POULTRY HOUSE CONSTRUCTION. 



dish and re-fill it. As a rule the water dish will keep cleaner if 

 near the south side of the building, as the hens scratch the litter 

 toward the north much more than toward the front of the 

 house. A hen faces the light usually when digging in the straw 

 for her feed and the result is that the litter works back. 



There are numerous drinking devices on the market, many 

 of which are valuable. A large number of farmers, however, 

 use either a small pail or pan. 

 A low pail makes a very con- 

 venient water dish as the 

 bale enables it to be readily 

 handled with one hand. A pan 

 as shown in Figure 13 also 

 makes a convenient watering 

 dish. Care should be taken 

 not to use watering devices of 

 any kind which have parts 

 Unit cannot be readily clean- 

 ed. A dirty drinking dish is 

 frequently a source of disease 

 and should never be permitted in any poultry house. 



Dust Bath. Fowls need a chance to wallow in the dirt in 

 order to free their bodies of scales and lice. Without this, their 

 bodies become covered with broken down scales which together 

 with lice, cause intense itching. In the winter a dust bath 

 usually has to be provided inside of the poultry house and 

 should be near an open window so that the sun shines on it dur- 

 ing a part of the day. For this purpose a common box filled 

 with fine sand to which has been added a little insect powder is 

 quite effective. Sifted coal ashes and road dust, etc., also make 

 effective dust baths. In a house which has a good dry sand floor, 

 or in a cement floored house where the floor is covered with three 

 or four inches of fine sand, a dust bath is seldom needed as the 

 hens will wallow in the sand on the floor. 



Figure 14. The hen in the above picture 

 is using fresh dirt thrown out of a post 

 hole for a dust bath. 



