CHAPTER FOUR 



THE POULTRY PLANT 



LOCATION, BUILDINGS AND YARDS 



WHAT IS MEANT BY A GOOD LOCATION— PREFERRED TYPES OF POULTRY BUILDINGS— OPINIONS 

 OF FOREMOST BREEDERS AS TO BEST HOUSES FOR BREEDING AND YOUNG STOCK, GIVEN IN A 

 POULTRY HOUSE SYMPOSIUM — PROFITABLE INFORMATION FOR BEGINNER AND VETERAN 



N MOST cases the beginner of moderate means will 

 find it advisable to locate bis first venture in 

 the poultry biisiness at his own home, whether 

 it be a backyard, town lot or farm. Without 

 funds it IS usually un,wise to launch the enter- 

 prise by the purchase of real estate and so tie 

 up all the available money in land and buildings. 

 A small start is best; you can grow as fast as you please and 

 your capital will permit, once you have gained the necessary 

 experience. 



Nearly every beginner is employed at other work and he 

 had best stick to his salaried job until he has estabUshed him- 

 self with poultry, or demonstrated practically his abiUty or 

 inability to do so. The clerk, student or mechanic can \isually 

 begin in a small way at home and so learn the business in hours 

 not devoted, to other duties. The professional man will find 

 ample employment for his leisure hours in the study and care of 

 a small flock on the home place. 



Such beginners will usually find it much to their advan- 

 tage to purchase some of the more desirable types of ready- 

 made, low-cost portable houses. These buildings are both 

 practical and satisfactory, being particularly well adapted to 

 rented locations. Even permanent plants on large or small 

 farms wiU find these portable houses very desirable for coloniz- 

 ing flocks in the fields, in fact good portable colony buildings, 

 large and small, are always convenient and servicable on any 

 poultry plant regardless of size or permancy. The beginner 

 with ample means will usually suit himself as to location, choos- 

 ing one that pleases his fancy most, but he too will find it wise 

 to go slow, make sure his site is a good one and favorable to the 

 work in hand, while it will be best to build practical and inex- 

 pensive buildings rather than elaborate, costly, more artistic 

 structures. 



Poultry may be profitably kept for fancy purposes and to 

 supply the family with eggs on a small town lot or in a bacfcsrard, 

 and there are many paying poultry ventures lopated on village 

 half-acre and acre homesteads. To make a living from poultry 

 a five-acre farm is small enough and fifteen or twenty acres is 

 better, but one man should seldom attempt to operate a farm 

 exceeding forty to fifty acres as that is practically as much as 

 he can handle to advantage without good, permanent, compe- 

 tent, hired help, which labor is scarce and difficult to procure. 

 A twenty-acre plant or larger ought to grow a large proportion 

 of the food required by the poultry and even on a one-acre place 

 the garden should supply the family table and provide an ample 

 stock of winter vegetable food for the flock of breeders. 



Any farm or land that will grow good green grass and sup- 

 port small fruits and fruit trees will serve also for successful 

 poultry keeping. Well drained, light sandy or gravelly loam is 

 the best soil. Clay soil is the least desirable and heavy, soggy, 

 sticky clay soils are really unfit for satisfactory poultry raising. 

 Of all locations a gentle southern slope on well drained rolling 



grass land, hghtly wooded, or set with orchard fruits, is the 

 most preferable. Shade and sunshine are both desirable. On 

 a gentle slope if the buildings and yards are well placed, the 

 plant is easily kept clean and the yards practically cleanse 

 themselves with each heavy rain. 



Permanent poultry houses should be placed on the higher 

 levels of ground, never in the hollows. See that they are so 

 located that all surface water in winter and early spring thaws 

 and heavy summer rains will drain away from them, and also will 

 not settle in the yards or runs. In cUmates where the winter 

 temperature falls to zero or a few degrees above, or where the 

 mean annual temperature is 56 degrees Fahrenheit or lower, all 

 permanent poultry buildings should front or face south or a Uttle 

 east or south. Runs in such locations should preferably be to 

 the south of the building but may be made on both south and 

 north sides, if desired. For cliniates where the mean annual 

 temperature exceeds 60 degrees F. houses should face east or a 

 little south of east, yards running east and west from front or 

 back of house as desired. With fresh-air poultry houses of 

 ordinary height from 18 to 28 cubic feet of house air space 

 should be allowed per bird. With closed houses of usual height 

 of stud from 28 to 40 cubic feet per bird wiU be reqmred for best 

 results. Or in houses of average height allow 5 to 10 square 

 feet floor space for each bird in closed houses, and from 4 to 7 

 square feet floor space per bird in fresh air quarters. Three 

 nests of ordinary dimensions, 14 by 14 by 14 inches each, are 

 all that are needed for a flock of 20 layers. Six to eight inches, 

 lineal measure, is sufficient space to allow per bird for roost 

 room. Roosts should be 16 inches away from back walls of 

 houses and from 14 to 16 inches apart meas\ired center to center. 

 For breeding stock and layers allow from 65 to 75 square 

 feet of yard room or run for each bird in the flock. Growing 

 chicks should have hberal or free range after they are a month 

 or six weeks old. They can be reared in confinement but it is 

 better not to place too close a limit on their range, give them as 

 much or more room than you would breeding fowls. See that 

 they have plenty of shade and shelters that are easily accessible. 

 All yards should be planted to fruit trees hke plums, peaches, 

 cherries, apples and pears. Blackberry and raspberry bushes 

 make ideal shade for growing stock. 



With convenient continuous houses and long narrow yards 

 it is estimated that 400 breeding birds can be comfortably housed 

 and yarded on one acre of land. One man can properly care for 

 1000 breeding fowls and raise from 3000 to 5000 chicks a season 

 with suitable conveniences, but he wiU find his working hours 

 pretty well occupied. There are a number of practical poultry- 

 men who are doing this and who dean up about $1000 to $2000 

 a year profit from their business to pay for their time, labor and 

 the interest on their invested capital. During the late winter 

 and spring months they lead pretty strenuous lives and work 

 long hours. 



On a practical one-man-plant in the busy season it is no 



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