70 FIRST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 



covered with battens, but where there are no battens on tbe sides, (principally the short boards 

 below the window), put the boards closer together to prevent snow drifting iu. Too wide 

 joints on east and west sides may admit a good deal of snow. 



On the front let the boards next tbe door come only to the middle of the edge of the stud on 

 either side, and those above the door pnly to the middle of the cross piece. Before beginning 

 to shingle the roof nail strips of batten on the ends as a finish, as shown iu the illustration, 

 and make the edge of the shingles project half an inch beyond these, and the first course of 

 shingles project two inches beyond the lower board of the roof on the side. Lay shingles five 

 inches to the weather. If you have never done any shingling it will be worth your while to 

 take a lesson in the art from a practical carpenter. Observe how he " breaks joints," so that 

 one joint shall not correspond with the nearest above or below it. Observe also that he does 

 not lay the shingles close, but allows a little space for them to swell when wet. If shingles 

 are hid too close they swell and bulge up when wet. 



The back of the bouse is battened, and the sides are battened half way forward, thus covering 

 the joints to a point a little forward of the roost. Before battening the sides, nail a strip of 

 batten, corresponding with the strip under the shingles on the ends, snug up against the under 

 side of the roof projection. 



To finish the window, make the boards below it project an inch above the stringer o, and 

 nail a short piece of furring to the plate p above the window, opening and projecting an inch 

 below the plate. Now if your sash is a close fit, a lath tacked to o, and another to p, to hold 

 the sash in place, make all the finish necessary, and the window slides easily back and forth. 

 If the sash is rather loose between the stringers, use an inch piece for an upper stop. 



To make the door take boards of the required length, having an aggregate width of one inch 

 more than the distance between j j, thus allowing a lap of half an inch all around, and nail 

 two cross pieces, two inches shorter than the width of the door at top and bottom, making the 

 top one about six inches from top of door; the bottom one eight or nine inches from bottom. 

 On so narrow a door no diagonal brace is needed. I have generally screwed cross pieces on, 

 but on this door they are nailed with 6d. wire nailes clinched, and after nearly three years 

 exposure the door is good. 



A Good Cheap House for a Stock of 75 Fowls. 



This house I describe here, not as I am now using it, but as I first built it; because I 

 think it likely that a great many readers will be more interested in a house to fit the con- 

 ditions I then had to consider than in one adapted to my present needs. After giving descrip- 

 tion of the house as originally built, I will mention changes made in it on removal to present 

 location. 



The house was built late iu the fall of 1901, on a leased place from which I moved 

 two years later. The fact that I would probably want to move it within a few years, and 

 perhaps move it some distance, had to be considered in some points of construction. 



The diagram is for a house 12 ft. wide and 40 ft. long. At the east end of the house 

 12 ft. square is two stories high, the upper story being used for pigeons. The one story part, 

 the dimensions of which are 12 x 28 ft., is divided into two pens, each 12 x 14 ft. The 

 first floor of the two story part is divided in the middle from front to back, and the east 

 half again divided in the middle at right angles with the first partition, giving on the ground 

 floor of the two story part a pen 6 x 12, a smaller pen 6x6, and an entry and tool room 6 x 6. 



The one story part of the house is 6 ft. 2 in. high from the lower edge of the sill to the top 

 of the plate. The extra two inches is taken because the lumber would allow it. The posts 

 being cut from 12 ft. stuff, and the plates being spiked on top of the posts, had the sides been 

 just 6 ft., the posts would have been cut 5 ft. 10 in. This is what would have been done 

 had it been necessary to make the boards outside completely cover the sill, but as there was no 

 need that they. should, I used the posts full 6 ft. long. 



The two story part of the house is 12 ft. 2 in. from lower edge of sill to top of plate, with 

 the lower edge of tbe upperfloorjoists 6 ft. 6 in. from top of sill. 



At B in the diagram is shown the outline of the framing for the rear wall; at C for the front; 

 at D for the west end of the one story part, and at E for the east end of the two story part. 



