Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1881-09-08
TEACH CHICKENS TO ROOsT.

We have referred to this matter before,
perhaps, but at this season Of the year it is
necessary to remind our readers Of the ne
cessity of attending to things which need
to be looked after now. 1t ls, with most
people, the custom to coop the mother hen
with the brood, and allow her to house
themselves. This period arrives at an ear
lier moment with some fowls than with
others. A hen whose flesh and vitality have
been kept up through incubation and the
care of her young is disposed to commence
laying eggs much earlier than one which
becomes thin and worn with confinement,
And when she is ready to commence what
she supposes is preparation for another
hatch, she naturally forsakes the brood al
ready partially grown. She is hardly so
cruel in this operation as the so-called ssgen-
tie doves" for she does not ''sit up nights''
to drive her terrified ond pleading young-
lings from the nest out into the wide, wide
world. She allows them to remsin in their
old quarters if they choose, while she walks
cody away to the roost and takes her ac-
customed place among the old flock.
The forsaken chickens, worried at the abb
sence OF the maternal coverlet, and shiver-
ing with the unaccustomed exposure, hud-
ole together, crowding and pushing, each
seeking the shelter of the restless mass of
complaining chlckendom, till sleep and
darkness overtakes them. And this nn-
healthy practice of passing the night in
close, unventilated quarters is kept up by
the poor, Ignorant creatures till the coop
becomes too small to admit their growing
bodies, and the slow instinct Of the race in
duces them to climb to some higher region
during the dark hours.
This step is a decided Improvement. 1t
gives them protection from the nightly ma
rauders and the better air always found at
distance from the surface of the earth, and
prevents that close contact with each other
which IN any individual case of illness or
vermin makes the difficulty OF general one
through The flock.
But this self-taught habit is not, after all.
the best for your young fowls. Roasting
in trees not only exposes them to the varia-
tlons OF the weather and to drenching rains.
but it causes much trouble in the autumn,
when they must be housed, to collect them
in the evening and carry them to the regu
lar roosting place OF the flock. 1t is far
better that they should be taught at once.
by the mother hen, to know their place
when roesting time arrives. For this pur-
pose, therefore, it is best to place the coops
in or near the general camping ground. Ii
1t Is not done at first, when for great con-
venience in the frequent feeding of newly
hatched broods they are kept about the
house, by all means remove them before
the hen decides to abandon them. They
become in that way accustomed to the other
fowls and to looking out for themselves.
And when the mother mounts the roost at
night they are sure to follow her, or at least
to get as near her as possible. The other
fowls, that sometimes resent the intrusion
of new occupants, are deferred by the pres
ence of the mother from interfering with
the chickens, and all is thus easily and ma
turally rranged.-Ame,1ean Poultry Yard.