82 



THE COMPLETE POULTRY BOOK. 



The roosting-poles should not be more than a foot from the ground, if the heavy 

 Asiatic fowls are kept, as in flying down from higher roosts they are apt to injure 

 their feet, producing the deformity called " bumble foot." All the poles should 

 be at the same height to'prevent the struggle for the highest perch, which is sjit 

 to ensue if they are at different heights. For the larger fowls especially, the 

 poles should be at least three inches in diameter. 



The nest-boxes may be made stationary, but a better plan is tomake them after 

 the plan shown in Fig. 1, so that they can be moved from place to place if desir- 

 able. In this case they should all be of the same size, to facilitate the changing of 

 one with another. 



In Fig. 18 is given the ground plan, and in Fig. 19 the elevation, of a family 

 poultry house, intended to stand unconnected with other buildings, and to ac- 



Fio. W.— Self-Cleaning Poultry House. 



commodate fifty fowls. For this number it should be about twelve by eighteen 

 feet in size. A represents the laying room ; B the roosting room ; C the sitting 

 room, and i)a bin for grain. The nest boxes are shown in the partition between 

 the I'aying and sitting rooms, and are intended to slide back and forth ; but a 

 better plan might be to make them portable, and connect those of the sitting- 

 room with covered runs on the outside of the house, as shown in Fig. 4, remoV- 

 the bin D to the opposite side of the room. 



In Figs. 20 and 21 a self cleaning poultry house is shown ; the roosts being in 

 the gables, over the inclined floors, which are made of one by three inch slats, 

 set on edge, and about an inch apart, so that the droppings will fall through. 



Where several breeds of fowls are kept, the house represented in Figs. 18 and 

 19 may be extended to any length, and divided into sections of three rooms each, 

 constructed on the plan shown, and opening into runways both in fyontand rear. 

 A continuous passage way may be provided by changing the partition betweer 

 the laying and roosting rooms. 



The windows of the poultry-house should be hung on weights, or made to slide 



