86 FIRST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 



A House With Single Pitched Roof Sloping South. 



E. A. O'Brien, South Dennis, Mass. 



Thte Is a 10 X 15 ft. house; 7 ft. back; 4 ft. front, facing south. The claim for this house 

 Is a combination Jaying house and scratching shed. Its capacity is twenty hens. 



There are two windows SJ x 4 ft. in front, which are hinged at top, and opening inward, 

 held up by a hook from roof, wire netting on outside of casing, so that in all stormy days 

 tliese windows can be opened, and the fowls have plenty of good fresh air with no drafts. 

 Ttese windows are placed at the west end of the front of the house, one foot apart, 

 leaving a space of six feet at the east end for laying and roosting room not partitioned off. 



The droppings board is 3 x 6 ft., and on hinges which can be made at any blacksmith's 

 6hop — a four inch eye threaded — which is screwed into the corner upright, and into another 

 upright six feet away; the hinge is ma<le with an "L" to fit the eye, rounded. The 

 roosts are made of three inch furring — two pieces 6 ft. long, 14 in. apart, and two pieces 

 2i ft. long — and put on binges the iame as the drdppings board, and attached to the same 

 uprights, only 8 in. above droppings board, which is one foot above the lower stringer. 



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Ground Plan of Mr. O^Brien's poultry House. 

 X>, doov; 0, SQiall door; w, window; d, droppings board; r r, roosts; 'J\ trough for droppings; w, water vessel. 



A flat trough, 10 in. wide and 6 ft. long, with 4 in. ends and sides, is placed between the 

 two uprights close to the wall; this trough catches all the droppings as the droppings board 

 is raised up to the back wall and hooked up out of the way. With the hinges made as 

 above mentioned, the roosts and droppings board can be unhinged without any trouble, and 

 taken out and cleaned. 



When going through the house mornings to feed, it is a matter of but a minute to raise 

 roosts and droppings board, droppings falling into trough beJow; then when feeding at night 

 let them down again and sprinkle a little slaked lime or ashes — just dust — vi'hich absorbs the 

 moisture from droppings, and they roll off when the board is raised; trough may be 

 cleaned once a week. Push wheelbarrow into house, and as the trough ts viide enough to 

 admit a Kbovel, it takes but few minutes to clean it out, again using a sprinkling of lime or 

 ashes. 



The arrangement of roosts and droppings boards gives the whole house for a scratching 

 shed. Put in a foot of litter; throw grain in litter, and hens will do the rest. 



On extremely cold nights a curtain of burlap can be made very cheaply and dropped from 

 roof to about six feet above the droppings board ; the burlap is better than cotton or duck, as 

 it Is so loosely woven that It does not make a hot bouse of the roosts, but allows a free circu- 

 lation of air, and yet gives the needed warmth. 



