104 THE PRACTICAL POULTRY KEEPER. 



pieces ; and is put together with the very least labour 

 possible, by simply nailing the boards to timbers lying on 

 the ground and to a ridge-pole at the top. The width is 

 seven feet, and the height about eight feet. At a height of 

 twenty inches from the ground a shelf, R, is fixed at each 

 side, hinged to the walls ; and over these are the perches, 

 c c, thus carrying out the system shown in Fig. 3, page 7. 

 The nests, D D, are made under the shelf with bricks, or 

 anyhow, and are got at by raising the shelf. In this plan 

 we get strength ; a good slope to throw the rain off ; floor- 

 space where wanted ; height in the middle for the atten- 

 dant ; and the shelf gives freedom from draught. The 

 ridge should be covered by a strip of felt, or an inverted 

 metal gutter, arranged so as to give space all along the 

 ridge for ventilation. A house twelve feet long roosts fifty 

 birds, and the cost was given us as ^3 to $ los. It would 

 be better shorter for thirty birds. 



Separate shed accommodation, and dusting-places, are 

 scarcely ever wanted in the fields, as the fowls get both 

 under hedgerows, or in other natural places. 



The fowls kept for laying only will need feeding only 

 twice a day, and should therefore, for obvious reasons, be 

 kept in the most distant locations ; while the more substan- 

 tial accommodation nearer home will be devoted to breed- 

 ing-pens and the rearing of chickens. The labour will be 

 lessened by the fact that the laying birds, having free range, 

 may be fed, and indeed are best fed, with grain only. 

 Water may be provided at any convenient point in each lot, 

 as the fowls will soon learn the place. Often a small stream 

 can be so managed, or a drain so cut and utilised, as to save 

 all trouble. 



Where poultry are kept upon a farm in this way, the 

 attendant's day will be something like the following, taking, 

 for example, the spring of the year : 



