412 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
■when sufficient stamina has been gained, and 
the stations are to be stocked, close breeding is 
resorted to. This is to increase the yield of 
eggs, the philosophy of the matter being as fol¬ 
lows: Just as a fruit tree girdled or severely 
root-pruned will give a profuse yield and then 
die, and as various domestic animals will for a 
short time be more prolific after removal to un¬ 
accustomed climates, so the violent attack on 
vitality which occurs when there is in-and-in 
breeding, is met by an energetic attempt of the 
organism to propagate in unusual numbers and 
thus maintain its kind. There has been much 
confusion on this point, for while scientific 
naturalists have insisted that no animal can 
thrive under continued close breeding, practical 
Fig. 2.— FLOOR OF COOP. 
poultry keepers have pointed to the proiificness 
of in-and-in bred fowls as a proof that there 
was no deterioration. The fact is, individual 
perfection and rapid increase are to a certain 
degree incompatible. Under our plan of aim¬ 
ing chiefly to secure great quantities of eggs, we 
purposely gfve the constitution of the birds a 
shock in order to increase fecundity, having 
first, however, carefully built up, for some years, 
by careful selection and good sanitary condi¬ 
tions, sufficient strength to withstand the as¬ 
sault. This course may appear inconsistent, but 
experiments have shown us that it is correct. 
The Brahmas are bred in the experimental 
yards with a different basis of selection. The best 
sitters, and those with the shortest legs and the 
least black upon the plumage, are preferred. 
Brahmas can be bred very light-colored in a short 
time. The white barn-yard fowls are selected 
also with reference to persistence in sitting, and 
particularly for 
, their ample wings. 
The experiments 
need not be car¬ 
ried out to such an 
extent with these 
last - mentioned 
breeds as in case 
of the Leghorns, 
which fill such 
an important part. 
In the breeding and experimental yards, the 
fowls must be fed and managed in every respect 
with the greatest care. Over-fattening is to be 
deprecated above all other things, and may be 
avoided by burying all the grain to make the 
birds exercise by scratching. The supply of 
grain should be moderate; meat should be given 
very often in very small quantities, and the al¬ 
lowance of fresh vegetables should be ample. 
Fig. 3.— SECTION OF COOP. 
Free range would be very desirable for all the 
breeders, but as it is impracticable, scrupulous 
care must be taken to furnish artificially natural 
conditions. Though the birds of the laying class 
in the experimental yards are rated according 
to their prolificness, yet the test is merely a 
relative one,for they are not forced to profuse lay¬ 
ing by stimulating feed. 
The construction of 
the coops for young 
chickens remains to be 
described. A chicken 
coop must be adapted 
to warm weather and 
cold and especially to 
rains, be easily cleaned, 
and made rat-proof 
nights. The old-fashioned 
triangular pattern (fig. 1) secures all this, and 
also gives small chickens a chance to escape 
under the eaves from the feet of the hens. Two 
hens are put together with their broods, for 
reasons which will be given in another place. 
The size proper to accommodate a double 
brood is 2 \x 3i feet upon the ground, with 
roof 3 feet from eaves to peak. A bit of 
scantling is fastened to each roof for a han¬ 
dle. The door, a, is hinged to open upwards. 
There is a small door at the rear that will 
allovr chickens to pass, 
but not grown fowls. 
An opening for ventila¬ 
tion is made near the 
peak, and covered with 
wire cloth. Take inch 
boards, b b (fig. 2), and 
nail strongly, planed side 
up, to the cleats, c c, and 
clinch. Let both ends 
of each cleat project 
three inches, and the 
outside edge of each two 
inches. This is the movable floor, and must 
be of such size that the coop shall rest entirely 
upon the projecting ends and edges of -the 
cleats, then when the doors are closed all rain 
will be shed outside the floor. In fig. 3, a sec¬ 
tion of the coop shows the floor in its place. 
When the doors are closed at night, leave the 
large one, «, ajar y a inch or 1 inch, according 
to the weather, for air, and fasten it with wood¬ 
en pegs stuck in holes through the cleats, at 
d d, which will make the coop perfectly rat- 
proof. Once a week, after opening the door a, 
to enable the chickens to escape through the 
slats out of the way, slide the coop slowly 
lengthwise of the cleats away from the floor, 
which must be scraped thoroughly; then give 
it a shovelful of dry earth and replace. You 
will always have a dry, inodorous apartment, 
and will not shut up chickens in close, 
foul air. 
All the chickens destined for the itinerant 
stations, must, as mentioned in the first article, 
be fed indirectly. For two days only are they 
and the hens fed upon the floor of the coop. 
Then for a week they are fed in the box given 
in fig. 4. It has no bottom, and the top, not 
shown in the figure, is temporary, and com¬ 
posed pf loose boards. Place it so that its door 
shall meet the small door in the coop, having 
first dropped in the feed at the corner e, and 
covered the box with the boards in such a man¬ 
ner as to admit a little light. After a week, the 
chickens, being strong enough to venture some 
distance, arc fed from a box of tin, 6 x 16 inches 
5. —FEED-BOX WITH GRATING. 
and */* inch deep (fig. 5). A wire grating, F, 
with meshes 1 inch square, protects the feed 
from the feet of the chickens but admits their 
bills. The grating is covered at pleasure by a 
lid, G, both being hinged to opposite sides of 
the box. When such boxes are placed in a row 
(fig. 6), each filled with feed, one for each coop, 
with the lids down, a snap-hook is attached to 
a ring which is fastened to each lid, and a wire 
connects with all the hooks. One pull opens 
all the lids and the chickens are at dinner. 
These feed-boxes are carried to the granary to 
be filled, using a vdieelbarrow in which many 
may be packed at a time. The coops are 20 
feet apart, in a single row, and the ■wheelbarrow 
is rolled along the line, and the boxes, with lids 
closed, are put on the side of the coops near 
the small doors, which are shut, in order that 
the hens may not worry 1 x 11011 the chickens are 
feeding. The hens are fed and watered in cups, 
fastened to the inside of the coops as high as 
they can reach. The cups are filled once each 
twenty-four hours, after dark in the evening, so 
as not to attract the attention of either hens or 
chickens. When the chickens are a month old, 
a part of their feed should be buried near the 
coop early in the morning, before they are let 
out, so that they may scratch during the day. 
Whenever it is rainy, the box used the first week 
for feeding (fig. 4) is resorted to again for that 
purpose. 
The additional time required to feed chickens 
indirectly is slight, ifoperations are systematized. 
All the chickens of the experimental stock, and 
of the Brahma, and white Barn-yard, and Half- 
blood classes also, are reared at a separate part 
of the farm, and fed directly. 
When the liens are removed from the chick¬ 
ens, the latter huddle together nights upon the 
floor for some weeks, but when old enough to 
perch, the box (fig. 4) is placed upon the mov¬ 
able coop-floor, and the coop is placed upon 
the top of the whole, the box being of such size 
that the eaves and sides of the coop overlap 
sufficiently to shed rain. The box has two 
perches permanently fastened to it, one of which 
is seen in fig. 4. This roost is rat-proof, and a 
bushel or so of dry earth keeps it clean. 
