CHAPTER I 



Locating arid Planning Poultry Houses 



Laying Out the Poultry Plant to Save Time and Labor How to Design Poultry Houses and Adapt Plans to Meet 



Special Conditions Practical Building Suggestions That Insure Comfort and Health of Fowls at 



Reasonable Cost Details of Carpenter Work Made Easy for Amateur Builders 



OWLS are "highly adaptable with respect to the 

 conditions under which they may successfully be 

 kept. This is extremely fortunate, because the 

 poultry keeper's choice of location often is nec- 

 essarily determined by personal rather than by practical 

 considerations. There are some conditions as to climate, 

 soil, market, etc., that are conceded to be ideal for poul- 

 try keeping, but it by no means follows that success is 

 out of the question where these are lacking. On the con- 

 trary, the great majority of successful poultry keepers 

 have made good in the face of obvi- 

 ous handicaps. Success, therefore, is 

 not so much a matter of location as 

 it is of intelligently adapting meth- 

 ods to the particular conditions that 

 are to be met. 



Consideration of the numerous gen- 

 eral problems of poultry farm loca- 

 tion does not come within the scope 

 of this work. It is assumed that this 

 : nportant subject has received due 

 attention here, and that the reader 

 already has his farm or plot oi 

 ground, of whatever size, and wishes 

 now to learn how he can utilize it 

 to best advantage in the development 

 of his poultry flock, locating and 

 planning the buildings with a view 

 to securing every practical conveni- 

 ence, at the same time avoiding un- 

 necessary expense. He will also want 

 to learn. how to avoid making mis- 

 takes that may prove to be serious 

 handicaps in years to come. 



It may be well, however, to say that, where choice is 

 possible, the poultry plant should have sandy or gravelly 

 soil, for the sake of drainage. The ideal soil for the poul- 

 try plant is sandy loam sandy enough to be well drained, 



sheltered from prevailing cold winds by an elevation or a 

 strip of woodland, as shown in Fig. 1, gives the fowls a 

 distinct advantage over others not so protected. Lacking 

 such natural advantages planting windbreaks of evergreens 

 should be one of the first steps taken toward developing 

 a new poultry plant, particularly in locations that are 

 exposed to high winds. 



As a rule, a southern or southeastern slope is de- 

 sirable. This permits the houses to face the sun without 

 being exposed to prevailing winds which, in most sections 



but fertile enough to hold a sod 

 growing crops under cultivation. 



It is entirely practicable to keep fowls successfully on 

 clay soils, but intensive methods are not to be recom- 



FIG. 1 WELL, LOCATED. POULTRY HOUSE, WITH OUTDOOR FEED HOPPER 



AND WATE-R BARREL 



It pays to provide neat, attractive poultry houses, located where the fowls 

 will have plenty of shade and where they will be protected from storms Con- 

 venient equipment for supplying feed and water, as shown above, greatly re- 

 duces the labor- of caring for the fowls. Photo from Purdue University. ' 



of this country, are from the west or southwest. A 

 southern exposure is not to be regarded as imperative, 

 however, under any and all conditions. Where the pre- 

 vailing winds are from some other quarter, and in. warm 



and produce quick- climates where summer heat is more to be guarded against 

 than winter cold, it will be much more satisfactory to face 

 the house in some other direction. Even in the north, an 

 eastern exposure is by no means undesirable, though in 



mended under these conditions. Such soils are much this case all openings, yard doors as well as windows, 



more apt to become infected with disease germs and they 

 require quite different treatment from the free and easy 

 methods that are permissible on sandy soils. 



Regardless of where the houses are 'located, good 

 drainage is essential. There is no possible excuse for 

 building where surface water can obtain access to the 



must be suitably protected against the heavy storms that 

 occasionally come from that quarter. 



All such considerations as these should, of course, 

 receive attention in the original selection of the land on 

 which the poultry plant is to be located. The position of 

 the buildings themselves is, for the most part, determined 



floor, or for locating the house in a place where standing by considerations of convenience and of economy in labor 

 water is present. If the desired location is low, it should and tim e. 

 be filled in and raised at least a foot above its surround- 

 in^s. In damp locations a board floor three or more 

 teet above the ground is especially desirable, but do not 



Intensive or Extensive Methods 



The amount of land required for developing a profit- 

 able poultry plant depends upon whether the plant is to 



floor an excuse for building over a be operated on the intensive or the extensive plan; that 

 rlu^l'r !!"'! ?!fr^ U " h ! a thful * " h ^ *' *>^ * ^ confined to comparatively- 



and will certainly result in disease and heavy losses. 



In the north every natural feature that will serve the 

 purpose of a windbreak should be utilized to the fullest 

 possible extent. A poultry plant or an individual house 



close quarters or are to have practically free range. One- 

 to two thousand hens may be kept on one acre of ground,, 

 but the labor of caring for them is much greater than' 

 where more room is provided, and the danger frorm 



