70 



The Illustrated Book ol^ Poultry. 



be lighted at the top by a small window. It is much used by the best poultry-breeders in some 

 parts of France, and the advantage of it is that even in winter no further shelter is required • as at 

 night the hen is secured in the inner compartment, and the outer, being closed by a piece of canvas 

 forms a feeding apartment for the morning, the chicks being prevented by the canvas from going out 

 into the cold air. Such coops may be either constructed without a bottom, in which case the earth 

 under must be removed and replaced with fresh every two days, or may have a board floor to be 

 thoroughly cleansed and sprinkled with sand or dry earth daily. 



There should if possible be a grass-plot in front of the shed. Chickens can be reared without 

 it, as we have proved by experience for years ; but nothing is so much in favour of growth, appetite, 

 and vigorous health as even a small grass-plot, where it can be obtained. If this creat advanta"-e 

 cannot be had, the best substitute is the liberal use of fresh grass, cut into small green chaff with a 

 pair of shears, and both mixed with all the soft food and thrown down by itself, when it will be 

 eagerly devoured. The broods cannot have too much of this, so long as it is eaten and not left to 

 be trodden into the ground ; and such free use of grass is the most certain preventive of diarrhoea. 

 Such a statement may surprise many ; but wliile the sudden use of greenwood after deprivation of 

 it does undoubtedly cause severe disarrangement, the constant and regular use of grass has on fowls 

 the contrary effect. If even grass cannot be had, lettuce chopped very fine is the best substitute, 

 but grass is much to be preferred. 



In fine weather, when the winds are not too cold, the well-known wicker chicken-coop will 

 often be found useful, from the facility with which it can be moved from place to place. It is, 

 however, necessary to provide shelter from the sun and occasional showers, which can be done by 

 covering with a handful of straw or a piece of canvas, and the whole should have a tolerably 

 heavy stone placed on the top to prevent the hen dragging it about and possibly fighting with her 

 neighbours. But, upon the whole, wooden coops made with a gable top are much the best. They 

 should be boarded at the back and" sides, and for a few inches each corner at the front, by which 

 means the chicks can always find some shelter, whatever be the direction of the wind. The floor 

 should be daily cleansed most thoroughly with a scraper, and afterwards thickly sprinkled with 

 clean sand or gravel if obtainable, with dry ashes or earth if not. A board about as long as the 

 width of the coop, and nearly a foot wide, should be laid on the ground close up in front, on \\hich 

 the food and drink are to be placed, where they cannot be trodden upon by the hen. With such a 

 coop, in tolerably mild weather, the hen may often be left out all night, propping up the feeding- 



board (which can in fact be hinged at the bottom if preferred) so as to confine the chicks and keep 

 out depredators, ar.d putting a small fountain and some grits inside to provide an early meal. We 

 have often thus managed in favourable seasons, and rarely lost a chick by it. 



The principal enemies of the poultry-yard must have a chapter to themselves, but cats are 

 such special enemies to chickens that we may in this place profitably describe the enclosed chicken- 



