LIBRARY
OF THE
UN!VERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
Class
POULTRY
ARCHITECTURE
A Practical Guide
for Construction
of Poultry Houses^
Coops and Yards
ONE HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS
Compiled by
GKORGK B. FISKE
New York
O R A X (1 K J U I) 1) COMPANY
1907
\
TY \
Copyright 1QO2
~by
Orange fudct Company
CONTENTS
Introduction
CHAPTER I
LOCATION AND METHODS
Foundations and walls — Glass in cold weather — Roosts, etc — •
Troughs — Fountains — Notes.
CHAPTER II
LOW-COST HOUSES
Poultry house of G. R France — Convenient house — Cheap and
labor-saving — A handy hennery — A house for layers —
Cheap houses and shelters.
CHAPTER III
BUILDINGS FOR COLONY SYSTEM
House for mild climates — H. H. Stoddard's poultry house —
Northern colony houses — Rhode Island colony houses.
CHAPTER IV
HOMES FOR FARM POULTRY
Grundy's prize house — Farmers' poultry house — Removable
houses — WyckofFs houses — Portable coop — House for
Pacific coast — House for south — House with cloth run —
Good winter houses — Maine henhouse — Interior plans.
j (• o
*i- o *->
JV CONTENTS
CHAPTER V
BANK AND SOD STRUCTURES
A Kansas sod house — A Nebraska plan — House in a sand
bank — Windproof structures — A house of logs — Bank wall
houses.
CHAPTER VI
HIGH-GRADE PLANTS
Well-made house in detail — A business poultry plant — A model
house — Practical poultry home.
CHAPTER VII
ADDITIONS AND EXTRAS
Using a second story—Adding a scratching pen — Shelter and
lean-to — Protected coop — Run of sash and straw — Cheap
runs.
CHAPTER VIII
FOR INCUBATORS AND BROODERS
A brooder plant — Improved incubator house — A brooder and
growing house — Brooder boxes — Houses for separate
brooders — Brooder attachments.
CHAPTER IX
SPECIAL PURPOSE BUILDINGS
Cold storage — Turkey houses — Improved duckhouses — Pigeon
lofts — Combination house.
CHAPTER X
COOPS, YARDS AND FENCES
Glass roof coops — Hotbed coops — Rat-proof — Cool runs — Ten-
cent coops — Orchard chicken coop — Fattening pens — Sum-
mer and fall shelter — Movable yards — Hen-tight fence.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG. PAGE
i — Up and Down and Crosswise Boarding . . 3
2 — Sections of Foundations and Wall ... 4
3— Sash with Double Glass ... 7
4 — Window for Cold Weather . .8
5 — House for Mild Climates 10
6 — House of Mr France ...... 12
7 — Convenient House. End View and Front Elevation 13
8 — Cheap and Labor-Saving. Cross Section . . 14
9 — Cheap and Labor-Saving. Ground Floor . . 14
10 — Handy Hennery ....... 16
II — House for Layers ....... 19
12 — Ten-Dollar Henhouse ...... 20
13 — House and Shed ... ... 21
14 — Interior of House with Shed ..... 21
15— A Small House ... .22
16 — Colony House for Mild Climates .... 24
17 — H. H. Stoddard's Colony House .... 26
18 — Northern Colony House ... -3°
19 — Rhode Island Colony House . • 32
20 — Grundy's Poultry House and Yard . . 36
21 — Farmers' Poultry House . . • 3^
22 — House Easily Removed ... -4°
23 — Interior and Details ... 4[
24 — End View of House and Details . 43
25 — Movable Coop 45
26 — An Oregon Plan • 46
27 — House for Warm Climates ... 48
28 — House for One Hundred Fowls . • 5°
29 — House with Cloth Run . . 51
30 — L-Shaped House with Shed . - 52
31 — Octagon House ... -53
32 — Good Winter House 54
VI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG. PAGK
33 — Good House with Interior Fixtures • • • 55
34 — Interior Contrivances 56
35 — A Maine Henhouse 57
36 — A Prairie Henhouse 60
37 — Henhouse of Kansas Farmer ..... 61
38 — A Nebraska Sod Hcruse ...... 62
39 — House in a Sand Bank ...... 63
40 — Windproof Structure ...... 65
41 — A Log Chicken House . .66
42— A Bank Wall House 67
43 — Interior of Bank Wall House ..... 67
44 — Warm and Convenient Building .... 68
45 — Well-Made House. Front and Rear Elevations 71
46 — Well-Made House. End Elevation and Pen Run 72
47 — Interior of Well-Made House • • • • 73
48 — Section Through Pen ...... 74
49 — Plan Showing Roosts ...... 75
50 — Business Poultry House ..... 76
51 — Front Elevation of Model House .... 79
52 — Ground Plan of Model House .... 79
53 — Side View and Floor System ... -79
54 — Cross Section of Model House .... 79
55 — Practical Poultry House . . . . .81
56 — Runway to Second Story and Upper Room . . 82
57 — House with Scratching Shed ..... 83
58 — Shelter and Lean-to . . -84
59 — Protected Coop . . . . . -85
60 — Run of Sash and Straw ... .86
61 — Protected Scratching Sheds . -87
62 — Plan of Duck or Brooder Buildings ... 89
63 — Double Roof Incubator House . . . .90
64 — Banked Incubator Room ..... 91
65 — Incubator House and Tank ..... 92
66 — Double Brooder House ...... 93
67 — Combination Brooder Building .... 94
68 — Construction of Brooder Box ..... 95
69 — Pipe Brooder House ...... 96
70 — Houses for Separate Brooders . . 97
71 — Oregon Brooder House . . .98
72 — Houses for Winter Chicks 99
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Vll
FIG. 1'AGK
73 — Plan for Cold Storage House for Poultry . . 101
74 — Buildings for Turkeys ...... 104
75 — Improved Duckhouse ...... 107
76 — Duckhouse and Shed . . . . . .107
77 — Pigeon Loft and Interior ..... 108
78 — House for Poultry and Pigeons . . . .109
79 — Ground Plan for Combination House . . . 109
80 — Glass-Roofed Coops no
81 — Hotbed Run and Coops . . . in
82 — Rat-Proof Coops and Run . . . . 112
83 — Box and Barrel Coops . . . . . • 115
84 — Coops from Barrels and Crates . . . .116
85— A-Shaped Coops . . . 117
86 — A-Shaped Coop and Frame . . . . .117
87 — Coop from a Shoe Box . . . 1 18
88 — A Packing Box Coop 119
89 — Brood Coop with Run ...... 120
90 — Light Box Coops ....... 120
91 — Shelter and Portable Coop 121
92 — Colony Shelter Coop 122
93 — Orchard Coop 123
94 — Fattening Boxes ..... .124
95 — Coops for Sitting Hens ...... 124
96 — Shipping and Exhibition Coops . . . .125
97— Yards for Three Flocks . 125
98 — Yards for Two or Four Flocks . % . . . 126
99 — Movable Poultry Yard 127
100 — Making a Fence Chicken Proof . . . 128
INTRODUCTION
The aim of this book is to give designs of sufficient
variety to suit conditions everywhere. Few requests
come more often to the office of a poultry editor than
those asking designs and directions for some part
of a poultry plant. The number and variety of such
requirements is surprising.
On the other hand, the very diversity of conditions
which create the demand has also developed a supply.
A multitude of houses and coops of differing styles
have been designed by ingenious poultry keepers in
accord with their experience and to meet local condi-
tions. This little volume aims to bring together these
two classes, the intending builders and those who have
already built successfully. It is thought that the one
hundred designs of such wide range of style, cost and
adaptation will meet all requirements.
Many of the designs originally appeared in Ameri-
can Agriculturist weeklies in response to definite re-
quests. The plans are carefully selected from a much
larger number, and only those are given which are
in successful use and which are adapted to the needs
of practical poultry keepers ; pretentious or overorna-
mental and elaborate affairs having been excluded.
Wherever thought necessary or desirable, complete
specifications of cost and construction have been in-
cluded, so that the structures may be put up by anyone
who can handle sawr and hammer.
/Xy5>m* .
/ • OP-TIT
CHAPTER I
LOCATION AND METHODS
Poultry can be made to do well almost anywhere,
just as cattle are made profitable on many farms not
especially adapted for dairying. Management and
system of housing should be varied to suit the location.
Some good paying poultry farms are on stiff,
heavy clay land, where water collects in pools after
rain. Others just as profitable are on rather thin, light
soil. Still, it is generally agreed that a good, free, well
drained loam has certain advantages. The soil dries
quickly after a rain, snow melts more quickly, it warms
rapidly in the sun, every shower purifies it by carrying
down a part of the impurities. On wet, heavy soil the
fowls should have very wide range or the ground
becomes muddy and unwholesome. Yet such land is a
rich storehouse of plant food and affords the best of
grass and insect diet even when drouth checks all fresh
growth on other land. Heavy land is best suited to
the colony or free range systems. Some of the largest
and most profitable farms have been thus located and
conducted, and the fowls maintained in perfect health
and vigor.
On rather poor land the fowls should also have
wide range in order to find enough wild food. Good
pasturage should be considered as important as for
cattle.
Rocky land is seldom made the location of large
farms for poultry culture, since frequent cultivation
and cropping is a part of most systems. Money saved
2 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
in buying rough or sandy land is soon lost many times
over in decrease of net returns. If one may choose,
let him buy good, clear, well drained loam, with a
gradual southern slope and a forest protection at the
north. But, as said before, most locations can be made
satisfactory by suitable buildings and system of man-
agement.
The site of permanent buildings should be well
drained naturally, but in a great majority of cases the
conditions will be improved by at least heaping up with
a horse scraper a little knoll of earth about the same in
area as the house. Dryness is the great preventive of
disease in poultry, and is even more important than
warmth. A dry hen will stand a great deal of cold
weather without much injury.
Foundation and IV alls — It pays to have a stone
foundation reaching down to frost line, or from one to
three feet below the surface and rising about one foot
above th^, ground level. When covered with earth, a
dry, dusty floor is ensured all winter, and rats are kept
out even without a cement covering for the stone floor.
Anything but a stone foundation is likely to take up
more or less moisture, which will freeze and thaw,
making the floor hard and cold, or muddy, neither state
being suitable for scratching and for dust baths. Floors
below ground are unsatisfactory in moist climates
Dampness works in, spoils the scratching floor, stops
laying and causes lameness, colds and bowel trouble.
If the floor, however, has been raised by a rock filling,
the outside of the building may be banked with earth to
good advantage.
Tight Foundations — When small buildings are
erected upon the farm, there is a temptation, in the
interest of economy, to omit the tight stone foundation
and put the building on posts. This leaves the building
open beneath and permits the cold winds to reduce the
LOCATION AND METHODS
temperature. A plan is shown in the cut, Figure i,
which obviates this. The walls are boarded up and
down, using matched cedar boards, and allowing these
to extend to the ground, as shown. A little soil is then
banked up against the lower end, which is grassed over
quickly, making a tight foundation that will last many
years. If the framing is made to use crosswise board-
ing, put on the latter as shown at right of Figure i,
using a wide cedar board to extend from the sill down
to the ground, and bank with a few inches of earth as
before mentioned. The building can then be shingled
or clapboarded.
FIG I I UI' A XI) DOWN A XI) CROSSWISE UOARDIXG
In placing a house, let it face the south or as nearly
so as possible. It is cooler in summer and warmer in
winter than one facing either east or west. The sun
in summer during the hottest part of the day is nearly
directly overhead and does not shine in so strongly in
a south window. In winter, when low in the heavens,
the south window catches more of the sun's rays.
A Poultry House Floor of cement may well be pat-
terned after the plan shown at left of Figure 2. The
foundation is of loose stones to give drainage. The
stones above are cemented. A layer of small stones
beneath the cement serves as drainage. The sills of the
house are bedded in cement to keep out vermin. This
plan gives an exceedingly warm house, and the cement
floor will keep out all rats and poultry enemies. A
4 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
cement floor is a cold affair in winter unless covered
with plenty of dust and litter.
A Very Warm Wall designed by G. C. Watson of
the Pennsylvania experiment station is double on all
sides and practically air tight, with a two-inch air space
between the walls. A section plan is shown at right
of Figure 2. A two by three scantling set edgewise
forms the plate, and to this the boards of the side walls
are nailed. These boards may be of rough lumber if
economy in building is desired. If so, the inner board-
ing should be nailed on first and covered with tarred
building paper on the side that will come within the
FIG 2 : SECTIONS OF FOUNDATIONS AND WALL
hollow wall when the building is completed. This
building paper is to be held in place with laths or strips
of thin boards. If only small nails or tacks are used,
the paper will tear around the nail heads when damp
and will not stay in place.
The cracks between the boards of the outside
boarding may be covered with inexpensive battens if
they are nailed at frequent intervals with small nails.
Ordinary building lath will answer this purpose ad-
mirably, and will last many years, although they are
not so durable as heavier and more expensive strips.
The tarred paper on the inside boarding and the battens
on the outside make two walls, each impervious to
LOCATION AND M KTILODS 5
wind, with an air space between them. Common build-
ing paper may be used or stout paper of any kind.
It has been left for the West Virginia experiment
station to determine just how much difference there
would be in egg production between similar flocks kept
in warm and cold houses. Two houses, built exactly
alike and situated side by side, were selected for the
experiment, in each of which were placed twelve pul-
lets. One house had previously been sheathed on the
inside and covered with paper to make it perfectly
tight. Both were boarded with matched siding and
shingle roofs.
The fowls were fed alike in each case. The morn-
ing mash consisted of corn meal, ground middlings
and ground oats, and at night whole grain was scat-
tered in the litter. They also had fresh water, grit and
bone and granulated bone. The experiment started
November 24 and continued for five months. The fol-
lowing table shows the number of eggs laid during each
period of thirty days :
RESULTS FROM COLD AND WARM HOUSES
12345 Total
Warm house .... 87 130 138 120 154 629
Cold house 39 106 103 124 114 486
The experiment clearly indicates that it is impor-
tant to build warm and substantial houses for winter
egg production.
In very cold climates special pains should be taken
to make the roosting place warm. Combs are usually
frozen during the night. Double walls battened with
lath outside and lined with building paper make a
warm roost room. With single-wall houses, double
boarding on the north side is a protection. An outside
shield of corn stalks or hay and litter is also effective.
6 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
Costly material is not needed for the poultry house.
Often a discarded barn or other building can be bought
cheap and the sound lumber used again. Others on
farms can work up home grown timber. For city
poulterers, large packing boxes bought at dry goods
stores are a cheap source of lumber. Sometimes old
street cars have been bought for a trifle and remodeled.
Serviceable houses have been made from staves of old
barrels as an outside covering. Old strips of carpet,
oilcloth, wall paper or building paper may be utilized
to some extent as mside protection.
A coat of home-mixed paint improves the durabil-
ity and appearance of a house enough to pay for its cost.
Whitewash is much better than nothing, and will add
years to the life of second-hand lumber.
Shingles properly applied to a roof of fairly steep
pitch are the best and warmest roofing, but a strip of
building paper should be laid beneath to keep out cur-
rents of cold air which work in between the shingles.
Tin or iron is sometimes cheaper than wood, and for
temporary structures, felting paper with a coat of paint
will last about two years. An advantage of sheet mate-
rials for roofing is that a steep pitch is not needed to
carry off the water, but such materials are cold in
winter and hard to repair when damaged.
Glass in Cold }Vcathcr — Amateur builders com-
monly use too much glass, which makes a house un-
naturally warm on sunny days, but extremely and
dangerously cold by night and on stormy days. One
window not over three feet square and about eighteen
inches above the floor to each ten feet of house length
is enough. Warmth is much increased by a shutter or
curtain for night. Windows should be arranged to
slide to oii€ side or be easily taken out during hot
weather.
LOCATION AND METHODS
Double windows are sometimes used, but these are
expensive, somewhat of a bother to put on and hard to
keep clean.
The cut, Figure 3, shows a single sash, double
glazed, which a poultryman has recently described.
The sash is made so that the glass can be set on both
sides of the wooden bars, leaving a half inch or more
of space between. This gives a double window and
the cost is said to be not more than twenty-five cents
extra per sash for the glass and the labor of setting.
