THE PEOPLE'S PRACTICAL POULTRY BOOK. 



117 



The object of placing it on piles is to prevent the encroachment of rats and 

 other animals that prove so destructive to eggs and fowls, when not properly 

 protected. The structure is not a costly one ; any person used to handling 

 tools can construct it, at a merely nominal expense, adding ornamentation to 

 the structure, as he desires. This building is ten feet in diameter and six 



and a half feet high. The sills are four- 

 by-four and the plates three-by-four 

 joists, halved and nailed at the joints. 

 It is sided with inch -and- a- quarter 

 spruce plank, tongued and grooved. 

 No upright timbers are used. The 

 floor and roofing are of the same kind 

 of plank. To guard against leakage 

 by shrinkage, the joints may be bat- 

 tened with laths or other strips of thin 

 board. An eight-square frame sup- 

 ports the top of the rafters, leaving an 

 opening of ten inches in diameter, on 

 which is placed an octagon chimney 

 for a ventilator, which makes a very 

 pretty finish. The piers should be 

 either cedar, chestnut, or locust, two 

 OCTAGON POULTRY HOUSE. f e et high, and set on flat stones. 



The letter D, designates the door ; W, W, windows ; L, latticed win- 

 dow to admit air, with a shutter to exclude it when necessary ; E, entrance 

 for the fowls to alight on when going in ; R, R, are roosts placed spirally, 

 one end attached to a post near the center of the room, and the other end t o 

 the wall ; the first or lowermost one two feet from the floor, and the others 

 eighteen inches apart, and rising gradually to 

 the top, six feet from the floor. These roosts 

 will accommodate forty ordinary sized fowls. 

 F, F, is a board floor, on an angle of about 

 forty-five degrees, to catch and carry down the 

 droppings of the fowls. This arrangement ren- 

 ders it much more convenient in cleaning out the 

 manure, which should be frequently done. The 

 space beneath this floor is appropriated to nests, 

 twelve in number, fifteen inches wide, eighteen 

 inches deep, and eighteen inches high. In order 

 to give an appearance of secretiveness, which it is 

 well known the hen is partial to, the front is latticed with strips of lath. By 

 this arrangement a free circulation of air is admitted, which adds much to 

 the comfort of the hens while sitting. In the foregoing bill of lumber for 

 building purposes, spruce is given, but any other lumber convenient and at 



f 



GROUND PLAN. 



