100 POULTRY CULTURE 



even as low a tight board fence as this gets a strong pressure 

 from the wind, and to make it durable the builder must make use 

 of every device that will add to its strength without materially in- 

 creasing the cost. In general, it is better not to use boards at all, but 

 to make the lower part of a fence of fine meshed wire, using this 

 on both sides of the posts if valuable males are to be kept in ad- 

 joining yards. The first cost of such a fence may be greater than 

 when boards are used for the first two feet from the ground, but it 

 gives better circulation of air in small or narrow yards, looks bet- 

 ter, and is better adapted to construction on stony ground and for 

 movable houses. For temporary yards, especially when low fences 

 are used, the easiest way to prevent males fighting through the 

 fence is to make parallel fences about a foot apart. In many cases 

 the extra fence may be removed after a few days, when the birds 

 have become familiar with each other and are less inclined to 

 quarrel. When double fences are used on ostrich farms, the dis- 

 tance between the fences is three or four feet. 



Openings in fences. Gates are the weak points in fences, a con- 

 stant cause of trouble to the poultry keeper whose work requires that 

 flocks be kept separate. It is hard to make gates that will be quickly 

 and easily opened and closed by a person carrying or wheeling a 

 load, and that will at the same time be secure when closed. The best 

 solution of the problem is to use gates as little as possible. The 

 colony system does away with all gates for poultry, the gates or bars 

 between fields being adapted only to larger stock. With low fences 

 (up to three feet high) that a man of medium height can easily step 

 over, gates may be provided or omitted according to the amount of 

 use. If a gate is needed frequently, as for passage with a wheelbarrow 

 or to drive stock from one yard to another, a gate on hinges should 

 be provided. If an opening in the fence would be used only at 

 rare intervals, a section of a permanent fence may be made movable. 

 In a temporary fence of netting on stakes, openings are easily made 

 at the end of a strip of the netting, the removal of a few staples 

 admitting of opening the space between two stakes. The more in- 

 tensive the plant, and the longer the houses, the more troublesome 

 the gate problem appears. With high permanent fences, gates to 

 give passage to all yards are necessary, even though used only 

 at long intervals. If there is direct passage from each interior 



