HOUSING AND CARE. 



Suitable Bantam Houses— Foods and Feeding— Requirements in Breeding- 

 Modern Methods— Nests and Hatching. 



-Care and Management- 



IIE proper housing of Bantams is the first and 

 most important point for consideraitl(in. Al- 

 most any place will do for them, provided it 

 is reasonably warm in cold weather, and free 

 from dampness at all times. These little 

 fowls have the constitution to stand very 

 cold weather, but dampness is their almost 

 certain destroyer. From the time Bantams are hatched till 

 the end of their natural lite they should be protected from 

 wet and damp. If this is done and they are properly fed, 

 they will enjoy perfect health and repay you for all the 

 attention they have received. 



Young Bantams, when hatched, should be kept within 

 doors on a dry board floor with the mother hen for about 

 forty-eight hours, then removed into dry quarters outside 

 and housed in a properly constructed coop with board floor 

 that should be strewn with hay seed or chaff, or hay cut 

 quite small. For my own use I have constructed a coop 

 after the style of one made by Spratt's Patent. This is not 

 all important, for any well constructed coop will do for their 

 comfort, if warm and dry. We advocate very strongly the 

 use of coops with board floors; at the same time, many ad- 

 vocate placing them in A coops right on the ground. Hav- 

 ing used both, we cast our vote in favor of the coop with 

 board floor well covered with dry litter, believing a greater 

 number of just as healthy chicks will be raised in this way 

 in all kinds of weather, and in a wet season, like the sum- 

 mers of 1897 and 1902, the per cent is largely in favor of the 

 dry floors. 



For adult Bantams we also advocate houses with board 

 floors, and we prefer these houses to be set at least ten 

 inches from the ground, and so constructed that no vermin 

 of any kind can make their home beneath the house. The 

 illustration of our favorite style of coop for adult Bantams 

 (See Fig. 1) will indicate our notion as to same. We also 

 copy one from Spratt's illustrations, having added some of 

 our own ideas to it. From our illustrations many forms of 

 Bantam houses can be constructed; no matter how rude or 

 how cheap in form, just so they are dry and furnish protec- 

 tion from the very cold weather. Do not think for a 

 moment that we would intimate that Bantams should bs 

 vfeept in warm or heated quarters during cold weathe^r. Thsy 

 'are quite hardy and withstand cold weather wqnderfully 



well, but they 

 should have com- 

 fortable houses to 

 thrive and do 

 thleir best. 

 . For perches 

 nothing is better 

 than oval strips 

 of wood, tWO' and 

 one-halit to three 

 inches wikie on 

 the flat side. 



FIG. 1— POULTRY HOUSE WITH RUN UNDERNBWK. Som© S-ay SmalleT 



perches are best. Try both and see which your 

 fowls will prefer. Nest boxes and other furnishings Tou can 

 select, as best suit your fancy. We use small pine boxes 

 and find them very handy for removing with a broody hen 

 to some quiet corner where she can bring out her brood in 

 comfort. 



•Many of the finest . exhibition Bantams of England are 

 bred in very contracted quarters. We have seen a pen of five 

 Bantams housed and yarded in a space -less than seven feet 

 square for a period of four months, and they produced a fine 

 lot of healthy chicks, many of which found their way to the 

 show pens and won their share of prizes. Quite a number 

 of the New York prize winners are bred in very small city 

 lot, where all green food and grit of all kinds must be fur- 

 nished them. The secret of success in these cases is the care 

 bestowed upon the fowls. The most perfect sanitary condi- 

 tions must be observed, and cleanliness must be the absolute 

 rule of the hour. To occasionally clean up will not do. If 

 kept in these confined, small quarters, they must be kept as 

 thoroughly clean as your own house, for in this way only 

 can they be successfuly raised in confined quarters. 



We breed our finest specimens in a small back yard, and 

 use for housing a small wooden packing box, as shown in 

 Fig. 2. Their run Is about eight feet square, and they are 

 turned out on the grass plot each day for a run. The two 

 hens in one of these runs laid over one hundred and fifty 

 eggs in four months, producing a number of very fine chicks, 

 all of which were kept till eight weeks old, in a small door 

 yard. After this age we sent them to a farm to shift for 

 themselves. 



Bantams should be sheltered from sun, wind, ram and 

 snow by day, and from drafts by night. Shade of some kind 

 should be provided for all Bantams intended for exhibition, 

 for their plumage is soon injured by the hot rays of the sun. 

 White turns yellow and black turns brown when exposed for 

 days to the hot sunlight. We have seen the careful^ breeder 

 spread s'leets of canvas for shade when deprived of natural 

 shade, for his fowls. These little pointers show what care 

 the expert bestows upon his prospective winners. 



When making use of houses like Nos. 1 and 2, the open 

 run beiieath makes shelter from rain and sun during the 

 summer months. When the cold days of winter are near 

 aJt hand it is best 

 to pack this open 

 space full of 

 leaves or straw and 

 bank the earth 

 about the outside 

 to keep the cold 

 from under the 

 floor. Bantam 

 houses may be 

 built the same as 

 houses are built for 

 other fowls. It is 

 not necessary to 



FIG. 2— MADE OUT OF i DRY GOODS BOX. 



