LOCATING AND PLANNING POULTRY HOUSES 



11 



a rather small flock for one man to care for, but taken in 

 connection with the growing of the young stock and the 

 production of the various crops that can be produced on 

 this land, will keep one man decidedly busy practically 

 the year around and, with proper management, will pro- 

 vide a safe, comfortable living." 



Details of Poultry House Design and 

 Construction 



The general rule applied to the construction of live- 

 stock buildings calls for one cubic foot of air space for 

 each pound of live weight to be housed. This means that, 

 for a six-pound fowl, only six cubic feet of air space are 

 required, which would be provided in 

 a house 18 inches high, allowing four 

 square feet of floor space to each 

 fowl. This way of stating air re- 

 quirements is a little misleading, 

 however, as fowls need much more 

 air than other classes of live stock, 

 in proportion to their weight. Prof. 

 King, in "Physics of Agriculture/' 

 gives the following table, showing 

 the average number of cubic feet of 

 air breathed per hour by common 

 farm animals: 



Cow 2804 cu. ft. for each 1,000 Ibs. 

 Horse 3401 cu. ft. for each 1,000 Ibs. 

 Swine 7353 cu. ft. for each 1,000 Ibs. 

 Sheep 7259 cu. ft. for each 1,000 Ibs. 

 Hen 8278 cu. ft. for each 1,000 Ibs. 



The greater amount of air neces- 

 sary to meet the fowls' requirements 

 must be secured 'either by providing 

 for more rapid exchange of air in the 

 house, or by increasing its cubic con- 

 tents considerably beyond the dimen- 

 sions called for in the general rule. 

 In ordinary poultry buildings, how- 

 ever, all air requirements are not 

 only met but generally are much ex- 

 ceeded, as will readily be seen by 

 estimating the number of cubic feet 

 in the average laying house with its 

 7 to 9-foot ceiling. This excess vol- 

 ume of air is of no real advantage to 

 the fowls, and in cold weather is a 

 handicap to them. For this reason 

 many attempts have been made to 



utilize extremely low houses, and repeated proof has been 

 secured that, so far as the fowls themselves are concerned, 

 they can be kept quite successfully in buildings no more 

 than two feet high. 



In practical use, however, the poultry house has a 



be warmed to some extent by the bodily heat of the 

 fowls, thus rendering it more comfortable in cold weath.er, 

 while a high ceiling or roof wastes heat, causes drafts, 

 and is more expensive to construct. In extremely warm 

 climates high ceilings may be desirable as a means of 

 making the building cooler, but the same result can be 

 secured in other ways and at less expense. 



Cost of Building 



Under average conditions the cost of building laying 

 houses should not exceed $1.50 to $2.00 per hen, yards 

 and labor included. With careful management and the 

 use of low-cost materials, the cost may be kept within 



' 



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UASGOLDS . 



CABBAGE 



(V 





BREEDING DEPARTMENT 



LAYIK3 



TEPT . 



POULTRY 

 AND 



CAREEN 



HAY 



ivJ 





O O> 



G. 



Brooding. & Growing 



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FIG. 4 PLAN FOR LAYING OUT A ONE-MAN, TEN-ACRE POULTRY FARM 

 Designed by Poultry Department, Mass. Agr. College. 



$1.00. Elaborate houses carry with them no advantage, 

 aside from appearance. Instead, they usually develop 

 disadvantages which do not exist in simple, plain con- 

 struction. 



In some of the plans in this book the reader will 



double function to perform. It must not only give suit- find alternative methods of construction indicated or sug- 

 gested. What may be called the regular method aims at 

 providing a substantial, durable building at moderate ex- 

 pense. The "low-cost" alternatives suggested show how 

 the same houses can be built at the lowest practicable 

 first cost where the strictest economy is demanded. 



It is true that fowls may not be any more comforta- 

 ble in a house with concrete foundation and floor and 

 with No. 1 tongue-and-groove siding neatly painted, 

 than in one with a dirt floor, with common sheathing 

 boards covered with a good grade of roofing paper. With- 



protection to the fowls, but it is just as important 

 that it provide for the convenience of the attendant and 

 afford necessary facilities for economizing his time and 

 labor. A clear appreciation of this fact will prevent 

 many costly experiments and errors in design, and it 

 ought also to aid in preventing the too-Common tendency 

 to economize in cost of construction by. the omission of 

 details that are required to make the labor of the at- 

 tendant really efficient. 



The fact that height of roof is solely for the con- 



venience of the attendant does not make it an unimport- out doubt, however, the latter style of construction will 



ant matter, but there are obvious reasons why the house 

 should be built as low as practicable. A low house will 



prove much more expensive than the former in a period 

 of ten years, because of the greater amount of labor in- 



