range. It has been found that when houses are one hundred 

 yards apart, or even less, flocks will not mingle, but each flock 

 will keep in the neighborhood of its own house. This plan has 

 its advantages. It is inexpensive. The houses may be of the 

 cheapest kind. No yards are required. The hens at certain 

 seasons of the year pick up a good deal of their living. If the 



Colony hoase to accommodate from 12 to 25 fowls. This house is eight feet square on 

 the ground ard eight feet from floor to apex of roof. There is no frame, but the i*oof 

 hoards are nailed to the ridjepole and to plank basehoards. 



houses are located in an orchard the hens fertilize the ground 

 around the trees and- eat the wormy fruit. No dangerous dis- 

 ease is likely to break out among hens kept in colonies. But 

 on the other hand the plan has serious drawbacks. Even in 

 pleasant weather it requires a good deal of time each day to 

 visit the scattered flocks ; but in winter, when a blizzard is rag- 

 ing, to make the rounds of the houses is an experience calcu- 

 lated to make one appreciate the perils and hardships of a Polar 

 expedition. Then, too, these isolated, detached houses are 

 shining marks for thieves ; and unless the neighborhood is ex- 

 ceptionally honest, the poultryman may wake up some morning 

 to discover that two or three hundred of his fowls have van- 

 ished. 



THE COMMUNITY PLAN. 



The second method of keeping hens in large numbers is 

 what I may call the community plan, and is sufficiently de- 

 scribed by the name. The majority of large poultry plants in 

 the country are constructed on this plan. The great argu- 



