ECONOMICAL BACK YARD POULTRY HOUSES 



33 



INEXPENSIVE BACK YARD POULTRY HOUSE 



This House is Especially Planned to Secure Low Cost. 



Is About As Inexpensive As it is Worth While 



to Try to Build. 



A plan for a small house that can be built about as 

 cheaply as it is worth while to build at all, is shown in 

 Figs. 54 to 57. This house was designed by the Poultry 

 Division, U. S. Department of Agriculture. It is 8x8 

 feet and will comfortably accommodate 10 to 15 fowls, 

 or even 20 with a little crowding. Such a house, prop- 

 erly constructed of good materials, will be servicable for 

 many years with little cost for repairs. 



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FIG. 57 FLOOR PLAN OF INEXPENSIVE HOUSE FOR 



BACK-YARD FLOCK 



Reproduced from blue print furnished by Poultry Div. 

 of U. S. Department of Agriculture 



The average person will find it desirable to make 

 both front and back six inches to one foot higher than 

 as shown in plan, and if the house is intended to be 

 portable it will be much better to put in a board floor. 

 If to be used in a damp location a board or concrete 

 floor is a necessity. 



Where the 2 inch strips used in covering the cracks 

 are expensive or hard to get, as is often the case, it is 

 better to omit them and cover the walls on the outside 

 with a good grade of prepared roofing. In cold climates 

 it will pay to provide one six-light glass sash in the 

 front or at one end, to light the house on dark days 

 or when the muslin shutter must be left closed on ac- 

 count of severe cold. 



The only really esential fixtures for this house are 

 perches, droppings board, and nests. It will pay, how- 

 ever, to provide a feeding platform also, where the water 

 vessel, dry mash, grit and shell hoppers may be located. 

 The width and length of this platform will depend upon 

 the dimension of the vessels or hoppers used, but should 

 be roomy enough to give the fowls convenient access to 

 them. It should be about two feet above the floor so 

 that there will be scratching room underneath and so 

 that litter will not be thrown into the vessels. Those 

 who have not tried elevating the water and food hold- 

 ers can hardly realize how much time and trouble is 

 saved by so doing. 



Ill 1,1, OF MATERIALS 



The following list includes everything- needed to build 

 this house as here described: 



8 brick, stone, or concrete block piers, or solid concrete 

 foundation. 



4 pieces 2 in. x 4 in. 8 ft. long, for sills. 



3 pieces 2 in. x 4 in. 10 ft. long, for corner studs and msls. 



5 pieces 2 in. x 4 in. tO ft. long, for. rafters. 



5 pieces 2 in. x 3 in. 8 ft. long, for perches, drop board, 



supports, etc. 

 275 feet, bd. meas. % in. x 12 in. boards, surfaced 2 sides, 



for walls, sheathing and nests. 



25 feet bd. meas. % in. x 4 in. flooring boards, for drop- 

 pings platform. 

 150 lin. ft. % in. x 2 in. strips for cracks. 



75 sq. ft. prepared roofing. 



ISO sq. ft. %-in. mesh poultry netting, for windows. 

 1 pr. T-strap hinges, for outside door. 

 1 8 inch hasp. 



1 pr. 2^-inch butt hinges, for muslin shutter. 

 1 pr. 4-inch s-trap hinges, for perch support. 

 1 pr. 6-inch strap hinges, for ventilator. 

 12 2-inch hooks and eyes. 

 Nails, tacks, staples, paint, etc. 



About the cheapest and simplest nests that can be 

 installed are made of orange boxes as illustrated in Chap- 

 ter X, but a better way is to build the nests substantially, 

 of good smooth lumber, and place them under the drop- 

 pings board (see Figs. 116 and 120), where they will 

 occupy no floor space, will keep clean, and will afford a 

 degree of much-desired seclusion for the layers. 



Preventing Drafts in Small Houses 



Back-yard poultry keepers often find difficulty in 

 protecting fowls on the roost from drafts or air currents 

 in cold, stormy weather, particularly when the wind is 

 blowing more or less directly against the front. This 

 is due to the fact that their houses usually are small and 

 narrow, and the fowls consequently are close to the win- 

 dows or other openings. This is one reason why it is Cus- 

 tomary to keep the shutters or curtains closed in much 

 milder weather than is necessary or desirable in houses 

 of standard depth that is, 16 feet wide or over. 



Houses of this type are greatly improved for winter 

 use by the provision of some means of adjusting the size 

 of the open front to meet varying weather conditions. 

 The muslin-covered shutters commonly employed admit 

 of no adjustment, but must either be left wide open or 

 closed tight. One method of providing for this adjust- 

 ment is to make the shutter in two sections as shown on 

 page 77, so that the upper section may be opened while 

 the lower one remains closed, or both may be opened 

 together when desired. Another way is to arrange the 

 shutter to slide up and down on the outside, working in 

 grooves on each side of the opening, as provided in the 

 house front illustrated in Fig. 125, on page 68. This shut- 

 ter can be adjusted to give an opening of any desired size, 

 being held in place by a hook which engages the wire 

 netting back of the shutter. 



Whatever method of ventilation is adopted, if it per- 

 mits air currents to follow down the rafters and strike 

 directly upon the fowls on the perches, a screen should 

 be provided. This may take the form of a stationary 

 shutter in front of the perches, or it may be hinged at 

 the top to hook up out of the way when not needed. Fre- 

 quently it is more convenient to provide a curtain at- 

 tached to a pole, to be allowed to hang straight down from 

 the ceiling when in use, and rolled up and fastened to the 

 rafters when not needed. 



Light-weight burlap is the best material to use for 

 this purpose, as it will -prevent drafts without restrict- 

 ing ventilation to a marked extent. The purpose of this 

 screen is not to keep the fowls warm, but merely to pro- 

 tect them from drafts, and for this reason it should not 

 extend lower than about the level of the front perch, and 

 should be employed only when actually needed. 



