448 



SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part II. 



2840. Poultry-hoxises are generally slight structures for rearing and feeding domestic 

 fowls. Beatson {Com. to the Board of Agr. vol. i.) is of opinion, that poultry ought 

 always to be confined, but not in a close, dark, diminutive hovel, as is often the 

 case; they should have a spacious airy place, properly constructed for them. Some 

 people are of opinion, that each sort of poultry should be kept by itself. This, 

 however, is not, he says, absolutely necessary ; for all sorts may be kept promiscuously 

 together, provided they have a place sufficiently large to accommodate them conve- 

 niently, and proper divisions and nests for each kind to retire to separately, which they 

 will naturally do of themselves. Wakefield of Liverpool keeps a large stock of tur- 

 keys, geese, hens, and ducks, all in the same place: and although young turkeys are 

 in general considered so difficult to bring up, he rears great numbers of them in this 

 manner every season, with little or no trouble. For this purpose he has about three 

 quarters, or nearly a whole acre, enclosed with a fence only six or seven feet high, formed 

 of slabs set on end, or any thinnings of fir or other trees split and put close together. 

 They are fastened by a rail near the top and another near the bottom, and are pointed 

 sharp, which he supposes prevents the poultry flying over ; for they never attempt it, 

 although so low. Within this fence are places slightly constructed (but well secured 

 from wet) for each sort of poultry ; also a pond or stream of water running through it. 

 These poultry are fed almost entirely with steamed potatoes, and thrive astonishingly well. 

 The quantity of dung made in this poultry-place is also an object worth attention : and 

 when it is cleaned out, a thin paring of the surface is at the same time taken off, which 

 makes a valuable compost for the purpose of manure. But for keeping poultry upon a 

 small scale, it is only necessary to have a small shed or slight building, formed in some 

 warm, sheltered, sunny situation (if near the kitchen or other place where a constant fire 

 is kept so much the better), with proper divisions, boxes, baskets, or other contrivances, 

 for the different sorts of birds, and for their laying and incubation. 



2841. Where a few poultry, taking their chance at the barn-door, are kept by the farmer for the 

 convenience of eggs, and to supply the table when a fowl is wanted, no particular attention is requisite; 

 but as, in some situations, they may pay well for more food and closer attention, other circumstances 

 may be noticed. " The poultry-house should," Young says, " contain an apartment for the general 

 stock to roost in, another for setting, a third for fattening, and a fourth for food. If the scale is large, 

 there should be a fifth, for plucking and keeping feathers. If a woman is kept purposely to attend them, 

 she should have her cottage contiguous, that the smoke of her chimney may play into the roosting and 

 setting rooms ; poultry never thriving so well as in warmth and smoke ; an observation as old as 

 Columella, and strongly confirmed by the quantity bred in the smoky cabins of Ireland. For setting 

 both turkeys and hens, nests should be made in lockers that have lids with hinges, to confine them if 

 necessary, or two or three will," he says, " in sitting, crowd into the same nest. All must have access 

 to a gravelled yard, and to grass for range, and the building should be near the farm- yard, and have 

 clear water near. Great attention should be paid to cleanliness and whitewashing, not for appearance, 

 but to destroy vermin." 



2842. The interior arrangement of a poultry -house for a farm- yard is generally very simple, and consists 

 of little more than a number of spars reaching across the building at different heights, or at the same 



height, with a gangway or ladder attached, for 

 the fowls to ascend : but where comfort and 

 cleanliness are studied, a preferable mode is to 

 form a sloping stage of spars [fig. 415. a, b) for 

 the poultry to sit on ; beneath this stage may 

 be two ranges of boxes for nests (c, c) ; the roof 

 (d) should have a ceiling to keep the whole 

 warm in winter, and the door (e) should be 

 nearly as high as the ceiling for ventilation, 

 and should have a small opening with a shutter 

 at bottom, which, where there is no danger 

 from dogs or foxes, may be left open at all 

 times to admit of the poultry going in and out 

 at pleasure, and especially for their early egress 

 during summer. The spars on which the 



. . clawed birds are to roost should not be round 



and smooth, but roundish and roughish, like the branch of a tree. The floor must be dry, and kept clean 

 for the web-footed kinds. 



2843. The rabbUry is a building of rare occurrence in agriculture, and where it is 

 required differs little from the piggery ; consisting of a yard for exercise and receivmg 

 food, and a covered close apartment, connected, for repose, sleep, and the mothers and 

 young. In the latter are generally boxes a foot or more high and wide, and divided 

 into compartments of two or more cubic feet for the rabbits to retire into, and bring 

 forth their young. Where young rabbits are fed for the market, the mother and 

 offspring are generally confined to hutches, which are boxes a little larger than the 

 common breeding boxes, and kept in a separate apartment. In treating of the rabbit 

 (Part III.), these and other contrivances for the culture of this animal will be brought 

 into notice, ... , 



2844. The pigeonry is a structure not more frequent than the rabbitry, being scarcely 

 admissible in professional agriculture, except in grazing districts, where the birds 

 have not so direct an opportunity of injuring corn. Sometimes they are made an 

 ornamental appendage to a proprietor's farmery, or to a sheep-house m a park {Jig. 

 416.), or other detached building; and sometimes a wooden structure, raised from 

 the ground on one post or more, is formed on purpose for their abode. Whatever may 



