CHAPTER X 



KIND OF HOUSE TO BUILD 



Poultry houses may be divided into two classes : 1, port- 

 able houses; 2, stationary houses. 



Portable House. The portable house is used where the 

 colony system prevails. Much of the trouble from diseases 

 comes from keeping the chickens on the same ground year 

 after year. By keeping them on clean ground, which is 

 possible with portable houses, they are under natural and 

 hygienic conditions. This system, moreover, fits in with a 

 system of crop rotation on the farm. About fifty fowls to 

 the acre will keep the land in high fertility. Besides, the 

 chickens will find a considerable portion of their food in 

 the waste grain and weed seeds, grasshoppers and other in- 

 sects. They often rid the farm of grasshoppers and other 

 injurious insects, thus saving valuable crops. Another im- 

 portant advantage of the colony house system is the fact 

 that the fowls are more active when they have the liberty 

 of fresh fields than when confined in yards. Finally, with 

 the colony system there is no expense for fencing. "Where 

 fowls are kept on an extensive scale this system is un- 

 doubtedly the best. 



While the advantages of the colony portable house are 

 more apparent in sections where there is little or no snow- 

 fall in winter, they may also be used where the snow covers 

 the ground in northern sections several months during the 

 winter. In such cases it is usually advisable to pull the 

 houses near together to avoid the inconvenience of the deep 



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