LAYING HOUSES TO MEET SPECIAL CONDITIONS 



53 



I 



LAYING HOUSE WITH ELEVATED FLOOR 



Houses With Floors Several Feet Above Ground Are 



Especially Well Adapted to Damp Locations 



Under many conditions, especially in flat, damp loca- 

 tions, a house with an elevated floor is often desired. The 

 house illustrated in Fig. 94 is one that has been in use at 

 the Missouri State Poultry Experiment Stat, and is 

 highly recommended. The general details of 'tnis house 

 will be readily understood from a short study of the illus- 

 tration. It is 14x28 feet and has a capacity of over 100 

 hens. The upper part is equipped with the slatted ventil- 

 ators that were originated at this station. The lower story 

 is five feet high, making it easy to work in. A substantial 

 concrete foundation is provided, but the underpart has a 

 dirt floor. The entire front underneath is open and in the 

 coldest weather that may be expected at this station the 

 fowls are comfortable and happy, wallowing in the dust 

 and soaking in the sunshine. Regarding this house, Dr. 

 Patterson, formerly Director of the Station, writes: 



"We find the second story of this house to be drier 

 than our. one-story houses. The opening for the stairway 

 which goes up on the inside of the house is under the 

 droppings board, and as carbon dioxide is heavier than 

 air, it gives an opportunity for it to pass out by going 

 down through this opening. The lower story affords what 

 we might term semi-outside conditions. The temperature 

 and air are about the same as out of doors, but the birds 

 are protected from the storm. 



"Where a number of hens are kept in one flock and 

 more than one male is used, the fertility is much better 

 with the two-story house, for there is always -a boss in 

 the flock, and as he cannot be upstairs and down at the 

 same time, he cannot control the situation as he does in 

 the one-story house. The contractors who have built our 

 houses estimate that the cost of the two-story house will 

 be the same as the one-story house with a concrete floor. 



"We find that with windows under the droppings 

 board in the rear of the house, light is admitted to all parts 

 of the floor, and as the hens usually scratch from the light 

 in order to see their food, they keep the litter evenly dis- 

 tributed over the floor. We also find that the fowls like 

 to be in a good light during bad days when they are con- 

 fined to the house." 



WESTERN WASHINGTON POULTRY HOUSE 



Popular for Housing Large Flocks in the Northwest. 



Has Special. Labor-Saving Attachment for Raising 



and Lowering Curtains. 



By GEO. R. SHOUP 



The plans show a house 20x50 which is designed to 

 hold 300 Leghorn layers. Each bird has only 3^5 sq. ft. 

 of floor space, but each also has 1000 sq. ft. to roam 

 around in, and is far happier and more contented and will 

 lay more eggs than though she had five sq. ft., as in a 

 house 8x12 with 20 birds. 



Walls. In this climate double-wall construction is 

 not necessary, and it is best to avoid it whenever possible. 

 The double wall offers a convenient harbor for rats and 

 mice as well as mites. Since the double wall is an expen- 

 sive luxury, we advise doing away with the studding (the 

 up-and-down 2x4's) entirely. To accomplish this we run 

 the boards up and down. Along the top of the sill a 2x2 

 strip is spiked on top of the sills all the way around and 

 y$ of an inch from the outside edge. To this strip the 

 boards are nailed, at the bottom, just flush with outside of 

 the sill and resting on it. We insist that rear windows 

 under the dropping boards are essential for the proper 

 distribution of light so that the litter will not pile up. 

 So in cutting boards for the rear wall, cut some of them 

 the required length to cover the top of the window sash 

 one inch. 



The inside of wall is then covered with a strip of 

 light-weight asphalt paper. This paper is brought up 

 two inches above the rear wall so that it can be cleated 

 onto the ceiling or sheathing boards. This makes a per- 

 fectly smooth inside wall which is both mite and wind- 

 proof. The surfaced side of the lumber, which preferably 

 is dry 10-inch shiplap, is turned outside so that it can 

 readily be painted. The dropping boards and windows 

 cover the rest of the rear wall below the strip of asphalt 

 paper on the inside, except the 12 to 15 inches between the 

 windows, which should be whitewashed. The minimum 

 height of rear wall should be 5 feet 4 inches, made by 

 cutting a 16-foot board into three pieces. It should not 

 be over 6 feet in any instance, as the roof of the roosting 

 closet will be too far above the roosting birds to reflect 



FIG. 96 DIAGRAM OP FRONT, AND CURTAIN RAISING DEVICE FOR WEST. WASHINGTON LAYING HOUSE 



This illustration is reproduced from Western Washington Monthly Bulletin. It shows front of house for commer- 

 cial laying 1 flock, and method of adjusting curtain. See text for key to lettering. Complete plans on next page. 



