

POULTRY-HOUSES. 241 



should be covered with sand or gravel, for them to wallow in ; 

 a part should be laid down in grass, or planted with such plants 

 as furnish them proper food ; and somewhere, there should be 

 a deposit of dry mortar or broken oyster-shells, so prepared 

 that the fowls may pick and scratch amongst it. 



The house, as already stated, is preferable, if built of brick 

 or stone ; but whatever the material, it is of the first conse- 

 quence that it should be so constructed that the access and 

 harboring of all vermin may be prevented. The floor should 

 be raised from the ground sufficiently to allow of its being kept 

 scrupulously clean. The entrance should be large enough for 

 convenience, and strong enough for security, and a hole at 

 some distance from the ground may be made, to allow the 

 poultry to go in to roost. To reach this, a ladder may be con- 

 structed, by making a slanting board with strips of wood nailed 

 across, by which the fowls may ascend on the outside, and a 

 similar one to allow them to descend within. 



All fowls like to roost high ; and they should, therefore, 

 have some rails fixed for them near the roof, so arranged that 

 the fowls on the lower rails may not be exposed to the drop- 

 pings from those above. The rails are frequently only branches, 

 or the trunks of young trees ; but if made of timber, they should 

 be nearly square, with only the corners rounded off, as the feet 

 of fowls are not formed for clasping smooth round poles ; and 

 there may be boxes or baskets against the walls, for the fowls 

 to lay in. 



It is reckoned best to have various roosting-houses con- 

 structed for the different kinds of poultry, and a separate nest 

 provided for each ; as, without this precaution, the same nest 

 will frequently have three or four visitors. The best kind of 

 nests are said to be those made of wood, wicker-baskets being 

 calculated to let in the cold air. The floors of the roost-houses 

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