CHAPTER VI 



Portable Colony and Brooder Houses 



The Convenience and Economy of Suitable Portable Houses for Use Either With Adult Flocks, Growing Stock, or 



Brooder Chicks -How to Secure Substantial, Low-Cost Construction Plans for Houses Adapted for Use 



Either in Brooding Chicks or for Laying and Breeding Pens How to Build Houses in Sections 



for Easy Moving Practical Piano-Box Houses, Etc. 



HERE are few poultry plants or farms that do not 

 need at least some portable houses. The uses to 

 which they can be put are so numerous that they 

 seldom stand idle for any length of time. While 

 it usually is not practical to keep laying flocks in such 

 houses, owing to the small size of the flocks that can be 

 accommodated, they often can be profitably used for that 

 purpose. They also make ideal quarters for small breed- 

 ing flocks and are indispensable for brooding chicks, re- 

 gardless of the method of brooding practiced. After the 

 chicks no longer need artificial heat, the house may be 

 hauled to outlying fields and the growing stock given the 

 complete liberty that is so essential to normal growth 

 and development. 



The principal features to keep in mind in building any 

 sort of portable house are that there must be sufficient 

 head room to make the work of caring for the houses 

 convenient; the houses must not be too large to be moved 

 by available means; and, as a rule, they should be provided 

 with double floors, or carefully braced, so that they will 

 not be racked in hauling them about. Moving, especially 

 over uneven ground, puts a severe strain on such struc- 

 tures and they will quickly be pulled apart unless well 

 built. 



The material used for sills or runner-sills should be 

 of the most durable timber available; chestnut and cedar 

 are good. White oak, if well seasoned, may be used, but 

 adds to the weight. Throughout the house, light-weight 

 lumber should be used as far as possible. A house built 

 of oak or similar hard wood will weigh a great deal more 

 than one built of white pine. It is not advisable to try to 

 cut down weight by using thin boards or small framing 

 timbers. Such material will not hold up long in a house 

 that 'is to be moved frequently. Regular ^-inch boards 

 and 2x4 joists and studs are essential to 'durability. Where 

 these houses are to be used for laying flocks it is conven- 

 ient to have the nests on the outside of the building, thus 

 increasing the floor space. Such nests must be carefully 

 built, however, and should be located on the side least 

 exposed to storms, as it is difficult to prevent rain and 

 snow from blowing in. Small, shallow houses necessarily 

 bring the fowls up close to the front when on perches, and 

 special provision must be made to protect them from 

 draft? if open fronts are to be used. With houses of the 

 shed-roof type, such as the colony house shown in Fig. 124, 

 it is practicable to make the window half glass and half 

 muslin shutter, placing the latter above and opening it 

 when necessary to secure proper ventilation, but leaving 

 the glass sash in place except in warm weather. 



For moving portable houses a couple of hooks, simi 

 lar to the one illustrated in Fig. 123, attached to a stout 

 chain 10 or 12 feet long, are most convenient. Make the 

 hook of 54 or ^-inch iron, with the hook part abouf fout 

 inches long, and pointing forward a little, rather than with 

 a square or right-angled turn. If this is done it will not be 

 so liable to slip out of the hole in the runner under a 

 heavy strain. In England, where portable houses are ex- 

 tensively used, small wheels are often employed in place 

 of runners. 



A GABLE ROOF PORTABLE HOUSE 



Will Accommodate Twenty-Five to Thirty Hens, or May 



Be Used for Lamp-Heated and Colony Hovers. 



The house illustrated in Figs. 119, 120, 121, and 122 

 was designed at the Pennsylvania Agricultural College and 

 has been in use there for some years. It offers a practical 

 solution of the problem of building a house that will meet 

 the requirements of both brooding and laying house. It 

 is about as large as can be moved by one team, requires a 

 minimum of lumber for the floor space enclosed and gives 

 plenty of head room without high walls. If the house is 

 to be used for a colony hover the front window at the end 

 opposite the door can be omitted, but where lamp-heated 



FIG. 119 A GABLE ROOF PORTABLE HOUSE 



hovers are to be used, as illustrated in Fig. 121, the orig- 

 inal arrangement is better, as it gives more even distribu- 

 tion of light. 



This house is regularly built with flooring boards 01 

 car siding for the sides and with a double floor, as shown 

 in Fig. 14. Rafters are provided in the bill of material, 

 but the original houses were built without rafters, the rool 

 boards being run up and down and nailed securely to- 

 gether at the ridges, which construction is firm enough for 

 all practical purposes. 



Fig. 122 shows floor plan as arranged for winter use 

 of the laying or breeding flock. The floor is laid on 3x6- 

 inch chestnut runners, with four 2x4-inch joists mortised 

 into the top of the sills and firmly spiked. Fig. 121 shows 

 a cross section with lamp-heated hover installed. Three 

 such hovers can be accommodated in one of these houses, 

 temporary partitions being placed between them, to be 

 removed when the chicks are ready to go on perches. This 

 house provides excellent quarters for a colony hover flock, 

 the hover being placed back within about two feet of the 

 end wall. Fig- 120 is a cross section with perches and plat- 

 form installed. Fig. 119 shows the completed house on the 

 range. For summer ventilation a small louvered opening 



