Care and Management of Poultry 345 
552. Floors. — The floor of the poultry house should be so 
constructed as to insure dryness, warmth, ease of cleaning, and 
durability, at reasonable cost. A properly constructed cement 
floor accomplishes all the requirements better than any other, 
although sand or dirt is much cheaper and sometimes advisable. 
Hens like a dirt floor if it is dry and kept clean. The dirt floor 
should be well above the outside surface so that the water drains 
away, leaving the floor dry and comfortable for the fowls. 
553. Interior fixtures. — Every poultry house should be pro- 
vided with perches, droppings-platform, nests, brooding coop, dust 
bath, water pan, grit- and feed-hoppers, and a grain supply can. 
The feed- and grit-hoppers should be rat proof, self-feeding, and 
non-was{jng. All interior fixture should be simple, convenient, 
and portable, so as to be readily removable for cleaning and dis- 
infecting (Fig. 138). 
554. Labor-saving appliances. — Success in raising ‘poultry 
depends largely on the attention given to details. Since the needs 
of fowls call for such painstaking effort, the efficiency of the attend- 
ant will depend largely on the use of labor-saving devices. 
The economy in labor of feeding fowls in the long house is greatly 
increased by the use of an overhead car system, passing from one 
end of the house to the other. Where the feed room is not in 
connection with the house, the track can be extended over the 
intervening space, and the heavy work of carrying feed or other 
necessities lessened. 
Where many fowls are kept in the flock, capacious feed-hoppers 
should be provided. These should be constructed for both indoor 
and outdoor use. These have the advantage of holding a large 
supply of the whole and ground grains, meat scrap, shell, and grit ; 
sufficient to supply the fowls with food for several days. 
In catching fowls much time is saved and fright and injury are 
avoided by the use of a catching-hook. This is made by at- 
_taching a No. 10 steel wire to the end of a broom handle, and then 
by bending a hook in the other end of the wire of sufficient size to 
