HOUSING THE CHICKENS.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 3174, 19 June 1900, Page 7

HOUSING THE CHICKENS.

In most yards where any chickens are reared, and especially in those where there is not a good amount of house accommodation for the birds, it is an important question as to how and where the young stock are to be located. They will do well for some little time in the coops, even after their mothers have forsaken them; and if they have been artificially hatched the chickens can be accommodated in the rearers for some weeks: But where a good number of chicks are hatched both the coops and the rearers are often required for other broods, so it is necessary to find fresh quarters for the earlier youngsters. It is better not to place them in the same house with the full grown fowls, for the old birds peck, tread upon, and otherwise ill-treat them severely. If the chickens are turned into some outhouse that has no perches, and the floor is covered with straw or peat moss,, they generally crowd together in a corner, and the smaller ones are apt to get smothered. If perches are provided in tho house it is necessary that they should fee at least two inches wide, otherwise orooked breastbones will be too frequent, With chickens of large heavy breeds it is generally the custom not to allow perches for this reason, as cr«oked breast-bones in poultry intended either for table purposes or for exhibition are a great blemish. So if there are no perches care should be taken that the size of the chickens kept together does not vary to any great extent, and then there will not be much risk of death from suffocation. If the young birds can be housed in small parties they will grow and thrive better than when a number are crowded together. A practice adopted by some breeders is to have boxes for the chickens about two and a-half feet or three feet square, the lids of which are removed, and the boxes placed on their sides. Thes e boxes are placed in fields, under the shelter of the hedges, and are often moved. If there are shrubberies, or trees near the poultry yard, the chickens, when they are fledged, will often take to roosting in the branches. In the warm weather this agrees with the birds better than roosting in a house. Bain and wind make no difference to them, and they mature quickly and grow up hardy and robust, rarely suffering from roup and other ailments which are common among fowls that are housed in close, ill-ventilated buildings. When well-grown birds are desired — and there are few breeds in which size is not an important feature—the cockerels should be separated from the pullets as soon as the cobs of the former have sprung.