POULTRY DEPARTMENT. 439 



caring for poultry is as well done as other work, I think there is hardly 

 any other kind of work on the farm which will pro^'e so remunerative. 

 But we can not keep hens and neglect them and expect to realize much 

 profit from them. With proper care a flock of hens on almost any farm 

 might be made to pay clear of all expenses from one dollar to two dol- 

 lars per head, and even more than that in many cases. I had much 

 rather have invested fifty or one hundred dollars in good laying hens 

 than an equal amount in sheep, hogs or cows. 



If a man should tell me his fifty dollar cow had turned over to him a 

 clear profit of two hundred dollars in a single season, I should be inclined 

 to question his veracity, but should he or a dozen others say that from 

 their flock of fifty-cent hens thej^ had in the same length of time cleared 

 above all expenses two dollars per head, I should not question them for 

 a moment, but would say, well done; I am glad you have found the 

 secret of success in poultry raising. 



In the brief time which can be given to this paper, I can only outline 

 a few of the requirements necessarj' to the successful prosecution of this 

 part of the farm work. 



The first thing is a suitable place in which to keep your fowls. One 

 need not necessarily go to the expense of erecting a costly building for a 

 hen-house, although were I to keep only twenty-five or fifty hens, I 

 should prefer to build a good substantial building separate from all 

 others, for a poultry-house, for the reason that so few farm buildings 

 would have a room which could be fitted up suitably for the purpose. In 

 locating a building a dry spot should be selected, if possible sloping to 

 the south, then you can have 3'our yards south of the house, thus being 

 protected from the cold north winds of winter, and in the spring the 

 warm, sunny days will quickly melt the snow so the fowls can sooner 

 get to the ground and scratch to their heart's content. 



The plans for building a hen-house are as numerous as the number of 

 people building them, but whatever the details of the plans are, it is 

 necessary to keep in mind that the house must be made comfortable and 

 warm, being free from cracks through which the wind can penetrate, 

 causing an indefinite number of diseases among your feathered tribe. Of 

 the two extremes, little ventilation or large cracks and holes in the wall, 

 I should by all odds choose the former. I tried one winter to keep my 

 house thoroughly ventilated by opening trap doors in the ceiling up into 

 the loft, but I found my fowls were constantly being attacked with 

 sneezing and colds in the head. Since then I have kept the trap door- 



