INTRODUCTION 



OULTRY houses correctly planned and built are 

 vitally important to the success of every poultry 

 enterprise, whether it is to be established on a 

 large or a small scale. While such houses must 

 of necessity be comparatively plain and simple in design, 

 they also must meet certain definite conditions to be gen- 

 uinely practical. Regardless of size, every such building, 

 for whatever purpose intended, must provide not only for 

 the comfort and well-being of the fowls, but also for the 

 convenience of the caretaker. And it must do this always 

 at moderate cost. 



To be able to design a house that will meet these truly 

 important requirements, calls for much practical experi- 

 ence, for a wide knowledge of what others have tried 

 and found satisfactory or unsatisfactory along the same 

 lines, and finally, for some knowledge of the general 

 principles of architecture. It is small wonder if begin- 

 ners and even experienced poultry keepers, make innumer- 

 able mistakes in their building operations mistakes that 

 must be corrected at heavy expense or remain as perma- 

 nent handicaps to their future success. 



Under such conditions there is an unquestioned need 

 for a book that shall present, in a fairly comprehensive 

 manner, the best that is available in practical up-to-date 

 plans conservatively designed to meet the requirements of 

 poultry keepers wherever located. It was to supply this 

 need that "Poultry Houses and Fixtures" was published, 

 the first edition of which was issued in 1897, and which has 

 been revised from time to time to keep pace with the 

 rapid developments that have taken place in this branch 

 of poultry science since that date. In point of fact, this 

 development has been so rapid and so radical that in this 

 latest revision it has been found necessary to employ new 

 plans and new descriptive matter almost exclusively 

 throughout all sections of the book. 



As the completed work now stands we believe that it 

 meets the requirements of practical poultry keepers to a 

 degree unequalled by any similar publication. It contains 

 complete and thoroughly tested plans for each type of 

 house that is likely to be required for the use of fowls, 

 fixtures and general equipment have received special atten- 

 tion and we have taken advantage of the opportunity 

 afforded by this revision, to supply a chapter presenting 

 clearly and in much detail, the general principles of poul- 

 try-house design and construction, so that the individual 

 builder, even though he may have had little or no personal 

 experience, will be able to weigh with reasonable accu- 

 racy the respective merits of the different plans, as they 

 relate to his particular requirements, and also intelligently 

 to make such modifications as his individual conditions 

 may render desirable. 



The changes in approved types of poultry houses that 

 have taken place in recent years have been particularly 

 marked in the case of those provided for laying and 

 breeding flocks. When "Poultry Houses and Fixtures" 

 was first published, warmth in winter was regarded as of 

 the first importance in such houses, and all details of con- 

 struction were designed p. imarily to "provide summer con- 

 ditions in winter," without which profitable egg produc- 

 tion was regarded as out of the question. These houses 

 were liberally supplied with glass and often were provided 

 with sloping fronts, skylights, and double walls carefully 

 packed with insulating material. All of these added great- 

 ly to the cost and, as we now know, are entirely unneces- 

 sary and may even prove injurious to the fowls. 



Experience has shown that closed-front houses are 

 almost invariably poorly ventilated, damp, and unsanitary 

 in winter, and that fowls in them are especially liable to 

 colds, roup, and other diseases directly traceable to such 

 conditions. For this reason, and also on account of the 

 extra cost of building such houses, their popularity soon 

 waned and in some sections, notably New England, 

 scratching-shed houses of the type illustrated on page 34 

 came into vogue for a time. The scratching-shed house 

 gave the fowls much better conditions in the daytime 

 but, with mistaken kindness, still provided a "warm" place 

 for them at night, the place being, as a rule, a dark, in- 

 adequately ventilated "dungeon" so obviously objection- 

 able from a sanitary viewpoint that the popularity of the 

 scratching-shed house was never more than local. It 

 served chiefly as a stepping stone in the change from the 

 old-fashioned warm house to the present curtain-front or 

 open-front type which undoubtedly meets the require- 

 ments of adult fowls more nearly than any other now 

 known. 



The practice of using houses with open fronts or 

 curtain fronts has become almost universal in the last 

 few years, and it is only under peculiar conditions that 

 closed-front houses are now regarded as practical. 

 While the terms "open front" and "curtain front," as ap- 

 plied to poultry houses, are used rather indiscriminately, 

 the former, strictly speaking, refers to a front the greater 

 part of which is left open at all times. The "curtain 

 front" also has large openings, but these are provided 

 with curtains or cloth-covered shutters which can be 

 closed in extreme weather. The "closed-front" house has 

 all openings covered with glass sash. It is common knowl- 

 edge now that fowls will lay well in cold houses so long 

 as they are free from drafts and dampness, and nothing 

 has done so much to reduce losses from disease and to 

 make poultry keeping a practical, money-making industry, 

 as the general adoption of fresh-air houses. 



No one person can claim the credit for the develop- 

 ment of this method of poultry-house construction. It 

 has been the gradual result of the experience and obser- 

 vation of practical poultrymen in widely separated loca- 

 tions, who have found that still cold is not a serious 

 obstacle to winter egg production, and that the proper 

 use of muslin curtains or muslin-covered shutters insures 

 the best kind of ventilation, at the same time keeping the 

 house as warm as it is possible to have it and secure the 

 free ciiculation that now is generally regarded as abso- 

 lutely essential to the health of the fowls. The famous 

 Maine Station cloth-front poultry house, illustrated on 

 page 35 was one of the first houses of this type to be 

 built, and it has served as a model for thousands of others. 



Acting apparently on the belief that if a little fresh 

 air is good, a great deal is better, some extreme types 

 of open-front houses have been developed. These houses 

 serve practically no purpose except to protect the hens 

 from direct storms, the inside temperature being little if 

 any higher than outdoors. These extremely cold houses 

 appear to have been developed through a failure to real- 

 ize that if fowls lay well in them they do so, not be- 

 cause the houses are cold, but in spite of that fact. In 

 other words, there is no advantage in exposing the hens 

 unnecessarily to extreme cold. On the contrary, it is a 

 distinct advantage to keep the house as warm as is pos- 

 sible without interfering with proper ventilation. Sooner 

 or later poultrymen who adopt radical open-front con- 



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