238 Statu Boakd of Aoiacur/rLUE, &c. 



most ben houses do. A rough board building, made warm, 

 is jast as good as one costing hundreds of doUars. 



W. H. Todd, of Ohio, one of our hirgest breeders of 

 poultry, gives, in the Poultry Nation^ his plan of building 

 cheap poultry houses. He builds eight by sixteen feet ; 

 seven and a half feet high in front, four and one half feet at 

 the back, with a shed roof. The sills are two by four inch 

 scantling, halved together at the ends and spiked. These 

 rest on three sleepers, six or eight inches high, running the 

 whole length of the building, and leveled for the floor, 

 which is cut and placed so as to fit just inside the sills. No 

 posts are used. A couple of two by four inch plates, with 

 rafters two by three ; and then ])roceed to cover with 

 upright boards, beginning at the corners, and the building 

 is soon up. He either battens the cracks or lines with coal 

 tar sheathing. He says a house of this size will accommo- 

 date forty fowls of the large breeds, if divided into tw^o 

 rooms, and can be "^built for from ten to twenty dollars, 

 according to the price of lumber and labor. I have a small 

 movable house, built something in the same style. Mine is 

 five by ten feet, and the sills are four by six inches, two 

 feet longer than the building, and shaped something like a 

 sled runner. It can be drawn anywhere with one horse. I 

 should have board floors if the house was located on dry 

 ground, and no other is suitable for poultry keeping. 



All poultry houses should be built in warm, sheltered 

 places, and well lighted on the south side ; but there is no 

 need of having all the south side glass, as recommended by 

 some writers. The houses must be built so as to be warm, 

 and keep out all winds, and, at the same time, be well ven 



