84 The Hen's Habitation. 



off frequently. Several barrels of valuable fertilizer will be 

 saved during the year, and as the floor will be always clean 

 the capacity of the house will be about doubled. Running- 

 over piles of droppings is a fruitful source of disease in poul- 

 try. Nowhere except in the dwelling-house is strict cleanli- 

 ness more essential than in the hen-houses. In building I use 

 large stones at the corners and under center posts, then lay a 

 sort of wall between them under the sills. A load or two of 

 small stones are thrown inside, and covered with gravel or 

 coal-ashes. The house is banked up with dirt from a trench 

 dug all around it. Three of my houses are 9x24 feet, and ac- 

 commodate 100 fowls with unrestricted range. Two others, 

 8x15 feet, are divided into three compartments each, and open 

 into separate yards. Fifteen hens are kept in each for breed- 

 ing purposes. 



The buildings, made 9x24 feet, should front towards the 

 south. Use for the frame 2x4 hemlock scantlings if they can 

 be obtained. Get six large stones, four for the corners and 

 two to be placed 12 feet from the corners on each side. Lay 

 two i2-foot scantlings end to end for each side. Upon these 

 on the ends and in the middle lay the three nine-foot cross- 

 pieces and spike all together. Level carefully. Set up the six 

 uprights upon the extremities of the cross-pieces, the front ones 

 being four feet eight inches long, those at the back, six feet 

 eight inches. Then put on the plates (12 feet 2x4 scantlings). 

 Two pieces should be set in the frame at the back about three 

 feet eight inches above the sill to help support the platform 

 and for nailing the siding to them. Then tack strips of tarred 

 paper up and down outside the frame at the back, and nail on 

 the siding over it. There are nine sets of rafters three feet 

 apart. The scantlings are cut seven feet four inches and 

 three feet nj^ inches, the longest measure. Old fence-boards 

 can be used for the piece which binds them together, forming 

 a truss. The rafters can all be framed before they are set up, 

 if one set is put together for a pattern. 



Now set up the rafters, put on tarred paper crosswise, then 



