Fill XT LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 75 



There is a little waste in shingles of this grade, but the quantity to be discarded was less than 

 I expected, and of the five thousand bought I had almost half a thousand left. 



The doors the floor of the upper story, and the partition through the middle of the lower 

 story of the two story part are of matched spruce. The object of having this partition of 

 matched stuff was to keep the dust from the pens off things kept in this part. The floor is laid 

 on joists of 2 x 6 inch stuff, placed 2 ft. 6 in. apart from center to center. For the stairway 

 two pieces of 2 x 9, 10 ft. long were used for stringers. Then nine steps, each having 8 in. rise 

 and 8 in. tread. 



The inside partitions are boarded up for 28 inches from the ground. Above that is wire 

 netting. 



The roosts are of 2 x 3 inch stuff, wide side up, placed 20 inches from the ground, the roost 

 next the wall be.ing 18 inches from it, and the space between the two roosts 16 inches. The 

 roosts extend the full length of each pen, thus giving in the large pens a little less than one foot 

 of roost room to each fowl. There are no droppings boards. 



The construction of the outer doors is easily seen in the illustration of the house; the only 

 fastenings on the doors in the front are hooks which, when the doors are closed, go into screw 

 eyes in the stud in the middle of each wide doorway. The inside doors are fitted with springs. 

 For nests empty boxes of suitable size set on the floor are used. Some of these will be shown 

 in illustrations in connection with a future article on fixings. 



The list of materials in this house, and cost of same, is given in tabulated form herewith. 



The list as given does not Include the fitting up of the second story room for pigeons, or the 

 cages for them outside, though some few odds and ends of stuff left over have been worked in 

 for that purpose. With what additional material is used to fit up the pigeons, the material in 

 the completed building will come to just about $70 will not vary more than a few cents from 

 this either way. 



As I did all the work myself at odd times, I cannot give a very accurate idea of the probable 

 cost of the labor if one hired the construction of such a building. It seems to me, though, that 

 two good rough carpenters would do it in about three days. 



For the benefit of those who simply want the lower part, or a repetition of it in sections, I 

 give here list of materials and cost for building 12x28, with two pens and partition in the 

 middle. The two sections of this house, with a capacity of sixty hens, would cost the man 

 who built it himself $33.10. That is $1.18 per running foot. Perhaps a better comparison of 

 the cost as with some other styles of house could be made on the basis of the cubic capacity of 

 the house and its cost per foot, which in this house is 1 cts. With cubic air space as cheap 

 as that there does not seem to be any good excuse for not giving the hens air. and the 

 attendant head room. 



c* 



List and Price* of flaterials. 



6 pieces 3 x 4 x 12 . 72 sq. ft. 



4 pieces 2 x 6 x 14 56 sq. ft. 



9 pieces 2 x 6 x 12 108 sq. ft. 



25 pieces 2 x 3 x 14 175 sq. ft. 



14 pieces 2 x 3 x 12 84 sq. ft. 



525 sq. ft. (ob $20 per M., $10 50 



1,000 sq. ft. hemlock boards, 17 00 



500 sq. ft. furring $18 per M., 900 



5 M. 2d clear shingles (ft) -$2 50, 12 50 



6 12-light windows (9 x 15) fa) 60c. each, 3 60 

 400 sq. ft. matched spruce flooring, 8 80 



Nails and screws, 3 00 



5 pr. 6 in. hinges lOc. ; 5 pr. 4 in. hinges <cb 8c., 90 



Springs, hooks, hasp, and staple, 60 



Wire netting, 50 



$66 40 



*Wheu house was built. 1901. 



