Cleanliness and Drainage. 
5 
With regard to the minimum of space absolutely necessary to keep fowls in health, our 
experience has taught us that if the birds are of only moderate or small size, ten square feet of run 
for each bird may be made sufficient, adding half as much again for larger kinds. This is inde- 
pendent of the roosting-house, and supposes both the most scrupulous attention to cleanliness and 
a judicious diet. A shed so small will give least trouble if floored with clean fresh-water sandj 
as a rake with thin steel teeth, set a quarter-inch apart, will remove all offensive matter every 
morning, with the least possible labour. But if a grass-run can be given, it will be far better, 
giving higher condition with much less labour, as the shed floor will then only need turning over 
occasionally, and renewing once a year. For Spanish, or similar breeds, not quite one hundred 
square feet for each bird will be needed to preserve the grass : thus, a cock and four hens would 
require a grass-run of about twenty by twenty-five feet, which will remain pretty fresh and in 
capital order. Brahmas and Cochins require fully as much again, or the grass will soon become 
trodden and foul. 
In any poultry-yard there are some essentials, attention to which is necessary to health 
and prosperity ; and one of the first of these is that some retreat shall be perfectly dry 
under foot. This is especially to be secured in the early chicken-nursery, for if the young 
broods be put upon a flooring even a little damp, early in the year, it will be impossible to 
prevent cramp from making sad inroads even in the most hardy breeds. But in the shed for 
the adult fowls it is almost equally important. The grass-run may be a damp, cold clay, but 
if so, it is all the more essential that the shed to which the occupants resort in bad weather 
shall be perfectly dry ; and in erecting a yard, money spent in securing this end will save 
many times the amount in future. Even if the natural soil be very bad as regards cold and 
damp, there is no difficulty in accomplishing the desired object. Perhaps the simplest and best 
method of doing so is that adopted by Mr. Tudman, in the chicken-nursery of the yard 
presently described. The ground is dug out to the depth of three feet, the space being filled in 
with brick-ends and stones, rammed pretty solid, and levelled on the top ; and over this is put 
plenty of dry sand. In the case of a very bad, wet soil, the brick- ends should be raised 
nearly a foot in the sheds above the ground outside ; and the thorough drainage, through 
the loose bricks, will keep the floor beautifully dry in the very worst weather. Instead of 
brick-ends or stones, large cinders, clinkers from an engine-furnace, pieces of shale, or any- 
thing of the kind, will answer the purpose, the only object being to provide interstices for the 
moisture to drain away. In such circumstances, dry sand or fine sandy gravel will make the 
best top stratum, but sifted earth or ashes will answer the purpose almost equally well. If 
preferred — and, for ourselves, we should prefer it — a layer of concrete, or strong hydraulic 
mortar, may be laid over the stones or bricks, which will prevent the sand or earth from 
being shaken down and filling up the crevices ; and will also allow of the whole being periodically 
renewed with the least possible trouble. 
Hen-lice or other vermin should, from the very first, be guarded against, or they will 
be a great annoyance to both the fowls and their owner. Stone or brick houses should be 
regularly washed every year with a strong lime-wash, in which sulphate of iron has been also 
mixed, a pound to every three gallons; put on, if possible, hot from the slaking, and 
thoroughly worked into every cranny and crevice in the walls. So important is this thorough 
searching of the walls, that if they be built very rough or uneven, it is well worth while to 
give them a little plastering over, to make the surface more even. In building wood houses, 
a brush dipped in kerosene or paraffine should be passed along the tongued edges of all the 
boards, as they are nailed in their places, the effects of which will last some time ; but wooden 
