446 COMMERCIAL POULTRY RAISING 



There are no reliable data to show the total quantity of matter 

 voided by the fowl, yet because the chicken is more than half its 

 time off the roost, it is safe to estimate that the weight of its 

 manure while off the roost will be at least thirty pounds a year, 

 probably nearer forty pounds, of which a fair percentage can be 

 conserved in the litter of the poultry buildings. 



The writer has visited large poultry establishments where no 

 effort was made to preserve this by-product. In fact, I have 



(Courtesy Purdue Experiment Station) 

 Fig. 285. — Indiana poultry house erected on concrete walls which extend 

 two feet above the ground level. Walls are built of novelty siding, making a 

 very neat exterior. 



been on plants where the droppings, as they were gathered from 

 beneath the perches in the laying houses, were thrown outdoors, 

 actually cast on an open pile, exposed to rains and winds which 

 quickly rob such matter of its chemical value. 



On one farm the disposal of the droppings was flagrantly in 

 error. I might add that it was fragrantly wrong, as well. The 

 houses were of the continuous type, located on a hillside, and 

 erected on piling several feet from the ground. In the front of 

 each building, in the yards proper, there was a huge mound of 