Those who are providing windows for new or re-
FIG 3 : SASH WITH DOUBLE GLASS
modeled poultry houses will do well to experiment with
this plan. The glazing must be tight and carefully done
to keep out all dirt and dust from the inner surfaces
of the glass. Figure 4 shows a window partly
double, making a convenient arrangement for ventilat-
ing without draft, and securing greater warmth at
night and on cloudy days.
Roosts, Nests, Troughs, Fountains, etc, will not be
treated at length in this volume. Roosts should be all
8 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
on a level, should be about two inches thick, rounded
on the upper side, not over two feet from the floor, and
removable.
Troughs and Drinking Places should be protected
by slats. Nests should be numerous, secluded and
easily removed. Beware of too complicated inside
arrangements when large numbers of fowls are kept
for profit. Successful large farms are nearly always
FIG 4: WINDOW FOR COLD WEATHER
conducted on very simple plans, but with emphasis
placed on the main needs of the fowls.
Notes — Dryness and warmth are the two main
essentials in most climates.
Everything inside should be removable, also
doors and windows.
The house should be made tight enough feo hold
smoke when fumigated.
LOCATION AND METHODS <j
Cost ranges from twenty-five cents to five dollars
per fowl. A reasonably good business house may be
built at one dollar per head.
When building an all-around house, provide for
summer as well as for winter.
Rather than extend beyond seventy-five feet, better
start a new building.
Study actual needs of fowls rather than comfort
of the attendant.
CHAPTER II
LOW-COST HOUSES
Buildings fairly comfortable and lasting can be
erected at fifty cents to one dollar per fowl. Where
old material is used, very little money need be paid out.
The plans of the low-cost structures are so simple that
almost anyone may do the work. Some of them can
be made for about one dollar per running foot, includ-
ing labor. The number of fowls accommodated by any
house varies with the breed, the climate, the size of
FIG 5 I HOUSE FOR MILD CLIMATES
outside run, and the care given. Expert poultry men
can obtain good results from crowded pens. For aver-
age conditions allow ten to twenty square feet of floor
surface per fowl.
In regions where the snow does not cover the
ground too deeply, a cheap, low structure can be built
after the plan shown in Figure 5, that will answer the
purpose very well. Stakes are driven into the ground
LOW-COST HOUSES II
and rough boards nailed to these to a hight of three
feet in front and two feet in the rear, leaving spaces
for low, wide sash in front. A long and a short roof
is put on, with roof doors in the front, short roof.
These are made with overlapping edges to secure tight-
ness against the wind and rain. The attendant stands
outside and through these roof doors cares for the
fowls, securing the eggs from nests that are within
reach, putting in water and scattering grain in the
litter. The whole structure is covered with tarred or
resin-sized paper, the edges being securely tacked or
battened with laths. The roof is covered in the
same way.
Select a dry location, and put in three inches of
gravel upon the ground and keep a thick layer of chaff
upon that, and the inmates will scratch away merrily
for grain all winter long. Make the building any
length desired and part off with boards — or with net-
ting if only females are to be kept in the pens — before
the roof is put on. Roosts can be put up just out of
the fowls' way when on the floor. With care to make
the roof tight, such a building, while it costs but little,
will prove very satisfactory.
This Low Cost Building, designed by G. R. France,
Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, for about twenty-five
hens, could also be built in duplicate with the main
alley running the whole length of the connected build-
ings and in front of the different sections, about
twenty-five hens to be kept in each. (Figure 6.)
It is intended to be built of rough hemlock, the
price of which is based at ten dollars per thousand
feet. It could be made of mill slabs doubled, with a
space between, packed with straw and battened with
slabs. The ground space is filled up with loose stone
thrown in until on a level with the bottom of the sills,
and then dirt is spread over the stone and tamped down
12
POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
hard. This filling is cheap and the stone allows the
moisture to go through, and the dirt floor is always
dry. However, if a board floor is wanted, add one
hundred and sixty-eight feet of matched hemlock
flooring at fifteen dollars per thousand feet. For a
partition, in place of netting use straight poles from
the forest, for cheapness. Mr France had the sash, and
battened his roof with slabs, but still was very careful
to make it warm, and it cost him only about four
dollars for material.
Below is an itemized list of lumber and other sup-
plies : Two hundred and sixty feet of ten-foot inch
FIG 6: HOUSE OF MR FRANCE
boards for siding (must not be cut to waste) ; two hun-
dred and thirty-one feet of fourteen-foot boards for
roof and nests; one hundred feet battens three inches
by ten feet ; two pieces two by six inches by fourteen
feet, and two pieces two by six inches by twelve feet for
sills ; eight pieces two by four inches by fourteen feet
for plates and cross-beams ; four pieces one by six
inches by twelve feet for window casing; two squares
of felt roofing at one dollar and fifty cents per square,
including nails for same ; one roll building paper, five
hundred square feet, sixty cents ; netting six by sixteen
feet, seventy cents ; ten pounds nails, thirty cents ; two
pairs strap hinges, thirty cents ; four half sash, two dol-
LOW -COST HOUSES 13
lars and fifty cents. Total cost of lumber and supplies,
fourteen dollars and forty-five cents. Waste material
can be used where there is some on hand. The labor
would occupy a carpenter with one man to help about
two days.
Convenient House — Figure 7 shows the front ele-
vation and end view of a poultry house that has some
good points. The arrangement of the roosts, / /
(which are made movable to facilitate cleaning away
the droppings), on a stand in the middle of the room,
makes it convenient to get at them. The door in front
of the nests, g, swings up so as to gather the eggs, the
FIC, 7 : CONVENIENT HOUSE. END VIEW AND FRONT
ELEVATION
hens entering at the rear ; h is the ventilator, which
is opened and shut by a weight and cord ; this system
of ventilation is defective. As has been frequently ex-
plained, the proper way to ventilate a poultry house
is by means of a shaft running from within a few
inches of the floor to several feet above the roof. Thus
a draft is created that draws up the cold air and bad
odors from near the ground, while the warm air at the
top is thus brought down and the fowls are kept much
warmer than would be the case if a hole in the roof
let out all the warm air. The space underneath the
nests, marked e, can be utilized for sitters or for
storage.
14 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
Cheap and Saves Labor — The accompanying
illustrations, Figures 8 and 9, show a very handy and
convenient henhouse. It is located near the kitchen and
is so cleanly that the women of the house can run in
and out after eggs or for feeding purposes. It is built
FIG 8l CHEAP AND LABOR-SAVING. CROSS SECTION
of matched siding, running up and down, and the roof
is of the same material, with tarred paper on the
inside. All the inside fixtures are movable, and
monthly during the warm weather everything is taken
^
• ••••«••»•«*•
_*feU-_.
1-f J
•(
__A
f
* *
•» «y*
FIG 9: CHEAP AND LABOR-SAVING. GROUND FLOOR
out and the whole inside, including the roof, is given
a shower bath of lime water and carbolic acid, applied
with a spray pump. The roost poles are covered \vith
LOW -COST HOUSES 15
cloth, which is occasionally saturated with kerosene.
Near the right, as seen in the diagram, Figure 8, is the
entrance door, and a is a bin four feet high and eighteen
inches wide, running the whole length of the building,
with a hinged lid, for storing droppings. Above this
box is a shelf, b, for holding feed, shells, gravel, etc.
At the left of the door is a tight platform, c, one foot
beneath the roost poles, c, for catching the droppings.
At d is a hinged door opening on a level with the plat-
form, through which the droppings are shoveled once a
week into bin a. The nest boxes, f, are one foot square
and fifteen inches high, leaving an eight-inch passage
for the hens to enter the nests ; a small crack is left
at the top in the back, so that the light strikes the eight-
inch alley, but not the boxes. Each nest is a separate
box, and when a hen becomes broody the nest box is
pulled forward close to the drop door, thus shutting up
the alley and locking biddy on her nest. As the nests
are all alike, it makes no difference which nest she
chooses to brood in — it can be moved to the end and
thus does not obstruct the passage. About two inches of
moist sand are put into the bottom of each nest before
the hen is set; the straw nest is built thereon and the
eggs are given her. The door, g, is then shut down.
Every morning the hatching hens are let out for fifteen
minutes to eat, drink, wallow, etc, after which they
will usually take their own nests ; if not, they can be
easily changed. The eggs can be gathered through
the door, g.
At /, under the nest boxes, is a long trough with
partitions for soft feed, water, milk, etc, running the
whole length of the building. The space between this
trough and d in Figure 9 is slatted up with common
lath, running from the front side of the nests to the
back side of the trough, thus leaving the trough in the
alley where the fowls cannot get into it — the lath being
[6
POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
far enough apart to allow the fowls easy access to the
feed. The lath are nailed to narrow strips at top and
bottom, to be movable. At / is a dust bath the whole
length of the building in front of the windows, which
face the south.
In Figure 9, at s, is an oil stove which is used when
the temperature gets too low. At m m are ventilators
with slides to gauge them. The doors, h h, are for
access to dust baths, etc, and n n are windows. Each
of the two apartments will accommodate twenty-five
fowls.
FIG IOI HANDY HENNERY
A Handy Hennery — The chief objection to a two-
story henhouse is the inconvenience of going upstairs,
carrying up earth and cleaning out the upper story.
But all the annoyances are obviated in the hennery
shown, Figure 10, and twice the amount of space is
secured which the same amount of roof usually covers.
This was built at a cost of ten dollars for carpenter's
work and twenty-eight dollars more for the total cost
of sash, nails, lumber, etc. As the perspective shows,
the bank wall and digging required some labor. The
cut shows the south and west sides of the house. It is
LOW-COST HOUSES IJ
fourteen by sixteen feet and is an unusually warm
structure considering the fact that it is not lined. The
estimate does not include some old lumber which made
the roof boards. The roofing is not included. The
south slope to the roof is shingled. This covers but
one-third the area, and two bundles of shingles are
sufficient. Board floors are used only in the second
story. On the ground floor the earth is filled in to the
top of the stone underpinning. It remains perfectly
dry in the wettest weather and is much more satis-
factory than board or cement could possibly be. The
building has a window both above and below on the
east side.
The sills are four by six inches, two being fourteen
feet and two sixteen feet long. The corner posts are
four by four inches by twelve feet long, another stick
four by four inches and ten feet long, four joists three
by four inches and sixteen feet long, two more* of the
same only fourteen feet long, nine joists for the floor
two by five inches and fourteen feet long, eight rafters
two by four inches and twelve feet long, eight more
of the same only seven feet long. This made in round
numbers four hundred and fifty feet, and five hundred
and fifty feet more of Georgia pine planed on one side
and sixteen feet long was bought at a cost of sixteen
dollars per thousand. Also two bundles of shingles
at one dollar per bundle and ten sashes at forty cents
each, second hand. The frame timber cost eighteen
dollars per thousand feet. Twenty pounds of eight-
penny nails and ten pounds of tens were bought for
seventy-five cents, five pounds of spikes twenty-five
cents, the same weight of six-inch spikes twenty-five
cents, seven pounds of wire nails thirty-five cents, four
pairs of hinges thirty-two cents and two door handles
for thirty-five cents. The front of the structure is made
of pine which cost seventeen dollars per thousand.
9
1 8 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
Only one Hundred and seventy feet were used, costing
three dollars. The pine was got at this low price, being
a cheap lot, with here and there narrow seams of
decayed wood. These places were soaked with hot lin-
seed oil as soon as the house was completed, which
will stop all further decay. A little putty will fill all
the seams and paint will hide everything. No window
frames were used, the sash being put just behind the
siding and arranged to slide sidewise.
The partitions run north and south upstairs and
down. A three-foot hall extends along the north side
of the exposed upper story, thus adding to its warmth.
From this hall doors open into both apartments. The
partitions running north and south are made of mov-
able poultry hurdles that can be used out of doors in
summer if desired. The hens like these deep rooms,
they are so cool in summer, and afford dark retreats at
the rear for skulking away to lay. Screens have been
put up downstairs to increase the darkness at the back.
The house is not an unsightly one, as many poultry
houses are. It is to be painted light drab, with white
about the doors and windows to represent frames. A
quantity of pieces of boards from three to five feet long-
were left after cutting the sixteen-foot boards. These
came in handy for flooring, screens, nest boxes, etc.
A House for Layers — It is sometimes better to
have a number of small houses suitable for laying
rather than have roosting, feeding and laying accom-
modations combined under one roof, as is so often the
case. Hens soon learn where the comforts for laying
are to be found and seek them, giving better attention
to what duties they have to perform in this respect
than they do under other surroundings. The illustra-
tion, Figure n, shows a cheaply constructed laying
house, to be built any size the builder wishes to make it.
It is made against the wall of another building with a
LOW-COST HOUSES HJ
southern aspect or shelter. This acts to advantage to
the laying quarters, keeping it free from the severe
cutting winds and snow of winter and damp rains of
spring time. Nothing but nesting compartments are
within the building and the hens know what is to be
expected of them upon entering. The entrance for the
hens is, as will be noticed, at the end of the building.
In cold weather it shuts out the cold that leaving a
larger opening would involve. At night a board on the
FIG II : HOUSE FOR LAYERS
inside should shut up the inclosure to keep the build-
ing warm.
A Ten-Dollar Henhouse — This coop, Figure 12,
costs ten dollars and is large enough for a dozen fowls.
The coops are built seven by ten feet of boards costing-
six dollars per thousand. From ground to eaves
the distance or the length of the boards is two and a
half feet. The roof boards are five feet long and are
covered with tarred paper. The doorway in front on
20
I'O U LTK V ARC H ITECT URE
the south side is twenty inches wide by five feet high.
This kind of coop does first rate for summer and fairly
well for winter use.
The House and Shed shown in the illustration,
Figure 13, can be made for sixteen to twenty dollars,
and will answer for a flock of thirty fowls of average
size. If more fowls are kept, not over thirty should
be housed together, but by uniting two or more of these
small houses end to end, with continuous walls and
roof, the accommodations can be increased to any ex-
tent desired. The building is sixteen feet long and
ten feet wide, and is similar to the houses used by
FIG 12: TEN-DOLLAR HENHOUSE
Buffinton, Hunter, Shoemaker and other practical poul-
trymen. Half the space is occupied by an open scratch-
ing shed, which should have a curtain of oiled cotton
cloth in front for stormy weather. Figure 14 shows
the interior plan, which needs little explanation. A
board to catch droppings is placed under the roosts,
and the nest boxes are often kept under the dropping
board, for seclusion and economy of space. By making
the building higher a passageway for the attendant
can be partitioned off at the rear. This arrangement
is convenient where these buildings are joined in a
long series.
LOW-COST HOUSES
21
A small henhouse furnishes no space for exercise,
and a large room is too cold during winter nights. The
best combination is a small, snug, one-windowed room
for laying and roosting, having attached a large, cheap,
light shed, the latter, according to location, open south
or entirely closed, containing several windows.
FIG 13: HOUSE AND SHED
FIG .14: INTERIOR OF HOUSE WITH SHED
Scratching sheds with closed front should have a
large, wide door which can be thrown open in mild
weather, the hens being confined by an inner door of
netting. When several of these houses are joined, they
should be built roosting pens joining and scratching
sheds joining alternately, thus reducing cost and mak-
ing roosting oens warmer. The ^ous^ reciuires about
22
POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
one thousand square feet of sheathing, besides the
frame lumber, roofing sheet or shingles, etc. The floor
of both parts should be covered with litter. Extra pro-
tection for large combed breeds is afforded by boxing
in the roosts.
Economical Small House — The cut, Figure 15,
shows the construction and advantages of this house.
The space beneath has a dirt floor, and gives the hens
FIG 15: A SMALL HOUSE
out-of-door air in winter and a cool scratching place in
summer. It can be cleaned out with an iron rake by re-
moving the wire netting. Made of matched boarding
with building paper beneath, such houses are very in-
expensive and will serve admirably for use with the col-
ony plan of keeping fowls. A number of such houses
can be scattered about the pastures, allowing large
flocks to be kept. This house can be built of any size
LOW-COST HOUSES 2$
desired, but eight by ten to eight by twelve feet will be
found a very handy size and will accommodate from
twenty to thirty fowls.
A Cornstalk Shelter can be made quickly and
cheaply for the hens. The hens are very fond of a low,
open shed facing the south, and one can be built of
stalks that will last two or three years or longer.
Drive a few posts in the ground and wire some rails
against and on top of them. Lean the stalks against
these and lay them thickly on top for the roof, which
should have a steep slant. Cover the roof with a few
inches of straw and lay a few stalks on top to keep it
in place, which will make it waterproof. In the spring
the stalks may be taken down and thrown in the barn-
yard if no longer needed.
