1883.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
451 
Carriage House and Stable. 
FIRST PRIZE, CLASS NINE. 
The carriage house showu below, in figures 1 to 
4, is thirty by forty feet; bight of posts, sixteen 
feet. The foundation wall starts in a trench below 
2,800 ft. Novelty Siding, @ $22. 61.60 
2,000 ft. best common Finishing Boards, at $30. 60.00 
500 ft. Battens, @ 8 cents.. 4.00 
5,000 ft. 6-inch D. & M. Flooring, at $22. 110.00 
2,000 ft. 2 by 12 Planks, 12 ft., @ $17. 34.00 
1,000 ft. 2 by 12 Planks, 16 ft.. @ $17. 17.00 
8 Windows, 8 lights, 12 by 14, @ $2125 each. 18.00 
2 Windows, 3 lights, 12 by 14, @ 75 cents each. 1.50 
5 Windows, 1 light, 14 by 16, @ 60 cents each. 8.00 
Nails and Trimmings. .. 40.00 
Eave Troughs... 15.60 
ration, that they devoured every egg, without the 
closest watching, at the cackle of every laying hen. 
Giving the shells every morning,the craving ceased, 
and we found the eggs remaining in the nests un¬ 
disturbed. As an assistant to this remedy, we 
manufactured an egg-trap from a common nest- 
box. This is so simple that any one accustomed to 
Fig. 1.— END OP THE CARRIAGE HOUSE. 
Fig. 2.— SIDE VIEW OP THE CARRIAGE HOUSE. 
the frost, and is faced and pointed above grade. 
The carriage room and stable are ten feet high be¬ 
tween timbers. The frame is well braced. The 
square purline supports the roof. Outside cover¬ 
ing, six-inch “novelty” siding, except the gables, 
on which are eight-inch boards, battened and fin¬ 
ished as shown in the engraving. The doors, made 
of one by six-inch flooring, are covered outside 
with three-quarter by, four-inch ceiling boards, 
placed on diagonally. Carriage room is floored 
with two-inch plank, dressed and ceiled with one 
by six-inch flooring. Stable floor, two by twelve- 
inch plank, doubled in the stalls, and laid with 
two-inch slope; ceiling, one by six-inch floor 
boards ; roof covered with best eighteen-inch shin¬ 
gles, on good cull boards, dressed. Cupola, ga¬ 
bles, windows, etc., as shown in the illustrations. 
Estimate for material and Labor. 
2 Sills, 8 by 8 in., 22 ft. long. 
4 Sills, 8 by 8 in., 20 ft. long. 
3 Sills, 8 by 8 in., 30 ft. long. 
6 Posts, 8 by 8 in., 16 ft. l’g. 
3 Beams, 8 by 8 in., 30 ft. i’g. 
4 Plates, 8 by 8 in., 22 ft. l'g. 
4 P. Plates, 6by 8in., 22 ft. l’g 
6 P. Posts, 6 by 8,14 ft. long. 
Total Timber. 11,600 ft., @ $18 
2.000 ft. Roofing, @ $12 $ M. 
15,000 Shingles, 18 In., @ $4.50. 
3P Beams. 6 by 8,16 ft. l'g. 
40 Rafters, 2by 6in., 24 ft. l’g. 
60 Joist. 2 by 8 in., 15 ft. long. 
60 Joist, 2 by 10 in.. 20 ft. l’g. 
60 Studs. 2 by 6 in., 16 ft. l’g. 
100 Pieces, 2 by 4 in., 12 ft. l’g. 
75 Pieces, 2 by 4 in., 18 ft. 1 g. 
5 i Pieces, 4 by 4 in., 18 ft. l’g. 
per M.$203.80 
. 24.00 
.67.50 
Foundation. $35; Painting, $50. 85.00 
Carpenter Work .175.00 
Total Cost.$925.00 
Cause and Cure of Egg Eating. 
Hens in confinement in the narrow yards of the 
village often form the habit of eating their own 
eggs. On the farm, where they have larger range, 
and plenty of crushed oyster-shells or bones, and 
select their own nests, they are rarely troubled 
with this diseased appetite. The instinct of the 
hen leads her to select a retired spot for her nest, 
away from the rest of the flock, in a clump of 
brush, a tangle of weeds, or an old barrel or hollow 
log, and to carefully guard it against intruders. The 
eggs are very precious in her sight, and she longs 
for a nest full to brood and hatch them. Shut up 
with a flock in a small pen, her notions of privacy 
are overlooked oftentimes, and she is compelled 
to drop her eggs in a box in company with other 
hens. In the struggle for the box, eggs are often 
broken, and she takes her first lesson in egg eating, 
devouring the shell and contents with eager appe¬ 
tite. This appetite is greatly sharpened by the not 
infrequent neglect to supply broken oyster-shells, 
or lime in any available form, for the hens to eat. 
It is true that the grains they eat supply lime, but 
it is m limited measure, and where they have no 
means to cater for themselves, the poultry yard 
should be furnished with abundant supplies of 
crushed shells, or their equivalent in some other 
form. The rush of the hens to secure these frag¬ 
ments when kept in confinement, is good evidence 
of their need of lime in their daily rations. With 
scant supplies of lime, the egg-shells grow thin, 
and the education in egg eating goes on apace. 
Sometimes the habit is formed by the carelessness 
of the kitchen maid, or house-keeper, in throwing 
the egg-shells into the pail and giving them with 
the other waste to the hens. This should never 
be done, if you want the hens to respect their own 
eggs. Understanding the cause of this unthrifty 
habit, it is not very difficult to provide a remedy. 
From a recent experience, we have found that the 
habit is very much broken by an abundant supply 
of crushed shells. It had grown so bad in a flock 
of twenty Light Brahmas, owing to neglect of this 
the use of tools can make it in an hour or two. A 
slight inclination of the board upon which the 
nest-egg is fastened will cause the new-laid egg to 
roll away from under the hen, beyond her reach, 
as soon as it is dropped. The rear board has 
the same inclination toward the center, and pro¬ 
jects over the other board far enough to protect 
the egg when it has rolled away. The space be¬ 
tween the boards is just wide enough to give free 
passage to the eggs. The egg-box may be lined 
with a handful of sawdust, or chaff, to protect the 
shells from cracking. If the back board be fur¬ 
nished with hinges, it can be used as a lid, to allow 
of the removal of the eggs. It is a complete egg- 
trap, and with the oyster shells, in our case, abated 
Fig. 4. —THE HAT LOFT. 
the nuisance of egg eating. Many think, that when 
a hen has contracted the habit of egg-eating, the 
shortest way is the best, and instead of eating she 
is put in a condition to be eaten. But a good layer 
is too valuable to be given up without an effort to 
reform her bad habit, often acquired through the 
negligence of the owner. The egg-trap works ad¬ 
mirably, and secures the end desired by placing 
it out of the power of the hen to do mischief. 
