THE POULTRY HOUSE AND YARD. 227 



First let us consider the house. A very convenient one for a flock 

 of fifty hens, which is as many as should be kept in one house and 

 yard, is made as follows: it is twenty-five or thirty feet long, ten feet 

 wide, eight feet high in the front and five feet in the rear, with a 

 sloping roof. It should be divided into two apartments, one six or 

 eight feet long, and the other eighteen or twenty feet, and separated 

 by a tight partition, with a door in it leading from one to the other. 

 There should be a door in each apartment, and a large window, which 

 should face the south. The floor should be the ground, and this 

 should be high and dry and drained, so that rain water from the roof 

 cannot enter. The only fittings inside are the roosts, which are made 

 in a frame of three bars four inches wide, having two cross pieces to 

 Jiold them together. This frame is hinged to the rear wall, sixteen 

 inches only from the ground and all on a level, which entirely prevents 

 fighting to get the highest perch and prevents injury from the fowls 

 flying down from the roosts. This frame can be raised against the 

 wall, out of the way, when the floor is cleaned, which should be done 

 at least every week, in a thorough manner. This will wholly prevent 

 vermin harboring in the house and prevent much suffering for the 

 fowls. The nests are loose boxes sixteen inches long, and twelve wide 

 and deep; open at one side where the hen enters and having a 

 narrow strip at the bottom three inches wide to keep the nest in its 

 place. These nest boxes are loose and are placed on the floor around 

 ihe house. When a hen sets and has settled down, the nest with the 

 hen is removed to the setting room, and another box is put in its 

 place. The eggs are taken from the nests at noon, and in the evening 

 when the hens are fed. When the setting hen is settled down quietly, 

 the brood of eggs is given to her and a card is pinned to the wall over 

 the nest having the date on it when the hen was set. With such an 

 arrangement as this there is no trouble, and the hens are kept quiet 

 and docile, and this saves eggs and chickens. 



The yard should be enclosed safely, and for fifty fowls should con- 

 tain half an acre or 200 feet by 100. It should be divided into two 

 parts, each to be used alternately, and while one is being used the 

 other should be plowed up and sown with some quick growing crop, 

 as peas, rape, turnips, oats, etc., for the fowls to feed upon and scratch 

 among. This secures cleanliness of the ground, and a valuable 

 provision of green food for the fowls. In this way fifty fowls can be 

 kept enclosed all the time in perfect health and thrift and with corre- 

 sponding profit. But it cannot be done in any other way. For the 

 fences, cheap wire netting is the best and most economical. 



The feeding of fowls should be regular and the food should be 

 varied. Early morning, noon, and night, the food should be supplied 