CHAPTER III
BUILDINGS FOR COLONY SYSTEM
For certain sections of the country where there is
but little snow in winter, the poultry house shown in
the cut, Figure 16, will be found a most practical affair.
It is built something like a chicken coop, but much
wider, and can be carried to any length desired, accord-
ing as one, two or a dozen flocks are to be given accom-
modations.
FIG l6: COLONY HOUSE FOR MILD CLIMATES
The interior of each pen is reached from the hinged
door in the roof. From this the house can be cleaned
out, new litter added, eggs collected and the fowls fed
in unpleasant weather. At all other times they are fed
in the yards. The hinged doors in the roof are in
perspective in the picture, and do not show their full
width. Of course, they can be made as wide as one
may wish. Make the whole roof of well-seasoned lum-
BUILDINGS FOR COLONY SYSTEM 2$
ber, and paint it well. Under each edge of the hinged
doors make a deep groove running down the roof to
the eaves. This will keep rain from beating in under
the doors. Small windows open out from the side
toward the yards.
In some circumstances small detached houses can
be made after this pattern and located far enough apart
so that the hens can be divided into small flocks but
given free range over a pasture or other rough land,
each flock learning to know its own home, and going to
it to lay, eat and roost. Even in far northern latitudes
where snow lies deep in winter, such a plan could be
used for the summer colonizing of fowls, the flocks
being brought into winter quarters at the approach of
winter.
A Business Poultry House, designed and used in
large numbers by H. H. Stoddard, Nebraska, is well
adapted for use in the colony system, whereby the
houses are placed about ten rods apart in large fields
and the fowls given free range. Mr Stoddard put the
cost at not above forty cents per fowl for materials. It
is fifteen by eight and a half feet and four and a half
feet high, with roosting accommodations for fifty fowls.
The house is shown in Figure 17.
The part of the roof on the south side at a a a,
and nearly all on the north, consists of hinged doors
opening to the right or left, and overlapping when
closed, to shed rain. When it is desired to whitewash,
throw open all the doors, thus turning the house inside
out, take out the perches and nests, all built movable,
and there will be no nook or cranny of the woodwork
that the brush cannot be made to reach with ease, and
no lack of elbow room. This arrangement of doors
makes it convenient also to catch fowls upon the
perches by night. The doors should shut as snugly as
may be in coarse joiner work, and the cracks unavoid-
26
POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
ably left around them will afford all the ventilation
needed in winter, while in summer they may be opened
more or less widely, according to the weather. When
it is warm, yet wet, they may be partly opened and
propped up, and a board put across their edges to shed
rain. It is very desirable, under any plan for henneries,
to build so that while moderately tight in winter, they
may be thrown open on every side in hot weather;
for fowls are warmly clad, and suffer much from the
heat when in buildings made, as is too frequently the
case, only with reference to the cold. The doors which
form the north roof project six inches at the ridge to
keep out rain, as there is no ridge-cap. The two win-
FIG 17: H. K. STODDARD'S COLONY HOUSE
dows in the south roof are glazed greenhouse fashion,
that is, with overlapping panes, that snow may slide
from them readily as soon as loosened by the warmth
inside. They are two feet high and three feet wide,
and set eighteen inches from the peak of the roof. A
strip of tin is fastened over the upper part of the sash,
and the sides and bottom bf the sash overlap the roof,
to be rain-proof. The shutters, b B, used to darken
the building on certain necessary occasions, elsewhere
referred to, are hinged to the lower part of the sash,
and when opened, as in the illustration, rest upon the
roof below the windows. The side sills project at both
BUILDINGS FOR COLONY SYSTEM 27
ends of the building, are beveled runner fashion, and
strengthened with iron where holes are bored to attach
chains ; thus it may be drawn by either end. The sills,
which receive the principal strain during moving,
should be so well braced as to keep the whole building
in shape. The end sills, of two-inch plank, should be
spiked upon the top of the others, flatwise, so as not
to touch the ground while moving, and the side sills,
four inches square, should be of chestnut or oak, to be
as durable as possible, for they rest on the ground dur-
ing a good part of the year. The spruce rafters, two
by three inches, which answer for studs and rafters
both, should be set at such distances apart as will
correspond with the width of the doors and windows
which are fastened to them. A stout ridgepole, sawn
of a triangular shape, runs the length of the building
underneath the rafters, and two sticks are fastened to
this ridgepole, one five feet from each end, and braced
upon the center of the end sills to give firmness, for
the covering, consisting chiefly of doors, does not
strengthen the building, as in ordinary cases, where
the covering is nailed to the frame. C C are doors, each
three feet by one foot, opening outward and downward,
to give the keeper access to the nests, which are one
foot square and the same in depth, and so contrived
that the hens enter them at one end from a passage six
inches wide and one foot high, boarded at side and top,
running the length of the row of nests, and are thus
indulged in their liking for privacy while laying. The
nests are tight upon the top, the outside door should fit
closely, and the opening admitting the fowls to the
passage be made so small that the nests will be rather
dark. It is found that when nests are open to view
from the main apartment, hens will, in stormy weather,
for lack of other employment, sometimes enter them to
scratch for food, and thus by chance break eggs and
28 POL" LTRY A RC II 1TECT f RE
learn to eat them, and acquire the habit of pecking at
and devouring eggs as fast as laid. But a darkened
nest will deter them from entering, except to lay, for
which purpose they prefer a low, dark corner. There
is a row of six nests running across the building at each
end, making twelve, which will be sufficient, as it will
not happen that more than that number out of a flock
will need them at once. The passages are made so that
they may be taken out with the nests for whitewash-
ing. The end sills, of plank eighteen inches wide, serve
as a tight floor for the nests and passage. The perches,
two in number, are eighteen inches apart and each is
eighteen inches from the roof and two feet higher than
the sills. Perches should be of two and a half by three
and a half inch sawred stuff, the widest part up, with the
upper corners rounded off a verv little. When fowls
not fully grown roost upon narrow perches, their
breastbones sometimes become deformed. From four
to five average sized fowls will occupy two feet of
perch. The perches, being each t\velve feet long, will
accommodate a flock of fifty, and are to be placed so
as not to extend over the part occupied by the nests.
The drinking vessel stands upon one of the platforms
formed by the nests, and upon these platforms are also
shallow boxes containing gravel, pounded charcoal,
and a mixture of loam, sand and oyster-shell lime,
made into an easily crumbled mortar. The boxes are
ten inches wide, and, being placed next the end wall,
leave a space eight inches wide upon the platform for
the fowls to stand upon. The drinking pail and gravel
boxes are protected by their elevation from the dirt
that would otherwise be thrown into them by the fowls
when scratching and dusting, and are fronted by slats
with openings six by two and three-fourths inches be-
tween them. An opening is made in the end wall over
the pail that is just large enough to admit the spout
BUILDINGS FOR COLONY SYSTEM 2()
of a large watering- pot without the sprinkler, to afford
the most convenient arrangement for watering. The
door, d, one foot wide, opening downward, is for re-
moving the pail and gravel boxes when desired, and
when fastened ajar will he found more convenient for
ventilation than the roof doors, when the weather is
only moderately warm. Both ends of the building alike
are furnished with doors.
During the severest weather, generally about three
or three and a half months of the year, this building
does not stand with sills upon the ground, but for
winter it rests, as in the figure, upon the edges of a
box or bin of dimensions corresponding with the cen-
ter of the sills of the building, made of planks nine
inches wide and two thick, like a mortar bed with no
bottom, filled with dry earth. This should be set upon
ridges thrown up by the plow.
During the winter a low structure six feet wide
and twelve long, and one and a half high on one side
and three and a half on the other, seen at the left in
the illustration, serves the purpose of a feeding room,
and the rest of the year is used as a shelter for chickens.
Its winter location is about four feet from the larger
building, e e e e represent doors which overlap each
other to shed rain, and when closed rest upon the
highest or north wall, and open upward and to the
south, resting upon a rail attached to posts set in the
ground. In each door is a window three feet square,
glazed, as are all the windows in the various fowl
houses, greenhouse style.
This feed house is movable, being furnished with
planks set edgewise, with runner-shaped ends for side
sills. Inside a feed box, slatted on both sides, rests on
cleats attached to the end walls, twenty inches from the
north wall, and near the top of the room, so that dirt
cannot be scratched into it. It has a shelf seven inches
30 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
wide on both sides in front of the slats, on which the
birds stand while feeding, and contains a trough made
by nailing boards three inches wide to each edge of a
board five inches wide. A door, f, in one end of the
feed room, large enough to admit a fowl, communicates
with a similar door, G, in the south side of the main
building by a movable covered passage five and a
half feet long, one and one-fourth high and one wide,
it being like a box with a lid and but one end, and with
an opening on one side. This passage is not shown in
the illustration.
FIG l8l NORTHERN COLONY HOUSE
Northern Colony Houses — Farmers in the north
who raise poultry extensively usually have started with
but little capital, and have tried to build the cheapest
possible house that would afford enough shelter to
secure winter eggs in a severe climate. A typical house
of this kind is shown herewith, Figure 18, depicting the
style in use on a colony poultry farm in New Hamp-
shire. Other farms in the state use a house of same
style but shorter and therefore cheaper.
A number of these houses are arranged in two
rows at opposite sides of a ten-acre lot.
Each house in the row is several rods from its
nearest neighbor. All of the houses are accessible by
BUILDINGS FOR COLONY SYSTEM 3!
means of a team, which is employed to transport sup-
plies. No fencing" is used except for a few flocks,
during the breeding season. The houses, which, by the
way, have been liberally copied by the whole neighbor-
hood, are A-shaped, fifteen by sixteen feet, the narrow
side to the front. The seven two by four rafters are
eleven feet long, and are nailed at the bottom directly
onto the sills, which are four by four and raised a foot
or so above the ground on stones. The roof is double,
sloping east and west, and is covered first with rough
hemlock boards, over which are laid two thicknesses of
tarred paper, well battened down, and finally a liberal
coat of coal tar over all. The ends of the houses are
made in different ways, and some are boarded and
shingled, others battened only. Still others are treated
like the roof. In the south end on the right side is a
door swinging outward, which is left open every day
unless the weather is very stormy. A slat door inside
is found useful to keep the hens from going out in
inclement weather. At the left of the door is the only
window in the hous.e. It consists of two sashes of ordi-
nary size, which are screwed fast in their places and
never opened. For ventilation a hole six to eight
inches square is cut high up in each gable. During
summer both of these are left open, while in winter
the back one only is closed. The soil being naturally
rather light, no special preparation for floors is re-
quired, further than to fill up each house with sand to
about the top of the sills. The roost platforms are in
the back side about four feet from the ground, and
are four feet wide. The roosts,, three or four in num-
ber, are about one foot above the platforms, which
latter are cleaned weekly, and the roosts as often
smeared with kerosene. Cheese boxes for nests are
placed on a platform at the left as one enters.
32 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
All the chicks are hen hatched in nests at the
right of the door, each of which is shut off by itself
by means of slat divisions and a door which is sus-
pended from the roof. Whenever a hen wants to sit,
she is moved, nest, box and all, into one of these divi-
sions and given her eggs if she means business. The
chicks are all raised in brooders. From thirty to
forty fowls occupy one of these houses.
f Ylf/,,.,«ff .^.sff^^Uti'l-
FIG IQ I RHODE ISLAND COLONY HOUSE
Rhode Island Colony Houses — In some towns of
southern Rhode Island poultry farming is the main
industry. The farmers keep from two hundred to five
thousand chickens, with smaller numbers of ducks and
geese, and depend on them for a living. With care and
industry a profit of one to two dollars per fowl is
counted on each year. The soil is heavy clay and very
wet after rain, but the fowls, having free range, keep
nriLDixr.s FOR COLONY SYSTEM 33
in good health. In fact the heavy, rich soil is often
mentioned by the owners as a main factor of success,
because of the good hen pasturage it supplies.
About two hundred and fifty fowls are assigned
to the acre. The houses, Figure 19, are of the simplest
plan possible, built of rough hemlock boards and hav-
ing a small window in front, and very simple arrange
ment inside. The cost cannot be over twenty dollars
per house and may be made considerably less. Some
of the houses have a double roof, others are single and
made of rough, unmatched hemlock lumber. The roof is
of plain boards not shingled, and no roofing or batting
paper is used unless as an experiment. Air Wilbour,
however, one of the most extensive growers, writes :
"We have found it more economical to shingle the
roofs. We are also careful to batten the cracks, so that
no direct draft can come upon the fowls. The average
cost is sixteen to twenty dollars per house complete.
We have demonstrated that an inexpensive attachment,
to serve as a scratching shed, is a good investment.
As to warmth, direct drafts are always to be avoided,
but we have never suffered from low temperatures.
We use tarred paper sometimes inside, which is clean
and healthy, but we never have been able to discover
specially favorable or improved results."
The cheapest style is considered the most profita-
ble. Built in this style there is no need of providing
for ventilation, as the air is admitted through numerous
cracks between the boards. The fowls are outside
almost every day in the year, as there is very little
snow. In summer, fresh salt breezes keep the air cool
and the fowls are vigorous and active the year around.
Kept in such large numbers, the laying poultry docs
not reach the high average production found in some
small flocks. Probably one hundred to one hundred
and twenty per hen would cover the average annual
34 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
production of the southern Rhode Island hen. But
this rate of product is found quite profitable because of
the small expense for buildings, labor and feed. On
account of the lack of railroad transportation, grain
costs more than elsewhere, but the addition of this is
not serious.
It might be supposed that the various flocks, hav-
ing no fences between, would become hopelessly mixed
at feeding time. But such is not the case, after the
birds have learned their home by being shut into it for
a few days. Mr Wilbour says : "We have no trouble in
feeding, with a horse and man driving from one
poultry house to another. If the hens do mix up a
little they separate at once and return to their respec-
tive houses. Except our breeding flocks we keep no
males with our hens upon the theory that infertile eggs
keep best.''
CHAPTER IV
HOMES FOR FARM POULTRY
When properly managed, poultry is one of the
most profitable products of the farm. With a few in-
expensive, conveniently arranged buildings and yards
one person can annually raise five hundred to eight
hundred chicks without much difficulty, and the loss
need not exceed two per cent. Here is a sketch and
description of such an outfit. The plan and description
is by Fred Grundy, Christian county, Illinois, and was
awarded first prize in a poultry descriptive contest by
publishers of American Agriculturist in 1900.
The two yards, Figure 20, are one hundred and
fifty feet long. Number I is for the hens and is
thirty-two feet wide. Fence is four-foot netting, two-
inch mesh, with six-inch board at bottom. Number
2 is for chicks and is sixteen feet wide. Fence same
as Number i, except that there is twelve-inch board
at bottom to keep chicks in. Some prefer twelve-inch
netting, one-inch mesh, at bottom. Either will do.
Each yard has a five-foot gate next to the house to
admit horse and plow. Cherry or other fruit trees are
set near together at lower end of yards and partly
along sides, outside the fence, and one apple tree at
front corners of house. Both yards are plowed early
in spring, Number i heavily seeded with millet, Num-
ber 2 with rape. Plow Number i again in October
and sow rye.
At north or west end of yards is house, eight feet
high in front, six and a half at back, ten and a half feet
Ft 41,
32 x/S(T
FIG 20: CRUNDY'S POULTRY HOUSE AND YARD
IIOMKS FOR FARM I'OTLTRY J7
wide. Plain barn siding' battened, interior lined with
two-ply tarred sheathing and roof covered with three-
ply tarred roofing felt. This makes it wind and rain
proof. Floors are earth raised a few inches. House
is painted and looks neat. The building is divided as
follows : a is an open scratching shed sixteen feet long ;
front is boarded down three feet from top. b is hen-
house with door at each end. Perches are eighteen
inches high, hinged to back wall, and supported in
front and center by legs which stand on the Moor.
They can be raised out of the way and hung to the
ceiling when the floor is swept. There is a double
row of nests, twelve by twelve inches, one above the
other, separate from the house and can be moved about
or taken out for cleaning, c is chick house, sixteen
feet long, door at each end. There is a row of coops,
fourteen by twenty-four, at back for hens with chicks.
The partitions between the coops are loose and can
be drawn out so the hen can be passed along when a
coop needs cleaning. The floor of the coop is a single
inch-thick piece and lies loose on three inches of gravel
or coal ashes. Front is fitted with a sliding door made
of inch-mesh netting attached to a wood frame.
