88 POULTRY CULTURE 



2. Low cost of equipment; the house cost per bird may be 

 lower for the same number of birds in houses of equal size. With 

 good range the birds use the house less, when there is no snow on 

 the ground, and a larger number of birds may be kept in colony 

 houses than in the sections of the same floor area in a continuous 

 sectional house with small yards. 



3. Economy of labor (when snow does not lie long on the 

 ground) and larger utilization of unskilled labor. Birds kept under 

 natural conditions do not require the constant dieting and nursing 



FIG. 92. Pittsfield Poultry Farm, Pittsfield, Maine, where intensive and extensive 



systems are combined, large yards for adult stock and young stock grown in 



orchards on the colony system 



too often necessary on intensive plants, and many things to which 

 the intensive poultry keeper must give his constant personal 

 attention may safely be left to unskilled help. There is also less 

 need of scrupulous cleanliness. 



4. Economy of food ; the birds pick a large part of their living. 



5. Improvement of land, and sometimes double cropping of 

 land, especially with young poultry. 



6. Stability of value of equipment ; when small, movable houses 

 are used, they are salable at their full value at any time. 



The disadvantages of the extensive or colony system are : 



1. Added labor in bad weather, particularly when snow keeps 

 the birds in the houses. 



2. Unfavorable conditions for the birds when long confined to 

 houses designed only for roosting and laying quarters. 



