CHAPTER X 



Interior Fixtures and Equipment 



Practically Everything Needed to Equip the Poultry House is Here Illustrated and Described Partitions and How to 



Build Them Location of Perches and Nests Various Types of Nests for Layers Trap Nests for the 



Breeding Pens Feed Troughs and Hoppers, Water Vessels, Trolleys, Oat Sprouters, 



Advantages of Winter Illumination Coops for Broody Hens, Etc. 



the event of its sometime being overrun with mites a 

 condition that need never be encountered with reasonable 

 care. It is better to determine to take the proper pre- 

 ventive measures from the start, and if that is done there 

 will never be any occasion for the unpleasant job of 

 emptying the house out to fight lice and mites. 



of the poultry house plans given in this book 

 are simple and plain almost to the point of bare- 

 ness. This is not due to any failure to appre- 

 ciate the importance of suitable fixtures and 

 equipment, but because in plans intended for general use 

 it is better to omit everything that is not clearly essen- 

 tial and leave it to each individual to add, from time to 

 time, such labor-saving features as his own experience 

 and his particular needs indicate will be necessary or 

 helpful. About everything that is likely to be required 

 in the way of fixtures and equipment, inside and out- 

 side of the poultry house, will be found described and 

 illustrated in the following pages, and it is a simple 

 matter to adapt any of them for use in the house plans 

 already presented. 



Simplicity in the poultry house is desirable, but sim- 

 plicity may be overdone. It is well to recall, now and 

 then, that the house and its facilities are provided as much 

 for the convenience of the attendant as for the use of the 

 fowls, and anything that will make the work of caring for 

 the fowls easier should by all means be installed. Time 

 and labor-saving equipment about the poultry plant is of 

 the firj.t importance, especially where fowls are kept in 

 large numbers, and it is a serious mistake to fail to pro- 

 vide anything that will save time or make the work lighter. 

 For the most part, the equipment of the poultry house 

 should be simply made, and easily removable for cleaning, 

 "his does not apply to such fixtures as partitions between 

 >ens or along alleyways, which are properly a part of the 

 louse and should be permanently constructed. As a rule, 

 this also applies to the droppings platform and nest sup- 

 ports. These can be made movable, but it is simpler and 

 easier to fasten them in place. If the house becomes in- 

 fested with lice and mites, it is. of course, desirable to be 

 able to take everything out for thorough treatment, but 

 there is no practical advantage in an arrangement which 

 involves continual inconvenience because it would be de- 

 sirable to be able to throw everything out of the house in 



G. jso INTERIOR OF WELX.-EQUIPPED LAYING 

 HOUSE 



Photo from U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



FIG. 181 PEN FRONT IN HOUSE WITH PASSAGEWAY 



PASSAGEWAYS AND PARTITIONS 



When Passageways Should Be Used. Planning Them to 



Save Labor. Partitions That Protect 



the Fowls. 



Where passageways are provided it is possible to in- 

 corporate a number of features that will aid "greatly in 

 the work of caring for the fowls. A practical plan for a 

 passageway partition is shown in Fig. 181. This partition 

 is nailed permanently to studs, the spacing of which will 

 be determined, of course, by the width of the pens. The 

 baseboard should be at least six to eight inches in width 

 and better if ten inches, as the fowls will scratch the litter 

 out into the passageway and the feed trough if the board 

 is too narrow. 



The feed trough is provided especially for use where 

 a wet mash is fed, but it will be found convenient also for 

 feeding kitchen scraps, green food, and various other arti- 

 cles, and for that reason should be provided even though 

 it is the intention to supply the mash dry in hoppers. The 

 square frame next to the trough is to support the water 

 vessel, which may be a bucket or crock. Place the vessel 

 about as high as the fowls can well reach so as to keep 

 the litter from being scratched into it. It is* a good plan 

 to provide a platform on the inside for the fowls to stand 

 on, making it about a foot high and with the water 

 vessel correspondingly raised. 



The upright pieces may be of two-inch strips surfaced 

 and thg edges rounded so that the fowls' neck feathers 

 will not be worn off by rubbing against sharp corners. 

 These slats should be about 22 to 24 inches long, if nailed 

 on, as shown in the illustration. A neater way of fasten- 

 ing them is to cut them the exact length of the space be- 

 tween A and B (about 18 inches) and set them with the 

 face of the strips flush with the front of A and B, toenail- 

 ing them in place, or nailing to back-strips attached to the 



91 



