CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



farmers against poultry, as being more destructive 

 than profitable, is not likely to be removed. Of 

 course, when the fowls have a cold, damp, imper- 

 fectly thatched, irregularly cleaned, ill-lighted habi- 

 tation, and are otherwise inadequately attended 

 to, they do become more a pest than a pleasure or 

 profit, for they stray away, roosting in the byres, 

 the stable, or the cart-sheds, and thus court the 

 hostility alike of the farmer, cattleman, and horse- 

 man. Eggs, too, are dropped in nearly every 

 conceivable place about the steading, and often 

 not discovered till either rotten or broken. In 

 this carelessly kept state, the mischievous propen- 

 sities of the fowls are fully demonstrated. The 

 writer could point to several farm-steadings where 

 two or three score of fowls are kept, and not a 

 hen-house to be seen the birds roosting in "this 

 apartment to-night, and the other to-morrow night, 

 and so on. During the day, they cater the most 

 of their food on the grass and other fields, and 

 about the steadings, often doing mischief. Treated 

 in this manner, eggs are comparatively few, the 

 birds are not so big nor so valuable in any respect. 

 It is customary though now to a much smaller 

 extent than it once was with Highland crofters 

 and farmers to erect a small turf-hut about a mile 

 from the homestead, on a moor or mountain side, 

 and keep the poultry there during harvest, in 

 order to prevent them entering the corn-fields, 

 in which they do considerable damage at that 

 season. Throughout this period of exile, so to 

 speak, the birds are generally stintedly fed, and 

 if the weather is cold, they suffer from exposure. 

 In short, this system would occasionally afford 

 scope for the operations of the Society for the 

 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. That poultry 

 can be kept with a profit, seems undoubted, if the 

 animals are properly treated. One of the primary, 

 if not the principal means to this profitable end, 

 however, is unmistakably good house-accommo- 

 dation ; and though hen - houses are rapidly 

 improving, there is still much to accomplish in 

 this direction. 



The results, to which reference shall be after- 

 wards made, would amply reward any additional 

 trouble and expense involved by a more speedy 

 substitution of comfortably erected hen-houses for 

 the pitiful shielings already described as still 

 existing, though happily on the wane. Without 

 cleanliness and warmth in the hen-house, any 

 amount of attention otherwise will not realise 

 nearly the maximum profit. Every poultry-house 

 should be well cleaned at least once a week, to 

 free it from vermin, hurtful odours, &c. At farms 

 and other places where a great stock of poultry is 

 kept, a proper house, with separate accommoda- 

 tion for the different varieties, should be provided. 

 The hen-house should have at least four com- 

 partments and a court-yard. The annexed sketch 



exhibits the requisite accommo- 



& dation : a a, the court-yard ; b 6, 

 for ducks and geese, the apart- 

 ment for which is at c, with 

 laying and hatching nests, dj g, 

 the roosting-house for hens and 

 turkeys ; , the hatching-house ; 

 and^/j the apartment for laying. 

 Each compartment should be 

 provided with a shutter-door, 

 which must be closed every 

 night. If, through inattention, the hen-house 



664 



should become tainted, the health of its inmates 

 will be greatly endangered. A new site should be 

 chosen, and another house erected, or fumigation 

 resorted to. Care should be taken in the selection 

 of the site to have it on a dry, sloping piece of 

 ground, with a southern exposure, and well 

 sheltered. Ventilation, light, and warmth ought 

 never to be lost sight of in the construction of 

 these houses. Into the more modern poultry- 

 houses, steam heating-pipes have been introduced, 

 which admit of the hatching of chickens early in 

 spring very successfully, and keep the hens in 

 laying trim over the most of winter. The 

 enhanced price of eggs in winter, and the advan- 

 tage of getting chickens early into the market, 

 are declared by those who have experience 

 to repay fully the cost of the artificial heating. 

 The roof should be quite weather -tight, as 

 poultry never thrive when exposed either to cold 

 draughts or moisture. The interior should be at 

 least six feet high, for the convenience of the 

 person who cleans the house. The perches should 

 be placed so that the fowls on the top row may 

 not be immediately above those on the second, 

 and so on ; a hen-ladder must be provided, but 

 this, like the roosts, should not be too high, as 

 fowls are apt to injure themselves by flying from 

 lofty perches. The floors should be strewn with 

 sand or dry earth, and swept clean every day : 

 those sweepings will be found most useful for the 



a 



Fig. 5. Poultry-pen. 



garden. The door should be kept open in fine 

 weather for the sake of ventilation ; it should also 

 have a hole at the bottom, with a sliding panel 



