University of Virginia Library

Materials and location

I am inclined to believe that the poultry houses on the
Plan were meant to be masonry structures (fig. 473), not only
because circular walls are more readily built in stone than
in wood, but also because masonry makes more feasible
the construction of holes into which the birds may retreat
for laying and hatching. Columella rated laying-nests holed
into masonry superior to wicker baskets suspended in
front of the walls.[608] It is likely that a wattlework fence was
intended for the outer fence that enclosed the poultry runs.

The siting of these houses is ideal, as the chickens and
geese are located near their two basic foods. The granary
lies on one side of the poultry enclosure, and the Monks'
Vegetable Garden on the other. The chickens would doubtless
have been eager to eat the weeds and scraps of vegetables,
after these had been cleaned and cropped for the
monks' table, as the gardeners were anxious to part with
them. And the Monks' Vegetable Garden provided a suitable
place to dispose of the birds' droppings when the
poultry houses were cleaned out.

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