HOUSE AND GARDEN 
January, 1914 
for a distance of about 2 feet and wire 
netting used the rest of the way to the 
ceiling. The doors between each pen are 
3 feet wide and are covered with wire net¬ 
ting. The dropping boards and nests 
occupy the back north end of the building. 
The dropping boards are 3 feet above the 
floor and 3D feet wide, and extend the 
width of the pen, 10 feet. The perches 
are made of 2x2s, planed, and with the 
edges rounded. These are six inches from 
the dropping boards and are hinged to the 
back of the building, so that they can be 
raised and fastened when cleaning off the 
dropping boards. Under the dropping 
boards are 8 nests resting on a platform 1 
foot below the dropping boards. A hinged 
door occupies the front of these and from 
which the eggs are gathered. This ar¬ 
rangement of roosts and nests gives the 
fowls use of the entire floor space and 
gives a darkened place for the hens to lay 
in. The water founts, shell and grain hop¬ 
pers are placed at convenient places on the 
partition boards. 
The floor of the house is of concrete 
and constructed as follows : The space up 
to the bottom of the sills is filled with 
pounded stone; on this is spread a good 
coat of a 6 to 1 mixture of fine gravel and 
cement, mixed somewhat thin, and enough 
to make a good smooth surface. 
On this layer is placed a layer of good 
thick tar paper and over this and the last 
layer is a one-inch layer of cement (three 
parts fine sand and one part cement). 
This makes and ideal floor for a poultry 
house if you keep your house well venti¬ 
lated. It is wind and rat-proof and the 
tar-paper keeps the moisture out. It is 
easily constructed, easily cleaned and, 
above all. will last a lifetime. 
The yards are at the rear of the build¬ 
ing and are 10 feet wide and about 200 
feet long. In these are planted plum 
trees, which afford excellent shade for the 
fowls and are a profit to the owner. On 
to the main yards is another large yard 
surrounding a large apple orchard. Each 
pen is given this yard alternately each half 
clay, which makes an excellent foraging 
place for the fowls. 
Given a building of this kind with 
proper care and feeding, there is no 
trouble of keeping your fowls in the best 
of condition the year around. 
Let me mention again not to build your 
hen-houses too high. If the shed style roof 
were used the building would have to be 
at the least three feet higher in front in 
order to secure the proper slope of roof, 
and thus not only requiring much more 
material, but making the inside much 
higher and thus much colder. It is a fact 
that the lower the inside of the hen-house 
can be built and leave plenty of space for 
the attendant to move about in conven¬ 
iently, the easier it is to keep warmer and 
more comfortable and the result will be 
more eggs. The house will accommodate 
around 200 hens, which I have found to 
be about right. 
A. E. Vandevort. 
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