422 Missouri Agricultural Repo7't. 



such a house is cool, as the heat from the sun on the sides and 

 roof passes off at the upper opening, so the hens have a more 

 even temperature both day and night. My hens prefer it to other 

 shade in the hot summer days. This house always has dry, pure 

 air, and even the droppings dry up quickly, no matter what the 

 weather is. The accompanying ground plan shows two pens, each 

 12x24>^ feet with dropping boards at the north end 3>^ feet 

 wide, with three roosts bolted to pieces that have legs at one end 

 8 inches long and the other end hinged to the wall, so that the 

 roosts can be lifted and hooked up to a rafter when cleaning the 

 dropping boards. I have very simple trap nests just under the 

 dropping boards. They are made of orange boxes. The parti- 

 tions between the pens should be boarded up tight from the north 

 side to the door, so as to avoid any draft back on the roosts. The 

 water vessels and dry-mash box I put in the partition on a plat- 

 form 31/2 feet by 4 feet and raise it 14 inches from the ground. 

 The dust bath is 2^x5, in the sunny south end. The south end of 

 the house, both above and below, should be covered with one- 

 inch mesh wire netting to keep the sparrows out, and on the in- 

 side of the upper opening should be a wooden frame hung on 

 hinges at the top and provided with rope and pulley, so it can be 

 raised and lowered when desired. There should be a good solid 

 foundation under this house, and it should be raised from 6 inches 

 to a foot, according to the dampness of the soil, and filled in near- 

 ly up to the sills with stone or dirt, then three inches of clay should 

 be spread on top and thoroughly wet and tamped down level, 

 which makes an excellent warm, durable floor. The frame can 

 be built with 2x4's, except that the pieces which hold up the upper 

 ends of the rafters should be 2x6. Cover the sides and back end 

 with good inch lumber 1x12, and batten every crack, then thorough- 

 ly paint it. Cover the top with some good felt roofing. Cover 

 the clay floor all over with a foot of leaves or straw and feed all 

 grain in them and you have a healthy happy hen family." — D. J. 

 Bliss. 



"The average size of our poultry houses is 6x6 feet, 3>< feet 

 in rear and 8-foot front, boxed and stripped, with door and win- 

 dow in south side. Doors are 2x6 feet, and windows made of four 

 10xl2-inch lights. The roosts are portable, and 18 inches from 

 the earth floor. In such a house a dozen hens will do well, and 

 in zero weather we put from 20 to 25 head in these houses, and 

 they don't get their combs frozen, but in large open houses they 

 freeze their combs. We find that small houses and small flocks pay 



