The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1909-08-27

Part OF the main part or the house
should be given over to roosts and the
rest used for nest boxes. IL Is better
10 have the roosts along the north side.
A muslin curtain arranged on roller,
so that Il can be let down In front OF
the fowls on cold nights, does much to
keep them comfortable. The roosting
space to be allowed to each fowl is
six TO twelve inches, according to size.
Two by fours set edgewise, with the
sharp corners rounded of, make good
roosts. They should he set In notChcs,
so that they can be easily removed to
be cleaned and dlsinfected. The drop
pings should be removed every week
or two and not left for year. as Is so
often done. II plenty OF straw Is used
on the cement under the roosts II is
but short job to throw the cxcremcnt
out of hole back of the roosts and put
in fresh bedding. 1t Is labor that viii
be well repaid, for clean, sweet
smelling house Is essential to egg pro-
duction.
A little slaked lime thrown around
under the roosts helps to keep down
bad odors. Sprinkling the house with
coal tar dip and withdrawing the
roosts and walls once In awhile are
also good practices.
The nest boxes should be provided
with n cover and so arranged as to be
dark and secluded inside, as the hens
prefer to lay In this kind of place,
Where a speciality is made OF poultry
II pays to use trap nests. These are
so arranged that the hen Is caught
when she goes in to lay and cannot
get out until the attendant comes
along and releases her. BY having
the hens numbered with leg bands
record can be kept of the eggs laid by
each one. Thus those that never lay
can be culled out and sent to the
butcher and the eggs OF the highest
producing ones kept for raising pull
let's to increase the flock. In this way
the average egg yield can be increased
considerably. 1t is important In this
connection to make especial note OF
those hens which dc most OF their
laying In the winter months, rs they
are of considerably more value than
the ones that lay in the summer, when
eggs are cheap.
Yards and Fences.
On the farm there Is little need for
many yards about the poultry house.
The chief need for fences Is to keep
the poultry away from the garden and
house. For this purpose woven wire
| fence with hexagonal meshes Is best
| The meshes should be small enough at
| the bottom to keep out the small chick
| ems. The wire should not be smaller
than eighteen or nineteen gauge. An
important point to look to is the gal
vanizing. This galvanizing is a layer
of zinc that is coated over the wire to
keep 1t from rusting. There are two
methods of galvanizing. known as aft
err" and before" The former is up.
piled to fencing galvanized after it is
woven and the latter to that galvanized
before. The "after" galvanized fenc-
ing can be told from the fact that the
joints where the cross wires are twist
ed together are filed with zinc. When
the wire is galvanized before weaving
the zinc is cracked more or less in the
weaving process and rust readily gets
foothold. The "after" galvanized
wire sometimes costs little more, but
It lasts about five times as long.
Coops.
The chief equipment, aside from
houses and fences, Is coops. 1t Is more
economical to make these fairly large
SO as to hold hundred chickens or so
A coop sixteen feet long. two feet
wide and about two feet high in front
with the roof sloping toward the back
is convenient and cheap. 1t can be di
vided into eight or ten compartments
and will do for as many hens and their
broods. The partitions should be abou
six feet long and foot high. This will
allow them to project in front about
four feet. Laths are nailed along the
front and over the tops Of these parti
ton boards, making a little runway il
front of each coop. One of the laths
should be removable to let the hen in
and out as soon as the chicks are big
enough to follow her about.
While such coops are cheap, they
have one serious fault, and that IS
that they are not big enough for the
chickens after they get to be two OF