LAYING HOUSES AND MANAGEMENT 37 



out. I can believe that this may be so, but I 

 maintain that if the methods I follow are 

 carefully and properly carried out disease 

 will not appear in the flock. To make profits 

 is the sole object of my poultry farming, and 

 the big-house system has been the natural out- 

 come of my experience. 



My houses are divided into compartments 

 ten feet wide. The partitions run six feet 

 across the house. The object of these parti- 

 tions is to keep draughts from striking the 

 birds when they are on the perches. The 

 perches are at the back of the house, raised 

 nine inches above the dropping boards, the 

 latter being two feet above the floor. The 

 front of the house is boarded two feet six 

 inches up from the floor. Above the boards 

 is glass. In Canada, although mtich colder 

 than in England, I used wire-netting only, 

 but in my present locality the winds are so 

 strong that when there is rain it is blown 

 clear across the floor. Therefore I put in 

 ordinary horticultural glass, held in place by 

 strips of wood, to the level of the bottom of 

 the hood. The hood projects about twenty 

 inches and admits all the air that is neces- 



