THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



gravel, sand, or trodden earth : grass runs would 

 require far more, as presently mentioned. The 

 houses are drawn as they really were, with nests 

 at the back and the perches a little more for- 

 ward ; but to the same general plan can be 

 readily adapted any of the arrangements shown 

 in Figs. 2, 3, and 4. 



Such a plan as this leads us at once to the 

 consideration of some further points, each of 

 practical importance. The first is that of the 

 preservation in healthy condition of 

 limited runs. Though so much labour 

 is not needed as when a small shed 

 is the 



Caxe of 



Small 



Buns. 



y 



B 



only space the 

 fowls have, care is 

 still required, else 

 the runs will get 

 into a foul con- 

 dition, and disease 

 follow. It is best 

 to let the surface 

 be trodden solid, 

 when once a week 

 or so the greater 

 part of the offend- 

 ing matter can be 

 scraped loose, 

 swept up, and 

 removed. This 

 should also be 

 done on a grav- 

 elled run. Once a 

 year half an inch 

 or so should be 

 pared off the top 

 with a spade, to 

 be crushed and 

 used as manure, a 

 correspon ding 

 quantity of fresh 

 earth beingthrown 

 in and spread over 

 the surface. If 

 every two or three ^ ^ f,^^ 



years the run be " "■ f^"' 



•' . , , <^ c. Shed 



dug up. With these d d. Cras 



aids it may be 

 kept healthy for a long period, 

 are of little use, and dangerous. 



Fig. 



ting and Laying Houses. 



;d-in Covered Runs. 



and Run for Sitting Hens. 



Disinfectants 

 Some people 

 prefer to let the loose earth alone, and dig the 

 run over every six months or so. This plan 

 will generally answer for four or five years, or 

 even more ; but as there is no crop to consume 

 the manure, the poison is apt to accumulate by 

 slow degrees in the mass of earth. Soils differ, 

 however, and in some cases a good loamy earth 

 seems able to deodorise all that is thus due 



into it. To help this, it is well to confine the 

 fowls to the shed for a v/eek after the winter 

 digging. 



We have next to consider grass runs. These 

 are the best of all for poultry, giving natural 

 green food at nearly all seasons in 

 Grass England (not in America), and also ex- 

 Runs, ercise and more or less insect food. 

 Where space can be given for grass, no 

 single condition will do so much for fowls and 

 owner ; but it is no use attempting grass unless 

 there is adequate space, and a great deal is re- 

 quired. Experience taught us very early that 

 in England one 

 gj hundred and 

 twenty fowls re- 

 quired an acre of 

 run if kept on it 

 permanently; and 

 the larger breeds 

 should not exceed 

 one hundred per 

 acre. But this is 

 not the best way 

 of using the land, 

 which will be kept 

 healthier in the 

 long run by over- 

 stocking it to the 

 extent of even 

 double, provided 

 each run can be 

 vacated for three 

 months every 

 year. This also 

 brings runs into 

 more compact 

 compass, and so 

 we arrive at a 

 grass run of about 

 twenty - five feet 

 by fifty feet for 

 a pen of six large 

 Asiatic fowls. 



A run of this 

 reduced size, thus 

 tenanted, will last 

 for several years, 

 even when occupied without cessation, with no 

 apparent detriment, if constantly attended to ; 

 but it does gradually become " sickened," 

 unless It can be vacated for freshening and 

 purification. Amongst a number of runs this 

 can be managed, either by three months an- 

 nually, or six months bi-annually. This time 

 need not be wasted wherever grass or hay can 

 be used, as a crop may be taken a week or 

 two before the tenants are returned to it. The 



-0- 



7. — Double Vard. 



