POULTRY ON THE GENERAL FARM 
chicken house as in the cleaning of a kitchen. Such advice 
may be suitable for the city poultry fanciers, but it is out of 
place when given to the farmer. Poultry raising, the same 
as other farm work, must pay for the labor put into it, and 
this will not be the case if attempt is made to follow all the 
suggestions of the theoretical poultry writer. 
The ease with which the premises may be kept reasonably 
free from litter and filth is largely a matter of convenient 
arrangement. The handiest plan from this view-point is the 
colony system. In this the houses are moved to new loca- 
tions when the ground becomes soiled. If the chicken-house 
is a stationary structure it should be built away from other 
buildings, scrap-piles, fence corners, etc., so that the ground 
can be frequently freshened by plowing and sowing in oats, 
rye or rape. The ground should be well sloped, so that the 
water draining from the surface may wash away much of 
the filtu that on level ground would accumulate. 
Cleanliness indoors can be simplified by proper arrange- 
ment. First, the house must be dry. Poultry droppings, 
when dry, are not a source of danger if kept out of the feed. 
They should be removed often enough to prevent foul odors. 
Drinking vessels should be rinsed out when refilled and not 
allowed to accumulate a coat of slime. lf a mash is fed, feed- 
boards should be scraped off and dried in the sun. Sunshine 
is a cheap and efficient disinfectant. 
The advice on the control of lice and the method of hand- 
ling sick chickens that has been given in the main section 
of the book, will apply as well on the farm as on the com- 
mercial poultry plant. Certainly the farmer’s time is too 
valuable to fool with the details of poultry therapeutics. 
Farm Chicken Houses. 
The following notes on poultry houses apply to Iowa and 
Nebraska, where the winters are severe, and similar climates. 
Farther south and east the farmer should use the same style 
of houses as recommended for egg farms. A chicken house 
just high enough for a man to walk erectly and a floor space 
of about 3 square feet per hen is advisable. This requires a 
house 12 by 24 for 100 hens, or 10 by 16 for 50. 
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