The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1909-08-17

desirable in regions where the winters
are extremely cold. 1t does not pay to
paper the inside Of the house, as the
mites will find a congenial home be-
tween the paper and the wall.
Roosts and Nest Boxes.
Part of the main part of the house
should be given over to roosts and the
rest used for nest boxes. 1t is better
to have the roosts along the north side.
A muslin curtain arranged on roller,
so that it 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 tours set edgewise, with the
sharp corners rounded of, make good
roosts. They should be set in notches,
so that they can be easily removed to
be cleaned and disinfected. The drop
pings should be removed every week
or two and not left for year, as is so
often done If plenty of straw Is used
on the cement under the roosts 1t is
but a short job to throw the excrement
out of hole back of the roosts and put
in fresh bedding. 1t is labor that will
be well repaid, for a 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 embarrassing the
roosts and walls once in awhile are
also good practices.
The nest boxes should be provided
with a 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
it 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 a
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 do most of their
laying in the winter months. as 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 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. A.
important point to look to is the gal
vanizing This galvanizing is layer
Of zinc that is coated over the wire to
keep it from rusting. There are two
methods of galvanizing, known as aft
err and "before.'' The former is ap-
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
a 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 about
six feet long and a 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 little runway in
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 or