LARGER POULTRY-YARDS. 



25 



For extensive establishments, such as will 

 be required if breeding for regular exhibition 



be carried on, or a regular demand 

 Larger lor eggs or stock is to be supplied. 



Poultry-yards, a great variet)^ in arrangements is 



possible. Where unlimited range 

 is at command, it has already been hinted that 

 there is perhaps no better plan for securing 

 success in these objects than to scatter about 

 in sufficiently distant and distinct localities a 

 number of detached houses. On some estates 

 no fencing at all may be required, the laying out 

 of the estate keeping the flocks sufficiently 

 separated ; but if fencing be necessary, a small 

 expense in wire netting will do all that is 

 requisite. There will usually be ample shelter 

 and dusting-places in shrubberies or plantations 

 or under hedges, wherever such methods are 

 possible ; hence such houses as are shown in 

 Figs. 2, 3, 4 will answer all purposes ; or even 

 a large hogshead with the head knocked out, 

 turned on its side upon four bricks, with a floor 

 fitted in near the bottom side, and a perch near 

 the back end, may be enough for a breeding-pen 

 of fowls if placed in the shelter of a copse or 

 shrubbery. Such a plan has the advantage of 

 gratifying a pleasant hobby without sinking 

 large sums in permanent buildings ; and it is a 

 pity that the cases are so few in which it 

 can be followed. The only drawbacks are, 

 that while the bloom and health of the 

 fowls will be magnificent, the egg yield will 

 probably not be very great, and much time 

 will be occupied in going round and attending 

 to the stock. 



A more compact arrangement of runs must 

 be the usual plan in this country, even where 

 grass is at command. In this case, also, many 

 poultry-keepers of great experience prefer, 

 having divided the ground into runs of the re- 

 quired size, to place a small detached wooden 

 house in each, somewhat as shown in Fig. 8, 

 though the actual plan and arrangements may 

 vary widely. Portable houses, such as Fig. 6, 

 are often used in this way. The objection to 

 this plan is that, unless the houses are a great 

 deal larger than necessary, the shedding under- 

 neath is too small, at least so far as concerns 

 exposed runs : shrubs or trees might supply the 

 lack. Otherwise it is better to incur the cost of 

 separate sheds, C, as well, for the other ends of 

 the runs. This plan — we mean of having the 

 house at one end and the shed at the other — also 

 has the advantage of inducing the fowls to use 

 more equally a range of long and narrow runs, 

 which is often the most convenient way of 

 plotting out a piece of land, or of visiting all 

 the houses in order. Of course no such exact- 



ness of arrangement is necessary. Aspect has 

 to be considered, both as regards the houses and 

 the sheds ; and in many cases, by arranging the 

 shed so that one corner meets one corner of 

 the house, a judicious choice of position and 

 angle will give a maximum amount of shade 

 and shelter to the birds, a matter which should 

 always receive thought when a number of runs 

 are in question. As a rule, such contiguous 

 houses and sheds are more suitable for runs 

 approaching a square in shape. 



Fig. 8. — Detached Houses in Runs 

 A A. Roosting-houses. B B. Runs. c c. Open sheds. 



Ranges of houses and shedding are, however, 

 more usual, and generally more convenient, 



saving much in time, and labour, and 

 Ranges of exposure of the attendant in bad 

 Buildings. weather. The chief practical difficulty 



in planning such buildings is that, 

 unless the cost be incurred of more house and 

 shed room than is necessary, it makes a grass 

 run so narrow in proportion ; fowls do not use a 

 very long and narrow strip of grass to the greatest 

 advantage. Bare earth yards will be shorter, and 

 to them the objection does not so much apply. 

 Thus, a house five by six feet, and a shed ten by 

 six feet, will occupy the end of a run fifteen feet 

 wide, and a bare earth or gravel yard twenty or 

 thirty feet in front would be in good proportion. 

 But a grass plot must be seventy or eighty feet 

 long for a pen of say six fowls ; and though it 

 may do, this is not a desirable proportion. 



This difficulty may be met, and probably a 

 set of buildings erected with the minimum of 

 material for the same amount of accommodation, 

 by planning a range of buildings for the centre 

 of a piece of ground, as in Fig. 9. Each of the 

 eight pens here provided has a roosting-house .\, 

 six feet square, and a shed E, twelve by six, so as 

 to use twelve feet boards throughout. Such a 



