POULTRY. 



FIG. 8. POULTRY STEPS. 



The main idea is to construct perches, nest-boxes, etc., so that 

 they can be easily moved and cleaned. The perches, which 

 should be sufficient in number to accommodate all the fowls 

 without crowding, should all be on a 

 level, for if one should be higher than 

 the rest, every fowl will try to crowd 

 on to that one. The perches should 

 be flat rather than round, and of suf- 

 ficient width to enable the fowls to 

 rest comfortably. Until recently I 

 followed the usual plan of placing the 

 perches for the heavier breeds about 

 eighteen inches from the floor, but I 

 am now convinced that it is healthier for the fowls to roost in 

 the higher part of the building, and the perches are placed ac- 

 cordingly. Heavy fowls are frequently injured, and sometimes 



killed outright by jumping from 

 high perches to the hard floor, 

 and for this reason a ladder or 

 steps of some kind should lead 

 from the floor to the roosts. Figs. 

 8 and 9 show the construction of 

 cheap, movable, " hen elevators. " 

 Underneath the roosts there 

 should be a wide platform to 

 via. 9,-pouLTRY STAIRS. catch the droppings, and under the 



platform the nest-boxes may be arranged so that the eggs can 

 be gathered from the passage way. 



For nests, boxes eighteen inches square, 

 made like the one illustrated by Fig. 10, are 

 the best that can be devised. They are easy to 

 move and easily kept clean. When a hen offers 

 to sit, face her box around, shove it into the 

 passage way, and put another .box in its place 

 in the laying-room. For a dusting-bin, make a F| - 10. -NEST-BOX. 

 bottomless box, three by four feet, or of any desired length 

 and width, and one foot in depth ; fill two-thirds full with a 



