AMERICAN POULTRY CULTURE 
are made of materials which give off an odor 
destructive to the vermin in the nest and on the 
bodies of the hens which frequent the nest. 
By the term ‘“‘ droppings boards” is meant a 
platform under the perches to catch the droppings 
Droppings from the birds while on the roost at 
Boards night. Droppings boards are a great 
convenience in a well-kept house; a neglected house 
is better without them. Where the droppings are 
removed every morning or two it is much easier 
to sweep them off the droppings boards into a 
basket or bucket than it is to shovel them up off 
the ground, and the house is cleaner afterward, 
because every particle of manure may be removed 
from the boards. But if the droppings are allowed 
to accumulate, the boards become saturated with 
liquid manure, and, being necessarily close to the 
perches, they make bad conditions worse and 
compel the fowls to breathe impure, foul-smelling 
air. 
The best droppings boards are made of matched 
flooring, or any other material that is smooth on 
one side. The platform should extend beyond 
the sides of the roost eight or ten inches, in order 
that all the droppings may be secured from the 
fowls on the outer perches. For a single perch the 
board should be about twenty inches wide; for two 
perches, three feet wide. A two- or three-inch strip 
had best be placed around the edge of the platform 
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