FIRST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 63 



answer the purpose. Then there Is no capital unnecessarily lied up in buildings, and if — as 

 ie very likely to be the case — the poultryman with added experience thinks it advisable to build 

 differently, he can do so, altering or replacing a cheap building, when he could not change or 

 do away with an expensive one. 



A low cost building need not be unsightly. If neatly built, painted, and the surroundings 

 orderly and well kept, it may present a much better appearance than a better building not so 

 well cared for. 



Keeping what has been said In mind, and noting that the expensive house is built because 

 the poultryman wants it, not because the fowls need it, we note these classes of construction: 

 (a). Single Boards, With or Without Battens. 

 (b). Single Boards Covered With One or Two Thioknessks Building 



Paper or Uoofing. 

 (c). Single Boards Covered With Paper and Shingled, or Covered With 

 Lapped Siding or Matched Lumber, JIaking a Solid Double Wall. 

 (d). Double Boards With Dead Air Space Between, the Outer Wall 

 Covered With Paper, Prepared Eooilng, or Shingles. 

 Of these constructions, b. and c. are the most common. The framework for such buildings 

 is very light— only what is necessary to hold it together. 



Poultry houses may also be built of almost any material used for other buildings, except such 

 material as the corrugated iron often used for cheap warehouses. I would not say positively 

 that that form of construction could not be made satisfactory, but the few attempts to use it 

 I have seen have not given good results. 



Poultry houses are also often built of discarded material of various kinds, not ordinarily used 

 for building purposes. Very serviceable buildings are made of old railroa^ ties laid or set on 

 end close together, and the interstices chinked with clay or mortar, as in the log houses of earlier 



In sections where stone is abundant the rear wall, (especially if the house is set into a bank), 

 is often, and sometimes the end walls also, built of stone, and the whole building may be of 

 stone or brick if desired ; but unless it can be built without cash outlay for labor this is too 

 expensive where economy has to be considered. 



5. Capacity and Dimensions. 



One of the Srst points to be considered is the capacity of a house of certain dimensions, ot 

 the dimensions required to give a desired capacity. 



Floor Space per Fowl. — The common rule is five or six square feet of floor space per fowl. 

 This is for ordinary sized flocks of one dozen to, say, three or four dozen. For a smaller 

 number of fowls more floor space per fowl should be given, for a larger flock the space per 

 fowl may be somewhat reduced, for while it is customary to estimate poultry house capacity 

 according to average square feet of floor space per fowl, that way is misleading if the aver- 

 age for flocks of ordinary numbers Is made the basis of a general rule. 



Each fowl in a flock has the use, in house and yard room, of all the bouse or yard area not 

 actually occupied by its companions. That is, the fowl practically has the use of the entire 

 house and yard, and while with a flock of ten hens In a house containing 60 sq. ft. floor space, 

 the average for each hen is 6 sq. ft., each hen really has the use of 60 sq. ft. of floor, and has 

 much more room than a single hen in a house, giving her 20 or 30 sq. ft. floor space all to 

 herself. 



Cubic Space per Foiol. — This need not be numerically reckoned. In a house with floor 

 space right for the number of fowls to be kept in it, and with height right for the workman, 

 there will be air space enough if ventilation is properly done. 



Proportions of Floor.— For the maximum of floor space at the minimum cost, a building 

 should be square. To make a building of many pens square, or even approximately so, is 

 obviously out of the question, and as buildings for poultry are usually constructed with side 

 walls about 6 ft. high, if of equal height, and averaging about 6 ft., if the walls are of unequal 

 height, the depth, from south to north, of a house facing south, and having windows only in 

 the south side, cannot be more than twelve or thirteen feet, and have the sun reach every part 

 of the floor at some time of day. A wider house must be higher, orjthe parts not reached by 

 the sun will be often damp and musty. 