Fanners Poultry House — A Massachusetts poul-
tryman, W. H. Wells, has built a house, Figure 21,
which he finds successful and which he made at low
cost by using odds and ends of lumber about the
farm. .It is located on a natural ridge where drainage
is good in all directions. To quote from Mr Wells's
directions :
"The illustration shows a farmers' poultry house
outside, with plan of roosts shown in lower corner
and dimensions in feet and inches. Also frame of
house, a, foundation stone; b, frame and rafters; c,
boarding paper under shingles ; d} window partly open
for ventilation.
38 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
"Dig two parallel ditches fourteen and a half feet
apart, measuring from outsides, and each eighteen
feet hy twelve inches. Fill them with cobblestones.
Place flat stones on a bed of cobbles every six feet, with
their faces inclined toward each other. These are
within the ditch. For rafters I prefer eight-inch round
timber split through the center. Don't let the stone
that the rafter sits on project above the support or it
will conduct the water against the end of the support
and rot it. Let the first course of shingles lap over
the foundation stones.
"The scratching shed is the last or end section in a
house of three sections, but would be in the middle
FIG 21 I FARMERS POULTRY HOUSE
section in a house of five sections, or the two center
sections in a house of six sections. Each section repre-
sents six feet of the length of the house. The sections
used for scratching sheds are partitioned from the
main house. When we have a scratching shed we place
the door in the partition between the shed and the
house as near the front side as possible.
"In forming the projections for the window, don't
use any timber larger than two by four inches, and
those only for the short rafter and the upright. If two
by six inches is used for the main timbers, use one by
four for the uprights or the division between the win-
dows. The ends of this house are finished the same
as the roof, except that the shed is not papered, but the
HOMES FOR FARM POULTRY 39
partition between the shed and house proper is papered.
The roosts are shown in the plan, but are not taken
into account in the cost, as nearly everyone has his
own ideas in regard to what is required for roosts and
nests. Standards for the roosts are three feet high,
notched at the top to hold the roosting poles. The box
underneath for the droppings should be sunk into the
ground within two inches of the top, or hens will roost
on the sides. The roost is movable and must not be
fastened to the top of standards, as it will interfere
with cleaning the trough.
"The twenty-five-hen size requires lumber as fol-
lows, cheap grades being used and odds and ends util-
ized where possible. Four pieces each of the following :
Fourteen feet by two by six inches, twelve feet by two
by six inches, six feet by two by six inches, six fejt
by two by four inches, three pieces eight feet by two by
four inches and two pieces twelve feet by two by four
inches ; one door two and one-half by six and one-
third feet by one and one-fourth inches ; eight hundred
feet Number 2 boards, six dollars per thousand feet;
five thousand Number 2 shingles, one dollar and a
quarter per thousand ; two sashes to fill space four and
one-third by five feet ten inches, glass nine by twelve
inches ; ninety square yards building paper ; twenty--
five pounds tenpenny nails and three sets hinges with
screws. Total cost of material, twenty-one dollars
and forty-eight cents ; labor one man four days, six
dollars.
"By using cheap material, such as paper mill
waste for sheathing paper, shingles sawed from lumber
of the farm, old windows, etc, I managed to reduce
actual cost of labor and all to twenty dollars and three
cents. In longer houses of the same style the cost can
be brought down to one dollar per running foot, in-
cluding labor. A small house requires as many gables
PO U LTR Y ARC II 1TECT U RE
and ends to be finished as if it were three times as long,
and hence is more costly in proportion. Don't think it
necessary to follow exactly the measures here given.
If you have old windows, build your section to fit
them. If there are old boards that will do to cover the
roof, use them and put in more of the main rafters to
nail to. One can use simply round poles for main
rafters and still the building will be a success. Simply
do the best you can with what you have to do with in
time, money and material, but don't forget to paper
underneath the shingles."
FIG 22 : HOUSE EASILY REMOVED
Can Be Easily Taken Apart — Herewith is pre-
sented a plan, elevation (Figures 22, 23), details and
bill of materials for a movable chicken house which
almost anyone can construct. The cost is not great,
depending on the kind and quality of lumber used.
The elevation shows a shed roof, which is the cheaper,
though not so fine in appearance. A double-pitched
roof allows more available head room, thus making it
HOMES FOR FARM POULTRY 41
more convenient to work inside. A movable house
having the floor raised some distance above the ground,
thus affording underneath a resting place and shelter
from sun, wind and rain, is for many reasons a de-
cided improvement over stationary houses.
*l
tft '
***"**
""""I
W l%» A* «*.
FIG 23: INTERIOR AND DETAILS
A house like this has been in use over a year and
a half and seems to meet all requirements for fifteen
to twenty fowls. It has a run thirty by forty feet. The
house is moved to a new site, spring and fall, and is
4^ POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
easily moved on rollers and some pieces of two by fours
by a man and boy. A ground floor should be pre-
viously prepared by spading around a center line and
throwing the earth up until a space eighteen inches
larger each way than the house has been raised six
inches above the surrounding surface. This should be
raked level, and well rammed, so as to pitch slightly
toward the front. The margins should be particularly
well rammed to discourage scratching and prevent
washing. Upon this floor lay the two pieces of two
by fours for the house to rest on.
The gable is shown not inclosed. The triangular
piece which closes this may be hinged to the roof so as
to swing outward, which will afford ventilation in
summer. The roosts should be all the same hight from
the floor, and if each is divided by a couple of pickets
projecting one foot above it there will be less crowd-
ing. Loose nest boxes are set on the floor. The win-
dow shown is amply large. It is covered outside with
small-mesh wire netting, and in summer the sash is
removed. A very useful addition for winter would
be a sort of closed "lean-to," which could be set against
the open side to provide extended shelter and a pro-
tected feeding place in stormy weather. This could be
used as a coop during the breeding season.
The following bill of materials is required : Four
two by four sixteen feet for plates, sills and posts, two
two by four twelve feet for plates, sills and foundation,
twenty-four one by eight twelve feet, or one hundred
and seventy square feet for sides, seven one by eight
fourteen feet, or sixty-five feet, for roof, six one by
eight sixteen feet, or fifty feet, for floor, two pounds
•tenpenny, four pounds eightpenny and one pound
sixpenny cut nails, one piece small-mesh wire netting
three by three, with staples, one six-light eight by ten
glass sash, one roll two or three-ply roofing paper, one
HOMES FOR FARM POULTRY
43
and one-half pounds inch wire nails and tins, one pair
three-inch strap hinges.
The buildings on the C. H. Wyckoff farm, Tomp-
kins county, New York, the well-known Leghorn
specialist, are twelve feet wide by forty feet long and
P PERCHES
r FTEDTROUtiHS
a SMELL eaxcs
rt VtAT ER FWh
a OUST BATH'
THOUGH*. FOR OROPMN6S
A A£LEY
JU NESTS
FIG 24: EXD VIEW OF HOUSE AND DETAILS
six feet high (see Figure 24), having a shingled roof
with a one foot in three feet pitch. The sides and
ends are double boarded, so as to break joints, with
tarred paper between. The plates, sleepers, etc, are of
two by four-inch scantlings. Each house is divided the
long way by a partition into two equal compartments
and each has a yard adjoining which accommodates
sixty fowls. The two perches, which are along the
44 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
north side of the house, are placed thirteen inches apart
and eighteen inches ahove the platform which catches
the droppings and also serves as a cover to the nest
hoxes. Everything in the building is easily removable.
The floor is cleaned once a week and the partition
under the perches is cleaned twice a week and plastered
daily. Cleaning under the nests is accomplished by
lifting the perches and scraping the trough. The
eggs are gathered by lifting the hanging board floor
which forms the sides and roof platform. A dark
passageway leads along the back of the nest boxes and
affords a secrecy and exclusiveness to the laying hen
which is highly desirable.
The feed trough is made by nailing together two-
inch boards sixteen feet long' by six inches wide in the
form of a V trough. Water is kept in a pan, over
which is placed a round flat box (see Figure 2 in
Figure 24), through the sides of which the fowls can
reach for the water and still cannot soil the water nor
overturn the pan. The dust box is made by nailing a
board across one corner of the room. Two windows,
each containing six ten by twelve-inch lights, are placed
in the south side of each apartment. More glass would
make the house colder at night and warmer during
the day owing to the rapidity with which glass radiates
heat. No other ventilation is provided, except as the
windows are, opened by sliding. The floor is laid with-
out an air space over a bottom of fine stone and gravel
and is made practically air-tight by the dirt which fills
the cracks. Well drained earth floors were first tried,
but proved unsatisfactory because of the moist con-
dition of the soil, which kept the floor cold and damp
and made it necessary to remove the soil frequently,
replacing it with new earth.
The yards are two rods wide by eight long and
contain twelve thrifty plum trees set in a row through
HOMES FOR FARM POULTRY
45
ihc middle. Every two weeks during' the summer the
halves of the yards are alternately plowed. The fence
is six feet high and is made by wiring" to chestnut
poles panels made by nailing pickets two and one-half
inches wide the same distance apart. The entire cost
of each building, including the fence, did not exceed
one hundred dollars. The fence alone cost for material
seventy cents per rod.
Movable Chicken Coop — During winter poultry-
men should find time to repair old chicken coops and
make new ones. With ordinary care more vigorous
FIG 25 : MOVABLE COOP
pullets can be raised by scattering them about the fields
in small colonies after haying, as insects then form a
very cheap and important portion of their diet. When
biddy brings forth her brood, place in one of the coops
with the movable run in position. This allowrs her to
get to the ground. After she leaves her chicks the
run is removed, the roosts placed in position and the
family moved to any convenient spot. Pullets may
be sheltered in such a house until cold weather or until
they begin to lay. The coops will accommodate
twenty-five chicks or ten well-grown pullets. It is
four bv three feet, and two and one-half feet high at
POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
the eaves. The run is four by three feet. The run and
roof are built with a pitch of ninety degrees. The
sills are of two by four material and extended as shown
in Figure 25, to facilitate moving. The plates are of
two by two-inch material, and extended each way one
foot beyond the eaves for handles. The sides, roof and
floor are of jointed pine boards. The roof is covered
with one thickness of sheathing paper, held in place
by cleats. If this is jointed it will make a waterproof
12
FLOOR PLAN
FRONT ELEVATION
FIG 26 1 AN OREGON TLAN
roof that will last a number of seasons. The first fifteen
inches below each gable should be of half-inch wire
netting for ventilation. Each end is provided with a
door one foot wide, one hinged, the other arranged
to slide. The roof should have a two-inch projection
all around to throw rain. The run is made by nailing
laths two and one-half inches apart upon a frame made
of two by two-inch scantling. Two men can easily
HOMES FOR FARM POULTRY 47
move this coop from one part of a field to another,
giving the chicks new feeding room.
An Oregon Plan — The plan of Figure 26 was used
for the construction of a house for one hundred fowls
and has been found convenient and satisfactory. It
is built box style with the joists placed on top of the
sills. The roof has a one-third pitch, or four feet rise
in twelve, with eight-inch eaves. Place the building
upon posts two feet from the ground, so the fowls can
get under it, as it makes a fine dusting place in winter
or summer. Entrance for the fowls is made under each
window, which should face the south or east. A board
may be placed from the entrance to the ground and
cleats nailed on as steps. In the construction was
used ten or twelve-inch ship lap for floor and sides,
lined with tar paper both sides and roof. For the
house, as illustrated, there will be needed one thousand
one hundred and seventy-five feet ship lap, two sills
four by six by thirty-two feet, seventeen joists two by
six by twelve feet, seventeen rafters two by four by
fifteen feet, six plates two by four by sixteen feet, for
posts one piece six by six by sixteen feet, old boards
for roof boards or new lumber laid close together.
Lay the shingles four inches to the weather, of which
four thousand five hundred will be required. Parti-
tions may be of one by two-inch strips placed two
inches apart or they may be of boards. In the floor
plan are shown the four windows by heavy lines, doors
inside opening from partition to wall from coop to
coop. The nests are conveniently arranged on each
side of each pen.
Coop for the SoutJi — D. D. Doane, a successful
Florida poultry keeper, describes a house of slats,
Figure 27, warm enough for the climate and cool in
summer :
UNIVERSITY ]
\ °F
1IOMKS FOR FARM POULTRY
"Aly hens run at large around the house and barn,
which stand inclosed in a two-acre field seeded to Ber-
muda grass. The flock consists of sixty-three hens and
one male, all White Leghorns, nearly pure. The hen-
house is twelve feet long, six feet wide and six feet
from floor to peak. It has a cement floor, is swept
every Saturday and dusted with sand. The house is
made of pine shakes and roofed with hand-made pine
shingles. Laying boxes, running the whole length of
house, are placed outside on each side, so that I do not
have to go inside the house except to sweep it. The
morning feeding place is on a board floor resting on
sawhorses three feet from the ground, so that pigs
cannot get the feed nor disturb the fowls.
"The henhouse costs about two days' labor in cut-
ting down pine trees and splitting up into shakes and
shingles. The chickens are hatched under hens and
raised in a homemade brooder so the hens can go back
to laying as soon as possible. In front of brooder I
have a yard about six by eight feet made of wire
netting."
House for One Hundred Fowls — The building is
made of two by four-inch joists, sheeted, papered and
sided. The inside is sheeted, papered and ceiled. The
dead air space is not filled as it is much drier. In Fig-
ure 28, at a are four perches ; b is an incline hung on
hinges with the lower edge over the box c to receive
droppings. The end of the box c not under the roosts
is used as a dust box. The feed trough is at d. A par-
tition is made of two by four studding which is ceiled
up with wire netting to allow light from windows
across the passage. Nest boxes are at c, one-half of
each extending through the wire partition, with a
hinged cover. Large windows are placed in the
upright eight-foot front. Figure 28 shows the end
50 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
view. This coop has had several years' trial and has
proven convenient.
House with Cloth Run — The distinctive feature of
this henhouse (Figure 29) is the portion built entirely
of oilcloth. The frames are made so that thev can be
FIG 28: HOUSE FOR ONE HUNDRED FOWLS
easily taken apart. They are merely tied together and
lightly nailed to strong corner posts. This cloth run is
excellent for chicks in early spring. When they are a
few weeks old, a hole is made under the frame to let
them out. Don't make the hole large enough for the
HOMES FOR FARM POULTRY 5!
older fowls or for cats. The main henhouse is twelve
by six by eight feet high, with slightly sloping roof.
The cloth run is twelve by six by six feet high. The
floor of the main house is raised two feet, allowing an
extra run beneath for the chicks. This oiled cloth was
used also for doors and for coverings for hotbeds, and
it has lasted several years.
L-Shaped House — A poultryman submits this in-
terior plan of a poultry house (Figure 30) which has
given him satisfaction. The shed faces toward the
south, which is the left-hand side of the drawing. The
FIG 29 I HOUSE WITH CLOTH RUN
windows face the east, thus the birds get the morning
and midday sun, either in the house or in the shed.
The construction makes it convenient to reach all parts
of the house and the cost is claimed to be no greater
than by the ordinary method by which shed and main
house are under a continuous roof.
Octagon House — The octagon form has advan-
tages. It is strong, compact and affords a larger area
in proportion to the amount of outside wall than a rec-
tangle. The timbers, being short, may be light. More-
over, it can catch more winter sunshine.
I'O U LTR Y ARCHITECT U RE
The area of the poultry house represented by the
accompanying ground plan, Figure 31, is three hun-
dred and three square feet. This is a little more than
that of a rectangular house ten by thirty feet. The sides
being eight feet each, the total outside lineal measure-
ment is sixty-four feet, whereas that of the rectangular
house is eighty feet. With three windows, as shown in
FIG 3D! L-SHAPED HOUSE WITH SHED
the illustration, direct sunshine is admitted from dawn
until sunset. The transverse partition is mainly of wire
netting and the door may be wholly removed at the end
of the brooding season.
The dusting box is placed directly beneath the
south window. The perches fit into slots at the ends,
so as to be movable. It is needless to partition off the
HUMES FOR l-AR.U POULTRY
53
roosting place, but a curtain of old burlap hung in
front of it in winter will add greatly to the comfort of
the fowls and consequently to the contents of the egg
basket.
Good Winter House — The building (Figure 32)
is thirty by ten feet, frame construction, and is elevated
one and one-third feet from the ground. The building
FIG 31 : OCTAGON HOUSE
is divided into three rooms ten by ten feet respectively.
