CHAPTER IX 



Administration and Other Special Buildings 



Large Poultry Plants Need Various Special Purpose Buildings for Handling the Work Efficiently This Chapter Illus- 

 trates and Describes a Complete Administration Building With Fattening Shed; Also, Cockerel and Condi- 

 tioning House, Fattening Crates and Batteries, Manure Shed, Etc. Instructions for Equip- 

 ping the Feed House With Labor-Saving Conveniences. 



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X poultry farms of small size it generally will be 

 found more economical, and more convenient as 

 well, to provide suitable storage room for feed, 

 equipment, etc., in the barn, as suggested on page 

 9. On large plants, however, it is desirable to have 

 a special house for this purpose, usually building it in 

 connection with laying pens, or as a part of a general ad- 

 ministration building, such as is illustrated and described 

 elsewhere in this chapter. Wherever the feed room is 

 built, it should be suitably provided with labor-saving 

 appliances, convenient feed bins, etc. 



Combination Laying and Feed House 



The combination laying and feed house shown in 

 Fig. 161 has been in successful use at the West Virginia 

 Experiment Station for several years, and has a number 

 of features that adapt it to general use. The feed house 

 is placed in the center of a six-pen laying house. It is 

 somewhat wider than the latter, and is one and a half 

 stories in height, with a high gable which provides a lib- 

 eral amount of storage room on the second floor. Grain, 

 litter, and similar materials are hoisted to the second 

 floor by means of rope and pulley. 



The first floor of the feed house generally can be 

 used to best advantage for the stoiing of heavy grains, 

 such as shelled corn and wheat, and bone cutters, feed 

 mills, cooking appliances, feed mixers, etc., will be in- 

 stalled here, if any are used. Lighter materials, such as 

 ground feeds, baled litter, etc., may be stored above. A 

 convenient plan is to have bins for ground grains on the 

 second floor, these bins being provided with chutes which 

 conduct the contents to the lower floor where they may 

 be drawn off as wanted. Where a feed house is built, it 

 is always desirable to provide a cellar underneath for 

 storing roots, cabbage, or other green foods for winter 

 use, or for sprouting oats. Such a cellar will be found 

 almost as great a convenience 'as the house itself. An 

 outside door should be provided for convenience in filling 

 the cellar, and an inside stairway for ordinary use. 



Equipment for the Feed House 



Various articles of equipment may be used in the feed 

 house and, as a rule, it pays to provide whatever will save 

 time or labor. As the requirements of poultry keepers 



vary widely in respect to these, and as such equipment 

 usually is purchased piece by piece as the need for it be- 

 comes apparent, it is not practicable to furnish an item- 

 ized list of needed appliances, further than to mention the 

 few that should be in every feed house, large or small. 



For mixing quantities of feed on the floor of the 

 house, nothing is better than a medium-sized scoop 

 shovel. For small quantities of mash, wet or dry, a mix- 

 ing box should be provided. This should be made of 

 hard, closely-grained wood that will not readily absorb 

 moisture. The boards for the floor of the box should be 

 selected with care, choosing those that are edge-grained 

 rather than flat-grained, as the latter are apt to become 

 splintered and rough after they have been in use for a 

 short time. This mixing box should be about two feet 

 wide and should have straight sides twelve inches high, 

 with the ends sets sloping. It is not easy to mix feed 

 in boxes with square ends. For mixing wet mashes a 

 large garden hoe and an ordinary dirt shovel or a spade 

 will be found serviceable. One or more galvanized 

 bushel baskets and a few 12 to 16-inch galvanized pails 

 are needed on every poultry plant. 



Where corn is bought on the ear, it usually is desir- 

 able to have a corn shelter, and where fresh meat or 

 butchers' scraps can be secured to good advantage, a bone 

 cutter becomes a necessity. There are few cases in 

 which the poultryman can crack and grind his feeds as 

 cheaply as he can buy them at the feed mill or store, but 

 a small mill for preparing special feeds often proves a 

 convenience and a time-saver. In all cases where home 

 mixtures are prepared, or where feed is ground at local 

 mills, some means of sifting should be provided. The 

 use of unsifted cracked grain, in particular, is a wasteful 

 practice. 



There are a variety of uses to which a good feed 

 cooker can be put, such as cooking vegetables, steaming 

 clover, etc.; also for providing hot water to meet the 

 numerous requirements of the average poultry plant in 

 wintertime. While somewhat more expensive than the 

 ordinary sheet-metal feed cooker, a small boiler that will 

 furnish steam for cooking, heating water, etc., will be 

 found much more convenient in the long run. 



Plenty of well-constructed bins should be provided in 



FIG. 161 COMBINATION FEED AND LAYING HOUSE AT WEST VIRGINIA EXPERIMENT STATION 



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