Poultry Problems and Profits. 419 



first, then run 2x4 around top edge of building, and sheeting ex- 

 tending to outer edge of 2x4, thus making it absolutely tight. 

 Cover ship-lap with tar paper. Roof with best sheeting and 3-ply 

 roofing. After letting stand in weather from four to six months 

 I paint building, including tar paper. Letting building stand a 

 while before painting makes paint stick. Otherwise paint will 

 peel off of yellow pine or tar paper within a year. Partition sep- 

 arating roosting room from scratching department is made of 

 ship-lap. Floor to roosting room is of tongue-and-grooved floor- 

 ing. Scratching shed floor is of dirt. A few things about house : 

 Both muslin and glass windows, coop up in scratching shed for 

 broody hens, roosts made of 2x6 set loose in sockets, the arrange- 

 ment beng such as to make each bird roost by itself. This keeps 

 the birds from getting too warm, and is the best roup preventive. 

 These breeding houses I build 8x12 feet, which makes 8x6 roost- 

 ing room, and 8x6 scratching shed. For entire building the cost 

 is from $23 to $26, depending upon the cost of material at the time 

 of building. These houses I like so well for breeding houses that 

 I would not think of making any changes, even were I building a 

 hundred more." — E. C. McClaskey. 



"My house is built tight on three sides, with a large opening 

 on the south, which opening is rarely ever closed except in very 

 stormy weather. I have an old hotbed sash made to slide over 

 the opening which admits plenty of sunshine. The roosts are 

 made of 2x3 lumber with four pieces nailed on for legs, the whole 

 resembling a carpenter's trestle, about two feet high and long 

 enough to accommodate about six hens. I find that by roosting in 

 small companies the birds are less liable to take cold in winter. 

 Where there are a number of fowls on the same roost those in 

 the middle get to sweating at night, and when they come off in the 

 morning before it is quite light enough to feed they become chilled, 

 and the consequence is a cold, then roup, then the hatchet. I be- 

 lieve that this explains why fowls that roost outside in trees with 

 just a few on a limb are seldom, if ever, troubled with roup." — E. 

 J. Lowe. 



"Our houses are framed with 2x4, boxed up and covered all 

 over sides and ends with tar paper, put on with batting. The 

 roofing is double ply rubber composition. The houses are 4 feet 

 in the back, by 7 feet high in the front, 10 feet deep, by 12 feet 

 long. Twenty-five birds are kept to a house. The houses have 

 curtain fronts and one door, all on the south side. The curtains 



