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POULTRY CULTURE 



by their companions. For roosts of scantling, as described above, 

 up to 8 feet long, no intermediate supports are needed. For 

 longer roosts supports at intervals of 5 to 8 feet, according to 

 the length of the roost, must be provided. The intermediate support 

 is usually a strip of furring placed under the roosts and at right 

 angles to them, with one end attached to the wall back of them and 

 the other to a similar strip or a wire suspended from the roof. By 

 attaching the support to the wall and roof the floor space is kept 

 clear. When droppings boards are used below short roosts, the 

 roost may be supported independently. When long roosts have 



Fig. 249. Interior of compartment in long house of Maine Experiment Station 

 (Photograph from the station) 



droppings boards under them, intermediate supports (and some- 

 times all supports) may rest on the droppings boards. Various styles 

 of support are used, some of wood, others of iron. As these supports 

 interfere more or less with the work of removing the- droppings,- 

 many poultry keepers prefer to attach intermediate roost supports 

 to wall and roof, as when no droppings boards are used. 



Droppings boards. Droppings boards seem to have been adopted 

 first for the easy collection of hen manure free from other matter, 

 at a time when it could be profitably sold to tanneries. The drop- 

 pings board is a platform under the roosts, of such width that all 



