CONSTRUCTION OF HOUSES 177 



a flight of stairs with a platform at the top, five feet 

 square and with a hand rail around it, giving easy- 

 access to the House through the end from which the 

 least number of violent storms comes. The east ends 

 of the Laying Houses do not have steps and platforms. 



The dropping boards are placed three feet above the 

 floor in all the Houses, except in the Cockerel House, 

 where they are thirty inches from the floor, as we 

 found the growing cockerels needed additional space 

 overhead to prevent injury to their combs. This 

 leaves abundance of room in the Laying Houses for 

 the birds to work in the litter, and is also of sufficient 

 height to allow a man to get under the dropping boards 

 to search for the eggs which the hens often deposit in 

 the litter. 



This height also gives the Sun an opportunity to 

 reach every nook and corner of the House at some 

 time during the day. 



Draught-Proof Roosting Closets 



The partitions dividing the twenty foot sections of 

 the roosting closets, as previously explained, are seven 

 feet in width, extending out one foot beyond the drop- 

 ping boards, which are six feet wide, and thus giving 

 absolute protection to the hen , sitting on the roost, 

 from any draughts which may be blowing through the 

 House. 



Two sets of roosts are placed in each roosting 

 closet, each consisting of five perches, of two by two 



