180 MY POULTRY DAY BY DAY 
If a man keep, say, 200 birds in pens of 6 each, or even of 12 
each, he is quite likely to get an average of something like 180 
eggs per bird per annum ; but if he put the same birds under one 
roof and allow them to run together he will be lucky to get more 
than 160 eggs per bird. At the moment that is pretty much how 
the matter stands. A few hundred fowls kept in lots of 6 each 
house averaged 200 eggs per bird per annum in England, and 280 
in Australia, but I have never yet heard of a flock of 200 in one 
house that averaged more than 170. One may take it then that 
the large flock means a loss of, say, 20 eggs per bird per annum. 
At three halfpence per egg this is half-a-crown per bird, or £125 
on 1000 fowls. The question, therefore, is whether it is more 
profitable to keep small flocks or large flocks. 
If one were to keep 1000 fowls in pens of 6 birds each, one 
would require 166 small houses and 166 small runs. If kept in 
large flocks they might be divided into four lots of 250 each or 
ten lots of 100 each. One large egg-farmer finds it most profit- 
able, he says, to keep them in lots of 400 each, and he does so 
without difficulty and gets what he considers a fair average of 
150 eggs (or over) per bird per annum. We will suppose, then, 
that one man keeps 1000 birds in 166 houses and 166 runs, and 
that another man keeps the same number in four houses of 250 
each. 
A house to accommodate 250 fowls would cost approximately 
£50 for the materials, or, say, £60 if supplied ready-made by a 
reliable firm. It would have to be approximately 50 feet long, 
20 feet deep, 9 feet high in front and 6 feet at back. This would 
give each bird 4 feet of floor space and 82 cubic feet of air. Four 
such houses would cost £240, and the runs, with posts and wire, 
would make another £20, say, £260 in all for the housing of 1000 
birds. 
If we divide 1000 birds up into pens of 6 each, that would mean 
166 houses and 166 pens. A semi-intensive house to hold 6 birds 
would need to be at least 8 feet by 5 feet by 5 feet. Such a house 
of the same quality as the larger houses would cost; ready-made 
from a reliable firm, not less than £4, probably nearer £5. If we 