To the left is the brooder room, where the hens are
set and where the chickens are reared. Along the
side of this room are rows of nests which are separated
from each other by partitions, and have each a door in
front. Everything is portable and can easily be taken
54
POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
out, cleaned and disinfected. To the right is the roost
room. All droppings fall into a trough and the room
can easily be kept clean. The roost is also portable.
In the middle is the feed and scratch room, and above
the same is a pigeon house the width of the building.
In the feed and scratch room are also portable
nests. The door in the middle room is on rollers and
opens the whole length of the room. On the inside,
wire netting is placed across windows. The windows
can slide and are open for summer use. Construction
is as follows : Double floors and between each section a
thick layer of paper. Sides are built of boxing, then
papered and weather-boarded. Tlie roof is boarded,
FIG 32 I GOOD WINTER HOUSE
papered and shingled, thus insuring a warm house for
winter layers. The cost of the poultry house is thirty
dollars, and is a good investment.
A Good Poultry House — The henhouse here
shown (Figure 33) has proved very satisfactory. It
is twenty feet long, ten feet wide, seven feet high in
front and four feet in rear. The scratching shed is
eight feet long and should be on the east side. The
window is two by five feet eight inches, using glass
twelve by sixteen inches. It is one foot from the floor,
which admits sunshine over most of the floor surface
and does not give too much light on roosts, which is
undesirable. A small door with slide arrangement is
cut beneath window for fowls to go in and out. The
HOMES FOR FARM POULTRY
55
large door is two by six feet ; another door of like
dimensions should be cut in east side of house proper
to allow entrance to scratching shed. In severe
weather a canvas can be hung inside over the wire
front. Nests are arranged in the intervening spaces,
eighteen inches above floor, around the front and
two ends.
The roosts are the full length of the rear and
extend six feet from back wall toward the front.
These should be three feet high and built as in the
FIG 33 : GOOD HOUSE WITH INTERIOR FIXTURES
figure. This allows ample room to clean underneath
and to lift out the troughs. The roosting poles are on
a level and at each end fitted snugly into sawed notches.
All can be easily removed for cleaning, as may the
bottoms of the nests, which have short movable boards
for the floor of the nests. Drinking cans or troughs
are arranged just under the window; dust and grit
boxes likewise. A house similarly constructed with all
needful inside arrangements can be built for twenty-
50 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
five dollars. If lined with light building paper it will
be nearly frost proof and easily kept free of vermin.
Any kind of a floor can be made, but the builder pre-
fers a raised earthen floor. Muck or clay well packed,
then wet thoroughly, will after drying make a floor that
can be swept. Sand should be thrown over it after
cleaning and before litter is put in the house.
Light Henhouse — The building is ten by thirty
feet, with cement floor, covered with matched lumber,
and the inside is lathed and plastered overhead and on
the sides. Beneath the lath is tarred paper. On the
south side are plenty of windows, and when the sun is
FIG 34: INTERIOR CONTRIVANCES
shining, as the building is practically air-tight the bid-
dies think that the coldest day is a summer one. The
roosts are of uniform hight and are movable. The out-
side of the building is painted and has a ventilator on
the roof, which makes it an ornament to the farm.
Being somewhat of a carpenter, I did the work myself,
which reduced the expense. — [F. A. Smart, Oswego
County, New York.
Interior Contrivances — This poultry house is a
balloon frame of two by four joist. It is eighteen feet
wide and sheathed w^ith inch boards tightly fitted to-
HOMES FOR FARM POULTRY
57
gether, then papered and sided tightly. The inside is
filled to top of sills with fine stone, covered with dirt.
The house is divided into twelve-foot pens the length
of the building, with wire partitions between. There
is one large window, a (Figure 34), each side of every
twelve-foot pen, two feet from the sills. The pens are
ten feet high. There is a tight floor overhead, thickly
covered with sawdust. Through the floor is a ventila-
ting trap door, b, one by twelve feet, in each pen, with
a rope and pulley attachment permitting the ventilating
trap door to be operated from the hallway on one side
of the building. The inside building is of sheathing,
stuffed solid with sawdust and chaff. There is a self-
Ko
• STS
d
I
HEST5
),
fe;
f(
)
A
i i
i
c
[.
_. S _i 1 W i . vtf » . u/ . i W ^
U1— Doors I«— Water. ^— Shutti'.i-*. W —Windows.
shutting screen door, c, in each pen. The roosts, d,
are two by four, set in notches and hung by four half-
inch round irons. The roosts are all painted with coal
tar and are removable. Under the roosts is a large
shelf, e, hinged so as to let down to a long, narrow box,
/, for holding the droppings.
Another well-arranged interior is shown at the
right of Figure 34. The owner, I. B. Koons, Penn-
sylvania, writes : "The upper part, in which the fowls
roost, is made as air-tight as possible, the walls being
58 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
covered with tarred paper, so that no air can come in
from below or at the sides.
"The ventilator draws out air from below the hens,
while at the top or peak of the room I have made an
opening to draw out all the foul air from the compart-
ment in which the hens roost. There is no draft
around hens and in the morning- their roosting place
smells as clean as at night. They are very healthy, lay
well and have had no sick fowls in the flock since I
used this system. The house is ten by twelve feet, with
a dust pen two by seven feet, covered with glass. I
keep forty hens in this house, and they have a run of
about one-quarter acre."
A Maine Henhouse — It is thirty-six feet long and
fourteen feet wide (Figure 35), and will accommodate
fifty to sixty hens. The apartments at the ends are
called scratching rooms, and have no floor. The shut-
ters are four by four feet, hinged at the top, and opened
in the daytime to admit sun, light and air; they are
also opened on cloudy days, if it is not too cold,
CHAPTER V
BANK AND SOD STRUCTURES
Every western farmer may have one of these com-
fortable houses (Figure 36) with little cost and a
comparatively small amount of labor. The sod may be
turned at any time in the year when the ground is
not frozen. A firm, well-grassed sod is best, but other
will do, the only difference being in the length of time
the building will last. The walls are laid up with
bricks of sod about twelve by twelve inches and laid
like bricks with the exception of the cement, nothing
of that kind being used. The sod is turned down and
the walls are made twenty-four inches thick, two layers
of sod being used.
Timbers are used above openings for doors and
windows ; and casings are used as a frame. The roof
should slope about two feet and should project on all
sides at least two feet to protect walls from moisture.
Rafters and three-fourths-inch lumber, covered with
dirt or sod, make the roof. Poles and brush may be
used instead of lumber, but are not so good.
It is fourteen by thirty-eight feet, outside dimen-
sions, and contains two rooms. The roosting room is
ten by eighteen feet, inside measure, and contains two
sections of swinging roosts, each six by eight feet,
leaving a passage at each end and a three-foot passage
the whole length on the south, where the three windows
are located. There is a stovepipe ventilator in each
room, which can be partially closed in winter. The
roosts are about two and one-half feet from the floor
6o
POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
and swung on fence wire from the cross sections at
the roof.
Opening from the roosting room is the scratch-
ing and nest room, which is ten by fourteen feet, inside
measure. In summer it is used only for nests. These
nests run the entire length of the room on the north
and across the ends, except where the doors interfere.
They are two feet deep — if fowls are large they could
be lower — and filled up about one foot with cut straw.
FIG 36: A PRAIRIE HENHOUSE
On the south are two full-sized windows, giving plenty
of light and sunshine for winter, and easily blinded
in summer, when so much light is not desirable.
Floors are of dirt, covered with straw for scratching
or swept clean when summer comes. Fowls will lay
the whole season. They are warm in winter and cool
in summer, and they seem to like the dirt walls.
Henhouse of a Kansas Fanner — The sod house
shown in the illustration (Figure 37) I have found
15ANK A.\J> SOI) STKL'CTl'KKS 6 1
healthful, convenient, and large enough to accommo-
date seventy-five to one hundred hens. In a bank
sloping southwest 1 made an excavation twelve feet
east and west by twenty-two feet north and south. At
the southwest corner the excavation was on a level
with the surface of the ground ; at the north side it
was two and one-half feet deep. Around the edges I
built a sod wall, making its upper edge five feet above
the floor. I roofed the north half with boards and
covered with tar paper. A border of sod was placed all
around the edge, then the whole overlaid with six
inches of gypsum taken from a pit near by. In the
south half of the roof I put two hotbed sashes three
FIG 3/ : HENHOUSE OF KANSAS FARMER
by nine feet and covered the remainder of the space the
same as the north side. In the walls were placed two
glass windows and a door with glass in the upper part.
In the north wall there is a window level with the
roosts eighteen inches high and five feet long. It is
used for ventilation in the summer. In winter it is
covered with boards and banked with earth. The win-
dows are hinged and covered with heavy wire netting.
I have an extra lattice door for summer.
The walls were given two coats of gypsum or
poor man's plaster (very abundant in the southwest),
and when dry a heavy whitewash was applied to fill
all cracks. Roosts occupy the north half. The south
62
POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
half under glass is reserved for nests and a feeding
goound during stormy weather. The floor under the
roosts is made of gypsum, cement and sand. — [E. H.
H., Kansas.
Making a Nebraska Sod House — Plow the sod
one foot wide and four inches deep, and for a three-
foot wall cut with spade into two-foot lengths. Build
around the four sides (Figure 38), keeping the walls
FIG 38 I A NEBRASKA SOD HOUSE
as near the same hight as possible, so they will settle
alike. Always lay the grassy side of the sod down.
Smooth off with spade, filling cracks with the dirt,
making a solid, compact wall. Lay the sod as you
would brick, so there will be no running cracks. Leave
places for door and windows slightly narrower than
the frames, sod up till almost to the top, then fit in the
frames tight, and over each put a board, one two by
twelve by six inches will do, to support the weight of
the sod above.
[BANK AND SOD STRUCTURES
Have the roof project a foot over the walls, so as
to drain the water well off the top of the walls. Grooved
boards, battened, make a good roof, although many
prefer to cover the boards with tar felt and then a
layer of sod. The only objection to this is that after
two or three years the tar felt has to be renewed and
new sod added. But it makes the warmest roof, and
if carefully put on sheds water as well as a shingled
roof. The small drawing shows window as it appears
within, and indicates supports for roosts.
'i
K\JS
.^ VJ
&8
FIG 39 : HOUSE IN A SAND BANK
House in a Sand Bank — A henhouse which com-
bines warmth and cheapness can be made as follows,
and as shown in the accompanying engraving, Figure
39 : Select a well-drained sand bank sloping to the
south or southeast. Perhaps such a place is handy,
from which quantities of sand or gravel have been
taken until there is already dug a place large enough
to put up just what is wanted — a henhouse entirely in
the sand, except the front. The only objectionable
feature in a building of this kind is dampness, and from
the start this must be provided against carefully by a
thorough system of drainage, both above and below.
64 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
I/or this purpose tiles are almost indispensable. If the
water can be kept away, the fowls will find the sand
agreeable and the situation warm and healthful, while
its exposure to the southern sun will give the layers a
chance to bask and exercise all day and they will lay
as well as during summer, provided their food be of
the right kind and varied. On starting, draw from
the woods enough seven-foot posts to set one every five
feet across the space to be occupied by the front of
the building. Or these may be placed in position
standing squarely with sawed ends on flat stones im-
bedded in the sand. On top of them spike a six-inch
pole the length of the front of the building.
Another row of posts of the seme length or per-
haps one foot shorter should be placed further into the
sand bank where the back of the building is to come,
with a rider on top as mentioned for the plate on the
first posts, or if an abundance of stone be handy, this
row of posts can be replaced by a wall. Wood, how-
ever, is preferable, because it doesn't gather and hold
moisture so much, but is more expensive because less
durable. Across these horizontal top poles run heavy,
rough timbers six to ten inches in diameter. These
will not need sawing, and can be rudely spiked or
pinned to the poles. The entire structure must be
heavily built, because it is to be roofed with sand and
sod. Above the rafters, which are as well flat as any
other way, should be laid a quantity of slabs or straight
poles close together. On these may be thrown a layer
of sweet fern or hardback brush, or even a mat of dried
leaves, to be followed by two feet or more of sand.
Over the sand spread at least six inches of good loam,
and sod over this.
It should be mounded enough to shed rain toler-
ably well and will look on top like old-fashioned out-
door cellars so common in the Hudson river valley.
BANK AND SOD STRUCTTHES
0=1
The sides may be treated in the same manner with
slabs and leaves and heavily banked with sand. The
entire job can be sodded so that it will be far from ugly
in appearance. The front should slope gently from the
top of the posts to the ground, the bottom being about
two feet from the posts. From this point the earth
should rapidly descend so that all water may be car-
ried away from the building. Two windows of good
FIG 40: WINDPROOF STRUCTURE
size, but not too large, and a door may be placed in
front of this building, and roosts and nests within.
A Wind proof Poultry House — It is built of five
pairs of two by four-inch scantling set two and one-
half feet apart on either side of the ridgepole of the
same stuff (Figure 40). These are covered with
boards and the ends beveled. The structure is built
over a pit two and one-half feet deep and banked over
with the earth from the pit to the depth of two feet,
66
POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
excepting the south end, which is furnished
door made of two sashes of glass.
The doorway is recessed and fitted with a solid
door (outside of the glass door) to be closed in very
cold weather at night. Ventilation is provided bv a
piece of two-inch tin leader passing through the roof
and the earth banking. It should be kept clear of snow.
FIG 41 : A LOG CHICKEN HOUSE
A roost runs the length of the building, eighteen
inches above the floor, and the nest boxes are placed
just above it. The house is nine feet wide, eight feet
high and thirteen feet long, and holds twenty fowls.
A Log Chicken House — I cut all logs exactly the
required length. The average size was about seven
inches in diameter. I did all the work alone. First
lay the sill logs and toenail on the corners, making
the logs two by four by eight feet and two by six by
BANK AND SOD STRUCTURES 07
eight feet (Figure 41). Spike these two together and
brace from the inside so they will be perfectly plumb.
Now start putting up the logs one side at a time, or
build all the sides evenly as you go. Drive a spike into
FIG 42:
BANK WALL HOUSE
FIG 43 I INTERIOR OF BANK WALL HOUSE
your two by four and two by six-inch sills and into your
logs as fast as you go, so as to hold them in place.
You can put a round log in the corner six inches in
diameter and eight feet long. After the house has been
built, spike the two by four on this and also the plate
logs. Peel the logs. — [A. L. Lord, Wisconsin.
68
I'U U LTR V ARC II ITECT U RE
A Bank Wall House — This building (Figure 42)
is ten by twenty feet with seven-foot posts in front, a
three-foot wall and four-foot posts in the rear. The
doors at the ends should be boarded up and entrance
made to the two rooms from the hallway, which may
be used as a hatching room. Still better, abolish all
doors in front and enter through an end door. Figure
43 shows the interior arrangement. The hatching
room may be used to store feed when not used for
hatching. The hatching nests will be used for laying
FIG 44 : WARM AND CONVENIENT BUILDING
until a hen wishes to sit, when they may be closed to
the roosting room and opened at the other end. These
nests may be raised three inches from the ground. The
extra nests are raised fifteen inches. Coops may be
built under them to shut up sitters.
Warm and Convenient — The poultry house shown
herewith (Figure. 44) is built into a bank and faces
south. The wall up to the surface is of rough stone.
There is no door at the east end to let in the cold, the
door being on the south, where the roof is cut as for a
dormer window. One enters and passes through to
BANK AND SOD STRl'tTl'KKS (*)
the back side of the house, where there is a walk behind
the pens. Such a house can be made any length, keep-
ing- the pens equal in number on each side of the door-
way. This arrangement probably gives the warmest
poultry house that can be built.
CHAPTER VI
HIGH-GRADE PLANTS
Detailed specifications for a building carefully
made according to architect's plans are frequently
wanted. The houses of which descriptions are given
are in actual use, and are both practical and orna-
mental. The plans, in the hands of an intelligent work-
man, will give highly satisfactory results. They are
all business structures, including none of those miser-
able affairs in which show takes the place of utility.
A Well-Made House — The house is made in sec-
tions of sixteen-foot length, and in duplication could
be extended or shortened, as desired, each section being
suitable for flocks of ten to twenty-five fowls. The
house comprises seven of these sixteen-foot sections,
and by its construction can easily be enlarged or made
smaller. Each section being precisely alike, the draw-
ings are made on the basis of one section. (See Fig-
ures 45 to 49 inclusive.)
