FIRST LE IS IS ON IS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 59 



LESSON VIII. 



Points to be Considered in Poultry House Con= 



struction. 



AS I THOUGHT over the matters to be taken up in this lesson, and tried to determine 

 the most ^suitable title for it, it seemed to me at first that it would be most aptly 

 described as a discussion of principles of poultry house construction. But when I 

 began to inquire which of the propositions I might produce in this connection I 

 could call "principles," I concluded that that was a word which might us well be omitted, for 

 there are very few of the customs and methods of building, or styles and plans of houses for 

 poultry, that are so universally accepted that one is warranted in designating them as prin- 

 ciples, or laws. Those upon which agreement is most general still lack very much of being 

 even common rules. 



Occasionally we find a certain kind or type of poultry house prevailing in a certain territory, 

 or used by many because highly recommended by someone whose opinion is regarded as 

 authoritative, but, taking poultry houses as they come, the more one sees of them the more 

 " the wonder grows" that so great variety of plans should be devised for buildings for the 

 simple purpose of affording shelter for fowls. It should be said, though, that the greater 

 number of these houses, and especially the " freak" buildings, were not designed by people who 

 had had experience in handling fowls. This-jf a matter the reader would do well to keep in mind 

 when examining poultry houses, and listening to the opinions their owners express of them; 

 and if an odd plan or feature attracts their attention, it is well for them to ascertain whether 

 it was designed before the owner began to keep poultry, or after some experience with various 

 styles of poultry houses. 



Why the Housing Problem Sometimes Becomes Difficult. 



It is almost impossible to make a single poultry house for a small flock that will not, with 

 reasonable use, give fair to good satisfaction. 



When, however, the owner of such a satisfactory small house makes it the unit in a system 

 of houses for a large flock of poultry, he very often gets buildings that are far from satisfac- 

 tory an inconvenient feature that seemed trifling in the single house becomes intolerable when 

 multiplied by ten, twenty, or perhaps fifty, while features of construction or design which were 

 unobjectionable in the single small house, work altogether differently when applied on a larger 

 scale. 



To illustrate: A one pen house may be 16 or 20 feet wide, and with windows in the ends, 

 and three-fourths of the outside wall surface touched by the sun at some time of the day be dry 

 and comfortable, and sunny. But make one such pen the unit in a house containing, say, ten 

 pens, and in eight of these pens the only sunlight received comes through the windows in one 

 side, and it is impossible to get the sunlight to the back part of a pen 16 feet wide without 

 making the building high in front, thus adding to the cost without increasing the capacity. 



