KIND OF HOUSE TO BUILD 205 



acre of ground with two colony houses and a portable fence 

 would be required. A system of this kind followed in com- 

 bination with grain growing may be conducted with practi- 

 cally no cost for land. The chickens will do little if any 

 damage to the grain crop, if the crop is pretty well grown 

 before they are turned into it. They will eat some of the 

 grain, but the grain will not be wasted and when the crop is 

 harvested they will pick up the waste grain in the field. The 



SHOWING HOW FENCE MAY BE CONSTRUCTED 



house would then be moved out farther into the stubble 

 field. 



Fencing. Evolution and poultry breeding have not yet 

 produced the hen without wings. In some of the heavy 

 meat breeds the wings are of comparatively little use. A 

 very low fence serves to confine them. The wings of the 

 tame duck are practically valueless to protect them from 

 the wild animals of the forest, which was the particular 

 use or purpose of wings in their wild state. Long disuse 

 has lessened their power of flight and put them practically 

 out of commission. The turkey, more than any of the 



