RETORT OF THE POULTRY MANAGER 

 SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



319 



Front Elevation. 

 1. Roosting and laying room. 2. Scratching shed. 



PEN 



ilO X 10 



V~M 



SHED 



e x io 



SHED 

 8 * IO 



PEN 

 10 X10 



1. Passage way. 



2. Door. 



3. 4. Entrance to pen. 

 5. Passage way to sheds 



There may be more 

 than one. 



Ground Plan. 



The objection to the use of the open scratching shed, in the colder parts of the 

 Dominion, that it is too exposed to the cold and snow storms of winter has been to a 

 great extent overcome by having a thick cotton curtain in front of each shed to be 

 pulled down in case of a storm and rolled up on fine, sunny days. In some cases a 

 covered shed has been found to answer. Many farmers have opportunities for allowing 

 their fowls a run, on fine days, in an open shed with southern face. In several cases, 

 known to the writer, farmers have their poultry houses so arranged that their fowls 

 have regular access to open sheds into which the sun shines brightly on many winter 

 days. In the above diagram it would be an improvement to have the roosting and lay- 

 ing houses the smaller of the two, and the scratching shed of the larger dimensions. 

 It is safe to allow no less than six square feet of floor space, under any circumstances, 

 to each hen and as much more as can conveniently be spared. 



BREEDING PENS MADE UP. 



On the fowls going into winter quarters the following pens of fowls were mated 

 with vigorous young males in order to obtain, if possible, early and strong chickens. 

 The results of this experimental work are given in previous pages : — 10 White Leghorn 

 hens, 15 Brown Leghorn hens, 10 Black Minorca hens, 6 White Minorca hens, 11 

 Barred Plymouth Rock hens, 8 White Plymouth Rock hens, 14 mixed hens. 



