THE TOnUFRY .PLANT JD oa 



4^ppe:4(l)ajt it; ^g^clue^ $be:Ely9iik>'ble^.€oioiiiiirea, .hxitjdt alsq .gives 

 dark comers in which the hens are induced to. Hay; JMxi/onfe 

 haft toistopp dpy™ .audi crfttsfl.afmderttlie Sdrbppingsi/boar'ds in 

 ^.ea^cb'forjeggs,; ,-• . ;,• ,- ,! ,, ;,_ it uu A' i... .. .iio \o i'::-i:: 



Hayijig obsQ^ved such .defedta in the Tohnan house .-w? had 

 to avoid them iii oitf.futur? plan -wjl^feut sacrificingi>the'JreBh 

 air feature. 



In the fiist place we had to decide the number of chick- 

 ens to be housed in one house. All experience seems to point 

 to a limitation of tb»)^ocfc«to 50 head.- Taking this a» a maxi- 

 mum for ^itiiill breeds, it means about 40 for the largest and 

 45 for the medium sized breeds. . If we .figure for the medium 

 sized fowls about 6i inch and for the largest small preeds like 

 Leghorns about 5i inch roosting space, for breeds about 7 inch, 

 we arrive: in every' instance pretty Close to the same result 





I 



o 



Tl 



«5 



•i^ 



I? 



B 



HEIDENHAIN'S FRESH-AIR POULTRY HOUSE 



A.— Sectional view showing location of roosts, droppings 

 board and nests. 



B.— Plan, " giving general dimensions and location of interior 

 fixtures. ■ 



i. e., 28 running feet of roosting space. Using two raosts, the 

 length of each one- would then- be 14 feet. ^Therefore, .the house 

 must measure- Ml. one directioii at least, 14 feet, if. the allowable 

 greatest number of chickens '.are to be '.put in a 'single, house, 



^wMch',' 6Sieou*6ej-is'deSitab'le-^r6m an'econ'bimcal Jioirit Of view. 



As said beforfe, each -(ShSdkeh should^ have 'a£ least 4 square 

 feet: floor "fepklde. 'that ^inakes- fot 5(5 h^A,' 200 square feet. 

 If i* feet is'' the lehgth of one Side of the house, the other side 

 iSi^gttred'JtO bfe a ffittle bvei* 14 feet. There would be no harni 

 ii 'making the house Isttger either wa^ of'both'wkys-, but bta'a 

 commercial plant like' ours, no money cain be thrown' awa'y 

 for dispensable things. 



After discussing and planning the interior for other di- 

 ■ 'ip.^l5iig, which would give nearly -200 square feet, floor area, 

 we finally decilifed on a 14- by 14 foot house, which, allowed the 

 arrangement of all fixtures in an easy and comrtiodious manner 

 and at the same time was the cheapest Ip build ofi aoijq'unt of 

 its squire shape. ._ '. ' 



The question whether single houses or houses with scratch- 

 ing sheds attached should be chosen, wag also thotpughly 

 ''disciissed.* While the latter are very nice in m^,ny waj^s (we 

 have five of such houses in use) they are not cheap, .cohsider- 

 ing the number of chickens whicH can be housed therein; The 

 chickens stay either in one or the other compartment. On 

 Cold nights and on some cold days the doors must: be kept 

 .closed. Suppose the shed is in floor space just as large'as the 

 house proper, then the chickens have -only the benefit hi half 

 the building. It costs about as much to build the pairtition 

 between the house and the shed as to close the front ,of the 

 shed, Doing this we get a house double the area and double 

 the volume of air, which is a decided advantage on oepassion 

 as before mentioned. ' . , 



Now then we had to provide for an abundance of Ught 

 arid fresh air. The solution of this problem seems to us is 

 given in the use of large doors in front of the building, as shown 

 in our plan. 



The question whether shed roof or hip roof was to be used 

 was decided in favor of the latter, on account of the size of 

 the house and saving of material. By putting the gable side 

 to the south we managed to provide for the large doors in front, 

 which admit all fight and air required. Too much fight must 

 be avoided in a climate fike ours, with almost uninterrupted 

 sunshine for 9 months of the year. In our old scratbhiB^ 

 sheds', the chickens do not know where to hide from the' rays 

 of the sun. 



Undoubtedly the chickens fike the open sheds and reluct- 

 antly they retire to the roosting room when the sun gets, too 

 strong. Having observed this we took care to provide ■ for 

 shade as well as fight in our new plan and made the doors of 

 such size, that at any position of the sun, the house gives shady 

 comers as well as sunny places. The height of the doors is 

 such that the sun sweeps in the course of the day over the 

 whole floor except in summer when it is not necessary. 



The roosts we laid -against the north wall being the one 

 most remote from the front and therefore giving the birds best 

 shelter against draft when the doors are left open over night. 



We placed the window on the east side rather than the 

 west side as all living beings enjoy the first warming rays of the 

 rising sun. 



The space under the droppings boards we left free and 

 placed the. nests on shelves in two stories on the west wall, 

 Likewise watering trough and grit box are placed over a shelf^ 

 thus leaving the entire floor space available for the chickens' 

 exercise. 



. It is of fittle importance of what material the houses ar^ 

 built. Local conditions are deciding in the selection of th^ 

 proper lumber for walls and, the material for the roof. . Like 

 Mr. Tolman we made it a point to have our houses tight against 

 any <iraft;,^-,,.We fined the waUs with -heavy water-proof build^ 

 ing pape?, on -the inside, iising shiplap outside, and covered the 

 hpuse .with ,^ood roofing felt. , All fancy .or decorative wor^ 



55 



