IN THE POULTRY YARD. 145 
laid on its side and steadied with stones or blocks on each side, 
and the open end was covered to within four inches of the ground 
with a curtain made of the matting that comes round tea-chests. 
‘This matting can be had for almost nothing’ at the tea stores, and 
three thicknesses of it make a screen that is impervious to wind, rain 
and snow. ‘These barvel coops were placed in different spots about 
the grounds, but always where the shelter was good. On wet and 
cold days the little flocks used to stay in them a large part of the time. 
Food and water were placed near them, and with the number that 
I now had, it was not very difficult to attend to them. On bright 
sunny days it was no trouble at all. On rainy days it was rather 
an uncomfortable job. I had heavy rubber boots and a rubber 
coat, and I provided similar garments for Margaret, so that she 
could always keep dry, and we managed to get along, but I saw 
that if my experiment of fall broods proved a success, I would have 
to erect a cheap board house with green-house sash in the ‘roof, 
and attend to the chickens in that. One writer ridicules the idea 
of protection being required for the attendant, but he seems to 
forget that human beings are not made of cast iron, and that even ~ 
chickens suffer from wet and cold. , 
The early hatched chickens were now full grown, and the 
cockerels gave us unmistakable hints that it was time to separate ‘ 
them from the pullets. So I had some more portable fencing 
made, enclosed the large shed, and kept them in that. They were 
well fed on rather fattening food, so as to prepare them rapidly for 
market, and we got rid of them as soon as possible by methods 
which the reader will find detailed in the chapter on marketing. 
To the pullets we allowed the range of the place, but we found 
that although the nights began to grow cold, and even alter snow 
came, they would persist in roosting in trees and on fences, and it 
was almost impossible to get them into the houses. Night after 
night we carried them into a house and placed them on the roost, 
but next night they would be found in their own place the same as 
ever. The worst of it was that they were excellent fliers, so that 
nqne of our fences would keep them in. 
I got over this difficulty by catching them one by one, shaving 
