POULTRY HOUSE CONSTRUCTION. 



21 



Figure 10 Hinged perches and dropping 

 board. 



If these hinges are made with loose pins the entire set of perches 

 can be readily removed. The perch itself should not be fastened 

 to the supporting crosspiece which should be notched so that 

 the perch sets into it as shown in Figure 10. 



Dropping Boards. Where the hens are fed inside the house, 

 as is usual in winter in many places, it is advantageous to place 

 boards under the perches to 

 catch the manure; thus keep- 

 ing the floor clean so that it, 

 as well as the rest of the 

 house, can be utilized as a 

 feeding floor. When no drop- 

 ping boards are used a wide 

 board should be placed in 

 front of the perches on the 

 floor so as to keep the litter 

 ,'iway from the droppings un- 

 der the roost. The use of 

 dropping boards is econom- 

 ical, for it increases the size 

 of the feeding floor. These 

 boards, being close to the fowls, necessitate frequent cleaning, 

 hence more labor, but if the manure is properly handled, enough 

 fertilizer is saved to pay for the extra labor, and frequent clean- 

 ing means healthy fowls. On the general farm, dropping boards 

 may be placed in the house in the fall and winter and kept 

 cleaned. When the other farm work becomes pressing in the 

 spring, and the hens are allowed to run at large, they no longer 

 need be fed in the poultry house, so the dropping boards may be 

 removed. Where this system is used it becomes very necessary 

 that the dropping boards be removed in the spring and not left 

 to accumulate a large amount of droppings which would be close 

 to the fowls and very unhealthy. A hinged roost and dropping 

 board is shown in Figure 10. This is a very good arrangement 

 for the droppings are cleaned each morning and then the perches 

 and dropping board swing up and out of the way, thus giving 

 the hens a clear open space. This method is ujsed in the long 

 poultry house at the University of Wisconsin. Before this 

 system was tried there was a great deal of trouble with hens 

 laying under the dropping board instead of in the nests. After 

 installing this system the trouble was greatly lessened. 



