Part 2

ALFALFA UNDER NETTING IN THE RUN 46

A SIMPLE FORM OF TRAP NEST 46

Making a Poultry House

INTRODUCTION

To close one's eyes and dream of a home in the country with its lawns, its gardens, its flowers, its songs of birds and drone of bees, proves the sentimental in man, but he is not practical who cannot call into fancy's realm the cackle of the hen.

Having conceded her a legitimate place in the scheme of the country home, good housing is of the utmost importance, and it is in regard to this that one easily blunders. Few would idealize a rickety hovel as a home for the flock, but many of us, while we would not put our highly prized birds into an airtight box, so over-house them that they weaken instead of profiting by our care.

That the poultry house is yet in an evolutionary stage, all must admit, but no one can deny that great strides have been made since the once neglected barnyard fowl has come to be known as a very understandable and responsive creature, to be dealt with on common-sense grounds.

Only that poultry house is a good shelter which in winter conserves as much warmth as possible, and yet permits an abundance of fresh air; that admits sunlight, and yet in summer is cool. Such a building must offer no hospitality to other than poultry life, and it must be constructed in line with the economic value of its residents. In short, the structure must be so contrived as to guard against drafts, dampness, disease, and vermin, to insure a profitable result. A maximum of comfort with a minimum of risk insures healthy poultry.

The location of the poultry house has an important bearing upon the style of the building. It is better to put the building where the land will slope away from, rather than toward, it. A large and durable poultry house was recently built and afterwards condemned by its owners as damp. The land sloped slightly towards the building, but sufficiently to convey all surface water towards it, making its earth floor always damp in wet weather. If no other site can be secured, then it is better to mount the building on posts rather than on the ordinary foundation. If one has room enough to consider the kind of soil, sand is best, as it dries quickly, and the runs--one can scarcely consider the building without runs--can be kept much cleaner.

A windbreak of some kind on the cold side of the building is a decided advantage--a wall, an evergreen hedge, a grove, or other buildings, will protect the poultry house, and, perhaps, also a portion of the runs, with benefit to the poultry.

In that the family flock may range in size from half a dozen to fifty or seventy-five fowls, the size of the building, and even its style, must vary to suit one's needs. A small coop, almost square, may house your flock of eight or ten, but the larger flock requires a house longer and higher, with more ample ventilation.

Ventilation by means of the canvas or burlap curtain has so simplified the fresh-air problem that less building room is needed where sleeping-quarters alone are considered. Hence the necessary house room for hens depends upon the mode of ventilation.

That a large building with no direct ventilation is not so healthful for fowls as a small house that admits the fresh air direct, was proved in the case of a flock of fowls, during the last two winters. The previous winter seventy-five fowls were kept in a large building adjoining a barn. Its walls were thick, the place was very high and roomy. Ventilation was given through a loft. The quarters were kept clean, and all known rules of health observed. A glass door was fitted into the doorway, thus admitting sunlight to a small part of the floor. Not a hen was allowed to place her fair foot upon the cold snowy ground. The birds were taken sick with catarrhal troubles early in the winter, and were in an unpromising condition until spring. This last winter the birds, now forty in number, were housed in a seven by twelve building, seven feet high, with two windows in the front, each thirty-four inches wide and twenty-one inches high, placed one foot below the eaves, and one foot from the sides. Fresh air came through a canvas curtain in one window; the other had a glass sash. The birds came through the winter in fine condition. This building would have held the original number, but in that case the burlap curtain would have been used in the other window also.

The cooping of the young chicks must be considered as a problem somewhat distinct until they are old enough to contend with the other fowls for their rights.

Water-tight roofs, walls, and floors are essential to the life and health of the birds.

SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS FOR HOUSES

While no one style of hen house can meet all the conditions for all localities, almost any good model may be adapted to almost any locality, or at least suggest adaptable features.

The descriptions of houses that have been adapted as here given may easily suggest other modifications.

A house eight by seventeen feet should give ample roosting and nesting room for a flock of thirty or forty hens. One used by the author is seven feet wide, fifteen feet long, and ten feet high from peak to floor, and is satisfactory during spring, summer, and fall. In winter, however, a scratching-shed of equal area is desirable. It need not be higher than three feet. It should adjoin the hennery, and a section of its roof should be movable to allow a change of litter. The sunlight should be freely admitted to this through glass.

A small coop that will house a dozen fowls, and may be used where one has little space, or is just getting into poultry keeping, is eight feet long and six feet deep. It has a double-pitched roof, is five and one-half feet high from the lower edges of the roof to the foundation, and seven from the peak to the foundation. The eaves project four inches, but in front a board eight inches wide is hinged to the lower edge of the eaves. This is swung back and hooked against the side of the building on sunny days, but in rainy weather it is swung outward, thus extending the roof eight inches to prevent the rain from beating into the muslin-covered windows below. It is held in this position by brackets at either end, which are hinged to the building, and may be turned back against it when not in use.

Two windows, two feet high and three feet wide, are placed in the front, six inches from either side, thirty-four inches from the ground, and eight inches below the eaves. Burlap-covered frames are fitted to the windows, and these swing inward when necessary, and may be fastened by hooks suspended from the roof of the building.

The building has a brick foundation and a concrete floor six inches higher than the surrounding surface of the ground, and on a level with the top of the foundation. At the rear are nests beneath the roosts. These are 14 in. long, 12 in. high, and 11 in. wide. There are seven on the bottom row placed alternately in a lengthwise and crosswise manner, and six above. The lower nests are improvised from boxes bought from a grocer's at five cents each, and are set upon a skeleton shelf raised 4 in. above the floor. The upper nests are likewise set upon a skeleton shelf 3 in. above the first tier. The sides of boxes are cut away to 5 in. height to allow the hens room to enter the nests. These nests are accessible to the hens from the front and are reached for egg collection by lifting a hinged door at the back; this door is 7 ft. long, 18 in. wide, and is 12 in. above the foundation in the rear.

The roosts are thirty-four inches above the floor, and run lengthwise of the house. Two will accommodate the small flock of twelve or fifteen fowls. Three inches below is the drop-board supported upon horizontal braces. It is in two sections, and slides out when desired. It is twenty inches wide, its outer edge being even with the first roost.

The walls are covered with sheathing paper laid inside over the studs, and tongue-and-groove boards are nailed over this. The outside is weather-boarded, and the roof covered with tarred paper over boards laid closely together. A door at one end, 26 in. wide and 5 ft. 6 in. high, gives access to the building, and a small door, 12 × 12 in., sliding in grooves, is placed in the front near the floor, for the use of the fowls.

This coop may be modified to suit individual preference; for instance, by giving it a single-pitched roof.

For the framework and inclosure these materials will be required:

Hemlock or spruce for sills (5 × 6 in.) 38 lineal feet

Hemlock or spruce for corner supports and plate to support rafters (3 × 4 in.) 60 lineal feet