174 POULTRY-CRAFT. 
chicks of other hens, picking and worrying them whenever they come near. 
This can only be prevented by making it impossible for the hens to get at 
strange chicks; or, making it easy for the chicks to escape from angry hens. 
With coops as shown in Fig. 44, having the slats of the coop pens perpen- 
dicular, the chick which wanders into a strange coop will almost invariably 
get away before being hurt. The coop shown in Fig. 45, gives still more 
complete protection, but is too expensive to use unless it is necessary to 
protect from hawks and cats, for which purpose that coop was specially 
constructed. 
With a coop that is tightly built, and can be closed tight, chicks can be 
reared outdoors in winter when the thermometer ranges to 20° below zero. 
(Chicks hatched in winter stand cold much better than late chicks — early 
summer chicks— stand extreme heat). This, of course, cannot be done 
when there is much snow, but in a snowy country such coops can be set 
under a rough shed where the ground is tolerably dry, and good chicks reared ; 
not on a commercial scale for market,— but for hardy stock birds of the large 
breeds. 
Sometimes hens do not brood their chicks as muchas they should on cold 
bleak days. In that case they should be shut into the coop house, and the 
door left open just enough to let the chicks pass in and out. The coop should 
be made quite dark. In the dark the hens will brood the chicks whenever 
they come to them. 
When coops with perpendicular sides are used, shade can be given by 
spreading pieces of burlap over the tops of the runs. A grain sack, which 
gives two thicknesses of burlap, will keep the ground inside the pen dry 
through quite a long shower, and dry all day through a drizzling rain. 
Coops placed on grass should be moved every few days. When coops are 
kept permanently in one spot, the ground under the coop pen should be 
frequently cleaned of droppings. The coop houses need cleaning about twice 
a week while the chicks are small. As soon as the chicks are so large that 
one night’s use of the coop leaves it drty, coops should be cleaned daily. 
If the coop floors become damp, and there is not sunshine to dry them, a 
few handfuls of dry chaff, or a little dry road dust or coal ashes, should be 
spread over them. 
252. Making Hens Lay While Brooding Chicks, and keeping them 
brooding chicks after commencing to lay, relieves the poultry keeper at the 
same time of two of the most objectionable features of the natural method. 
Generally the hens wean their chicks shortly after beginning to lay. If they 
continue brooding the chicks they rarely lay. In coops with roomy pens the 
hens can be got to laying in about a fortnight after the chicks are hatched, 
and will continue laying and brooding the chicks as long as is desirable. The 
hens are put in laying condition by being fed only three times a day, instead 
of five or six times, as when fed with the chicks; all but three of the feeds 
