose should be twenty-two inches high in 

 front, and eighteen inches in the rear, and 

 twenty inches square at the bottom. The top 

 opens, and there is a sliding door in front to 

 shut in the hen. The front or yard may be 

 four feet long, slatted with laths, with a hole 

 cut through the bottom, as shown in the figure, 

 for hens to scratch in. It is light and easy to 

 be removed from one place to another, which 

 should be done daily. The tight and open part 

 answers the double purpose of sitting the hen. 

 and keeping her and the chickens in until they 

 are able to take care of themselves. 



Colonel Jaques says, " I think chickens can be 

 raised as well without as with a hen, even though 

 you take the chicks away in an hour or less 

 after coming from the shell. Some of my hand- 

 somest pullets were raised the past season with- 

 out a hen. In order to do this you want a small 

 coop, built in a lean-to shape, three to five feet 

 long, high and wide in proportion, with a small 

 door in front, and two squares of glass to ad- 

 mit light and sun, when cold and rainy. A 

 piece of sheepskin, with the wool on, nailed to 

 a board, would answer for them to run under 

 and get warm." 



NEST-EGGS. 



There is some advantage to those who keep 

 fowls and desire eggs in winter in having nest- 

 eggs ; they are useful appendages to the laying- 

 houses, as indicating to the young aspirant to 

 national honors the whereabouts of the "pro- 

 creant cradle." We find also that they induce 

 some hens to keep to their nests which are oth- 

 erwise induced to deposit their eggs at random. 

 An essential quality of a good nest-egg is a toler* 

 able resemblance to a real egg. A hen will nev- 

 er lay to an egg-shell, however perfect it may 

 be, for she knows by its want of weight that 

 it is a counterfeit. 



A good nest-egg may be made of solid white 

 maple or hickory wood turned to the proper 

 shape. But every one has not a lathe, and such 

 eggs are not always to be had. Another nest- 



