FIE 1ST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 



103 



A 



A 



pen or for twenty, and instead 

 of the solid wall between pens 

 we have generally a partition 

 partly of boards and partly of 

 wire netting. For absolute 

 accuracy in estimates, one 

 should make drawings of his 

 completed house, and figure 

 from the drawings; and to 

 avoid errors in construction 

 this should be done anyway. 

 It is not always necessary that 

 the amateur builder (most poul- 

 trymeu belong to this classj 

 should follow the plan he uses 

 in every detail of construction, 

 but it certainly is advisable, and 

 personally I would consider it 

 necessary that before beginning 

 building he should know just 

 how he proposes to put his 

 building together, and the only 

 way I know of demonstrating 

 to himself that he does know is 

 to prepare a plan to be followed 

 as he works. His plan may 

 be very crude from an archi- 

 tect's standpoint, but if it indi- 

 cates what he is to do in such 

 a way that he can go ahead 

 without making mistakes that 

 is all that is necessary. 



The figures accompanying 

 show first a single section of 



Diagrams of Two Pens in Continuous House, With Walk in Rear. 

 In A the roosts run parallel to the walk; in B, parallel to division 

 partitions. 



my two pen house as the unit in a long house. Next a pen of the same size and general con- 

 struction, but with single pitch roof sloping north, and with the interior arrangement changed 

 to bring the roosts in adjoining pens, and the fowls on the roosts closer together, and make 

 easier the enclosing of the roosts, if that is desired. This second plan would appear to be 

 the better adaptation of my plans for fowls that seemed to require warmer quarters than I 

 give. With this plan it is possible, by doubling the wall back of the roost, to keep the fowls 

 as close at night as in a house built so all around, while the expense of building is much less. 

 I would commend this plan fora trial to any who hesitate to go to the extreme in simplicity 

 of construction. 



The nests in this plan are placed along the rear wall, not as conveniently for the collection of 

 eggs as the nests in the first plan, but better to prevent egg eating, if there is danger of that. 



The third plan shows a section of the once popular scratching shed style. Let me say in 

 regard to this plan that, while I do not consider it the best or most economical when it is 

 desired to keep as many fowls as possible in a given space, if the purpose is to keep fowls, 

 especially those least able to stand severe weather in the best of condition, this style of house 

 can be arranged to furnish conditions as nearly ideal as we can make them. 



It has been found in using scratching shed houses, as at first exploited, that the fowls gen- 

 erally preferred the open shed. This may have been partly because they were fed there, and 

 there was nothing to do in the other room but sit on nest or roost. Now most of those who 

 built scratching shed houses wanted to stock them to the fullest possible capacity, and, finding 

 that the hens preferred the shed during the day time, and that the muslin fronts were not alto- 

 gether satisfactory, many of them put glass windows, or large wooden doors, or a combination 



