POULTRY HOUSES 25 



house can be divided through the middle and be used 

 for two separate lots of bantams. When this is done, a 

 division fence should separate the two pens. The interior 

 of the house may be arranged to suit the convenience of 

 the poultryman. The building has a double door, the 

 inner screen door a swinging to the inside and the board 

 door swinging to the outside. The outer door should be 

 left open during warm weather and on bright days dur- 

 ing cold weather to prevent dampness. The house should 

 have a board floor. 



YARDS FOR POULTRY HOUSES 



Purpose and Size pf Yards. Fowls are confined in 

 yards to prevent them from trespassing and from going 

 where they may do harm or where they may injure 

 themselves. They are also confined when an effort is 

 being made to secure a large egg yield by intensive 

 methods, and when several varieties of fowls are kept 

 for breeding purposes, in which case the flocks must be 

 kept separate in order that each breed may remain pure. 



Yards cannot be too large and are frequently too small. 

 Less than 100 sq. ft. of yard room per head is not 

 enough to secure the best results in producing eggs; 

 a yard 50 ft. wide and 100 ft. long will be sufficient for 

 fifty hens, provided special care is taken to keep the 

 soil in a sanitary condition. If the yard is 100 ft. 

 square, the fifty hens will do much better. Two and 

 one-half acres will answer much better for five hundred 

 hens in 'one flock than the same space divided into 

 ten yards for fifty hens each. The reason for this is 

 that when the five hundred hens are confined in the 

 space of 2 l / 2 A., each one has the free range of the entire 

 area, and when the space is divided into ten yards, each 

 fowl is confined to a space about equal in size to that 

 of an ordinary town lot. 



Close confinement causes the flock to become discon- 

 tented, and overcrowding the yard lessens the egg 

 yield. If either one or both of these conditions is of 



