36 COMMERCIAL EGG FARMING 



in all. - 1 estimate that I save on these items 

 not far short of four hours a day of one 

 man's time. 



The other advantages of the big-house sys- 

 tem are that the attendant is under cover in 

 bad weather, when feeding the birds, collect- 

 ing eggs and cleaning the houses. The chief 

 advantage as far as the birds are concerned 

 is that they have a large, dry, well-ventilated 

 place in which they are fed and can scratch, 

 and are thus independent of the weather, 

 however bad it is. 



It is sometimes claimed that small flocks 

 give a better egg yield per bird than large 

 flocks. This is not my experience. For three 

 years I used various types of small houses, 

 holding from ten to fifty birds, and never had 

 as good results as I now have in my big 

 houses. Possibly I may know more about 

 management and breeding than I did in the 

 early days, but nothing that I have seen or 

 read has shown me that the extra labor and 

 expense involved in the small-house system is 

 compensated for by an increased egg yield. 

 It is also claimed that there is less danger in 

 the small-flock system should disease break 



