THE PEOPLE'S PRACTICAL POULTRY BOOK. 109 



of the fowls should not rest directly over another. They should be so con- 

 structed as to enable the fowls to ascend and descend by means of ladders 

 or steps, without making much use of their wings ; for heavy fowls fly up 

 to their roosts with difficulty, and often injure themselves by descending, 

 as they alight heavily upon the ground. The illustration given represents 

 a hen-house in perspective, twenty feet long, twelve feet wide, and seven 

 feet high to the eaves, with a roof of a seven foot pitch, a chimney-top, a 

 ventilator on the peak, twelve feet in length and one foot or more in 

 hight, and openings in the gable ends for the admission of fresh air. 

 In the easterly end there are two doors, one leading into the laying apart- 

 ment and loft, and the other into the hatching-room. In the same end 

 there is also a wooden shutter or blind, which may be opened whenever 

 necessary to let air or light into the roost. In the back, or northerly side, 

 there is a large lattice window, three feet above the floor or ground, 

 four by twelve feet, for the purpose of affording fresh air to the sitting 

 hens. In front, or southerly side, there is a large glazed window, four by 

 twelve feet, and another on the southerly side of the roof, of a corre- 

 sponding size, designed to admit light and heat of the sun in cold weather, 

 to stimulate the laying hens. In the southerly side there are also two 

 small apertures three feet above the ground or floor, for the ingress and 

 egress of the fowls. These openings may be provided with sliding shut- 

 ters, as well as ' lighting boards,' inside and out, and may be guarded by 

 sheets of tin, nailed on below them, to prevent the intrusion of rats, weasels, 

 or skunks. The building may be constructed of wood or other materials, 

 and in such style or order of architecture as may suit one's taste, only pre- 

 serving the internal arrangements and proportions in reference to breadth 

 and hight. As a general rule, as regards the length of a building, each 

 hen, irrespective of the cocks, may be allowed a foot. In the ground plan, 

 L denotes the laying apartment ; H the hatching-room, six by twenty feet ; 

 7i, n, etc., nest-boxes for laying, fourteen by fourteen inches, and ten inches 

 deep ; o, o. etc*, nest-boxes for sitting hens, of the same size ; , a ladder or 

 steps leading into the loft ; and S, a stove for warming the apartment, if 

 desirable, when the weather is cold. The transverse or cross section shows 

 the building from the bottom to the top, with the internal arrangements ; 

 L denotes the laying apartment, and H the hatching-room, divided in the 

 middle by a partition ; n, the nest-boxes resting on tables, three or four 

 feet above the floor or ground; ft, ft, boxes or troughs containing water, 

 grain, brick-dust, sand, ground oyster shells, or the materials for the con- 

 venience of the fowls ; c?, an aperture or door three feet above the ground 

 or floor, for the ingress and egress of the fowls ; , a lattice window, three 

 feet above the the floor or ground, for the admission of fresh air to the 

 sitting hens ; J, the roosting place, or loft, shut off from the laying and 

 sitting apartments by the ceilings, c, c ; A, a hole or opening in the ceiling 

 for the escape of the air below into the loft; v, the ventilator at the 