The foundation is of cedar posts planted as indi-
cated by the plans, tops of posts being leveled off to
receive the frame. The outside lumber is second qual-
ity white pine; the inside lumber and framework are
hemlock. The girder under center of building and
the sills are four by six inches. Floor joists and roof
rafters are two by six inches, plates are three by four
inches, wall studs two by four inches, and partition
studs two by three inches, all the above of hemlock.
The house being made in sections of sixteen feet,
it will be necessary to cut the sills, plates and girders
HIGH-GRADE 1'LANTS /I
to the length required, and half them together at joints,
so that a saw could be worked between the floor joists,
studding and rafters, between each section, and the
building literally sawed apart at the end of any sec-
tion, and removed if desired. Where the sixteen-foot
sections join, the floor joists, wall studs and roof rafters
are doubled, as indicated on the plans, and in case of
the removal of any section, all that will be necessary
to do is to stud up the end left open and enclose it.
Sills are laid on edge and a one by two-inch furring
strip nailed to the lower edge of same, on which the
floor joists are notched and also well spiked to the
FIG 45 : WELL-MADE IEOTSE. FRONT AND REAR
ELEVATIONS
sills. Floor joists, wall studs and roof rafters are
placed on centers as figured on the plans, and all to
be placed opposite each other.
The front of the building is sheathed with one by
nine and one-half-inch matched hemlock sheathing
boards, laid diagonally with the smooth side in, nailed
to each bearing. A one by two-inch strip is nailed on
the lower edge of sill on which to fit the sheathing
down closely to prevent cold air from running up
between the cracks. The roof is sheathed with the
same kind of boards, laid the smooth side down, with
the joints properly broken on the rafters. The front
of the building is covered with lieavy resin-sized
72 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
sheathing paper, well lapped and carefully tacked on.
The roof is covered with gravel roofing, the roofing
material being confined with an edging strip of one
by two-inch pine laid fiat on the outer edge of the
roof. All the outside walls of the building are cov-
ered with one by six-inch "novelty siding" nailed to
each bearing, with joints properly broken on bearings.
The water table is a one by six-inch board with a
beveled drip on top, having a lip worked on same to
make the building water-tight.
The corner boards and the board under the cor-
nice molding were planted on, after the building was
FIG 46: WELL-MADE HOUSE. END ELEVATION AND
PEN RUN
enclosed. The cornice molding is a four-inch crown
molding worked to a stock pattern and put up as
indicated on the drawings. The window and door
openings have no trim, except at each end of the build-
ing, where the trim was planted on afterward, same
as the corner boards, etc. At the window and door
openings, the "novelty siding" is cut on the studs
three-fourths of an inch, and a half-inch flat bead
is broken around the openings to cover up the end
wood, leaving a rebate of three-fourths inch for the
doors and sash. Doors are hung with iron T hinges.
The floor is of one by six-inch matched hemlock.
Windows and doors have beveled sills to match the
HIGH-GRADE PLANTS 7^
drip on the water-table outside, and extending back
to the line of the inside of the frame where they join
the floor flush. The rear windows are of hotbed sash,
glazed as shown in the drawings, and attached with
screw fastenings to permit being removed in summer
and replaced by wire netting.
FIG 47: INTERIOR OF WELL-MADE HOUSE
The outside doors are made of one by six-inch
matched and center-beaded pine placed vertically and
battened three times in their hight. The inside doors
are made of unplaned hemlock, with one by six-inch
stiles and rails, except bottom rail, which is eight
inches wide. The panels are covered with wire net-
ting. The small doors under the hotbed sash and
between the different sections of the building are each
74
POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
made of pine board, eleven inches square, battened
twice on the inside with one by two-inch battens, and
leaving an opening ten inches square, through which
the fowls pass in and out.
The partition along the alleyway, running the
entire length of the house, is studded up as shown on
the floor plan and has a six-inch rough hemlock board
at the bottom and a two by three-inch scantling about
two inches above the nest boxes, and the balance is
covered with wire netting, except opposite the pens
FIG 48: SECTION THROUGH PEN
below the nest boxes, where masons' laths are placed
flat way, about two inches apart, and nailed top and
bottom to one by two-inch furring strips as shown on
" section through pen."
The partitions between the pens and the roosts
are boarded up two feet high, with one by twelve-inch
rough hemlock boards, and above are covered with
wire netting. The partitions back of the roosts are
boarded up with the same kind of boards to a hight of
four feet, leaving a small door opening in center as
HIGH-GRADE PLANTS
75
shown, ten inches square, the upper par^ covered with
wire netting inside of the studs, to prevent the fowls
from escaping when the hotbed sash is removed during
the warm weather.
The nest boxes are pine, one-half inch thick, and
arranged to pull out like a drawer. Each box is
separate and nailed together in the most inexpensive
manner. Over the top of the nest boxes place a slant-
ing hood eighteen inches wide, of rough hemlock
boards battened on the under side, and put up as shown
on "section through pen." The feed boxes are located
FIG 49 : FLAX SHOWING ROOSTS
in the alleyway opposite the pens, and are made of
pine, one inch thick. Each box is separate.
The roosts are made of one and one-fourth-inch
spruce and are movable. The ends are four inches
wide and notched out at top to hook over the scantling
at the top of the boarded part of the partition back of
the roosts. The bottom of the ends of the roosts is cut
to fit the floor and a hole is bored through the same so
that the roosts can be pinned to floor with wooden pins
which can be easily removed and the roosts taken out
and cleaned. The slats of roosts are two inches wide,
set on edge and rounded on top with a jack plane and
well nailed to the ends of the roosts. A spruce slat
76
POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
one and one-fourth inches thick and two inches wide is
placed on edge in front of the nest hoxes and a short
distance from same, to enable the fowls to reach the
nest boxes without' jumping directly into the boxes.
The outside of the building is covered with dark green
oil stain.
Business Poultry Plant — The houses built by an
extensive poultryman, G. H. Pollard of Bristol county,
Massachusetts, are simple, substantial and practical,
and as cheap as a very good house can be made.
Probably nothing better for the cost can be found.
The photograph, Figure 50, gives a general idea of the
FIG 50 : BUSINESS POULTRY HOUSE
outside appearance. The inside is very simple, con-
sisting of the roosting place and a scratching shed.
The most striking feature of the inside arrangement is
the roost, which is built with special attention to se-
curing warmth at night. It is Mr Pollard's idea that
if a laying hen is kept warm nights, she will not mind
cold winter weather, but will keep right on laying,
hence he does not pay much attention to glass windows
or any other means of producing warmth by day, but
the scratching shed is left open in pleasant weather and
protected only by a cloth curtain on stormy days. In
some of the sidehill houses the roosting house is
entirely shut off at night and is banked on one side
HIGll-r.RADE PLANTS 77
with earth and protected on the other sides by cement
walls faced with roofing paper, as is the inside roof
also. There is only one small window in front. This
roosting place makes a very tight and warm arrange-
ment in winter and when the hens leave it they are
encouraged to keep themselves warm by scratching
for grain thrown among the litter in the outside pen.
Apart from the roosting pen, the house is built as
cheaply as possible, banked in the rear nearly up to
the roof and covered on the outside with roofing paper
coated with tar, which is considered the cheapest and
most satisfactory roofing material. Mr Pollard sup-
plies details as follows :
The largest house is ninety-six by thirteen and
one-half feet and is divided into six pens thirteen and
one-half by sixteen feet, which are subdivided into a
roosting pen six by thirteen and one-half feet and an
open-front scratching shed ten by thirteen and one-
half feet. The house is very plainly built and is en-
tirely devoid of fancy features in fixtures. The frame
is of two by four spruce, on sills of three by four, set
on chestnut posts. It is eight feet high in front, using
sixteen-foot boards, hemlock, planed on one side and
cut in two. The back is five feet four inches, using
six-foot boards cut in three pieces to save waste and
boarded up and down. The roof is covered with three-
ply building felt, tarred, and the front, back and sides
of the roosting pens are covered with two-ply felt.
The cracks in the back of the scratching pens are
battened to stop the drafts, and the front is covered
with wire netting. A sash of four to six eight by
twelve lights gives the roosting pen light.
The perch platform is at the back, and twenty
inches from the floor, which is of gravel filled in some
six: inches higher than the outside level. There are
7 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
no other lurnishings, save a few nests made of soap or
spice boxes, which cost three cents each.
In the scratching sheds are small boxes of oyster
shell and the water dishes. The floor is covered with
meadow hay or straw and the hens scratch in this for
the hard grain. The soft food is fed in troughs and is
made up of variations of bran, meal, linseed meal and
beef scrap.
A house of this kind may be built by anyone a
little handy with tools, and covers all the necessary
features for the comfort and care of the hens. The
doors open from the scratching sheds to the roosting
rooms, and from one roosting room to the other.
There is a scratching shed on each end of house and
the roosting rooms adjoin each other, thus taking them
away from the outside ends and gaining all the warmth
possible from position. Of course this house could
be extended to any length desired. The runs are on
the back side of the house, as in winter the scratching
shed furnishes open-air exercise, and in summer they
get some shelter from the hot sun and warm south
winds by living on the back side of the house.
Another advantage gained comes from the possi-
bility of walking along in front of the building and
throwing the whole grains through the netting into the
scratching sheds without the trouble of opening and
shutting gates or doors. In this way a house of two
hundred feet could be fed a dry feed in five to twenty
minutes and the work well done.
A Model Poultry House — The building, shown in
Figures 51 to 54 inclusive, is set on posts three feet
above the ground, so the chickens can congregate
underneath the main floor, giving to each section a
ground floor twelve by sixteen feet. This double
house is intended for fifty chickens, twenty-five in each
section. The nests and feed boxes are accessible
FIG 51 : FRONT ELEVATION OF MODEL IIOl'SK
!'< V g'-O"
FIG 52 : GROUND PLAN OF MODEL HOUSE
CTt*.
FIG 53 : SIDE VIEW AND FLOOR SYSTEM
U U Li U 0
FIG 54: CROSS SECTION OF MODEL HOUSE
80 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
from the hallway, and the droppings froftitfre perches
are easily removed at the rear of the building: The
cost of this building, finished in a workmanlike man-
ner, is less than fifty dollars, including the purchase of
the materials required. The bill of materials for a
poultry house twelve by sixteen feet is as follows :
Inches Feet Feet
Hemlock, 30 pieces 3x 4 16 480
8 pieces 3x4 12 96
3 pieces 3x 8 12 75
8 pieces 2x 4 12 64
4 pieces 2x4 16 44 •
boards 1x12 16 800
stripping . . . 1x3 16 80
stripping 1x2 16 160
Total 1796
Siding, flooring and dressed boards 210
Roofing, three-ply felt (square feet) 275
Wire netting i, 350
Netting, staples, hinges, etc 20 Ibs
Nails, assorted sizes 25 '
10 locust posts, 6x6 feet 6 inches long
• The house built had partly second-hand material
and so cost not more than twenty-five dollars. The
front elevation ( Figure 51) shows the house with the
yard on each side, while the ground plan (Figure 52)
shows the general interior arrangement.
A Practical Poultry Home — The building shown
in the illustration (Figure 55) is on one of the farms
owned by Mr I. S. Long of Lebanon county, Pennsyl-
vania. The first two houses are twelve by fourteen
feet, one of which is used for laying hens. In the
middle is a feed box where the hens are fed. The other
house is a roosting place and is cleaned every three or
four days. After cleaning, the roosts are sprinkled
witii lime or coal ashes. The long, low shed is sixty-
six feet long by twelve feet wide. During winter, the
floor is covered deep with straw and chaff. Grain is
thrown on this, and the hens are compelled to work
to get out their feed.
CHAPTER VII
ADDITIONS AND EXTRAS
Poultry could often be kept in the second story of
a building if access to the ground could be secured.
The cut (Figure 56) shows an easy grade up to an
elevated door. The top and bottom boards are shown
in place, but the entire front should be covered with
slats. These can extend from the top board down to
FIG 56: RUNWAY TO SECOND STORY AND UPPER ROOM
the bcttom board. The grade is so easy that fowls will
readily pass up or down. By this plan a building can
often be made to hold two flocks instead of one.
In a barn or stable loft one can fit up a warm and
sunny room for early chicks, as shown at right of Fig-
ure 56. Low windows are put in under the eaves, and
light studding is set up as suggested, being nailed to
the rafters for the roof of the chicken room. Simply
lay boards in place for the top, and fill in the space
above with hay. Board up in front, leaving openings
for doors. Cover the floor with chaff, and put the hens
ADDITIONS AND EXTRAS
»3
and their chicks in here during February and March,
and April, too, in the case of some states. The broods
will do much better here than on the cold, wet ground.
Adding a Scratching Pen — The cut (Figure 57)
shows the ordinary farm poultry house, to which an
addition has been made in the form of a scratching
shed, for use not only in the winter season, but also
during rain storms at other times of year.
Such an open shed is also most convenient as a
roosting place for growing chickens during the sum-
FIG 57 : HOUSE WITH SCRATCHING SHED
mer. The front can have a frame, covered with cotton
cloth, fitted to the opening and hinged at the top, to
be let down at night in summer if desired, and on
stormy days in winter, when snow would be likely to
blow in if the front of the shed were left open. The
cost of a shed built in this way is very small, as no floor
is laid.
Poultry House Additions — The cut at the right of
Figure 58 shows a way to utilize buildings already
existing when constructing a poultry house. A hay
barn or other structure having a long side toward the
84 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
south can be used as in the case shown here, where the
high side of the poultry house has its boarding and
framing already furnished free of cost. There is
another great advantage in building poultry houses in
this way ; the added warmth that is thus secured. In
cold regions this is a matter of great importance, mak-
ing this plan exceedingly useful.
The open summer shed shown in Figure 58 at the
left was recently seen in operation, and answering its
purpose admirably. A "shed roof" was placed upon a
corner of a board fence, the open side being toward
the south. Here was protection for the fowls and cool
quarters for the summer. A wire fence met the two
FIG 58: SHELTER AND LEAN-TO
sides of the board fence, making house and yard all
in one inclosure. Extra summer colonies can thus
easily and cheaply be kept.
It is quite common to appropriate the sunny side of
the barn, building out toward the south and eastward,
for an aspect, which requires only a pitched roof and
low front, with the ends well boarded and seam-
battened, to render the inclosure quite comfortable,
stormproof, and sufficiently spacious for winter uses.
In summer this can be used for laying and roosting pur-
poses. If kept clean and free from vermin, it answers
very well, costs but a trifle, and may be of any size that
the barn side will afford for the back of it. There
should be a few sashes inserted in front or at the ends,
ADDITIONS AND EXTRAS 05
where the sun can shine in, and this will make an eco-
nomical house, as well as a useful one, in many cases.
Preparing House for Winter — Many farmers can-
not afford to build a suitable house. There is the mate-
rial about almost any farm for making the most open
house one of the warmest. There is no expense
attached to it except the labor.
At each corner of the house (Figure 59) and about
two feet out, set a post that will extend well above the
eaves. If the coop is large enough to make it necessary,
FIG 59: PROTECTED COOP
other posts of a uniform hight and at the same distance
from the walls of the coop can be set in the ground.
The posts should not be more than from six to eight
feet apart. Then about six inches from the ground
staple a smooth wire to .the posts, and another about
two feet above, and so on to the top of the posts, requir-
ing five or six wires. Then fill in between the posts and
wires and the coop with hay or straw. Small poles or
pieces of waste boards can be woven in the wires to
keep the hay in place. When the eaves are reached,
some material that will lead off the water should be put
86
POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
on top. Long slough grass has been found good
for this.
By setting a post each side of the door frame, and
one to correspond with each in a line with the outside
posts, and boarding up each side and fixing the top to
be covered with hay, the door of the coop will be
guarded from the cold. Of course an outside door of
some sort will be necessary. The windows can be pro-
vided for in the same way or a box of some rough
FIG 6ot RUN OF SASH AND STRAW
lumber be made and set in as the banking up is
being done.
