34 COMMERCIAL EGG FARMING 



year or to arrange as I have done, and give 

 the birds practically fresh land. Where the 

 houses are moved only small houses can be 

 used, and it is the small-house system which 

 I want most to avoid because of the extra 

 labor involved where the number of separate 

 flocks is increased. It does not matter how 

 small a flock is, or how big the area of land 

 on which the birds run, in time the land 

 around the house will become fouled. It is 

 therefore simpler to arrange alternate yards, 

 which are cultivated and cropped in turn. 

 Merely digging or plowing is not sufficient in 

 itself. Crops must be grown to remove the 

 manure, and the birds should be kept off that 

 part which is under crop, for the full period 

 of six months. 



The advantages of running fairly large 

 flocks of birds in a big house are these : fewer 

 doors to open and shut, less wire-netting, 

 fewer drinking vessels to clean and fill ; and 

 the yards may be plowed rather than dug 

 by hand. At first sight these advantages do 

 not appear great, but suppose that instead of 

 my four houses, holding 1600 birds, I had 



