«0 MAKING POULTRY PAY 



from one-eighth to one acre in size, and inside these 

 runs are set pear and other fruit trees which afiford 

 abundant shade for the poultry and produce heavy 

 crops of fruit. The wire netting for the yards is four 

 feet wide placed above a narrow strip of scantling. The 

 cost of netting an acre averages about $9. The houses 

 are six and one-half by fourteen feet, six feet high m 

 front, four feet at the rear. Ten feet is floored and 

 the balance is an open shed. The door opens from the 

 shed and there is one full window in the south side. 

 Matched hemlock boards planed on one side are used 

 and the whole building is covered with roofing paper 

 and painted. The studding is of two by four spruce. 

 The houses cost about $16 each, including labor, and 

 accommodate twenty hens. Most of the yards are 

 one-sixth of an acre in size. 



One of the largest poultry farms in the United 

 States is that belonging to Isaac Wilbour of southern 

 Rhode Island, who has 100 houses and 4000 head of 

 laying and breeding fowls. Geese are largely kept and 

 from 1500 to 2000 goslings are raised annually. The 

 colony plan is used over the entire establishment and 

 the thousands of poultry are scattered over three or 

 four large fields sloping down to the sea. About 250 

 fowls are assigned to the acre. The houses are of the 

 simplest plan possible, built of rough hemlock boards 

 and having a small window in front, and very simple 

 arrangement inside. The cost cannot be over $20 per 

 house and may be made considerably less. Some of the 

 houses have a double roof, others are single and made 

 of rough, unmatched hemlock lumber. The roof is of 

 plain boards not shingled, and no roofing or batting 

 paper is used unless as an experiment. Mr. Wilbour, 

 however, says: "We have found it more economical 

 to shingle the roofs. We are also careful to batten the 

 cracks, so that no direct draft can come upon the 



