While surely one of the blandest of the early Lumière features, "Poultry-Yard" is still pleasant footage to watch, with a nostalgic feel to it. As a still photograph, it probably would have worked much better: the composition is good, as is usual with the Lumière movies, and in a still photo the reflective, evocative feel would be more noticeable and more important than the lack of any significant action.
The subject is simple, showing two young girls feeding a large number of domesticated ducks, with an occasional chicken or two also in view. While it's a familiar scene without anything particularly imaginative to it, it is the kind of picture that, in almost any era, usually brings to mind a wistful feeling of bygone eras and of bygone ways of life. As far as that goes, this short feature does so fairly well.