64 FIRST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 



Now if we establish the depth of a house, or the width of each pen, at 12 ft., and make the 

 pen square, we get too short a frontage for each pen, when the length of the pen is to be the 

 same as the width of the yard connecting with it, as it must be generally in a long house con- 

 taining many pens. So to suit the yards better, as well as to get the largest capacity in each 

 compartment that we can, we make the pens in a long house slightly oblong, and in length, 14, 

 16, or possibly 18 ft, but not more than 18 ft. in a house 12 ft. wide, because the longer a pen 

 is made in proportion to its width, the narrower it becomes in proportion to its capacity, and a 

 flock of fowls is disturbed a great deal more by an attendant moving about in a long narrow 

 pen or yard than in a nearly'square one, where the distance they can keep from the attendant 

 is always about the same. 



Planning buildings and small yards with reference to this simple point, will save the poultry 

 keeper a great deal of future annoyance in his work with his fowls. 



Width of House With a Walk. For a poultry house with pens 12 ft. wide, 3 or 4 ft. 

 should be added to the width, if it is to have a walk. If a walk is used at all it is a good 

 plan to add 4 ft., which gives a walk about 3 ft. 6 in. wide, this clear without taking anything 

 from the pens. A 3 ft. walk is rather narrow. 



6. About Foundations and Floors. 



The common, cheaply constructed poultry house, if placed on a well drained spot, needs no 

 foundation or underpinning. The sills may rest on the earth, leveled to receive them, while 

 the floor is of earth filled in to the level of the top of the sills. The sills rot out in time, but in 

 the judgment of some of our best poultrymen, it is much cheaper to replace them than to try to 

 keep them from rotting, while the opinion that a poultry house must have the floor elevated 

 enough to keep it always very dry is gradually dying out. 



If one wants to build foundations of stone or brick, or to set buildings on cedar posts and fill 

 the floor to the depth of a foot or more with stone, that is his privilege, but it is expensive and 

 is rarely really necessary when a house is placed on a suitable site. If the site is defective, that 

 of course is another matter. 



For floors there is nothing so good as earth renewed once or twice a year, and there are few 

 places where fowls are kept that it is not possible to get fresh earth as needed. The labor of 

 renewing the floors is more than paid for by the advantage of the earth floor, and, for one who 

 has a garden, by the complete saving of the manure dropped in the house and the thorough 

 composting of manure, earth and litter. In situations not the best for poultry, a floor may be 

 necessary, and may be of wood, cement, or brick. 



7. Building Materials. 



Mention has been made incidentally of I think all the common building materials. The 

 low cost poultry house in any section is, as a rule, constructed of wood, and of the cheapen 

 lumber obtainable in that section. 



If it is to be of a single thickness of boards, some attention should be given to selection of 

 lumber, and the boards for the walls surfaced on one side; but this need not add materially to 

 the cost, for by a little care an ordinary lot of boards will answer, the best being selected for 

 the sides, while inferior boards are worked into the roof or inside partitions. 



For a building to be covered with shingles or building paper, the cheapest and roughest of 

 lumber will answer. 



Shingles. In buying shingles it generally pays to buy good quality because they go further, 

 and the labor of putting them on is less than for inferior grades made up largely of narrow 

 shingles, and containing many that have to be rejected, and when laid they remain in good con- 

 dition very much longer. 



Prepared " Roofings." Within the last few years very much better grades of this class of 

 goods have been put on the market, and where a few years ago I would have unhesitatingly 

 affirmed that shingles were in the long run the best and most economical covering for a moder- 

 ate cost poultry house, what I have seen of such materials as Ruberoid and Paroid roofings 

 makes me think it wise not to be too positive. I am not prepared to say bow these goods will 

 wear with shingles, nor can I give here the comparative cost, but will go into the matter in 

 detail in connection with one of the house plans to be given. 



