CHAPTER XI 



Exterior Fixtures and General Equipment 



Advantages of Double Yarding for Fowls How to Plan Yards, Build Fences, Etc. How to Keep Yards Clean and Free 



From Disease Germs Outdoor Feed Hoppers Feed Wagon Brood Coop Labor-Saving Method of Supplying 



Water on Range Providing Shade Other Special Poultry Plant Equipment. 



o 



NORTH YARD 



Slide POOJV 



iocr-or 



UTDOOR runs are provided chiefly to afford 

 fowls a means of securing plenty of healthful ex- 

 ercise in the open air, and in a general way are 

 regarded as indispensable to successful and profit- 

 able poultry keeping. It is true that many back-yard flocks 

 are kept confined to their houses the year around and 

 with excellent results and, of course, yards have little 

 value in the north, in winter weather. Nevertheless, the 

 advantages of having outdoor runs of ample size are so 

 great that few poultry keepers care to dispense with them 

 except with quite small flocks or for a limited time. 



One important advantage afforded by runs or yards, 

 though it often is overlooked or neglected, is the oppor- 

 tunity to procTuce green food for the hens. A growing 

 crop, properly managed, not only provides a continuous 

 supply of this healthful and economical part of the ra- 

 tion, but by using up the accumulating fertility keeps the 

 ground in a wholesome condition and lessens the danger 

 from disease. Bare, unproductive poultry yards ought to 

 be regarded as inexcusable unless 



they are necessarily so small that it -tr- 



is impossible to keep anything green 

 growing in them. 



The amount of yard room that 

 should be provided per fowl cannot 

 be arbitrarily fixed. A little is better 

 than none; and a good deal is better 

 than a little. The only general rule 

 that can be given is to provide as 

 much as possible, remembering, how- 

 ever, that the cost of fencing large 

 yards amounts to a considerable fig- 

 ure, and obviously there are limits 

 beyond which it is not practical to 

 extend them. Under most conditions 

 one hundred square feet per hen, di- 

 vided into two runs of equal size and used alternately, 

 will keep them in green food throughout the entire 

 growing season. But the same amount of ground in one 

 yard to which the fowls have access at all times, will 

 soon be picked off so close that the growth will be killed 

 and the ground left bare. 



Wherever practicable the runs should be made large 

 enough and be so fenced that they can be cultivated by 

 horsepower. Spading is a tedious and laborious operation 

 and, while it must be resorted to with small yards, it is 

 always a handicap, and the necessity for doing it should 

 be avoided if possible. Small yards cost much more in 

 proportion to the amount of land enclosed. 



A satisfactory arrangement of runs for the laying or 

 breeding flock is illustrated in Fig. 218, in which the 

 house is shown between-two runs, one on the north and 

 the other on the south side. The width of the yard is 

 determined in this case by the width of the house pen, 

 but it can be as long as necessary or as the limits of 

 available land make possible. In the case of a continuous 

 house the gates in the yard fence next the house should 

 always be made wide enough for the passage of a team 

 so that, in cultivating, the horses can turn from one yard 

 into the next instead of having to make a complete turn 



in -the same yard, which usually results in much injury 

 to the fencing. 



Fig. 220 shows another double-yarding plan that 

 often can be utilized to good advantage where only a 

 limited amount of land is available. In carrying out this 

 plan, each pen is provided with a small outdoor yard on 

 which no attempt is made to keep anything growing ex- 

 cept, possibly, one or two trees which will afford agree- 

 able shade in hot weather. Adjoining these small yards 

 are large runs occupying all the rest of the available 

 ground and planted to a suitable growing crop. The hens 

 are given access to the small yards at all times, but are 

 allowed to have access to the large runs only when the 

 crop is in proper condition for their use. It is generally 

 understood that fowls, if allowed to overrun a small plot 

 of green stuff, will soon kill it off, whereas if they are only 

 given access to it for a limited time, the plants will keep 

 growing right along and will furnish a constant supply of 

 green food, week after week. This method of yarding 



HOUSE PEN 

 16-CTx 2O-O" 



SOUTH YARD 

 Poor 



IOO'-Of* 



FIG. 218 DOUBLE YARD PLAN FOR SINGLE OR COMPARTMENT HOUSE 



calls for more fencing and more gates than the plan in- 

 dicated in Fig. 218, but it is well adapted to the condi- 

 tions of the back-lotter, and of small producers generally. 

 Another double-yarding method, where the yards can be 

 any desired width regardless of the width of the house, 

 is illustrated in Fig. 219. 



BUILDING POULTRY FENCES 



Directions for Putting Up Wire Fence, That Will Make 

 the Work Much Easier. 



In building permanent poultry fences it pays to use 

 only the best materials. Fence building is an expensive 

 matter at best, on account of the amount of labor re- 

 quired, and if poor material is used or the work careless- 

 ly done, the final cost is greatly increased. If wooden 

 posts are used, black locust, catalpa, cedar, and chestnut 

 are the most durable of the timbers generally available. It 

 will pay to give the lower end of all posts a coating of 

 creosote or hot tar before setting them in the ground. 

 Where sand and stone or gravel are available, concrete 

 posts are cheapest in the long run. Even though the line 

 posts are of wood it pays to make gate, end, and corner 

 posts of concrete. It is not a serious matter to replace 



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