EQUIPMENT REQUIRED. 



The Kind and Amount of Land Needed — Location and Drain= 



age — ^Tlie Question of Large Versus Small Houses — Neces= 



sary Coops, Fixtures and Utensils — Comparative 



Cost of a Complete Outfit. 



, By H. A. Nourse. 



The amount of land required depends, of course, upon 

 the size of the business carried on. There must be a 

 certain relative proportion of the number of fowls kept to 

 the amount of room occupied, or, as a general rule, results 

 will not be satisfactory. 



Where it is the intention to keep fowls profitably for 

 eggs, with the least expenditure of time in caring for them., 

 at least one hundred square feet of ground should be allowed 

 each mature fowl to range over, when the weather permits 

 them to be outdoors a large proportion of the time. There- 

 fore a flock of ten hens would require approximately one 

 thousand square feet, or a piece of ground ten feet wide 

 and one hundred feet long, or about thirty-two feet square. 

 On city back lots, where a less space must, be used to accom- 

 modate this number of layers, additional labor is required 

 to keep the surroundings sanitary, i. e., to prevent the 

 ground itself from becoming "tainted" or loaded with 

 filth which in time becomes poison. 



On farms where free range may be provided during the 

 greater part of warm weather, yards need not be as large, 

 for the ground has opportunity to become cleansed through 

 the growth of fresh vegetation in such months as the flock 

 is not confined. As a rule, however, one hundred feet of 

 yard room is the minimum space compatible, with good health 

 of the fowls, which in turn is necessary for a high rate of 

 production of eggs. 



Tlie Character of the Soil. 



The exact make-up of the soil is not so material as is 



