THE POULTEY BOOK. 
7 
through is not always visible, it is often permitted to remain much longer than is 
desirable ; while a portion constantly adheres to the upper surface, and hinders 
DOCBLE INCLINE OP PEKCIIES. 
that perfect cleanliness which is so desirable in a fowl-house, whether it be the 
abode of half a dozen or a hundred. 
Every fowl-house should possess the means of admitting sufficient light. This 
may either be admitted through an ordinary window or through a pane or two of 
thick glass in the sides, or a few glass tiles or slates in the roof. In wet weather 
the birds will be the more ready to take shelter within if light be there, and the 
master’s inspection of the state of their domicile is the more readily performed. 
A rough application of the Venetian shutter, or louvre boarding, fitted to the 
highest part of the interior of the fowl-house, excludes the rain and direct draughts 
of wind, and allows the egress of the heated air from within, for carpenters are 
seldom so accurate in the door and fittings of such edifices a» not to leave sufficient 
apertures for admitting what is required to take its place. 
Neglect of ventilation is a sure forerunner of disease, and if every poultry keeper 
was compelled himself to unlock the doors of the house every morning for a week, 
there would be fewer complaints on this head ; but the unfortunate cocks and hens 
are too often either condemned to shiver in an open out-house, or are else impri- 
soned in an atmosphere like the hold of a slaver. However easy the remedy and 
evident its necessity, not one fowl-house in a dozen, even of those of most pre- 
tension, are properly arranged in this respect. 
For enclosing the yard, netting formed of galvanized iron wire is usually 
employed, as it has the great advantage of neither rusting nor requiring any kind 
of paint for a considerable length of time. An enclosure of this wire work, three 
feet high, is amply sufficient for the confinement of Cochins ; whereas seven feet 
in height is not too much for the lighter varieties, such as Game and Hamburghs. 
It should be stretched to oak posts eight feet apart, and fastened by means of 
small staples of the same galvanized metal. Care must be taken not to have a 
bar or rail along the top of the wire-work, for, although when secured in this 
manner it has a more finished appearance, yet it offers a resting place wFich often 
tempts the fowls to perch upon it, and thence to descend into the grounds from 
which we wish them to be excluded. 
The most elegant and durable wire fencing that has come under our notice 
is that made by Greening and Co., Manchester. Below it is sufficiently close to 
be proof alike against the ingress of rats or the egress of chickens, and, being 
spiked above, it affords no resting-place for the fowls, who consequently rarely 
attempt to fly over it. 
