VOLLX
UTOIANAPOLIS, SEPT. 30, 1905.
NO 39
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. HOW TO BUILD A FIRST CLASS
POULTRY   HOUSE.
Build For Comfort  and Convenience.
1st Premium.—In building a poultry
house on the farm two main ideas must
be kept in mind by the builder, namely,
comfort and convenience, the comfort of
the towls .and tho convenience of the
owner, as well as the fowls. As a usual
thing the farmer's flock of chickens is the
most neglected part of his belongings, and
yet, poultry and egg production is the
best paying thing he can undertake. Poultry raising pays a larger interest on
money invested than any otlier farm
product.
Many good plans for poultry houses
suggest themselves, and they can be
built of various materials, such ns tarred
roofing paper or lumber for sides, shingles or roofing paper for roof, etc. Even
concrete is used for the walls. Iu fact,
most any material that will keep out the
cold and provide shelter can be used. I
have known many good poultry houses
built of* fodder, straw or clover chart
(threshed clover), held in place by poles
or nails, and at a very low cost. They
wore   very   comfortalble   and   convenient.
There are five styles or plans that appeal to me most as first class poultry
houses:
1. Tho single colony or breeding pen
hcuse is built fronting the south, and
should be 10x18 feet, 5 feet high in back
and 7 feet high in front, roof slanting
cne way, roosting room should be 8x10,
and scratching shed 10x10. This house
will accommodate 10x15 fowls comfortably. It can be built nf any material.
The partitions between roosting room and
scratching shed should be same as the
outside walls. Scratching shed tight on
r.orth, east and west sides. Shed should
be at west end of roosting room. Boosts
should be made, like saw horses, not
more ihan 12 inches high. Set some on
the floor at evening, during day hang to
roof by wire hooks. The scratching shed
may be arranged so that it can be left
open all the time, or covered witli wire
netting in summer and closed with sash,
or doors containing sash in winter. The
floor of shed should be covered with
straw or shredded fodder all the time,
end that changed at least every two
weeks: every week is preferred.
2. The open or closed scratching shed
house for two or more breeding pens is
simply a multiple of the No. 1, and
should be so arranged that the roosting
rooms arc.in pa-rs, with scratching shed
(■n each side. That is, if two breeding
pens are to be accommodated, the two
roosting rooms should be in the middle,
with scratching sheds on both sides.
?,. The double-row house, with hall
way in middle and numerous breeding
pens  in   each   side. This   house     has
ecmb roof, and stands one gable to the
north and the other to the south. On
each side of tlie hall are numerous pens,
the number to be governed b.v the requirements of the breeder. Each section
is in two compartments, the roosting and
scratching rooms. In this house each
pen can be reached from the hall, without goin? out doors or through another
pen. Each section should have plenty
of sash in the outside wall for light.
4. The house with scratching shed in
front of roosting room. This house is
a very good one. It can be built with
the  V-shaped   or    gable  roof,    one  side
rmsT riooR.
StCOND J-L001I.
Extreme width 35 feet 8 inches, depth 44 feet ti inches. Cellar 7 feet high;
first story 9 feet 0 inches; second story 8 feet. Foundations stone and brick, first
:.nd sc-onl stories lapped siding; gables and roof shingles. Interior hard white
plaster.       Flooring  North   Carolina   pine.    Soft   wood   finish. Oak   newels   and
balusters on staircase. Hard oil  finish  inside  stained   to   suit   taste. Rooms,
c'o-cls, bath room, etc., shown in lloor plans. Sliding doors  connect  parlor,  sit
ting room and dining.- room. Sink, tubs, range nnd lxiiler in kitchen. Full plumbing in both rooms. Cost at New York prices ?:'.,400. Can be built in central
wp't two or three hundred dollars less.
covering liall way in rear of the roosting
room, as well as Ihe roosting room, the
other covering the scratching shed. This
style is also adapted to the single pen
or colony house, and to the sectional
breeding house for two or more brooding
p<ns; in fact it can l>e built to any length
dcsircsl ami to accommodate as many different breeding pens as wished. It can
•i!so be built with roar part, containing
hall and roosting rooms, under one roof,
nnd a shed roof lower than the eaves of
the  otlier. This     space   can     contain
sash to provide light and ventilation to
the roosting r'Him.
5. The double d^ck poultry house.
This honse is what mis_.il be called tv
story. The scratching shed  or room is
underneath the roosting room. It is probably not so convenient as others, but has
its advantages as well ns its disadvantages. This house enn nlso be built for
one flor.k. or can be built in sections, partitioned off for a number of flocks.
