THE POULTRY YARD.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 852, 8 January 1879, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE POULTRY YARD.

KEEPING POULTRY ON A LARGB SCALE. Mr. C. F. Pearce of Freetown, Massachusetts, has communicated to Moore's Rural New Yoi-ker a description of a southern farm where poultry ar-e kept to the beat advantage on a large scale. Speaking of the farm, he savs:—

It "is situated in the southern extremity of Chili, South America, where the rainy season, of six months' duration, is as detrimental to the well-being of all fowl kind as the rigours of our own winters, and where great care and skill are very essential to satisfactory results.

Senor Don San Fuentes comnieiicec his operations in poultry with a stocl of two hundred hens and eight cocks to which he has added thereto, bj natural increase from yea.r tQ year, unti aow he has somewhere in the vicinitj >f 6000. Their range is unlimited, a; lis farm oovei's 3000 ouadras, equal t< r SOO acres. To every 50 hens an< I cocks is given a house of their own if which there are six or seven hundrec in the place. During the rainy seasoi ;hey are not allowed to leave the coop sxcept the day be exceedingly pleasant md then only for a short time. The] ippearto bear their confinement remark tbly well, and with hardly any decreasi n the quantity of eggs. "While confinec ;hey are an extra allowance of anima bod. The attendance requisite to. th( :are of these 6000 fowls, are one mar md. four bays,, The houses, art .horoughly cleaned once a-week, anc ,ho interiors white-washed every three nonths. Every morning each lot oi 'owls undergoes a careful inspection md any found moping or otherwise in lisposed, is immediately taken to the lospital, and cared for ; and seldom it s but that the indisposition is cured md she takes her plage back again as .veil as ever. At evening, the boys gc ;he rounds to gather up the proceeds oi ;he day's labor, which will average 20C lozen per day the year through ' Killing time" takes place twice during ,he year—in the spring, and again a 1 ;he commencement of the rainy season, y 1 the early chickens are thus disposed )f at good prices; and the two year-old bwls decapitated, to give room for the 7-ounger broods, as they are supposed to )e past profitable service after the lecond year. The profits from one rear's business amounted to ll,ooodols. nearly £2200). The sales are 72,000 lozen of eggs, and nearly 20,000 :hickens and two-year olds. The houses are very cheap affairs, and Lre made by erecting two forked posts, I feet long, and distant from each other 15 feet. On these rests the ridge-pole. 3nboth sides of the centre-post, 10 feet listant, a trench is dug, 1 foot in depth. Chen small poles are placed for rafters, me end in the trench and the other tied io the ridge-pole, two feet apart. Then mother set of poles, tied crossways, also I feet equi-distant, and the framework s complete. This is covered with .hatch, which is found in plentiful ibundance, and to be had for the cut;ing. The only frame works about the louse is the doors at tne . of vhich are 4 by 6, and contain each a vindow pivoted in the pentre : qf the lash, t<» be opened or shut as the rer mirements of ventilation demand, Each house has its complement of iwenty boxes, for laying, placed under ,he eaves, and partly concealed by randies of straw. The sitting department is also prodded with boxes, some 300 in number, ffere all are brought, from their reipegtiye GQQps, m soon as their incubatig propensity shows itself, &nd placed ipon their quota of eggs. Feed, water, md a large supply of sand and ashes, ire provided, and the sitting hen hot illowed' to leave the room."until she ;akes jier' young brood with her. The dutches are ''then'" doubled up f that

is, two broods given to one hen, and the" chickless one sent back to her coop to resume her egg laying. As soon as the young chicks are discarded by their mother, they are taken to their future home, fifty in each lot, and the old ones back to their respective localities. The fowls are fed three times per day and their diet so arranged as to always present a variety, although oats is their staple article of food, and always before them in unlimited quantity.