CHAPTEK III. 

 THE UNIT HOUSE. 



Best Possible Construotiou for a Squab Phiut— The Wind Break Forma- 

 tion of Roof— Dimensions of the Unit— Multiplying the Uuit to In- 

 crease the Capacity of Your Plant— A Passageway Behind the Nest 

 Boxes— Numbering the Hinged Backs of the Nest Boxes, and the 

 Management of a Card Index to Correspond— Cost of the Unit Cou- 

 strucfion is from $3 to $5 a Running Foot— Working Drawings— The 

 Nappies. 



If you have no building already standing which you caa fix over for 

 pigeons, you may erect a simple rectangular structure and line it with 

 nests as we have described in the last chapter. We will tell you in this 

 chapter how to put up the finest kind of a pigeon structure. It is at the 

 same time the most expensive. It is the best, the most workmanlike. In 

 saying that it is expensive, we do not mean that mone>y is thrown away 

 on its construction, for that is not so. It is a fit habitation for a mouey- 

 uiaking inveshiient. 



This best method of construction results in what we call the unit house. 

 You can multiply this unit as many times as you please and get as large 

 a house as you wish, or you may adtl a unit from time to time, just as 

 you add unit book cases to accommodates the growth of the modern library 

 shelves. You can erect these units sepai'ately, or attach oue unit to the 

 other, so that you have one long building. 



The nest boxes are built of boxing and set in a vertical row at the back 

 of the house, forming a wall between which and the north side of the 

 house is a three-foot passageway. You can buy this boxing at a saw mill 

 all cut, teu by eleven inches, the dimensions of the nest, and if you get it 

 in this shai)€ you can put the boxes together with as much ease as a cliild 

 builds a doll's house. You will have no doubts as to the squareness and 

 plumbncss of the structure when you have it up. Take long lengths of 

 boxing eleven inches wide for the shelving which should form the top and 

 bottom of the nest boxes, then set the 10 in. x 11 in. pieces the proper 

 distance apart. The finished nest will be eleven inches from front to back, 

 ten inches from top to bottom, and about teu inches from one partition to 

 the other (or whatever distance the proper distribution of your nests in 

 pairs permits;. 



We have found five-eighths inch boxing to be the best suited. Build the 

 nest boxes up from floor to roof perfectly plain, just as the pigeon holes 

 of a desk run. 



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