60 AN EGG FARM. 



tively, is simply enormous. In a square yard, or in one 

 which is, say, twice or thrice as long as wide, the birds 

 will not ramble much. They find that there is nothing 

 to be gained and soon become discouraged and mope in 

 complete listlessness. If it were not for the great 

 expense of building material and the difficulty of moving 

 so much fence, the yards could be made 10 or 12 ft. 

 wide and 100 or 200 ft. long, instead of having runways. 

 But the low, covered hurdles are so handy and can be 

 shifted so quickly, to sweeten the ground by plow and 

 harrow every month, in addition to the annual moving 

 to another field entirely, that their invention was a great 

 boon conferred on the poulterer. The importance of 

 sweet, fresh earth in yards and runways cannot be too 

 strongly insisted upon. The poultry man's nose and 

 inhaling organs are 5 ft. or so from the ground, and he 

 does not notice a taint in the soil, which would be very 

 perceptible were he breathing as near the ground as the 

 fowls are. 



Were it not for the careful breeding, by selection and 

 pedigree, we would not yard the breeding birds at all. 

 The disadvantage of the yards and runways such as 

 have been described, is that the straw on which the grain 

 is dropped cannot be stirred by team and hay tedder and 

 horserake. But, since the breeders' yards are few, the 

 time taken in stirring the litter is unimportant. It will 

 be found that the attendant's boots are handier than a 

 fork, if the straw is comparatively new and unbroken, 

 for he can easily kick it loose several times daily, when 

 it becomes compacted under the feet of the fowls. The 

 ideal way is to not only drop grain upon straw by 

 mechanical apparatus, but to stir the straw also and 

 mix straw and grain together by machinery. This can 

 be done to great advantage under the intensive system, 

 to be described further on, but as it is desired to have 

 the houses and yards for the breeding birds movable, for 



