CHAPTER III. 



THE COLONY PLAN. 



A system of detached, widely separated poultry houses, 

 movable or immovable, called the colony plan, is suc- 

 cessful, because it secures natural conditions, especially 

 exercise, cleanliness and pure air. Needing a large area 

 of ground and making the attendant travel long dis- 

 tances, it is appropriately designated the extensive sys- 

 tem, as contrasted with the intensive system, which 

 concentrates the birds and buildings and employs the 

 labor on a small space. 



One of the best methods on the extensive principle 

 and with movable houses, we will first describe, as it 

 has been carried out during the last twenty years in 

 nearly or quite every state in the Union, with various 

 modifications to suit individual requirements or notions. 

 The intensive plan has its own merits, which will be 

 considered in the proper place. 



Upon the colony poultry farm there are no yards, 

 excepting for some special purposes, but we imitate a 

 country town, where is stationed at every farmyard a 

 flock at free range. This method we know has suc- 

 ceeded for hundreds of years, since men became partly 

 civilized ; so it is no new experiment, and it is based on 

 a state of things still older, extending beyond the period 

 of domestication. Across a tract of 62% acres, 100 rods 

 square, run parallel wagon roads, 10 rods apart, with 

 fowl houses located quincunx style every 10 rods. In 

 this way each house is surrounded by six others, and 

 is 10 rods to 11 and a fraction, from each. Now, when 

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