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they are reluctant to give up the compact, continuous house plan, 

 and because they think they cannot afford the expense of fencing 

 large yards. 



When large yards are used, the houses need not be very far 

 apart. If, instead of a yard 18 feet wide by 75 to 150 feet long, 

 which is about the way the yards range for a style of house which 

 is quite common, and is usually rated as having a capacity of 25 

 to 30 fowls in each of its 10 by 18 feet sections, we make a yard 

 two or three times as wide, the house arrangement would be either a 

 separate house for each yard, or two-section houses placed so that 

 the division fences between the yards with which the respective 

 compartments connected would be on a line with the partition 

 through the middle of the house. 



Suppose we have yards 36 feet wide and 150 feet long; this 

 will generally give ample yard room for 25 or 30 hens. If the 

 lay of the land is such that the yard cannot be 150 feet long, the 

 width must be increased to give the required area. With yards 

 36 feet wide and double houses, the distance between two houses 

 is only 36 feet. If we have in a row four of these double houses, 

 with eight yards, the distance from end to end of the row of 

 houses is 252 feet, — 108 feet more than if the sections were all 

 in one continuous house. If one builds houses that far apart, 

 and makes the rounds of the plant as many times a day as some 

 poultry keepers do, that 108 feet, doubled, because he must go to 

 the end and return, can be made the basis of a calculation show- 

 ing many miles traveled and much time lost because of the ground 

 to be covered. But with the large yards it is not necessary to 

 make these numerous daily circuits. Some poultry keepers who 

 give ample yard room feed the grain to their fowls in hoppers 

 in the houses, and, by using a hopper which needs replenishing 

 only once or twice a week, find it necessary to visit the house at 

 most only twice daily, and often make only one visit. 



The method I am using on a three-acre place in a small town 

 could be applied on a small farm, and make it necessary to go 

 around onlj' twice a day ; tliough, because we have not far to go, 

 we don't often try to combine the doing of several things when 

 making one circuit. I will describe our way of feeding a little 

 farther on. Here I want to get back to the point of the expense 

 of large yards. Four double houses, each accommodating 50 to 

 60 fowls, provide quarters for 200 to 240 fowls. To give these 

 fowls the amount of yard room designated as sufficient will require 

 no more cost for division and side fences than if the houses were 

 all joined in one. The doubled yard area is secured by simply 

 doubling the length of each end fence. Even supposing that the 



