24 



Points on Care and Breeding of Pheasants, etc. 



AN IDEAL PHEASANTRY 



v^'^3-^ 51 



A PRACTICAL POULTRY-YARD GAT 



An Ideal Pheasantry 



An aviary built like the above of 1-inch poultry wire, top covered 8 feet high, 12 feet 

 wide, 15 feet long, with an open shed attached and facing the exposure of the sun with 

 cedar trees on the west side of run in order to break off the cold winds in winter will make 

 about the best pheasant yard I can think of. The perches, made of Ix5-inch lumber, 

 should be low and in the shed only, in order to compel the pheasants to roost under shelter 

 as they prefer to roost outside. Pheasants fear darkness. They do not like to go under 

 shelter. Their natural inclination is to roost in dead trees, where light is most prominent. 



It is practical to enclose the front of shed in 2-inch poultry wire with a wire door, in 

 order to keep the birds under the shed all together during wet and stormy weather. Fine 

 sand should be put in the shed about six inches deep above the outside surface, answering 

 as a dust bath, which will keep the birds in fine plumage, healthy condition and in order to 

 free themselves of vermin. Hay should be added for the winter. Pheasants can stand any 

 amount of cold weather. The 1-inch mesh wire should be buried six inches in the ground, 

 to prevent dogs, etc., from digging underneath. No boards are used at the bottom. Plen- 

 ty of shade should be provided for the aviary during the summer. It will be a great pleasure 

 to keep pheasants in an aviary like this. A customer, 72 years old, starting in the pheas- 

 ant industry, wrote: "I certainly missed a great deal in my life. Every Sunday morning is 

 worth $25 to me now watching my beautiful pheasants in the aviary." Pheasants and 

 pigeons go fine together and seem to have a great attachment for one another. Carnegie 

 is trying to make people happy by giving his money away ; but as I have no millions to give 

 away, I am trying the very best next thing for your happiness that money can buy. Pheas- 

 ant breeding will soon become popular, not alone for their beauty, taxidermy and feathers, 

 but meat especially. We all like something good to eat, and there is nothing finer to be had 

 than a pheasant roast. 



A Practical Poultry- Yard Gate 



It will make you feel good to open and shut this gate. The greatest obstacle in visiting 

 pheasantries and poultry farms I met with on my trips was to find practical gates for the 

 yards. In some instances it made me disgusted, and again I had a good laugh over it. It 

 took sometimes fully three minutes of hard labor to open and shut a gate. I'd like to hear 

 from the genius who can improve on above gate for simplicity. A is a lath extending 3 

 inches on the top of gate and which goes behind the block B on the post. This block is set 

 half an inch above the post and made with a slight slant. In using stout leather hinges 



