CARE OF CHICKS—COOPS FOR THEM. 61 
try-house, and a door from this opened into it. It 
measures ten by twelve feet on the ground, and seven 
and a half feet high at the top of the roof. It required 
seven common hot-bed sashes, purchased for one dollar 
each (three of those are shown and the other four shculd 
be seen under the overhanging eaves), and the rest of 
the material cost about ten dollars. The floor was the 
ground, which was sandy and dry, and soon became 
quite warm under the heat of the sun even in January. 
When the hens wanted to brood, they were carried in 
the movable nest into this warm house, where they were 
fed and watered daily, and could enjoy a bath in the 
dry, warm, sandy floor. The droppings were gathered 
up daily in a pail, and carried out, and the house was 
kept as clean and sweet as possible. When the young 
chicks appeared, and had been nursed in the warm 
brooder, which has been previously described, they were 
given to the hen, who was put into a coop, and usually 
two broods were given to each, and sometimes three. A 
good, quiet Light Brahma or Plymouth Rock hen will 
take twenty-four or twenty-five chicks and rear them 
all safely when thus cared for, as the warm -house 
greatly relieves her from the work of brooding the 
chicks and keeping them warm. The chicks are fed 
four times a day, the chief food at the first being crushed 
wheat and coarse oatmeal, with coarse cracked corn and 
clean water in a shallow plate, in the center of which an 
inverted tin fruit-can is placed, to prevent the chicks 
from running through it. The advantage of such a 
house as this is that chicks can be reared that are fit 
for market so early as to bring the highest price. An 
instance may be given of the income from a small flock 
of twenty light Brahma hens for a year, from January 
to December, which left a clear profit of a little over 
seven dollars per hen. It is quite possible to do this 
with a flock of one hundred hens which are good brood- 
