8 
THE POULTRY BOOK. 
Chickens are often unwilling, in the mild weather of summer and early autumn, 
to retire to their homes as evening approaches ; on these occasions, thinking no 
great harm can happen to them, or disliking the trouble of driving them in, they 
are constantly allowed to remain on the branches of the laurels or other shrubs that 
have induced them to play truant. Once indulged with this license of selecting 
their sleeping-places according to their own pleasure, they are afterwards most 
difficult to he restrained. Although fowls roosting in shrubs and low trees are 
exposed to the severity of the weather, it is astonishing to see how little they 
appear generally to suffer. The peacock and the Guinea fowl, for instance, natives 
of a much warmer climate than our own, rarely seek the shelter of a roof ; and 
young fowls of different varieties, in the highest possible condition, are often found 
who have, even up to as late a period as Christmas, never been within a building 
of any kind. 
We cannot conclude this chapter without directing attention to the arrangement 
of poultry houses and yards adopted by the National Poultry Company, at their 
establishment at Bromley, Kent. 
This company has been formed for the purpose of carrying on the business of 
breeding and fattening poultry on a large scale, in buildings specially erected for 
that purpose, and so constructed as to secure a tolerably even temperature throughout 
the year, conjoined with protection from the weather and perfect ventilation. 
These buildings consist at present of a poultry estahlishmen*o, 360 feet in length, 
with a corridor down the middle, the homes” or runs for the birds being on either 
side. Each of the different breeds of fowls being placed in distinct compartments 
or homes, with an enclosed and an open run to each. 
ntANSVEKSE SECTIONAL VIEW OF NATIONAL POULTRY COMPANY’S FOWL-HOUSE 
The engraving shows a cross section of the building, and explains the arrange- 
ment and construction of the homes or runs. On both sides of the central corridor 
are the enclosed runs, each one being twelve feet in length, three feet in depth 
(from front to hack), and six feet six inches in height. These runs contain perches 
