THE SPACE NECESSARY. i 



shelf is scraped clean every morning with the greatest ease and 

 comfort, on account of its convenient height, and slightly sanded 

 afterwards ; whilst the floor of the house is never polluted at 

 all by the roosting birds. The broad shelf has yet another 

 recommendation in the perfect protection it affords from 

 upward draughts of air. 



The covered "run" should be raked over two or three 

 times a week, and dug over whenever it looks sodden or gives 

 any offensive smell. Even this is not sufficient. Three or 

 four times a year, two or three inches deep in fact, the whole 

 polluted soil must be removed, and replaced by fresh earth, 

 gravel, or ashes, as the case may be. 



Under the shed must be constantly kept a heap of dry 

 dust or sifted ashes, for the fowls to roll in and cleanse them- 

 selves iii their own peculiar manner, which should be renewed 

 as often as it becomes damp or foul from use. 



If chickens be a part of the intended plan, a separate com- 

 partment should be provided for the sitting hens; but this 

 will be farther treated of in a subsequent chapter. 



Many will wish to know what space is necessary. The 

 "run" for the fowls should certainly be as large as can be 

 afforded ; an extensive range is not only better for their health, 

 but saves both trouble and food, as they will to some extent 

 forage for themselves. Very few, however, can command 

 this ; and poultry may be kept almost anywhere by bearing in 

 mind the one important point, that the smaller the space in 

 which they are confined, the greater and more constant atten- 

 tion must be bestowed upon the cleanliness of tKeir domain. 

 They decline rapidly in health and produce if kept on foul 

 ground. If daily attention be given to this matter, a covered 

 shed ten or twelve feet long by six feet wide may be made to 

 suffice for half-a-dozen fowls without any open run at all. By 

 employing a layer of dry earth as a deodoriser, which was turned 

 over every day and renewed once a week, the National Poultry 



