84 



FIRST LESSONS IN POULT. RY KEEPING. 



built any length. The bouse is 4 ft. high at back, as low at side, and 6 ft. at front side, with 

 long and short pitched roof. It is plenty high enough for a man to stand inside back as far as 

 the droppings board without stooping. 



The house rests on ten cedar posts that are set in the ground three feet, and extend above the 

 ground eight inches. One post goes to each corner; two at equal distances apart under the 

 front and back sills, and one under the center of each end sill. The posts are lined off level at 

 top, and the 4 x 4 sills spiked on top of the posts. The frame is 2 x 4 spruce. The studs and 

 rafters are two feet apart, and the house is boarded tight down to the ground with rough 

 boards, and roof, ends, and sides covered outside the boarding with good sheathing paper, and 

 shingled with cedar shingles laid five inches to the weather. 



Inside between the sills is filled In with small stone to the depth of six or eight inches, and 

 covered with gravel or sand level with top of sills ; this will bring the floor up enough so it will 

 be perfectly dry, and the fowls will always have a dust bath in the sand and gravel of the floor. 



The high side of the house should face the south or southwest, and have two windows fifteen 

 lights each of 8 x 10 glass. The windows are hung on hinges, and swing inside, and when 

 these windows are swung open on bright sunny days the house is turned into a partial open 

 scratching shed. The house can be divided with wire partition and frame door covered with 

 wire hung on spring hinges. This will give two pens that are very convenient if more than one 

 variety is kept, or when sorting fowls for breeding. 



The roosts are at the low side of the house. The droppings boards are put up two feet from 

 the sill, and the cleats that the roosts rest upon are six inches higher than the droppings boards. 

 The roosts are 2x4, the length of eacli pen, two roosts to a pen. They are ten inches from the 

 wall and fifteen inches apart. The droppings boards are three feet wide. 



The nests are under the droppings boards, and are 14 x 14 inches wide by 12 inches deep; 

 they fit up against the droppings boards, leaving a space of one foot under them so the fowls 

 have th'e entire floor to roam and scratch in. These nests are no.t nailed in place, but slide in 

 on cleats; they are made in one long box divided in four nests, each with a four inch board at 

 back to hold the straw that the nests are made of. The front of the nest is a four and an 

 eighth inch board. The wide board is hinged and drops down so the eggs can be gathered from 

 the front. The back of the nest is provided with a four inch board for the hens to step upon 

 when entering the nest. These nests are retired and dark enough so there is no danger of egg 

 eating. 



The wall back of the roost from the droppings board up to plate, and the roof up to a line 

 even with the outer edge of droppings boards is double boarded and stuffed with dry sawdust. 



My house that is built on this plan is forty feet long, and I find it just the thing. I like it 

 better every year; better than any other house that I have yet seen. There is no space taken 

 up for walk or nests. The house is built for hens, and the entire floor space is given to them. 



With the short and long roof - 

 you get a house high enough to 

 work in without danger of head 

 bumps; while with the single 

 pitched roof the walls would 

 have to be much higher to get 

 the same room at low side of 

 house, and, therefore, much 

 colder. The high side of this 

 house faces the south, giving 

 room for high windows, and 

 giving larger area of building 

 the benefit of the sun in the 

 short winter days when it is so 

 much needed. In my house the 

 windows are open every day, 

 except when the enow blows 

 In, and I am never troubled 

 with colds or roup among my 



Ground Plan of Mr. Ryan's J/ouxe. 

 D, door, W, window, d, dropping boards, r r, roosts. 