Aside from a place reasonably warm to roost in,
chickens, to do well, should have a warm, sunny place
in which to exercise on warm days. Such a place can
be made each side the coop in the shape of a lean-to
facing the south. Set a line of posts the length desired
to make the lean-to, and spike two by fours across the
top, from one post to another, six to eight feet from the
ADDITIONS AND EXTRAS oj
ground. Then cut the poles of a length to make the
desired pitch to the roof and lay one end over the two
by fours (it is well to notch the under sides so there
will be no danger of slipping), letting the other end rest
on the ground. Lay fine-limbed brush across these, and
upon this put the hay or straw- covering. In this place
can be put up nests and a dust box fixed and filled for
them to wallow in. The chickens, too, can be fed here.
Cheap Winter Run — Figure 60 shows an easy way
to make a sunny winter run for poultry at little expense,
either of money, time or labor. Some old window sash
is set up for the front, and the top is covered with straw
FIG 6l I PROTECTED SCRATCHING SHEDS
or corn stalks. Make the top strong enough to hold the
weight of the snow that may fall upon it. If there is no
tight board fence at hand, the back can be boarded
roughly and then banked right up to and over the top
with straw or other material.
Protected Scratching Sheds — The idea of an open
scratching shed for poultry has come to stay. Con-
tinuous poultry houses, with shed roofs, are now built
with two open scratching sheds side by side, then two
pens, then two open sheds, and so on. A section show-
ing two sheds, one each for the perns on either side, is
88 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
given in .Figure 61. The special point brought out
here is the cotton cloth screen, or door, that closes the
front of each shed in stormy, very cold or blustering
weather. They are hinged at the top and are turned up
to the ceiling when the weather is suitable. Drifting
snows are kept out by putting down the screens, while
the outside air can come in and the light also. An open
shed in a snowy latitude without such a protection is
almost useless during the greater part of the winter,
unless one keeps shoveling snow.
CHAPTER VIII
FOR INCUBATORS AND BROODERS
The buildings of a large establishment for artificial
hatching and rearing should be arranged with especial
reference to convenience. A few steps saved by a care-
BREEDWG HOUS£
KILLING HOU3C.
\ RESIDENCE.
GROW/NO HOUSE.
fttDHOVSE.
m
INCUBATO* CELLAR.
BROODER HOUSE.
FIG 62: PLAN OF DUCK OR BROODER BUILDINGS
fill plan of building with due reference to location, be-
comes an important factor of success when applied to
the numberless dailv errands to and fro, Buildings to
9O POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
be often visited, the incubator room, for instance,
should be near the dwelling. All the buildings should
be so arranged that the attendant can do the routine
work by a systematic plan, with no waste of time or
effort. The illustration (Figure 62) shows the actual
arrangement of a large plant to which allusion is made
in Bulletin 64 of the United States Department of Agri-
culture. Its convenience and compactness are seen at
a glance.
Improved Incubator House — Figure 63 shows a
plan for obviating the inconvenience of rising tem-
perature in the incubator house when the sun is shin-
FIG 63: DOUBLE ROOF INCUBATOR HOUSE
ing, especially late in the spring or in the summer.
Then it is difficult to keep a uniform heat in the ma-
chines, as the house becomes overheated from the effect
of the sun upon the roof. A simple way out of the
difficulty is to put on an additional roof, leaving an air
space between the two. The inner roof can be covered
with cheap boar.ds and roofing paper, with lath battens.
The outer may have shingles over a layer of building
paper.
Banked Incubator Room — In Figure 64 is shown
an incubator room that is built on the surface of the
FOR ixcrn.vroks AND BROODKRS 91
ground, and yet is surrounded by earth, banked up
against its stone walls. It is banked on three sides,
leaving one side unbanked for entrance door and a
window. The incubator room need not be large, so the
labor of banking it in this way will not be great. Many
are not able to secure a suitable place underground for
a cellar, and for such the above plan will prove advan-
tageous.
A Successful Incubator House, illustrated in Fig-
ure 65, is in use by an extensive woman poultry farmer,
Mrs J. Fairbank, Oregon. It is a combination incu-
bator cellar, water tank and windmill tower. The two-
FIG 64: BANKED INCUBATOR ROOM
story building is fourteen by sixteen feet, with a one
thousand-chick capacity hatching cellar, a tank in the
second story which holds the water supply for the
whole farm, and a windmill on the roof to perform all
the pumping.
A double brooder house is shown in Figure 66,
with walk in the center and pens on either side, and
with heater at the end. Many prefer this plan to the
single brooder house, as the care and attention required
for the youngsters is much less and the cost of heating
is reduced, one heater being sufficient for both lines of
pipes. Then, again, this latter plan shortens the length
92 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
of the building by one-half and makes the work more
concentrated.
Combined Brooder and Growing House — Figure
67 shows a successful plan for a combination building.
The rows of brooder pens are at the right, while the
large pens and yards are at the left. In a duck plant
the right half of the buildings is used for the ducklings
FIG 65 I INCUBATOR HOUSE AND TANK
as soon as they are old enough to endure a lower tem-
perature than that of the brooders. In a broiler plant,
the use of the buildings may be similar, or the large
pens may be used for laying stock.
The heater and feed room are between the two
parts of the building, the heater being in a pit beneath
the feed room. Pipes run into both parts of the build-
FOR INCUBATORS AND BROODERS Q3
ing1, as shown by the dotted lines. The pipes in the
right half of the building- are raised two or three feet
from the floor, and a lower temperature is maintained
as compared with the brooders.
The brooder box (Figure 68) is next to the pas-
sageway, or walk, on each side, and runs the entire
length of the building. This box is thirty inches wide
and eight inches high; the sides are seven inches high
and nailed securely ; the top of the cover is nailed across
with cleats to make it substantial, aad the cover has an
LLLLJdihl'JJ-l I II II m-
FIG 66 : DOUBLE BROODER HOUSE
inch strip nailed underneath in front and back to keep it
in position. These strips r.est against the seven-inch
sides and make the brooder snug" and tight when closed.
The heating pipes are directly beneath the cover and are
two-inch pipes, flow and return. Some prefer one-inch
pipes, using two flows and two returns. When three
pipes are used they should be about eight inches apart
from center to center. These pip.es rest on the partition
boards of the pens. The front of the brooder, leading
into the pens, is cut out in the center about four inches
94
POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
deep and four feet long, while the ends and the other
side are solid, being seven inches high. The construc-
tion of the brooder is clearly shown in b with cover
removed, while c shows cover. The heater is located at
the end of building.
A pipe brooder house, well liked at one of the
eastern experiment stations, is shown in the combina-
tion drawing (Figure 69), in which dimensions and
interior construction are indicated. The hot water sys-
tem is used, but the small lamp brooders may be used
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FIG 67: COMBINATION BROODER BUILDING
if preferred. The heating pipes extend the length of
the building under the covers, b b b. Through exit, c,
the chicks reach a twenty-foot run inclosed with two-
foot board and netting above. One of these houses will
accommodate about five hundred chicks while small.
Houses for Single Brooders — These little build-
ings, described by C. E. Matteson of Wisconsin, are
scattered over his place one hundred and fifty feet
apart, so that one colony will not interfere with the
other at feeding time, and each flock will go to its own
house at night. (See building at left of Figure 70.)
FIG 68 : CONSTRUCTION OF BROODER BOX
90 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
The dimensions are six by six feet, with shed roof
rive feet high at front or south side and three feet high
on north. Sills are two by six, and the house is
studded with two by four, two feet on center, and sided
with six-inch drop siding.
The front has a window nine by twelve feet, set
eight inches above the sill, so as to leave place for the
chicks to get to the yard, and the window should be
arranged to slide wide open, making a kind of shed of
it when weather is warm. The door is two and one-
half by four feet, placed on east side so you can enter
FIG 69: PIPE BROODER HOUSE
the building without first climbing into the yard. The
roof is of dressed and matched fencing, then shingled,
making it almost windproof. The interior shows a
brooder, a, set therein. These brooders are hot air,
thirty-six inches square, sunk in the ground floor of
these houses about four inches. The dirt that is taken
for the excavation is filled in around the brooder, which
gives the chicks a nice earth floor to scratch and ruffle in
when the weather will not let them go out. As they
grow older, say when four weeks old, they are given
full liberty in pleasant weather.
FOR INCUBATORS AND BROODERS
97
Figure 70, at the right hand, shows a house built,
against a bank, that can be twelve feet or more in
length. The cross section below shows how the home-
made brooder is located with respect to the run for
the chicks. Set on legs as it is, the attendant does not
have to stoop over his work, and with the raised run
for the chicks they are brought on a level with
the brooder, so they can easily run in and out.
This run is coated with gravel and cemented. The
brooder is three feet square. Allo\v six feet for each
FIG 70 : HOUSES FOR SEPARATE BROODERS
brooder and pen and you have three feet at the end of
each brooder — sufficient space to give access to each
pen, which can be cleaned from the walk with a short-
handled hoe or rake. The house is twelve feet wide,
the walk or alley six and the run six. The top of the
brooder is hinged, to give easy access, and the partition
in front of the runs is tight, to keep in the warmth that
is produced by the sunshine coming in at the window.
If a bank of earth is not at hand, earth can be heaped
up to form a bench on which to locate the runs. Such
90 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
a bank of earth makes the interior of the building much
warmer.
Both these houses are adapted for the lamp and
drum style brooder shown in the diagram at the left.
Later in the season may be substituted the cold brooder
shown at the upper left hand corner of Figure 70.
Woolen cloth, an old blanket or some sort of heavy
material, is tacked loosely at the sides and in a few
OREGON BROODER HOUSE
places through the center, in such a way that the loose
folds will hang down nearly to the bottom of the
brooder. This cloth should be of several thicknesses,
or padded if need be. It should hang lower near the
sides than at the center. It should also be constructed
in such a way that it can be raised as the chicks grow
in size. This can be done easily. The cloth can be
fastened to a frame made of inch boards and of a size
1'UK INCUBATORS AND BROODERS 99
that will just fit snugly inside the brooder. At each
corner of the box put in pieces of two by four
studding, a, eight inches high, in which holes have been
bored an inch apart from the top to within four inches
of the bottom. Saw out the corners of the frame to
fit around these and insert a pin, c, in the hole that will
hold it at the desired hight. A strip, b, nailed to the
end pieces of the frame and reaching through the mid-
dle, will serve as a fastening to tack the cloth to in
the center.
Brooder House — A building as shown in Figure
71 has been found satisfactory by an Oregon grower.
The floors of the warm hovers are covered two inches
deep with sand. They are warmed with two one and
=*^
HOUSES EOR WINTER CHICKS
one-half-inch pipes, a a, overhead. The hovers are
thirty inches \vide, four feet long, one foot deep, ar-
ranged in two rows running lengthwise with a walk, b,
between. Through a small opening chicks enter a four
by four-foot runway, e c, and may thence pass outdoors
to runways four feet wide and thirty feet long.
A Brooder Attachment — In early spring the
brooder chicks can be let out upon the ground and yet
be protected from the cold winds by the attachment
shown at the left of Figure 72. A box without top or
bottom is hooked to the side of the brooder, an opening
being cut in the side where the door of the brooder
comes. The top of the attachment is covered with
coarse cotton cloth, or a sash may be used. The cloth
lOO POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
lets in fresh air and the sun's rays, but protects the
chicks from the cold winds.
Poultry House for Early Chicks — This house, as
in Figure 72, at the right of the illustration, is used by
Mrs J. Wilson of Iowa for raising winter chicks. In
it she can put three hens with about forty chicks. Take
a box about six feet long, two and one-half feet wide,
two and one-half feet high in front, with sloping roof,
cover with tarred paper and have a sliding window in
front near the top, as shown. Dig a hole in the ground
just the size of the box, as for a hotbed. Fill it with
horse manure, cover with dry earth and over this put
soft straw, chaff and hayseed from the barn floor.
Place the box over this and put the hens and chicks
in. Throw an old carpet over all and they are easily
cared for. In a home like this it is surprising how fast
they will grow. A small door near the bottom may be
opened on warm days to let them have a little sun, but
they will soon scamper back.
CHAPTER IX
SPECIAL PURPOSE BUILDINGS
Cold Storage of Poultry Products — The only
really satisfactory means for keeping eggs and poultry
meat is cold storage. The system is working a revolu-
tion in the trade ; tending to equalize prices and increase
demand. In course of time the difference between
spring and winter prices will no doubt be far less than
at present. Meanwhile there is a good profit in holding
ICC ROOM
\
FlG 73 : PLAN OF COLD STORAGE HOUSE FOR POULTRY
stored eggs. A commission man and buyer lately re-
marked that farmers could secure this profit themselves
by putting up little storage plants on the plan of co-
operative creameries, and selling the product at the
right season to retail customers. He expressed the
opinion that a town of one thousand or more people
would furnish ample scope for such an enterprise and
102 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
the plant could be used a part of the time for storage of
fruit. The design given herewith (Figure 73) is for
storage with ice, is not expensive, and has been success-
fully used by a Michigan poultry farmer.
The ice room is eight by twelve feet in the clear,
being started with a six by six-inch sill laid in a trench
three inches deep. After the sills are laid in the ground
dirt is pressed in solidly, so as to leave no opportunity
for air to enter in at the bottom — a very important
point. The studding of the inner room is two by eight-
inch lumber, twelve feet long, set twenty-four inches
from center to center, and having a plate of the same
size firmly spiked to the top, the inside of the studs
being sheathed with rough boards clear to the top of
the plate and around the bottom except at a, where one
stud has been left out, leaving an opening through
which the ice is passed in filling the house. This open-
ing is stopped with boards and simply laid in as the
house is filled. The top of the ice should be no higher
than the plate, and be covered twelve or eighteen inches
deep with hay or straw, well trodden down.
The outer wall is of two by four-inch studding,
twelve feet long, the sill set in the ground the same as
for the inner room, but carefully sheathed on both sides
with good, tight boards, and the space between filled
with sawdust clear to the plate. The outside is finished
with drop siding, having a thickness of paper between
that and the boards.
At B the inner and outer sheathing boards project
one and one-half inches beyond the studs, and other
loose boards are cut one and one-half inches shorter
than the space between the studs.
Then, as the ice is fitted in, these shorter boards
are laid up and the space between filled with sawdust,
this opening being only to fill the ice room. About
thirty-five tons of ice can be put in this house, which
SPECIAL PURPOSE BUILDINGS 103
will be sufficient to last until cutting time another year.
The entrance door is made double ; that is, a sort
of vestibule is built out so that the door can be closed
behind when going in or coming out, thus avoiding
warm currents of air in the cooling room. The four-
foot space around the house is floored over six inches
above the ground sill, and provides ample room for
butter, meat, poultry or eggs, though eggs must not
be kept at a lower temperature than forty degrees
above zero.
If desired, another story may be added by placing
joists across the space eight feet from the lower floor.
This gives a larger amount of room for storing onions,
etc. The roof is hipped and provided with a ventilator
having lower slats arranged to open or close at will.
They should never be tightly closed, as fresh air should
always have more or less access to the top of the ice.
A six by six-inch timber is fastened at one end
under the hip rafter, projecting over the outer wall line
and provided with a stout eye-bolt to which the pulley
is caught in filling the ice room. This timber is braced
down to the plate with sticks of the same size.
The roof is shingled, and the cornice is made with
eight eight by eight-inch holes in the soffit, each being
provided with a board to close and open, thus perfect-
ing the ventilating arrangement. Windows are in both
sides, tightly fitted with two double sash for each eight,
and are set in the sides, so as to throw light in the end
passages. A box drain should be laid in the ground,
made of two by eight-inch stuff, and should project
three or four feet beyond the outside wall, and at each
end a small pit should be dug, filled nearly to the top
with small stone, with an armful of straw next, and dirt
filled in, well rammed down. No flooring will be re-
quired in the inner room, as the ice can be laid on the
ground.
104
POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
An Ontario Turkey House — My turkeys have a
large range, and as foxes are numerous in this vicinity
a great many of the finest birds were killed last year.
In June I had a house built like the accompanying illus-
tration (Figure 74, at the upper half of the illustration)
FIG 74: BUILDINGS FOR TURKEYS
to secure the flock at night, to provide a feeding place
for the young birds during the day and to prevent the
old birds from eating with them.
The building is twelve feet square, ten feet high in
front and eight feet at the back. The foundation con-
SPECIAL PURPOSE BUILDINGS 105
sists of tamarack planks spiked solidly together and
four posts are set in at the corners. The sides are of
fine slats, four inches wide, nailed an inch apart so as
to provide light and air within. The roof is made of
boards put on to exclude the rain. On one side is a
door, a, six by three feet, fastened by hooks on the
outside and inside. On the front there is an opening,
b, and a door, c. On the ground the opening, b, is
four inches high and five feet long and permits the
ingress and egress of the young birds only. This is
closed by means of a drop board. The hanging door, c,
is twelve feet long, two feet wide and two feet from the
ground, is formed of boards like the sides, is fastened
by hooks and is attached to the front by strong hinges.
