FIRST LESSONS IN lOULTRY KEEPING. 



85 



I- 



tens. They are as 

 healthy and vigorous a 

 lot of fowls as you CHa 

 finil anywhere. I keep 

 the floor well covered 

 with litter In which I 

 scatter grain, and the 

 fowls will scratch and 

 <lig and sing all day 

 long as happy and con- 

 tented as it they were 

 In my wife's flower 

 beds in June. 



This house I would 

 rate as having a capa- 

 eitv of 12 hens to a 

 pen, in all 24 hens. At Oui>ide Fronl and Inside Back oj Mr. Ryan's houllry House. 



a jiinch it might be N, uests, e, eiUrance to nests, d, droprinKS boards, r r, roosts, 



used for a lew more, but with the droppings boards extending 3 ft. from the north 

 wall, and the nests under them the floor space for use in the house is hardly more than S x 9 ft., 

 or 72 sq. ft. 



Bill of Lumber. 



Sills, 2 pieces 4 x 4, 16 ft. lonsr. 



Sills, 2 pieces 4 x 4, 12 ft. long. 



Studding, 9 pieces, 2 x 4, 6 ft 4 in. long. 



Studding, 9 pieces, 2 x 4, 3 ft. 10 in. long. 



Plates, 2 pieces, 2 x 4, 16 ft. long. 



Rafters, 9 pieces, 2 x 4, 9 ft. 6 in. long. 



Rafters, 9 pieces, 2 X 4, 4 ft. 6 in. long. 



Collar beams, 9 pieces, 1 x 4, 6 ft. long. 



End and partition studs, 4 pieces, 2 x 4, 8 ft. long. 



In all— 320 ft. of spiufce for f lame. ® |14 



Ten cedar posts 3 ft. 8 in. long, 4 !n. at top. 



550 sq. ft. of hemlock boards, rffl $10 per M., 



150 sq. ft. of matched boards, ® $16 per M., 



30 sq. ft. of furring 4 in. wide, ® f 14 per M., 



40 sq. ft. of furring; 3 in. wide, ® %\i per M., 

 5 M. shingles, iffi $1.50 per M., 



30 lbs. of nails, iffi 4c. per lb., 

 3 roll.=i of sheathing pape^r, iffi 50c. per roll, 



10 cedar posts, (Si 5c. each. 

 Hinges and latch, ^ ^^4 56 



These are the prices that rule in this vicinity. 



While not disposed to quarrel with those who use and prefer them, the arrangement of nests 



under droppings boards never suited me, even 

 when I used droppings boards in the poultry 

 houses. The nest arrangement I like best for 

 laying hens is an open nest to hang on the 

 wall. This will be described in connection 

 with other nests in a subsequent lesson. 

 ^ As the reader may infer from a comparison 

 ■^ of this with my own plans, the packed wall 

 ^ and roof back of and above the fowls is a 

 feature I consider unnecessary. During this 

 last winter I have had one pen of hens that 

 had a shed full of leaves back of it, but I 

 /i Ft could not see that they were better off than the 



Crou section of Mr. Ryan's PouUru Hou^e. hens that had but one thickness of boards. 



$4 48 



