70 MY POULTRY DAY BY DAY 
of the Kent Station Holders under the Board of Agriculture’s Egg 
Distribution Scheme. 
In the following balance-sheet, which covers the year from 1st 
November 1915 to 30th October 1916, no rent has been charged 
against the fowls, the ground being fully cropped with fruit trees 
and nut bushes. The value of the birds’ manure may be considered 
to be more than equal to any sum due as rent. 
The cost of attendance has also not been included, as it is diffi- 
cult to say exactly how much should be charged under this head. 
Mr Hall and his son work the whole of the twenty acres without 
any outside help, so that only a proportion of their time can be 
charged to the poultry. Feeding and general attendance occupies 
both of them for about two and a half hours a day—rather more 
during the hatching season—and a whole day about once a fort- 
night would be occupied in cleaning out the houses, etc. When 
sittings of eggs have to be sent away, the packing of them is 
usually done in the evenings after dark. Charging 6d. per hour, 
£40 would appear to be a liberal allowance for the cost of 
attendance for the year. A pony is kept to take the fruit to the 
station and to work on the holding, as well as carry the eggs to 
market. The nearest station is Wateringbury, four miles away, 
and Maidstone is about nine miles distant. 
The hens are confined in permanent runs. The position is not 
moved from year to year, but the runs are large and the ground is 
kept cultivated. At the time of writing (10th December) there 
are 384 adult birds, and the runs occupy altogether six acres of 
ground cropped with cob nuts, with standard apples above. The 
chickens, of which there are 200 at the present time, have a fresh 
piece of ground each year, and have a practically unlimited range 
on gooseberry plantation and grass land. 
No expensive appliances are kept, most of the houses and runs 
being made at home. There are no incubators or foster-mothers ; 
all the eggs are hatched out under hens. 
The following explanatory notes on each item of the balance- 
sheet will be helpful. The accounts have been carefully kept and 
every item has been checked and put into place by the writer. 
