THE BOOK OF POULTRY 



Some 

 Experiences. 



compartments, and also a rearrangement of 

 perches, from one or two long ones lengthways 

 to a number of short ones crossways, so as to 

 avoid crowding at roosting-time. 



The labour entailed in feeding and clean- 

 ing the houses will, of course, be more, but 

 the greater ease with which the approach of 

 disease can be detected and warded off (and 

 in that appears to lie the secret of success for 

 the intensive poultry-keeper in our treacherous 

 moisture-laden climate) will more than com- 

 pensate for the extra trouble of the smaller 

 flocks. Moreover, it is thought that a better 

 record can be kept of laying where trap-nesting 

 is not adopted, and also that vices like feather 

 plucking and egg-eating can be more readily 

 detected in these smaller colonies than in the 

 very large flocks, interesting though it may 

 be to see 500 fowls busy scratching in one 

 group on a well-littered floor. 



Asked as to experience of the intensive 

 system, we were told that the 

 two worst evils which had been 

 encountered were a temporary 

 epidemic of roup in the previous winter and 

 a bout of egg-eating in one flock of hens. 

 The first evil had been successfully overcome 

 by assiduous attention to the birds and ap- 

 plications of the usual remedies ; and the 

 second, probably caused in the first instance 

 by a few soft or thin-shelled eggs becoming 

 broken, had been combated by frequent col- 

 lection of eggs laid, paring the beaks of 

 offenders, and the leaving about for the fowls 

 of eggs, for the usual contents of which bitter 

 aloes had been substituted. A change of 

 green food, also, from rape, of which the 

 birds soon tired, to cabbage or swedes, was 

 also found beneficial in this respect. 



Such a plant as this is, of course, not 

 strictly speaking intensive, but semi-intensive, 

 and is interesting thus as illustrating a tran- 

 sition which has taken place on several large 

 utility poultry farms where the new strictly 

 confined methods after experiment have given 

 way to the older system of allowing the 

 inmates of these large houses free access to 

 outside runs, or, as in some instances, only 

 when the weather is fine. 



Mr. T. W. Toovey, of King's Langley, 

 whose farm is further alluded to on pp. 

 154 and 155, is one of those whose experi- 

 ences have caused him to believe in the 

 benefits of reversion to older methods, and 

 when visiting him in the autumn of 1913 he 

 was very outspoken on this point. Whilst 

 granting full force to the arguments of his 

 intensivist critics that Mr. Toovey did not give 



their system the best chance, owing to his use 

 of cement floors to his houses (always a source 

 of damp in our climate), and somewhat scanty 

 litter, the experience of so practical a poultry- 

 keeper as Mr. Toovey is interesting, and we 

 are glad to be able to illustrate his houses. 



There are fifteen of these, open-fronted at 

 the top half, with wide overhanging drip- 

 board and canvas adjustable shutters above 

 the glass, and wood front below, and with 

 doorways and windows at the sides. In size 

 these measure 30 ft. long by 20 ft. deep 

 (intensivists usually restrict the depth to 16 ft.), 

 and in height they range from g ft. 6 in. to 

 5 ft. at the back (as against 7 ft. and 

 4 ft. 6 in. m the usual intensive houses). 

 From the additional height in front the in- 

 creased 4 ft. of depth does not appear a serious 

 fault of construction, for on inspection light 

 and air appeared to travel well to the back 

 of these sheds. 



Each of these houses is built for 100 birds, 

 which are let out on alternate sides of their 

 house into large grass runs, in which every 

 precaution is taken against the ground be- 

 coming foul by taking a crop of hay annually 

 and by resting and also grazing. For dis- 

 infectant purposes the houses are periodically 

 dressed with a solution of i in 16 of crude 

 carbolic. 



Mr. Tom Barron, of Cat forth, near Pres- 

 ton, is another thoroughly practical utility 

 poultry-keeper, who, from small beginnings, 

 has built up one of the best known farms in 

 this country, and made a speciality of laying 

 strains. His experiences, then, are not to be 

 lightly discarded, and visiting him in August, 

 1913, we were fortunate to secure these, which 

 are as follow: 



" A great deal has been written during the 

 last two or three years about intensive poultry- 

 keeping. Some people swear by the intensive 

 system, whilst others state that it does not 

 pay, and that the semi-intensive plan is best. 

 As a practical poultry man, with an experience 

 of the semi-intensive system for a good many 

 years, I agree with the latter. 



" In starting large housing, my idea was 

 to keep a greater number of birds together in 

 one flock. I thought it would be cheaper to 

 build for a large number than it would be 

 for a similar number in smaller houses. But 

 no one would imagine the trouble and loss 1 

 had to contend with in my first experience of 

 housing large numbers in one flock. I had 

 practically all my birds infected with roup 

 and other diseases, although roup was, I 

 found, the greatest enemy to contend with. 



