POULTRY. 1047 



through the center or along the rear of the building, so arranged 

 that the fowls can be fed and watered and the eggs gathered 

 without entering the pens. By a simple arrangement of cords 

 and pulleys the windows can be raised or lowered by pulling a 

 cord in the alley, and the ventilators controlled the same way. 

 On one side feed, oyster-shells, road-dust, plaster, etc., can be 

 stored in narrow bins made for the purpose; and on shelves 

 above the bins the disinfectants, medicines, and other things 

 used in and about the poultry-house should be kept. Where a 

 large number of fowls are kept, a stove for cooking food could 

 be put up in the passage; and last, but by no means least, 

 when the hens want to sit the nest-boxes can be turned so as 

 to open into the passage-way, and the sitting hens can be fed 

 free from annoyance by the other fowls. 



The essentials of warmth, light, etc., secured, it does not 

 matter much about the form of the poultry-house. One plan is 

 as good as another, provided it comes within reach of the farm- 

 er's pocket-book, and in appearance harmonizes with the other 

 farm buildings. In localities where lumber is scarce and high, 

 and the new settlers are not overburdened with loose change, 

 poultry-houses can be erected from the materials at hand sods, 

 straw, or prairie hay without any cash outlay except for nails, 

 glass, and window-sash. Such houses may not be very orna- 

 mental, but they can be made comfortable, and fowls will thrive 

 and pay well in such structures. 



The cheapest poultry -house that I ever saw was an immense 

 straw shed that, as the owner remarked, " cost next to nothing." 

 A skeleton frame was made of posts and poles, and then the 

 straw was stacked over and around it to the depth of several 

 feet, leaving the south side open. Rough boards were used to 

 partition off a roosting-place at the back side, where the fowls 

 were shut in at night, while during the day they scratched, 

 cackled, and laid where they pleased in the immense shed. 



A Nebraska farmer gives the following directions for con- 

 structing a cheap poultry-house : " Set three rows of posts in 

 the ground, the center ones the highest. Nail pieces on top of 

 each row of posts ; spike on rafters made of saplings hewed at 



