26 PO UL TR T- CRAFT. 



30. Other Houses for Single Flocks. All the poultry houses 

 described in the next paragraph can, of course, be used for single flocks in 

 yards. Single sections of most of the continuous houses described are used 

 for one-pen houses, and these should be examined in connection with the 

 plans just given. 



31. The Colony Plan. The objectionable features of this plan are such 

 that it is not often deliberately adopted for a large poultry plant. Of late, some 

 of those who have used the system seem inclined to discard it. The strong- 

 hold of the system of colonizing fowls in small families with free range ha& 

 been the belief that fowls could be made more profitable on free range than in 

 yards ; that they would be healthier, more vigorous, more prolific, and the 

 eggs would be more fertile. As this belief breaks down, people become more 

 and more unwilling to put up with the defects of the system for the sake of its 

 advantages, real and supposed. Briefly stated, the principal advantages of the 

 colony plan are : 



Cheaper houses. 



No expense for fences. 



The fowls can pick a part of their living. 



The scrupulous attention to cleanliness and the care to provide regular 

 supplies of animal and vegetable foods, which are a part of the routine work 

 of most poultry farms, can be relaxed on a farm run on the colony plan. 



The marked disadvantages of the system are : 



Increased cost of labor in caring for fowls. Taking one thing and one 

 season with another, the cost of labor is greater, notwithstanding the slight 

 saving on some items of labor. 



Greater difficulty in maintaining strict regularity in feeding. In bad weather, 

 just when the most careful attention should be given them, the hens are often 

 unavoidably neglected. 



The difficulty of controlling disease in flocks allowed to mingle. 



The modification of the colony plan, which places detached houses in large 

 yards, loses the advantage of no cost for fences. Cost of fencing is so much 

 increased that rarely is any saving effected in the total cost of housing and 

 yarding. In snowy, stormy weather the difficulty of caring for the fowls is 

 increased, rather than diminished. 



The colony plan, with or without yards, loses its most serious objections in 

 a mild climate. There are many special cases where it might be preferable to 

 any other, particularly when poultry keeping is a side issue on a fruit or 

 general farm, the hens being kept as insect exterminators, gleaners and 

 scavengers. For the ordinary farm stock of poultry the colony plan, on a 

 small scale, is often the best. The illustrations given show models of cheap 

 and serviceable buildings in use on some of the farms run on the colony plan. 



