136 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
February 15, 
HENS IN A COLD COUNTRY. 
T would like to keep about 150 hens, and 
will have to build a new house for them. 
I live quite far north, and it gets pretty 
cold ; quite often it reaches 20 degrees be¬ 
low zero. What dimensions would you build 
this house? IIow many thicknesses of 
boards and paper will the sides have to 
be, and would you lath and plaster the in¬ 
side? Would you build high enough to 
have a loft so as to pack straw in to absorb 
the moisture? Would you ventilate by the 
doth curtain system? If so, how large will 
the windows have to be, and how placed? 
Would you build wide enough to have an 
alley (he whole length to feed from, or have 
doors to open from outside direct into each 
pen? f. m. G. 
St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. 
A convenient way of watering is to 
cut a hole through the partitions about 
a foot above the floor; pass a board 30 
inches long by 10 or 12 wide half its 
length through the partition, nail legs to 
each end to prevent tipping and on the 
board put an agateware pan holding six 
or eight quarts. This prevents the 
litter from being scratched into the 
drinking water, the fowls cannot upset 
it, and there is only onq drinking dish 
to clean and fill to each two pens. If 
an alley-way is wanted, then the house 
should be built three feet wider; in my 
opinion it adds more to the cost than it 
is worth, and makes the house much 
In the cold country where this in¬ 
quirer is located, it is wise to take more 
pains in building a poultry house than 
would be necessary here, where the cold 
is rarely more than three or four below 
zero. I should think a house 50 feet 
long by 15 feet wide would be large 
enough. This would make five pens 
10x15 feet and accommodate 30 birds in 
a pen, giving each fowl five feet of floor 
space. Using 4x4-inch corner posts and 
sills, and 2x4-inch plate and studding, 
the house can be covered outside with 
matched boards, and lined inside with 
the same, the space between being 
filled with dry planer shavings if they 
are obtainable. If an earth floor is to 
be used—which I should recommend— 
then the ground inside should be filled 
in until it is nearly level with top oif 
the sills. If it is decided to have a 
floor overhead, the space to be filled 
with straw, the posts should be six 
feet long, which with the 2x4 plate on 
top of posts would give abundant head 
room, and the roof can be of equal 
slope, the highest point being in the 
center. The part of the floor over the 
roosts should be made tight; the rest 
of it should be of narrow boards laid 
three inches apart, or they need not be 
nailed fast, as they have only to hold 
the straw up. -In each gable end there 
should be a good-sized door hinged at 
top so as to swing outward, and held 
out by a stick hinged near the bottom of 
the door. Except in stormy weather 
these doors should he open most of’ the 
time to dry out the straw. Bore holes 
three or four inches apart in the stick, 
drive a nail part way into the plate, then 
by inserting the nail into one of the 
holes the door can be held out at any 
angle desired. The house should face 
the south or southeast, and in the mid¬ 
dle of the front of each pen there should 
be a small window, two sash each, con¬ 
taining six 8x12 glass. Bottom of lower 
sash should not be over 18 inches above 
the floor. Each side of the window 
there should be an opening three feet 
square two inches below the plate, to be 
covered with a curtain tacked to a light 
frame. It is better to have this frame 
held in place by buttons, and have a sill 
in the opening, the bottom of the frame 
beveled to fit the sill (like any ordinary 
window) ; then the rain that strikes the 
curtain is shed outside the house in¬ 
stead of dripping down inside. 
I should have no alley-way, hut put 
the roost platforms on north side and 
hoard up the partitions between each pen 
to at least a foot beyond the front edge 
of roost platform. The rest of the par¬ 
titions may be of wire netting, except 
that they should be boarded up twio 
feet from the floor to prevent cocks 
fighting through the wire. A door in 
the center of the gable end—whichever 
end is most convenient for the owner— 
should be wide enough to allow free 
passage of a wheelbarrow without skin¬ 
ning one’s knuckles, and the partition 
doors should be of the same width, and 
hung with spring hinges to swing either 
way. A drop curtain to be swung down 
in front of each roost platform will 
add greatly to the comfort of the fowls 
on cold nights. If drafts are ob¬ 
servable it might be well to board up 
one of the middle partitions to break 
the draft. 
colder. 
GEO. A. COSGROVE. 
INCUBATOR OR HEN HATCHED CHICKS. 
In regards to the question asked by H. G. 
and answered by George A. Cosgrove, 
whether chickens hatched by incubators 
will be as good and strong layers as those 
hatched by hens, my success has been bet¬ 
ter with the incubator than with old biddy. 
With Black Langshans and Black Minorcas 
hatched by incubator we won this Winter 
in the Painesville, Ohio, show nine first, 
seven second, four third and four fourth 
prizes. In Geneva, Ohio, we won 10 firsts, 
five seconds and four thirds, and we chal¬ 
lenge anyone with egg production, for we 
have it. Our experience in airing eggs for 
the first week leads us just to take egg 
trays out long enough to turn eggs twice 
a day, morning and evening. We turn eggs 
twice a day from placing them in the tray 
till the morning of the twentieth day. This 
day, when we open incubator if chicks peep, 
we close the incubator for 30 to 40 hours, 
when all strong chicks are out of the shell; 
then hustle them to the brooder. Be very 
careful not to get them chilled; this is 
where most mistakes are made. Keep 
brooder at 90 degrees for the first day or 
two, then gradually decrease heat as chicks 
grow. Their first feed should be fine grit 
sparingly fed. The second two weeks of 
incubation we air eggs, beginning at the 
end of first week with eight minutes, and 
run to 18 on the eighteenth day of incuba¬ 
tion ; the nineteenth day just take out long 
enough to turn eggs by hand. We have 
had our best luck from this method. We 
cannot neglect the incubator or brooder and 
get results. Keep the brooder clean 
Collinwood, Ohio. g. w. b. 
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There is more in the proper management of a hen than in 
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Some breeds lay better than others, but a man who don’t 
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The secret lies in giving the hen perfect digestion , because if 
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Poultry PAN-A-CE- 
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Instant Lonse Killer Kills Lice. 
