106 The Hen at Work 



The hopper illustrated is simply a box six inches 

 square, cut down. The cut is made in the middle, 

 and leaves a tray three inches deep, with a hopper 

 three inches wide by six inches deep. Holes bored 

 in the back, near the top, serve to hang it up out of 

 the litter. 



The type of hopper where several slots feed 

 down grit, shells, and bone into small trays, side 

 by side, has proved unsatisfactory. Hens will 

 not eat shells or grit when the material is dusty 

 or stale, and before long the shells in such a tray 

 get mixed with other matter. If you want to 

 dump it to clean out dust, you may have one slot 

 nearly full, whUe the next is nearly empty. 



The various materials are, of course, all mixed 

 together when the hopper is dumped. Beware 

 of all fancy patent dishes for serving hens. Fowls 

 are disciples of the simple life, and simple things 

 appeal most to their taste. They will eat more 

 shell and grit from a lot freshly placed in the little 

 wooden box, than out of any patent device ever 

 invented, and they can never eat too much grit or 

 shell. 



Water Basins. — ^While chickens are developing 

 through the summer months, the water fountains 



