t6o 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



are many farmers who keep 500 fowls in this 

 simple way, while there are a few who rear 

 1,000 to 3,000 birds under these conditions. 

 The idea is that money is saved in plant, in 

 food and in labour, and also, as the fowls 

 forage so much for themselves, a day or two's 

 neglect works little mischief. It is admitted 

 that the egg yield is not extraordinary, but it 

 is asserted that this lower production at less 

 •expense pays as well as, or better than, a high 

 average at the cost of expensive food and 

 buildings. 



It is, however, by no means always the 

 case that the house of simple construction is 

 the one in use ; indeed, nowadays all types 

 are affected, from the latest approved fresh-air 

 Tolman or Woods structure to the modest 

 roosting place made from large, heavy dry- 

 goods boxes, as may be seen in the yards of 

 Mr. Carl H. Krippene. Usually, in the case 

 of laying hens, twenty-five birds are allocated 

 to one house, but in some instances as many 

 as fifty compose the flock. During the day- 

 time, when the fowls are at liberty, they all 

 mix together indiscriminately, and, it is con- 

 tended, they sort themselves out at roosting 

 time. How this is accomplished without over- 

 crowding taking place in some houses when 

 growing chickens are placed in such erections, 

 as is sometimes done, it is difficult to under- 

 stand, unless a plan similar to that adopted 

 by Mr. Toovey, as previously mentioned, is 

 in vogue, especially as the buildings are very 

 often only a few yards apart. An excellent 

 example of this plan is to be found at Little 

 Compton, Rhode Island, on a farm which is 

 the gradual growth of over forty years. There 

 are 200 acres, and over forty years since the 

 chief produce was beef. The owner began by 

 doubling the usual number of hens as kept in 

 the district, and gradually developed his 

 stock until he had a hundred detached houses, 



each 8 feet by 12 feet, placed in rows about 

 150 feet apart, each roosting about forty hens 

 — say 4,000 in all. The birds are regularly 

 fed twice a day, with mash in the morning, 

 a wagon driving round and bringing back the 

 eggs. The houses cost about twenty dollars 

 each, being rough and cheap, of board, and no 

 pains are taken to avoid cracks. The birds 

 are at perfect liberty to go where they like, 

 but seldom mix much. All the houses in a 

 row are emptied and refilled at the same date, 

 when the new birds are shut in the houses for 

 two days, and then let out a little before night 

 to be fed close round the house ; thi;y return 

 quickly that night to roost, and are then given 

 liberty. No males are placed with the laying 

 stock. 



In his excellent " Report of the Poultry 

 Industry in America," published in 1906 by 

 the National Poultry Organisation Society, 

 Mr. Edward Brown, referring to his impres- 

 sions of the colony house system, says that 

 where farmers and others desire either to devote 

 only a part of the land occupied to poultry, 

 making, however, the fowls a leading feature 

 of the work, the colony system extensively used 

 in the Little Compton district of Rhode Island 

 should be adopted, taking care to remove the 

 flocks on to fresh ground every year or two 

 years, and after cropping, not to use again 

 until the manure is exhausted. Under this 

 system, by the erection of wire netting fences 

 around the entire range, Mr. Brown is of 

 opinion that the fox difficulty would be largely 

 overcome, and the repression of poultry-keep- 

 ing in hunting districts removed, to the increase 

 of returns to farmers ; and, moreover, by this 

 plan large areas of land at present uncultivated 

 could be profitably occupied, more especially 

 in connection with small holdings, in many 

 parts of the country, to which it is specially 

 suitable. 



