CHAPTEE III. 



SHEDS AND PENS. 



It will be realised that one of the first necessities in 

 commencing a fattening establishment is to provide 

 some place where fowls can be kept under the observa- 

 tion of the fattener, be deprived of exercise, and be fed 

 at regular intervals. Various arrangements are made 

 in this direction, though some of the sheds are very- 

 rough indeed. When travelling about the Heathfield 

 and Uckfield districts of Sussex, cages are to be seen 

 outside numberless farmhouses, where during the 

 summer season a few fowls are fatted, and when we 

 come across the larger establishments we find great 

 numbers of these cages or pens occupied by fowls, and 

 what would be a description of one place is to a large 

 extent that of another. 



There are different ideas held as to the desirability 

 or otherwise of having sheds. In one village we con- 

 versed with two fatteners, one of whom had his pens 

 in the open'air, simply boarded at the top to keep out 

 rain, whilst the other prefers roomy sheds which, 

 during the colder months of the year, will protect the 



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