about midnight
cried the squire . `` Well , I never heard that before . '' `` I do n't think your system of feeding is the correct one , either , '' pursued Leonard . `` You give your hens the warm meal to-morrow evening , as usual , and then about midnight go to the roosts and feel of their crops . I 'll warrant you 'll find them empty . The meal , you see , digests speedily , and is soon all gone . Then come the long cold hours before morning , and the poor creatures have nothing to sustain them , and they become chilled and enfeebled .