6 The Fowl-House. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE F W L-H U S E. 



IN this work we shall consider the accommodation and 

 requisites for keeping fowls successfully on a moderate 

 scale, and the reader must adapt them to his own premises, 

 circumstances, and requirements. Everywhere there must 

 be some alterations, omissions, or compromises. We shall 

 state the essentials for their proper accommodation, and 

 describe the mode of constructing houses, sheds, and 

 arranging runs, and the reader must then form his plan 

 according to his own wishes, resources, and the capabilities 

 of the place. The climate of Great Britain being so very 

 variable in itself, and differing in its temperature so much 

 in different parts, no one manner or material for building 

 the fowl-house can be recommended for all cases. 



Plans for poultry establishments on large scales for the 

 hatching^ rearing, and fattening of fowls, turkeys, ducks, 

 and geese, are given in our smaller work on Poultry, re- 

 ferred to on page 3. 



The best aspects for the fowl-house are south and south- 

 east, and sloping ground is preferable to flat. 



" It is only of late years," says Mr. Baily, " poultry- 

 houses have been much thought of. In large farmyards, 

 where there are cart-houses, calf-pens, pig-styes, cattle- 

 sheds, shelter under the eaves of barns, and numerous other 

 roosting-places, not omitting the trees in the immediate 

 vicinity, they are little required fowls will generally do 

 better by choosing for themselves ; and it is beyond a doubt 

 healthier for them to be spread about in this manner, than 

 to be confined to one place. But a love of order, on the one 

 hand, and a dread of thieves or foxes on the other, will 

 sometimes make it desirable to have a proper poultry- 

 house." 



