go FIBST LEHSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 



Another point to consider in this connection is this:— In housiug poultry we have too often n 

 prol)lem corresponding uot to the housing of human families in roomy, detached dwellings, or 

 of a few domestic animals in ample barns or sheds, but to the housing of population in flats and 

 lenemeuts, or to the provision for the health and comfort of human beings congregated in large 

 cumbers as in schools, churches and public gatherings. 



The ventilation of a dwelling house is a comparatively easy matter. Under ordinary circum- 

 ■etances no attention need be given it but such as any sensible person will give almost instinct- 

 ively. But to maintain a supply of pure air and still keep up the temperature in a school room 

 where forty or fifty pupils are kept for several consecutive hours, or in a church where 600 to 

 1,000 people are together for an hour or two, requires more general knowledge of the principles 

 of heating and ventilation, and also special knowledge of their application to the existing cou- 

 ^litions; and it is for want of such knowledge in those in charge of such places that bad air in 

 an underventilated or drafts in an overventilated room make public places more productive of 

 •colds than private dwellings. 



In the poultry house, as a rule, we find much the same conditions. Nearly every poultry 

 toeper either builds the smallest house possible for the number of fowls he intends to keep, or 

 iaving a building or buildings of certain dimensions stocks them to their fullest stated capacity 

 ^and sometimes away beyond. And if in anything different, the conditions are harder in the 

 4)ouItry house, for the children in school are there for two relatively short periods; the people 

 at a public gathering are together in the same enclosure for only a short time, while the fovrls 

 are often confined to the same restricted quarters day and night for months. To state the point 

 jn its simplest form, the artificial methods of mauaging fowls often make bousing an intricate 

 f)roblem, when with more natural methods it would be a very simple one. 



It is for each poultry keeper to determine for himself what kind of problem in bousing he 

 must work out, and after presenting in this lesson general information on poultry houses, 

 materials and construction, we will, in several consecutive lessons, describe houses adapted to 

 a variety of conditions ranging from the simplest to somewhat complex, but stopping quite a 

 4ong way from the limit in that direction. 



Methods of Housing Laying and Breeding Stock. 



In systems of housing adult fowls, we have at one extreme the colony plan, which, in its aim- 

 [plest form, consists in placing small houses for flocks of a few dozen fowls far enough apart to 

 .obviate the use of fences, and give the flocks free range with very little mingling of fowls 

 from diflerent flocks; and, at the other extreme, a connected series of houses, each containing 

 many pens which connect each with the adjoining pens, or all open on covered walks running 

 the entire length of each house. In whut we call the extreme type in this house arrangement, 

 ;the various accessory buildings of the plant are located in such manner, and so connected with 

 ithe poultry houses, as to make it possible to do all the work under cover. 



The number of possible plans and arrangements Ijetween these two extremes is unlimited. 

 To enumerate fully the common and familiar house plans would make quite a formidable look- 

 ilng list. We will discuss here only a few of the most popular, the most useful, and the most 

 [interesting plans and arrangements. Some of the latter class call for notice uot because of the 

 .merit of the plans, but because their features seem to appeal very strongly to novices in poultry 

 icultuie. 



We classify the houses we are to discuss, then, us follows : 



1. As to Position of Pens or Compartments. 



,(a). Single Pen Houses. 



Usually these are small houses, the ordinary one pen poultry house having a floor 



area of about 100 sc;. ft., but sometimes they are large enough for flocks of 100 or 



more, with floor area of 500 to 1,000 sq. ft. 

 ib). Two (OR MORE) Pen Houses Wrni Connecting Pens. 



This is the most common arrangement where a few small flocks are to kept in ths 



same building. 



