POULTRY HOUSE CONSTRUCTION 



effective in excluding water and varmints such as 

 rats, weasles, etc. and more serviceable in every 

 way than a wall made of stone. A hen-house wall 

 need not be more than five or six inches thick. It 

 should extend at least half a foot above the ground, 

 and need not extend into the ground more than a 

 foot, or far enough to prevent heaving by frost. 



There are three kinds of poultry house floors 

 in common use at the present time, viz., cement, 

 earth, and board. The latter kind is 

 scarcely ever employed in modern 

 buildings now, and it is very probable that in the 

 course of a few more years board floors in poultry 

 houses will have become obsolete. However, wood 

 is the best material for the construction of floors 

 in portable houses and in houses having a space 

 underneath them to be utilized as an exercising 

 room for the fowls, but it is ridiculous to build the 

 kind of a house last mentioned. Where earth 

 floors are not desirable, cement may be used almost 

 as cheaply as boards, and the floor will certainly 

 be much more serviceable and satisfactory. A 

 cement floor is easier to keep clean, more nearly rat- 

 proof, more durable, and dryer when properly 

 made than any other kind of floor. 



A good many successful poultrymen use earth 

 (gravel) floors because they are the cheapest. 

 Also, fowls like to get on the bare ground when- 

 ever possible, and during the winter time indoors 



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