IN THE POULTRY YARD. 115 
were left and put them together. The remainder were then simply 
divided amongst the other yards according to size. 
Towards the last I found it necessary to use the movable fenc- 
ing used for the large yard. I therefore finished all the houses and 
put a yard round one of them. All the fowls not already provided 
for were transferred to this, and then the large yard was disman- 
tled, the fence taken down, nests, etc. consigned to the manure 
heap, and the fence posts pulled up. With this material at hand 
it was easy to enclose the other yards in a few hours, so that the 
birds were not kept very long in confined quarters. 
The birds seemed to take kindly to their new homes, and as the 
entire place was new to them all, at the end of four days I let one 
lot out and gave them the freedom of the place. Every one re- 
turned to its own house—perhaps because they could not go any- 
where else. Next day I let another lot out. After four days I let 
two lots out together, and as soon as all the lots had been out I 
opened all the gates and gave them all their freedom. When this 
had been done and the birds, on a fine day, were scattered over 
the place, I was considerably surprised at the small show that they 
made. The place looked as if it could hold ten times as many 
with great ease. This seems to be always the feeling when a 
thousand or less birds are seen together. ‘The flock does not ap- 
pear as large as we expected. 
