124 THE PEOPLE'S PRACTICAL POULTRY BOOK. 



health of the occupants. The nests are " secret," built on the ground. A 

 window in the door regulates the temperature of the house. 



OCTAGONAL POULTRY HOUSE. 



The Canada Farmer gives the following plan for an octagonal poultry 

 house, and says " that form is chosen as offering a greater internal space for 

 the same extent of wall than the square form. The door occupies one of 

 the sides, the windows two of the others. The roof is supported by a cen- 

 tral pillar, F, and, if desired, may have a lantern light at the top, with 

 louvre boards, or other openings, for ventilation. The center pillar is by far 

 the best plan of supporting the roof, for if horizontal tie-beams are used, the 

 fowls will unquestionably perch on them. Around seven sides of the in- 

 terior runs a broad, stout shelf C, C, over which the two lines of perches 

 D, D, are supported on inclined rests. Underneath C, C, is a narrower 

 shelf for the nest boxes E, E. If desired, movable baskets or boxes can be 

 placed on this shelf. 



" The advantages of this arrangement are obvious. The fowls, following 

 the natural instinct which leads them to select the highest perches, roost 

 over the shelf, and the nest boxes are undefiled. The manure on the shelf is 

 in a position in which it can be easily scraped away with a flat hoe or 

 scraper, and the shelf sanded daily. The floor is kept free from filth, and the 

 house consequently always preserved clean and wholesome. The space under 

 the nest-boxes will serve for the cooping of the hens with chickens, if no 

 better situation offers. If extreme cheapness of construction be an object, 

 the house may be built by driving light poles into the ground at equal 

 distances, and closing in the spaces between them with weather boarding. 

 The form admits of easy ornamentation, and may be adapted to harmonize 

 with almost any style of buildings." 



A FANCY POULTRY HOUSE. 



In closing our remarks on poultry houses, we cannot do so without pre- 

 senting to those who can afford it, and who wish to display more taste in 

 this branch of economy, an illustration of a Gothic or Chinese style of poul- 

 try house, which we take, together with the description, from the American 

 Poulterer's Companion. It is a very neat and pretty looking structure, and 

 is designed for a poultry house and yard for breeding fowls, ducks and 

 pigeons. It is intended to stand in the center of a piece of grass land or 

 park, and if on a slight knoll or mound so much the better. If the soil is 

 inclined to clay, it should be excavated all around the building at least two 

 feet deep, and first a layer of stones about one and a half feet deep, then 

 covered with coarse gravel and sand. This is desirable for we consider it 

 almost essential to success stagnant moisture or wet in the soil being more 

 conducive to disease than any other circumstance. A southern aspect is the 

 best, and if sheltered from the north and northwest, by plantations of ever- 

 greens, it will not only be a protection from the cold winds of winter, but a 



