COOPS AND BUILDINGS FOR POULTRY 127 



very extensively to cover sides as well as roofs of poultry buildings, 

 but as they have steadily risen in price and gone down in quality, 

 while the quality of roofing paper has greatly improved, shingles 

 are now little used, except when conformity to surrounding build- 

 ings requires it. 



The extensive use of wood for buildings for poultry comes about 

 because it is usually the cheapest available material, and because it 

 is material in which almost every poultry keeper who wishes to build 

 his own buildings can work. Any material used for other buildings 

 may be used : iron, stone, brick, clay, cement, are all used occa- 

 sionally for poultry houses. As a rule these are more economical 

 than wood only when they can be had very cheap or the poultry- 

 man is expert in working in them. 



Glass is used only as necessary to give light when doors and 

 curtains are closed. For many years it was the practice to use as 

 much glass as possible, in order to heat the house through the 

 windows when the sun shone. With the introduction of fresh-air 

 types of houses the area of glass used has been reduced, and 

 sometimes glass has been discarded for cotton cloth or burlap. 



Cotton cloth is extensively used in both door and window open- 

 ings. Its use depends primarily on its porosity : it admits air. With 

 a sufficient area of cloth to give what light is required on dull days 

 with all openings closed, no glass is needed. The relative amounts 

 of glass and cloth to be used must be determined according to the 

 design of the house and local conditions. 



Floor materials. Wherever the soil is of suitable character (sand 

 or loam, or a mixture of the two), and drainage such that it can be 

 kept in good condition, an earth floor is the best for all poultry 

 buildings. Where drainage is defective or the soil contains much 

 clay, movable structures should have floors of wood, and permanent 

 structures floors of wood or cement. 



Quality of construction. The question of durability is of less 

 importance in the construction of poultry coops and buildings than 

 in most other lines of construction. Movable structures of any size 

 must be strong enough to stand the handling and moving to which 

 they are subjected. Permanent buildings, being nearly all low, 

 one-story buildings, may be of very light construction, as will be 

 shown in illustrations. All that is necessary is that there shall be 



