34 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 



entrance to the coops, the chickens will follow the mothers to 

 the low roosts, and I have never found any difficulty in keeping 

 two or three hens with their broods in each of the compart- 

 ments. I had these in use for twenty years, and found them 

 all that is needed for summer houses for market poultry. 



Now, if six hundred chickens can be produced thus succes- 

 fully upon a half-acre lot, no good reason naturally appears 

 that any given number may not be similarly raised — for mar- 

 ket purposes be it remembered — and kept, advantageously, 

 from the early hatching period suggested, through the summer 

 months, while the weather will commonly permit of their being 

 left comparatively in the open air. 



To attempt to house large numbers of fowls in close quarters 

 during the severe winters at the north, is not recommended. 

 Thus, in order to raise chickens by hundreds or thousands, a 

 great deal of space is necessary, as I have aimed to show. 



Thus, when winter approaches, and the weather gets too cold 

 for comfort, upon the plan suggested, aU the previous spring 

 and early summer chickens wOl, from time to time, have ma- 

 tured and been disposed of; and only the fowls for winter lay- 

 ing and the next spring sittings remain on hand. The accom- 

 modations of the previous year are now used for the conve- 

 nience of these birds, say from October to February, and the 

 hatching of their broods, subsequently — their chickens, in turn, 

 being transferred, in due time, to the open cages described. 



For the accommodation of the layers, and afterwards for 

 the sitters in early spring-time, the plan on the following page 

 is in use by the writer : (Figures 7 and 8.) 



This house for sitters and layers, furnished with great sim- 

 plicity, has been found ample for the purposes indicated. The 

 building was erected of rough No 4 boards, set upright upon a 

 two by four-inch joint frame-work, with four-inch corner-posts 

 and centre-studs, and is battened upon the outside (over the 

 seams) with three-inch paUng-stuff. The roof is finished in the 

 same manner, but shinghng is better. The corner-posts of the 

 central portion of this buQding are sixteen feet high, the 

 pitch is "one-third," and the dimensions of this part are sev- 

 enteen by fifteen feet. The two wings (as shown in the eleva- 

 tion) are shed-roofed, falling back from the front, are twelve 

 feet high, running down to seven and a half feet in rear, 

 fifteen feet wide, and extend right and left from the outside of 

 the central building, in each direction forty-five feet ; making 

 the whole house ninety-six feet long by fifteen feet in width, 



