Part 5

In localities where stone abounds, the entire building may be constructed of stone, giving ample window room.

All buildings which are plastered or cemented in any part of their construction should be allowed to dry thoroughly before the flock moves in.

As an important aid to uniformity of temperature in winter, the wall space filled with confined air is important. The cement blocks and hollow building tile provide for this to a certain extent. A double board wall may give this result if carefully constructed. By placing sheathing paper under the weather boards, and also under the ceiling boards, a very satisfactory wall is possible.

A warm wall is made by combining brick and boards--using weather boards outside, brick within, and plaster, or ceiling boards, on the inner side.

A single board wall can be made comfortable as winter quarters by covering the outside with roofing paper and having it painted black. These black-painted hen houses and coops are too warm in summer, however.

The inside walls of the hen house should be smooth enough to be kept clean. A good wood-filler in the crevices prevents lice and mites from lodging there, but if, when whitewashing the walls, care is taken to work the lime into the crevices with the brush, and this work is done often enough, say four times a year, such pests would be kept down.

Make it a rule to have the windows on the light, sunny side of the building, facing south or southeast, but have none on the other three sides.

Windows really ought to be of such a size and position that the sunlight can reach every part of the floor space during some part of the day. Though we all believe in the benefit of sunlight, we do not always realize how important a part it plays in the care of poultry. When we consider that vermin and disease thrive in its absence, and that remedial measures are more or less troublesome and expensive, we will work into our building schemes every possible inlet for sunlight.

The windows should occupy a large part of the front wall area--one-third of it, at least, and be evenly distributed over the upper part of the surface. Movable window sash or curtain frames are imperative.

The position of the ventilating arrangement depends upon the position of the fowls at night. It is a strange fact that human beings, animals, and poultry can better stand a current of air coming directly toward the front of the head than from the rear or sides; hence I would place the roosts so that the fowls face the window and get the fresh air on a level with the nostrils rather than from above or below. Thus they are fortified against a drop in temperature. For example, where the roosts are to be two feet above the floor, I would have the windows about twenty inches from the floor, provided the roof is correspondingly low. With the roosts three or four feet above the floor, the window should be from thirty-two to forty-four inches above the floor, etc. I think it is safe to have the windows not higher than eight or twelve inches below the eaves, and six inches from the sides of the building.

Despite the fact that some poultrymen have discarded glass, I cannot rule it out altogether. It certainly has its uses on cold wintry days when the heat of the sun's rays is wanted without the chill wintry air. I believe these glass windows should be covered at night, and that the fabric curtain is therefore the most sensible mode of night ventilation. Burlap, sacking, or coarse muslin may be used to cover the window frames. Burlap is the most substantial. In tacking it to the frame, tacks with tin discs beneath the head (like those with roofing nails) may be used, or a thin light strip of wood may bind the burlap to the frame, and through it the tacks are driven.

Wherever glass is used, some protection of poultry wire is necessary to prevent its being broken.

THE DOOR OF THE POULTRY HOUSE

It aids in ridding the house of dust if, when the fowls are out, a searching breeze can blow through occasionally. For this reason, end doors are a great advantage, but they must be draft-proof.

The good points of an otherwise well-built poultry house may be set at naught by carelessly made doors, which fit loosely in their casings.

Doors which open on the cold or exposed side of a building require more precautions against drafts than those on the sunny side. The door should be of tightly fitted boards, and covered on the inner side with tarred roofing paper, or thin, narrow boards.

The following hints are for a door that is practically draft-proof: For the door itself use tongue-and-groove boards, an inch thick, reinforced six inches from the top and bottom by cross-pieces six inches wide, and beneath the latch by a rectangle of the same wood. Over this is tacked sheathing paper, fitting it about the cross-pieces. The inner side is finished with narrow tongue-and-groove ceiling boards. (These may be placed over the battens or between them.) In case they are to be placed over the battens, the open space between the two board surfaces is closed with a narrow wooden strip.

The door casing is five inches thick, the sill board six inches wide, and slanting to one inch lower on the outside than on the inside. On the sides and across the upper part of the door casing are nailed inch-thick strips which, with the edge of the casing against which the door shuts, gives a two-inch edge which effectually excludes air currents. Against the lower edge of the door is a heavy strip of felt, reinforced with leather where it is tacked to the door.

