MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 



73 



SMALL FLOCKS ON TOWN LOTS 



Numbers in flocks. The average number of fowls kept by a 

 town family for its own use is about one dozen. Very few who 

 keep hens have less than half a dozen, and not many who plan 

 only to supply their own tables have more than a dozen and a 

 half. Six fowls, if well cared for, will produce all the eggs used 

 by an average family of two or three persons during the greater 

 part of the year. 



Houses and yards. For a dozen medium-sized fowls the 

 house should be about 8 ft. x 8 ft. on the ground, with the highest 

 point of the roof 

 about 6 or 7 feet 

 from the floor. The 

 general rule is to 

 make the poultry 

 house face the sun, 

 and have the win- 

 dows and the outside 

 doors in or near the 

 front. The object 

 of this is to get as 

 much sunlight in 

 the house as possible 



in winter, when the sun is low, and to have the walls tight that 

 are exposed to the prevailing cold winds. In the Northern 

 Hemisphere the front of the house is toward the south ; in 

 the Southern Hemisphere it is toward the north. In tropical 

 and subtropical countries houses are often so constructed that 

 they can be kept open on all sides in summer and closed 

 tightly, except in front, during cool weather. 



If the land on which a house stands is sandy and well drained, 

 the floor may be of earth. The common practice where earth 

 floors are used is to fill the earth level with the top of the sill 



FIG. 69. Small house used for fowls and pigeons 