In each of the above plans it might bo
desirable to provide lofts above the roosting rooms which could be filled with straw
to make the rooms warmer, or they could
be arranged  to store feed. etc.    In  each
p.an ventilation must lie provided, and
so arranged that no draughts of cold air
pass through. The roosts can be placed
over dropping boards, or made like saw
hcrses. I prefer the movable roosts.
In all poultry honses care should be used
to keep free from lice, and arranged so
ns to keep the hens busy nil the day. Pro-
\ide good, wholesome feed nnd fresh
water, and the hens will do the rest if
housed in  comfortable, ronvenient houses.
O. A. T.
One  House For Two Flocks.
2d Premium.—A model poultry house
\t really two houses combined, for the
farmer usually keeps nmre than 100 hens
to winter, ami for health as well as
profit 100 nens could be housed together.
These houses, 12x14 feet, are so.wrntod
by a -died of say 15 ft. in width. This shed
is- covered with same roof that covers the
houses, its Inck part boarded up, the
front, which should face the south, left
cpen except for canvas curtain run on
pulleys b.v which it can be lowered at
night or on rainy, bluster}' "lays.
These houses are built of barn siding,
ceiled   inside   with   tarred   paper. The
floor is cement. The roof is of shingles. A shingle roof will let in cold,
ss> in tliese houses a rough ceiling of
lioards is laid above the heads of tho
fowls, nnd each winter this loft is filled
with straw, clover or corn leaves. This
keeps the fowls warm, absorbs moisture,
nnd if a small ladder is provided they go
up into the loft to pick at the clover and
com leaves, and sometimes make nests
there.
Tho windows face the south, in such
u way ns to let in sun on all Ihe lloor
space   in   the   bouses. The   dropping
board is built under the roosts. This
makes the cleaning of them not a dillicult task, keeping tilth from the lloor,
jiii.I leaving extra space for nost boxes.
Nest boxes are also ranged along the
walls of the scratching shed lKjtweci* the
houses, this scratching shed being used
as a colony house, when spring coiiks,
for the early chicks.
The doors are iittul snugly and open into the shed, thus Ix-ing protected from rain
nnd snow. Small doors in the houses,
near the far end of the scratching shed,
j let out the fowls into the shod on days
too stormy to long allow the poultry house
I doors open. 1 ft.rgot to state that tbe
i oof is built shed style, sloping from a 12
foof height iu front to 8 feet back. lu
the winter the floor of the shed, a gravel
soil, is kept covered with straw or loaves.
Keep a fowl's head and feet warm and
you have provided well for its comfort in
thi.t line. The houses I have described will accommodate 100 hens. Then,
chickens, roosting where you accustom
them to roost, you can place all the pullets in one house, the older hens in the
other. This will give you a. chanco to
feed the pullets into extra laying by feeding them warm mashes and meat while
shut up in their house, giving the older
hens that may not lay until spring opens
a mixed grain diet, sufficient to keep them
healthy and hearty but not wasting the
dearer foods on them or the roosters.
There may be otlier ways of building
poultry houses than the above, but no-
.where can the farmer economize to better _iiirps.se tlian in the building of poultry houses. The most elaborate the
warmest and dearest, arc not always the
lest. Just so the floor is dry, the
roof made to keep out wind
and frost, the sides well battened, then
tho hicks will keep warm.
"Give summer conditions and get sum-
i.ur results," was echoed by all writers.
They are learning better. Summer doesn't
bring the most eggs. Spring brings them.
So, give spring conditions, neither too hot
nor  too cold,  just comfortable housing.
A primitive, yet ideal poultry house, is
made on the farm in this way. Set up
the frame for your house, say 8 or 10 feet
high and 15x20 ft. long. Lay scantling
Ecross the top, flat ami strongly fastened
to side frames. Over this and about
back end and sides, cover and pile straw.
I.uild the roosts to far end, and though
i the front end be open no cold will reach
back (o the roosting place. The site
selected for this must be dry, allowing
no water 1o rise in it. Keep the scratching ground covered with straw. Nests
can be made in the deep straw at the
sisles. If you turn up your nose at this
ideal winter house for chickens, and
want something better for them, at least
make one or two of these, though smaller
than I have described, for the ducks and
geese, ami even the turkeys.
A Chicken Crank.
Continued on page 9.