10 MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



W. G. SUIT'S DOUBLE OPEN-FRONT HOUSES AND SCRATCHING SHED, BANDINI 



RANCH. 



scratching shed house. A plain open front house without a scratch- 

 ing shed attached, is used in many places as a colony house where 

 fowls have free range or where they are kept in an orchard. 



The "mushroom" house is built tight on four sides and roof, 

 without any floor, and is raised from the ground about twelve 

 inches. 



Cuts of both of these styles of houses will serve to show their 

 construction. 



A "fresh air" house that proved excellent and which I used for 

 years on my ranch, was one hundred and twenty feet long and ten 

 feet wide. It was divided into six houses with scratching pens. I 

 also had another which suited me well. It was eight feet wide and 

 a hundred feet long; besides that, I had twenty colony houses for 

 the young and growing stock, and two brooder houses. 



The continuous house and scratching shed of which I give a 

 photograph and part of ground plan were built of flooring, tongued 

 and grooved. 



The other house was of boards, battened, and the colony houses 

 of resawed redwood or of shakes. Some were of rubberoid or 

 building paper. 



Many of the artistic looking house plans which may be found in 

 poultry books were planned by men who never owned a chicken, 

 and if built in this, or in any other climate, would be highly unsatis- 

 factory. The plans here described have all been used either by 

 myself or by successful poultry raisers. I have seen them all and 

 can assuredly recommend them for use on the Pacific Coast. 



