SHELVES AND DROPPING BOARDS. 



19 



birds. Some louvre boards (i.e. like a Venetian 

 blind) are good ; so is a sheet of coarsely 

 perforated zinc over a hole in the wall, or in 

 the ceiling under tiles. The various patent 

 ventilators have no objection beyond their 

 cost. 



A closed house should have a window of 

 some kind. The fowls need to see what they 

 are about, and so does the proprietor. One 

 that can be opened will be all the better for 

 the hot weather. 



Internal arrangements of a small house can- 

 not be too simple, the essentials being ready 

 access to everything, and easy cleanliness, the 

 latter of which has, of course, much to do with 

 the pure atmosphere we have been already 

 considering. Perches should be kept low, and in 

 a small house one is better than more. Active 



breeds may fly down from a high tree 

 Perches. if they can have a long slant for the 



flight ; but if not, they fall heavily, 

 and in confined space much injury to the feet 

 may be done by what seems quite a small height. 

 We formerly used, and even advised, very broad 

 perches, planed nearly flat, with only top corners 

 rounded. Longer experience has convinced us 

 that smaller ones are better, and that best of all 

 are branches, with slight variations in size, and 

 little irregularities and crooks (though taking off 

 all prominent knots). These irregularities go a 

 long way to prevent mischief, and the general 

 size may run from \\ to 2f inches diameter, 

 according to the fowls. Perches should be loose, 

 resting on a flat cut under each end, and should 

 be lifted now and then and dressed, also the 

 ledges on which they rest, with oil and paraffin, 

 to keep away the red mite. They are better not 

 more than twelve to eighteen inches high for 

 large fowls, and two to three feet for lighter ones. 

 Many, however, prefer to roost large Asiatics 

 upon straw or fern. This will do upon the 

 floor if it is perfectly dry, and the same straw 

 will answer for several days if regularly shaken 

 up with a stick and the droppings taken away 

 from underneath. 



With perches also, cleanliness must be con- 

 stantly attended to. The floor should be freshly 



sprinkled every morning with earth, 



or sand, or ashes, or peat-moss litter, 

 chaff, or some other dry stuff, 



after taking up the droppings with a 

 dust-pan and scraper. Or a board may be laid 

 under the perch and similarly treated. But, for 

 a small house especially, we know no better plan 

 than one whose principle we took from the 

 Canada Farmer more than thirty years ago ; 

 since then the publicity we have given to it has 

 carried it all over the world, and experience still 



Cleanliness 

 and the Shelf 

 Method. 



testifies to its utility. Its distinguishing feature 

 is the broad shelf (a. Fig. 4), resting loosely at 

 the ends on strips or ledges, at the back of the 

 house, with the perch placed six to eight inches 

 above it, a foot from the wall. The nests are 

 placed on the ground underneath the shelf, and 

 are quite protected. 



Fig. 4. — Shelf in House. 



. Rroad shelf, fifteen or twenty inches high. 

 Perch, six to eight inches above shelf. 

 N ests under perch, open in front and on tof 



A shelf of this kind under the perch offers 

 many advantages. From its convenient height, 

 it is scraped clean and sprinkled every morning 

 with the greatest comfort, and preserves the floor 

 almost entirely from pollution. It keeps perch and 

 nests over the same portion of floor, thus making 

 quite a small house more roomy. Another very 

 great advantage is that it screens from all upward 

 draught, and also intercepts radiation from cold 

 or damp ground : it thus adds much warmth to 

 such an arrangement as Fig. 2 or Fig. 3. If 

 large Asiatics are roosted upon straw, it is also 

 the warmest arrangement, in that case substitut- 

 ing straw for the perch. It must not be forgotten 

 to lift the shelf now and then, and dress the ends 

 and the ledges on which it rests with paraffin oil. 

 In America the tendency has been more and 

 more of late years to arrange such a shelf in a 

 way to be more or less movable, 

 Dropping under the name of a "dropping 

 Boards. board " or, more shortly, " drop- 



board." In one set of plans before us, 

 it takes the shape of a square table on four legs, 

 about two feet high, which can be moved about 

 when required, and above which the perches are 

 suspended by perpendiculars from the roof. 

 Fig. 5 shows an arrangement once in vogue 

 in houses on the Reliable Poultry Farm, 

 Ouincy, 111. Each board A A is about 5 feet 

 square, and is hinged at the back to the sloping 



