10 



THE COMMUNITY PLAN. 



The second method of keeping hens in large numbers is what 

 I may call the community plan, and is sufficiently described by 

 the name. The majority of large poultry plants in this country 

 are constructed on this plan. The great argument in favor of 

 this plan is economy economy in labor, economy in land. The 

 original cost of a plant* on the community plan is somewhat greater 

 than the cost of a plant on the colony plan ; but when the plant is 

 erected and equipped the saving begins. There are, however, 

 some objections to this plan besides the initial cost. It has been 

 found very difficult to keep the houses perfectly dry, where the 

 length exceeds sixty feet. Moisture collects on the walls and 

 roof, and in cold weather congeals, so that in these long houses 

 there is often a coating of frost. In cleaning out the long houses 

 it is somewhat difficult to reach the central compartments, requir- 

 ing as it does a long walk and the opening and shutting of many 

 doors and gates. Where a virulent disease like cholera or roup 

 breaks out in one compartment, as it sometimes will, it has been 

 found almost impossible to confine it to that compartment 

 germs traveling in the air, or being conveyed from one pen to 

 another in excrement which may stick to the feet. With the 

 community plan go long, narrow yards or parks, which can be 

 fenced only at considerable cost. 



The scratching shed has now become an integral part of many 

 of the long houses. The scratching shed, as its name implies, is 

 a place for exercise under the same roof with the laying room, 

 but more open to the weather. The scratching shed has many 

 enthusiastic advocates who claim that it is indispensable to the 

 health and comfort of the fowls in winter, and will more than pay 

 for itself in an increased egg output. The claims for the 

 scratching shed house seem so valid that if I were building a 

 house more than 60 feet in length, I should certainly add scratch- 

 ing sheds. 



It is impossible in an article like this to give a plan for a house 

 that will suit every purse and every place. I can only submit a 

 cut of what I consider the best community house I have yet seen, 

 and give a brief description of it. The house is on the Dunning- 

 Gardner Poultry Farm, of Auburn, N. Y. 



