FIRST LESSONS IN IOULTRY KEEPING. 



85 



hens. They are as 

 healthy and vigorous a 

 lot of fowls as you can 

 find any where. I keep 

 the floor well covered 

 with litter In which I 

 scatter grain, and the 

 fowls will scratch and 

 dig and sing all day 

 long as happy and con- 

 tented as if they were 

 in my wife's flower 

 beds in June. 

 <# 



This house I would 

 rate as having a capa- 

 city of 12 hens to a 

 pen, in all 24 hens. At 

 a pinch it might be 

 used for a few more 



Outfide Front and Inside Rack oj M<\ Ryan's Poultry House. 

 N, nests, e, entrance to nests, d, droppings boards, r r, roosts, 

 but with the droppings boards extending 3 ft. from the north 

 wall, and the nests under them the floor space for use in the house is hardly more than 8x9 ft., 

 or 72 sq. ft. 



Bill of Lumber. 



Sills, 2 pieces 4 x 4, 16 ft. long. 



Sills, 2 pieces 4 x 4, 12 ft. long. 



Studding, 9 pieces, 2 x 4, 6 ft 4 in. long. 



Studding, 9 pieces, 2 x 4, 3 ft. 10 in. long. 



Plates, 2 pieces, 2 x 4, 16 ft. long. 



Rafters, 9 pieces, 2 x 4, 9 ft. 6 in. long. 



Rafters, 9 pieces, 2 x 4, 4 ft. 6 in. long. 



Collar beams, 9 pieces, 1 x 4, 6 ft. long. 



End and partition studs, 4 pieces, 2 x 4, 8 ft. long. 



In all 320 ft. of spruce for frame, fa) $14 



Ten cedar posts 3 ft. 8 in. long, 4 !n. at top. 



550 sq. ft. of hemlock boards, fa) $10 per M., 



150 sq. ft. of matched boards, fa) $16 per M., 



30 sq. ft. of furring 4 in. wide, fa) $14 per M., 



40 sq. ft. of furring 5 in. wide, fab $14 per M., 

 5 M. shingles, fa) $1.50 per M., 



30 Ihs. of nails, (8) 4c. per lb., 

 3 rolls of sheathing paper, (a) 50c. per roll, 



10 cedar posts, (cb 5c. each, 

 Hinges and latch, 



$448 



5 50 



2 40 



42 



56 



7 50 



1 20 



1 50 



50 



50 



These are the prices that rule in this vicinity. 



While not disposed to quarrel with those who use and prefer them, the arrangement of nests 



under droppings boards never suited me, even 

 when I used droppings boards in the poultry 

 houses. The nest arrangement I like best for 

 laying hens is an open nest to hang on the 

 wall. This will be described in connection 

 with other nests in a subsequent lesson. 



As the reader may infer from a comparison 

 of this with my own plans, the packed wall 

 and roof back of and above the fowls is a 

 feature I consider unnecessary. During this 

 last winter I have had one pen of hens that 

 had a shed full ef leaves back of it, but I 



/ ft. could not see that they were better off than the 



Cross Section of Mr. Ryan's Poultry House, hens that had but one thickness of boards. 



