78 FIRST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 



A New Jersey Farmer's House for Twenty=five Fowls. 



Grant Davis, Whitehouse, N. J. 



Of plans of hen houses there are no end. Many are good, but many more fail as to the two 

 main points of a good poultry house : First, dryness ; iind second, a plain, smooth interior 

 surface. I have tried various liinds, but have settled upon the following plan, which, I think, 

 meets the requirements of a first class house, at the same time being plain and economical. 



I build for poultry on the farm, and malie the houses 12 ft. by 18 ft. or 21 ft., for accommo' 

 dating forty to fifty hens. For twenty-five hens the house may be built in identically the same 

 way, and smaller in proportion. As estimates of costs are wanted, I will make my figures on a 

 building 9 ft. by 12 ft. In height It is 6 ft. at the back and S ft. in front, with a roof of one 

 slope. Pillars are set iu the ground for a foundation and to receive sills 4 x 5 in. in size. The 

 enclosure is of novelty siding or ship lap, and is boarded horizontally. The studding are 2 

 inches square, and placed 18 inches apart. The roof is Sheathed Vi^ith second class lumber, and 

 covered with roofing paper or ruberoid. 



To have a hen house that is always dry it is necessary to have double walls with an air space 

 between. With a single en- /-i- ^'. 



closure moisture will sometimes 

 be condensed upon the walls, 

 and at times will make the 

 house damp in spite of any- 

 thing that can be done. A 

 damp house, whether it comes 

 from a leaky roof, condensed 

 air moisture, or capillary water 

 from a ground floor, will soon 

 take the profits out of the 

 winter egg business. A double 

 enclosure also gives greater 

 warmth, as the dead air space, 

 being a non-conductor of heat, 

 serves to prevent its escape at 

 night. The added cost of this 

 kind of building, as ordinarily 

 made, is against it, but, as here 

 constructed, the cost is not much Ground Plan of Mr. Davis' Poultry House. 



Increased. 1^' Droppings boards. R, E, Roosts. 



The building having been made as described, the inner wall is made by simply nailing on to 

 the studdiug a stiff building paper, something strong that the fowls cannot pick to pieces, and 

 that will take whitewash readily. As this generally comes 3B inches in width, and enough more 

 to allow for lap, I have put my studding the proper distance to receive. The ceiling is also 

 covered in the same way. Where the lap comes a liberal application of coal tar is made, so 

 that on the whole interior surface of the house there will be no hiding place for lice or mites. 

 The ease with which such a house can be whitewashed is a strong point in its favor. 



After the Interior covering is put on, a panel of 1 x 3 in. boards is nailed all around the Inside 

 about i ft. from the floor to hold the roosting poles and to receive the nails on which hang the 

 movable nesting boxes. The roosting poles, two in number, will extend across the narrow 

 way of the house, and the space beneath them is cut off from the remaining floor space by a 

 lioard. Straw is kept here, and the droppings are occasionally dusted with land plaster to 

 keep down odors, as they are not removed oftener than once or twice every month. 



There are no droppings boards, no rows of nests built to the walls, in fact, nothing but 

 what can be easily removed when the time comes for the semi-annual whitewashing. 



I do not put in board floors on account of extra cost. The ground within the building Is 

 graded up eight or ten inches higher than that outside, and the surface is covered loosely with 

 any old boards — discarded weather boarding is good— and then sand Is hauled in to the depth 



