REPORT OF THE POULTRY MANAGER. 



195 



A PEW PLANS FOE THE FARMER. — HOW RANGE AND SCRATCHINQ ROOM MAY BE SECURED. 



The farmer with one breed, or his ordinary barn yard fowls will have little 

 difficulty or expense in arranging a house so that while it gives some warmth to the 

 layers at night, which is very desirable, will also afford room for them to range, 

 scratch and dust in during the day, and so prevent the vices aforementioned. It is 

 with the object of giving some help in this direction that the following plans are 

 submitted : 



Diagram No. 1. 



niL.iiiiiuiium.r.iiTin 



mriiiTiniiiiiin 2 



A. — 1. Platform. 



2. Support for roost with 



notch. 



3. Entrance to nests under 



platform. 



4. Slide door to scratching 



house. 



B.— 1. Window facing south. 



2. String with cabbage at- 



tached. 



3. Space for straw, sand, 



gravel, &c., to be let 

 down below. 



The above plan No. 1 represents a house and addition that can be added to 

 the end or side of a barn facing south. A small portion " A " of the end of the barn 

 is partitioned off fur the roosting and la}' :ng room. The ceiling is made low, and 

 under this low ceiling is the platform and roost so placed as to economise the 

 animal heat of the fowls during the cold night, and keep them as comfortable as 

 possible during that period. The roost should be a 2 x 4 inch scantling, broadside 

 down, and placed 10 or 12 inches over a platform which should be two and a half 

 feet wide and eighteen inches from the ground. Under this platform should be the 

 nests so arranged that by boarding the front of the platform, they (the nests) will 

 be kept dark. The partitions of the nests will support the platform. The object of 

 keeping the nests dark is to offer no inducement to the hens to stay in, or about 

 them after the egg is laid, and to keep the other hens from seeing the Qgg^. Egg 

 eating is so prevented and prevention is a great deal easier than the cure. After 

 keeping themselves comparatively warm by scratching busily all day in the 

 scratching room the layers require some warmth during the night and in most 

 poultry houses that is the very time they are coldest. 



" B." This is an addition that can cheaply be made to the barn and should be 

 to the south. A slide admits the fowls from A to B. On the floor of this scratching 

 8c— 13^ 



