G4 



THE AMEKICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



In the third volume of 

 the Country Gentleman we 

 find the following plan, 

 with the annexed eleva- 

 tion, of a cheap poultry- 

 house, furnished by a 

 correspondent. 



He says: "I have 

 thought it would not be 

 out of place to send you 

 a drawing and plan of 

 one we consider the best, 



as it can be made to accommodate from one doz 

 en to five hundred fowls. 



16 Ff 



GROUND PLAN. 



"The plan I send is 16 feet long by 8 feet 

 wide at the bottom, and 

 costs, by using one-inch 

 matched boards, about 

 $1 per foot. The pres- 

 ent one will cost from 

 $16 to $20, including 

 sash, doors, and other 

 fixtures. 



" The engraving ex- 

 hibits the plan so clear- 

 ly that any explanation 

 is altogether unnecessary." 



VAN NUXEN'S POULTRY-HOUSE. 



" Having made some experiments in the rais- 

 ing of chickens, a business that forms a part of 

 every farmer's occupation, I send you a descrip- 

 tion of my present plan of operation, which ap- 

 pears to answer admirably. Under an out- 

 house 16 by 18 feet, raised three feet above the 

 ground, I have made a cellar three feet below 



Ft 



TRANSVERSE SECTION. 



CHEAP POULTEY-I1OU6E. 



the ground, making the height six feet alto- 

 gether. Eight feet in width of this cellar is 

 partioned off for turnips, the remaining ten by 

 sixteen feet being suificiently large to accom- 

 modate one hundred chickens, or more. This 

 cellar is inclosed with boards at present, but it 

 is intended to substitute brick walls in a year 

 or two. The roost is made sloping from the 

 roof to within eighteen inches from the ground 

 or floor, twelve feet long by six feet wide. The 

 roost is formed in this way : Two pieces of two- 

 inch plank, six inches wide, and twelve feet 

 long, are fastened parallel, six feet apart, by a 

 spike or pin, to the joist above, the lower end 

 resting on a post eighteen inches above ground. 

 Notches are made along the upper edge of the 

 plank, one foot apart, to receive sticks or poles 

 from the woods, the bark being left on. When 

 it is desirable to clean out the roosts, the poles, 

 being loose, are removed ; the supports, work- 

 ing on a pivot, are raised and fastened up, when 

 all is clear for the cleaning out. I next provide 

 the fowls with corn, oats, and buckwheat in three 

 separate apartments, holding about half a bush- 

 el each, which are kept always supplied. 



"A row of nests is constructed after a plan 

 of my own, and does well. It is a box, ten 

 feet long and eighteen inches wide ; the bottom 

 level, the top sloping at an angle of forty -five 

 degrees, to prevent the fowls roosting on it ; the 

 top opens on hinges. The nests, eight in num- 

 ber, are one foot square ; the remaining six 

 inches of the width is a passage way next to the 

 wall, open at each end of the box ; the advant- 

 age is to give the hens the apparent secrecy they 

 are so fond of." 



