1877.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
373 
Some Convenient Poultry Houses. 
There are poultry houses which cost much money, 
but in which few eggs are laid, and in which the 
hens have but small comfort. It is not the material 
of which a house is built, but the plan upon which 
it is laid out, that makes it serviceable, or not, in use. 
There are a few 
absolute requisites 
about a poultry 
house; among 
these are light, 
good ventilation, 
warmth, arrange¬ 
ments for perfect 
cleanliness, no har¬ 
bors for vermin, 
and such a plan of 
structure that the 
fowls can be man¬ 
aged without fuss 
or disturbance. 
Without these, 
there cannot pos¬ 
sibly be any suc¬ 
cess with poultry, 
and with them suc¬ 
cess is certain, if 
the fowls are fed 
and cared for with 
that tact and judg¬ 
ment which results 
from experience or 
a rare intuitive 
skill. We have 
been favored with 
the plans given 
herewith by two 
very successful 
poultry breeders. 
Worcester, Mass., 
Brown Leghorns, 
strawberry garden, and the photograph from 
which the engraving is made, was taken during the 
picking season. The details of the house are 
thus given by Mr. Kinney: 
I have just furnished specifications to a gentle¬ 
man in Boston for a hen-house like mine, 20 by 50 
It., and one story and a half high. I furnished 
plans and specifications for a gentleman in New 
York for one the same width and 500 ft. long; this 
has been in use over two years, and is well liked. 
It is somewhat expensive, but not so much so as 
the small house on the colony plan recommended 
by Mr. Stoddard, and is much more convenient and 
ventilation. I whitewash the windows on the out¬ 
side in summer, using a force-pump with thin white¬ 
wash. It is not too warm in winter without white¬ 
wash. However many hens I may keep, I shall 
follow the same plan for a house 20 ft. wide, a 
story and a half high, and long enough for as many 
] I keep 25 fowls in such a room the year round, 
| with a run outside 12 ft. long, 31 ft. wide, and 21 
ft. high, covered with lath all around, 1 an inch 
I apart on sides and 11 inch apart on top. I make 
j the runs for fowls and chicks alike. Covers are 
made in sections 3 ft. long, so as to be removed at 
any time, to clean out the runs or put in loam, 
sand, leaves, weeds, etc. The runs are between the 
windows, to allow me to back a cart or barrow be¬ 
tween them and throw the manure out of the win¬ 
dows of the lower or upper story, as also out of the 
runs. At the extreme end of the runs out of doors, 
we have a tight box, without bottom, 21 ft. high 
next to the runs and 11 on the south end, just large 
enough for a hot bed sash to cover it, with a hole 
cut through from the run. This is a very important 
slide the north end of the cover under; one cover 
covers two runs, and when they are not wanted, I 
pack one upon the other, and they take but little 
room. To make the runs, one half of the pieces, 
12 ft. long and 21 ft. high, are made of 1 inch or J 
matched boards, cleated together; such a piece 
makes one side of two runs, being set up between 
them. My house is under ground on each side 3 
ft. ; the land was 
shaped just right, 
|| and I had plenty 
of stone; but if 
the frame is made 
of 2x4 stuff, board¬ 
ed on each side, 
with paper under¬ 
neath, it will be 
warm enough for 
any fowls any¬ 
where. I should 
put windows once 
in 10 or 20 ft. on 
north side, for ven¬ 
tilation, but all 
such should be 
supplied, in this 
cold climate, with 
shutters for winter 
use. There should 
be a large door, say 
31 or 4 ft. wide at 
each end of the 
building, and these 
doors should have 
outside shutters or 
double doors, and 
all east windows 
or west windows, 
should, in a cold 
climate, have shut¬ 
ters or double windows for winter. I put up 
shelves next the walk, at the end of the rooms, 
2 and 4 ft. from the floor, between the door 
and roosts, to set the nests upon and open out 
of the walk into the nests. A narrow shelf is 
placed opposite the lower nest shelf, to set the wa¬ 
ter cups on (pint tin cups are the best); and below 
this shelf, or two feet from the floor, is a matched 
board partition, and the bottom of the doors should 
be boarded, so that if a cock gets into the walk he 
can’t fight the others. The roosts are on the side 
of the rooms from the walk to the south side of the 
building, and the opposite side of the room from the 
door. 1 have a narrow shelf, say 6 inches wide, and 
10 inches from the floor, on the side of the room 
where the door is, to feed soft feed on. All dry feed 
6 ft. rooms as I want; 20 ft. wide gives 16 ft. long 
for room and 4 ft. for a walk up on the north side. 
THE BARN AT “ECHO FARM,” THE PROPERTY OF 3. RATCHFORD STARR, ESQ. — {Seepage 378.) 
One, Mr. F. H. Kinney, of 
is the well-known breeder of 
His poultry house is in his 
economical. My house has only one story, but the 
extra amount of valuable room saved by the half 
story, and the convenience in cleaning out, venti¬ 
lation, etc., more than pay. I am convinced that 
a roof, with the rafters on each side as long as the 
building is wide, is the most profitable. No snow 
lies on such a roof, and no water will get in ; one 
can have as little glass as he wishes, or none at all; 
but I like the south side about half glass, and one 
window every 20 feet or so on the north side for 
“ annex,” especially in the winter—the fowls enjoy 
a dust bath, and I can put in sulphur, tobacco dust, 
or any other good insect destroyer. Another im¬ 
portant thing, hard to show on a plan, is a cover 
for the run in winter, or in case of long 6torms of 
rain. We make them of 12 ft. boards, matched 
pine, and cleated together strongly with wrought 
nails, well clinched. The end away from the build¬ 
ing, on the south end, we make tight with the same 
kind of boards, and nail cleats on to the building, to 
is scattered into the runs and on the floors of the 
rooms, that are always covered with some kind, or 
all kinds of litter. I have a tight partition between 
the rooms, 4 ft. high, and the roosts are 2 ft. or 3 
ft. from the floor, so as to avoid draughts of air at 
night. A chimney is made in the west part of the 
house, 12 ft. from the end, and in the middle of the 
building. It is convenient to have a stove in the 
lower part, to cook food, heat water, etc., in win¬ 
ter, but I have never used it to keep the house warm. 