NESTS AND ROOSTS

When we have come to the interior fittings of the poultry house, we are about ready for the flock to move in, and may consult the peculiarities of our chosen breed to some extent.

In the matter of nests, heavier breeds of fowls need them of easier access than do the lighter breeds. The latter class seem to enjoy an ascent to their nests, and it is as well to favor them.

The nests may be around the sides of the building, beneath the roosts and drop-board, or in any convenient place, and there should be as many as there is room for. Nests that are scattered about and possess some distinctive characteristics seem to make a greater appeal to some fowls. Nests in tiers of three or in blocks of three seem to be readily identified by the hens if the different sets of nests are differently placed, but a row of half a dozen nests exactly alike is confusing to the average hen.

When space is at a premium, the nests should stand beneath the roosts, protected by a wooden drop-board--smooth to be vermin-proof and removable to be sanitary. A hinged board serves to darken the nest and at the same time can be held up by a hook when so desired. For cleanliness the nest should be made of wood and treated with some vermin preventive which should be washed well into all crevices. If the nest is raised four or five inches from the floor and built with a porous bottom, it is more easily kept dry. The compartments should be separated to prevent interference between layers. Each of these should be, as a rule, 16 × 12 × 14 inches, although I am now using nests 13-1/2 in. long by 10-1/2 in. wide and 12 in. high. In order to be lifted for cleaning some light material must be used. A convenient arrangement is a long, narrow box, fitting the available space, divided by partitions into individual nests. Wire netting makes a very good bottom for this type of nest. I like either this or the slat bottom, through which the dust and worn nest material sift and the air circulates. Of course, such a nest should be supported on brackets or suspended so that the air can penetrate its parts. Grocer's boxes may be converted into good nests by removing the bottom and tacking smooth slats across, with one and one-half inches of space between each. Inch-meshed poultry wire may be used if one is going to use the wire netting. A coat of paint gives a more sanitary surface, but if this is not practicable, the wood should be planed as smooth as possible and whitewashed.

Concealment is usually favorable to the use of the nests, and if the apartment is light and sunny, a board screen may be used to secure this, or the nest entrance may be turned away from the light. I am using curtains of sacking with marked increase of popularity among my fowls. Nests which were persistently shunned are now constantly used since thus darkened. The sacking may be hung from a wooden strip placed in front of the nests. It gets dusty, but if one is provided with two or three such curtains, the soiled ones may be hung outdoors in the wind and rain for cleansing.

The trap nest is as useful to the small poultryman as to the man who runs a large poultry plant. It is so arranged that each laying hen and her product may be identified. A trap nest may be improvised from a box of suitable size. Cut out entrance and exit in opposite sides, and in each suspend a door so that it will swing at a pressure of the fowl's head. The entrance door swings inward only--the exit door swings outward. After the egg is laid, the hen passes through the exit into a small inclosure, from which she is liberated after her achievement has been recorded.

Where rational methods are used in nest construction, it is hardly necessary to use nest-eggs to secure the fowl's patronage of the nests. Where they are used, however, those of dull finish are preferable to the smooth glass ones.

Hens want a roost that they can clasp with their toes. It should be broad enough to support the bird's weight upon the ball of the foot and thin enough to allow the toes to curl under. This act is a reflex one and as much a part of their slumber as scratching is a part of their waking activities. This power of clasping the perch seems to belong to birds in vigorous conditions. Ailing birds that cannot roost seldom have enough vitality to recover.

Roosts two and one-quarter inches wide and not more than an inch thick, with slightly rounded edges favoring the curl of the toes, are satisfactory. They may be arranged horizontally, or slightly inclined, ladder fashion. Light poles cut from young saplings make suitable roosts, if scraped clean of bark and shaved to flatten them slightly on the upper side. Horizontal roosts may be placed about one foot apart, and not more than three lying parallel, or the fowls roosting on the rear perch do not get enough air. I prefer them slightly inclined, ladder fashion, at an angle of nearly thirty degrees, the lowest perch not lower than three feet from the floor, and not more than three perches parallel. Where the fabric curtain is used, all get the benefit of the fresh air coming through the canvas curtain.