116 THE PEOPLE'S PRACTICAL POULTRY BOOK. 



CHEAP POULTRY HOUSE. 



In third volume of the Country Gentleman we find the plan, on page 115, 

 with the annexed elevation, of a cheap poultry house, furnished by a corre- 

 spondent. He says : " I have thought it would not be out of place to send 

 you a drawing and plan of one we consider the best, as it can be made to 

 accommodate from one dozen to five hundred fowls. The plan I send is 

 sixteen feet long by eight feet wide at the bottom, and costs, using one- 

 inch matched boards, about one dollar per foot. The present one will cost 

 from sixteen to twenty dollars, including sash, doors, and other fixtures. 

 The engraving exhibits the plan so clearly that any explanation is altogether 

 unnecessary." 



VAN NUXEN'S POULTRY HOUSE. 



" Having made some experiments in the raising of chickens, a business 

 that forms a part of every farmer's occupation, I send you a description of 

 my present plan of operation, which appears to answer admirably. Under 

 an outhouse, sixteen by eighteen feet, raised three feet above the ground, I 

 have made a cellar three feet below the ground, making the hight six feet 

 altogether. Eight feet in width of this cellar is partitioned off for turnips, 

 the remaining ten by sixteen feet being sufficiently large to accommodate one 

 hundred chickens, or more. This cellar is inclosed with boards at present, 

 but it is intended to substitute brick walls in a year or two. The roost is 

 made sloping from the roof to within eighteen inches from the ground or 

 floor, twelve feet long by six feet wide. The roost is formed in this way : 

 Two pieces of two-inch plank, six inches wide, and twelve feet long, are 

 fastened parallel, six feet apart, by a spike or pin, to the joist above, the 

 lower end resting on a post eighteen inches above the ground. Notches 

 are made along the upper edge of the plank, one foot apart, to receive 

 sticks or poles from the woods, the bark being left on. When it is desirable 

 to clean out the roosts, the poles, being loose, are removed ; the supports, 

 working on a pivot, are raised and fastened up, when all is clear for the 

 cleaning out. I next provide the fowls with corn, oats and buckwheat in 

 three separate apartments, holding about half a bushel each, which are 

 kept always supplied. A row of nests is constructed after a plan of my 

 own, and does well. It is a box, ten feet long and eighteen inches wide ; the 

 bottom level, the top sloping at an angle of forty -five degrees, to prevent the 

 fowls roosting on it ; the top opens on hinges. The nests, eight in number, 

 are one foot square ; the remaining six inches of the width is a passage way 

 next to the wall, open at each end of the box ; the advantage is to give the 

 hens the apparent secrecy they are so fond of." 



OCTAGON POULTRY HOUSE. 



Those desirous of keeping from twenty to thirty fowls will find the 

 octagon style of a house just the thing for them. It is more ornamental than 

 the oblong house and economizes room, where that essential is required. 



