If it be desirable to have fresh eggs during winter

If it be desirable to have fresh eggs during winter

If it be desirable to have fresh eggs during winter - and that is certainly a convenience - a box stove may be set in the living room, and properly protected by a grating around it, for warming the living apartment. It may be remarked, however, that this winter-laying of hens is usually a forcing business. A hen will lay but about a given number of eggs in a year; say a hundred - we believe this is about the number which the most observant of poultry-keepers allow them - and what she lays in winter must be subtracted from the number she would otherwise lay in the spring, summer, or autumn. Yet a warm house will, laying, aside, keep the fowls with less food, and in greater comfort, than if cold, and left to their own natural warmth.

Fonte: Rural Architecture. Farm Houses.