CHAPTER V 
POULTRY FIXTURES 
and no higher that two or three feet above 
the floor. By having the perches all on 
the same level there is no strife for the highest 
positions, as otherwise always occurs, and the 
fowls are always found evenly dis- 
tributed over the perches; while by 
having them low there is no danger of jars and 
bruises occurring to the legs or bodies of the fowls 
in jumping or falling off the perches. 
The instinct of self-preservation prompts fowls 
to perch on the highest point they can reach when 
taking their quarters for the night; they naturally 
desire to be above danger from below. This in- 
stinct is a very apparent one, and it is strange that 
we so often see in use the old undesirable ladder- 
like arrangement of the roosts, each cross-piece a 
little higher than the preceding one, the first one 
being within a few inches of the floor, while the 
last one is up almost to the roof. If one will look 
into such quarters at night, after the birds have 
retired, he will find that, no matter how much room 
57 
Prarie should all be on the same level 
Roosts 
