On the Rearing and Management of Poultry. 



165 



that which I most recommend is peat charcoal. It may not 

 be out of place to remark here, that the manure, to prevent it 

 losing its best properties, should be placed under cover. The 

 walls, the best material for which is bricks, should be plastered, 

 and must be whitewashed four times a year. 



Recesses 14 inches high, 12 inches in length, and 12 in breadth, 

 must be left in the front wall 4 feet from the floor, and extending 

 to about 14 inches from each corner. 



These recesses must be fitted up with a box 5 inches high, 

 either with or without a bottom, for hatching-nests. A deal 8 

 inches broad must extend across the front of the nests for the 

 fowls to alight on ; care being taken not to have its ends too close 

 to the corners, otherwise rats, if allowed to enter the building, 

 will avail themselves of it when wanting a feast. The nests 

 should be half filled with soft short straw or moss, dried heath, 

 or fern ; neither long straw nor hay ought to be used ; the former 

 catches the feet of the hens as they leave the nests, and is apt to 

 do injury- to the eggs; the latter has a tendency to produce a 

 parasite of the louse tribe. 



The laying nests should be constructed in the same way, in 

 the opposite wall ; but two rows (one above the other) will be 

 found necessary, as a scarcity of nests induces the hens to lay 

 from home ; however, we shall not go so far as Dickson, in 

 recommending a nest for each hen. One nest for every three or 

 four hens is quite sufficient. Hens delight to lay where there 

 is the greatest number of eggs ; I have often witnessed contests 

 for nests whilst others were close by and occupied. 



Hens, when nursing a brood of chickens, are not always 

 friendly to each other ; it is therefore necessary to have a coop 

 for each brood placed against the inside of the front wall, each 

 coop to be occupied by the hen which hatched in the nest 

 above it. 



Six roosting-balks should be fixed in the back apartment, 

 commencing about 3 feet from the floor, and 2 feet 6 inches from 

 the wall ; each successive balk should be about 12 inches higher 

 and 10 farther from the wall. All writers whom I have con- 

 sulted recommend the balks to be placed higher : but when fowls 

 are wanted, I have found great inconvenience in getting them 

 off high balks. 



The front apartment should be fitted up with two balks about 

 14 inches from the floor; on these the young chickens will 

 roost. We have observed that the hens in our poultry-house 

 choose their nests in the darkest situations in which to lay. If 

 the habits and tastes of the hens should have their influence, then, 

 of course, the fowl-house must not be kept too light. 