Inside the house are drinking and feeding troughs for
the young birds, clean straw at one side and three tiers
of roosts, the first very low, the second midway and
the third of strong poles as near the top as possible.
In the morning I dropped the hanging door to let
out the old birds, fed them outside, and closed the
door. Went in at the side door, fastened it, fed and
watered the young birds and left them until the dew
was off the grass. By raising the board the young
ones could come out to the old ones. Three times a
day they came to be fed, the board being utilized to
shut them in until all were fed. At night the young
ones remained in and by dropping the hanging door
the old hens flew in. When the turkeys grew too large
for the opening, b, I fed them just outside the house
and they entered by means of both doors, which were
fastened before dark. — [Mrs Edwin Colquhoun,
Ontario.
Another Turkey House— Most people who have
had experience with turkeys know that these birds
prefer to roost on the ridgepole of a building rather
than under it, and that, too, in exceptionally cold
106 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
weather. The turkey does not like close quarters, and
thrives best where it is given plenty of air.
In many sections of the country where the winters
are not too severe, the house shown in Figure 74, at the
lower part of the illustration, will be found an excel-
lent one for turkeys in winter, while in the northern
regions, even, such a building will be found most
useful as a roosting place for both chickens and poults
during the late summer and fall, since they need pro-
tection from rain and prowling animals, but plenty
of pure air to secure the finest growth. This need of
pure air at night is not properly appreciated by most
persons who attempt to raise chickens.
Improved Duck Houses — Ducks are easily the
most profitable of all poultry, if the flesh product
simply is considered, while as a layer of eggs the Pekin
duck is exceedingly profitable. There can be no doubt
that it would be wise for more farmers to keep a flock
of breeding and laying ducks, and for this purpose
there is no better breed than the large, white Pekin.
As ducks roost on the floor, only low quarters are
needed. A lo\v, shed-roofed affair can be put onto the
side of the barn or other farm building, in the manner
shown in Figure 75, three feet of hight being sufficient.
Let the pen open into the large building, the partition
between being hinged at the top, so that by raising
it one can clean out the pen and put in dry bedding.
One can thus build duck quarters very inexpensively.
Figure 76 shows a duckhouse with shed and an
inclosed roost room. It is single walled and built in
the cheapest manner.
In Building a Dove Cote in a barn for six pairs,
they should have at least twelve feet square of floor
and eight feet high. The more space the better, unless
the pigeons are to have the freedom of the yard. The
boxes should be at least eight in number, each box to
SPECIAL PURPOSE BUILDINGS
107
be double, completely divided so a young pigeon cannot
go from one to the other without flying. This allows
the mother to lay and hatch a second set of eggs before
the first are able to look after themselves. These
boxes must be set on the top of tinned posts or fixed
in some way so that the rats cannot reach the nests,
FIG 75 : IMPROVED DUCKHOUSE
FIG 76: DUCKHOUSE AND SHED
for rats are sure to destroy the eggs or young birds
in the nest. — [A. H. Streeter, Hampshire County,
Massachusetts.
Making a Pigeon Loft — Every boy on the farm
should have a flock of pigeons, be the variety Fan-
tails, Homers, Turbits or Jacobins. They are among
the most satisfactory pets that one can have, their pretty
loS
PO U LTk V A KC II 1TECT URE
ways and beautiful forms and plumage making them
most desirable companions. A loft for the accom-
modation of pigeons can be made very easily in the
roof chamber of a shed or stable. The illustrations
(Figure 77) show inside and outside arrangement for
such a loft. With most pigeons there must be a wire
inclosure outside the window, else cats will make havoc
with the birds, many varieties not being very quick
upon the wing. A part of the inside partition is cut
away in the illustration to show the interior arrange-
FIG 77 : PIGEON LOFT AND INTERIOR
merit. Such a loft utilizes waste space and requires no
great expense for lumber. A boy should be able to fit
it up himself.
Combined Poultry and Pigeon House — A poultry
house with a loft especially fitted up for the accommo-
dation of pigeons is shown in the accompanying illus-
trations (Figures 78, 79), from sketches by Webb
Donnell. The poultry quarters have an addition fitted
with wire netting in front in summer, as seen in Figure
78, and windows in winter, which serves as a scratch-
ing and dusting room, communication being had with
it from the main poultry room. The diagram, Figure
79, shows the inside arrangement when the building is
used for two breeds. Such an arrangement secures
exceedingly warm roosting places for both flocks, as
SPECIAL PURPOSE r.UILDIXGS
IO9
the recesses occupied by the roosts can be shut off from
the main room to some extent by placing partitions in
front of the roosts, extending from the ceiling, but not
HOUSE FOR POULTRY AND PIGEONS
FIG 79: GROUND PLAN FOR COMBINATION HOUSE
reaching to the floor. The warm air from the bodies
of the fowls is thus kept around and above the birds
while on their roosts.
CHAPTER X
COOPS,, YARDS AND FENCES
Compared with the houses, the coops are small
and temporary affairs, being" used often only a few
months of the year. Present use rather than appear-
ance or durability is usually considered. In some cases
the. coop item is so far overlooked that it becomes the
weak feature of the plant, and serious losses occur
from overcrowding the young stock or failing to pro-
FIG 8OI GLASS-ROOFED COOPS
tect them against pests ; neglecting to separate fowls
ill with contagious diseases ; lack of accommodations
for sitters, fattening fowls, extra males or show birds.
There is little excuse for such conditions; materials
good for coops being plenty and cheap, while on
account of the limited size of such structures they may
be nailed together any time in the workshop or shed.
COOPS, YARDS AND KKNCES
III
A Coop for Early Chicks — The two upper draw-
ings of Figure 80 show a desirable coop for very early
chickens. The coop is long and sloping and has a hot-
bed sash hinged to the top. The higher half of the
coop has a tight bottom with slats at its outer edge.
There is no bottom to the rest of the coop, and the
lower end has a hinged door, and, is also covered with
one-inch mesh of wire netting.
When very cold the door can be shut up tight and
FIG 8l : HOTBED RUN AND COOPS
the chicks will have a warm run on the ground outside
the slats. When it is warmer, the end door can be
dropped, giving a protected run, but plenty of fresh
air. The hen can be let out into this run when desired.
A cloth can be thrown over the glass at night when
the \veather is cold.
The drawing in the lower right-hand corner of
Figure 80 shows a house with glass run for winter
chicks.
112
POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
The lower left-hand drawing in Figure 80 shows
a hotbed that is built against the south side of the
poultry house, serving all through the winter as a
sunny scratching place for the fowls. These are shut
out at the approach of spring and the hotbed started.
About the time the plants are started the fowls will be
getting out upon the ground, while all through the deep
snows of winter they will have an exceedingly sunny
space to run in. Make the hotbed large enough to give
sufficient scratching space. The room can well be
utilized with early plants in the spring.
FIG 82: RAT-PROOF COOPS AND RUX
Figure 81 shows another coop on the hotbed plan
Several brood hens are kept in boxes or A coops con-
necting with the sashed runs, and the chickens may run
together if desired, although it is better to have them
divided at first till they become used to brooding in
flocks of even number.
Rat-Proof Coops mid Run — The first has a pro-
jecting top, as shown in the upper left of Figure 82,
to keep out the heat of the sun and the rain. It has a
netting front to give good ventilation, while keeping
COOPS, YARDS AND FEXCKS 113
out enemies at night. It has a small board below that
can be removed during the day so the chicks can run
out and in, while the hen will be confined. The coop
can be cleaned in an instant. All these advantages will
commend this coop to those who have had experience
with the coops ordinarily seen.
Cool Run for Chicks — They appreciate a bit of
shade during midday and should not be forced to find
it in the coop, which too often is almost air-tight. Cut
a hoop in two equal lengths and to a, b and c, as at the
right of the drawing previously described in Figure
82, each tack either end of three pieces of lath or other
light wood. Over this framework stretch cotton cloth,
d, or bagging, and tack firmly in pace. The open ends
admit a free current of air, while the cover keeps off
direct sun rays.
The illustration at the lower left of Figure 82
gives an idea for the construction of a neat, handy
and healthy coop. It can be made of any size. For one
or two broods of chickens, about four feet square and
two feet high in front and eighteen inches high in the
rear is a convenient size. It should be made with a
tight floor to prevent the entrance of rats, skunks, etc,
and also to aid in keeping clean. The entrance should
have two doors, one of them merely a frame over
which is stretched wire netting with meshes fine
enough to exclude all prowlers of the night. This is
to be used in the summer time when it is too hot to
shut the coops with the tight doors. The other door
can be made to shut over the wire door by hinging at
the top. The wire door is made to slide in from the
top or end. With the coop tightly closed there will
not be sufficient ventilation. A ventilator made of
three or four-inch boards nailed into a box about two
and one-half feet long, set in the middle of the coop
roof and extending down inside to within a couple of
114 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
inches of the bottom, will suffice. At the rear, to aid in
cleaning, should be a door about eight inches wide
extending the whole length of the coop at the bottom.
By lifting this and using a small hoe-like tool, a, made
by taking a block four by eight inches and boring a
hole in the center and putting in a handle about two
feet long, the job of cleaning is a short and easy one.
All coops should be painted and the roof made tight
enough to prevent leaking. These coops are not too
heavy to be carried to any place where it is desirable.
The illustration shows the coop with one door raised,
showing the wire netting.
Rat-Proof Coops — The plan, Figure 82, at the
lower right-hand corner, shows how one is built. The
lower space in front is protected with a sliding frame,
covered with eighteen-inch galvanized heavy wire net-
ting. The dot is a small hole with a large wire nail
through the frame. The two dots above are holes for
fastening the screen frame so the chicks can run, and
confine the hen, or the hen can run, as one wishes. The
legs are about three inches high, so there is no chance
for rats to work underneath, and the plan also prevents
loss by possible drowning in a heavy shower. With
the frame down at night, cats, rats or others pests are
kept out.
Hay Shed Coop — My chicken coops are made be-
neath a western hay shed, which is built by setting
posts about ten feet apart, placing stringers on top
and laying poles across, upon which the hay is stacked.
The entire shed or corral is inclosed by boarding -up
and down with slabs, and is divided into five sections,
occupying the space of twenty feet square for each
coop or pen. All the roosts are in the center coop and
are made of small green oak poles reaching up to
within two feet of the roof, which is eight feet from
the ground. Instead of having a single slant with
COOPS, YARDS AND FENCES 115
poles nailed on every two feet, I have the roosts in the
shape of a wide hay rack or double feed stall, slanting
both ways, with poles every two feet, and some between
the top perches. In this way I get all the young chicks
to their perches long before the mothers leave them,
and give plenty of room for all to roost on the top
poles. — [J. L. Shoemaker, Utah.
Ten-Cent Coops — A chicken coop that will last
for ten years at a cost of ten cents ! The cut ( Figure
83) explains itself better than words can do. A soap,
starch or canned fruit box of the right size can
usually be procured for from five to ten cents (fre-
quently at the former price if a quantity are engaged),
FIG 83 : BOX AND BARREL COOPS
and this, with a few bits of lath for the door, which is
hung on leather hinges, and a board for an awning
completes the requisites. Triangular pieces of board
must be nailed to the awning, which is also attached
by leather hinges. When more light or sun is needed
by the brood, simply turn the shed roof over onto the
top of the coop. By a little extra work the board can
be made to serve the purpose of shutting in the
chickens at night by dispensing with' wooden supports
and using iron hooks to keep the shed in place. In
this case ventilation must be provided. This coop can
be made in a few minutes and is better than many more
costly ones. It will be improved by covering the top
with building paper, which must be painted each year.
n6
POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
Another coop just as cheap may be made from a
barrel sawed in two lengthwise (Figure 83). Before
sawing nail staves to hoops. A coop from a whole
barrel slatted in front is shown in Figure 84. Also a
peach crate used as a coop.
A cheap coop can be made from an apple barrel
with the one end covered with lath and a door to
admit of cleaning and placing feed for the brood and
the old hen. At night and on wet days a piece of oil-
cloth can be arranged to shelter the front and be
FIG 84 : COOPS FROM BARRELS AND CRATES
thrown back when not in use. It can be easily re-
moved from one place to another, admitting of fresh
surroundings as often as deemed necessary. It is
raised slightly from the ground by means of blocks on
either side to avoid the least dampness. The inside
of the barrel should be covered with fresh straw in a
moderate quantity. Wire netting in place of lath can
also be used and is just as good for the front, possibly
better. The entrance board can be made by cutting the
COOPS, YARDS AND FENCES
117
front block under the barrel, slanting" a.nd placing
cleats on it, to allow the chicks to get in and out easily.
A-Shapcd Coops — Several forms of these very
simple and cheap coops for young chicks are shown in
FIG 85 : A-SHAPED COOPS
Figure 85. Beginning at the upper left corner,
the first coop is made by dividing a good-sized box by
cutting through two corners, making two coops of one
box. The roof should be closely battened or covered
with painted sheathing paper. The coop adjoining to
FIG 86: A-SIIAPED COOI AND FRAME
the right has its roof lapped clapboard fashion, and a
convenient drop door of slats. At the lower left
corner is a style common in its main features on many
large establishments. It is cheap, warm, dry, and can
Il8 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
easily be made rat-proof. The fourth is good where
hen and chickens run together. The house part is
quickly made from an old box, and may be fastened to
the yard or simply moved close against it. The yard is
of inch mesh a foot high, but the top may be of two-
inch mesh.
Another simple A coop appears in Figure 86. At
the right of this illustration is shown a frame which
may be covered with boards or paper and slatted in
front or protected with netting.
FIG 87 : COOP FROM A SHOE BOX
Bo.r Coops — One style is made out of a wide shoe
box, or case, by nailing a board (as shown in Figure
87) on each end, which shall extend beyond the sides
and above the top of the box ; and across these is nailed
another board, forming the roof. The ventilation is
perfect, when the roof is constructed in this manner,
while at the same time it proves a complete protection
against storms. A coop of this sort can be readily
made with but little trouble and at slight expense.
In the side not shown in the cut is a door through
which the hen is admitted or let out, and on the front
side (see cut) a pane of glass can be inserted, if de-
sired, to give ample light.
COOPS, YARDS AND FENCES IIlJ
Another plan is shown in Figure 88. Tip a lar ;e
packing box on one side, making the open space or
original top the front. Nail boards, a, across this
space half way down, letting the top one, b, extend
nearly its width above the top edge of the box, and
several inches beyond 'the ends. Nail a similar one, c,
on the back, leaving this a couple of inches above the
top. Two side boards, d, are now added, sawed slant-
ing to make a smooth slope between the front and back
for the roof. As they are six inches beyond the
ends of the box, it makes a protection from the
FIG 88: A PACKING BOX COOP
weather, besides leaving space for circulation, while
to make this of value to the interior a square must be
sawed from the top of the box before the roof is put
on, as this top floor has been left whole. This makes
the ventilation good without danger of leaks, and the
roof is now added.
Returning to the unbearded space in front, we
nail a strip four inches wide down the center and tack-
fine wire netting, /, over one side. A second strip is
put over the first to cover the edge of the netting, and
to leave room for a groove for the sliding door, g, on
12O
POULTRY ARCHITECT URE
the other side. This may be either of wood or a
skeleton frame made and covered with netting. A
groove must be made in the box for the other side of
the slide. Nearly all the boxes come with well-stayed
corners, so this is not difficult.
FIG
BROOD COOP WITH RUN
Paint the outside, roof and all, to prevent the
cracks from spreading. Or the roof may be covered
with roofing paper or cheaper still with tarred paper,
which will last a season or two. These bt>xes vary
somewhat in size, but they will hold from fifteen to
twenty-five chickens till they are pretty well grown,
FIG 9<D : LIGHT BOX COOPS
and as they are strong and well built they will last
many years.
Brood Coop with Run — The coop shown herewith
(Figure 89) is one that is used extensively on the
Kentucky Stock and Poultry Farm of Brandenburg,
COOPS, YARDS AND FENCES 121
Kentucky. In it a hen can brood twenty to forty
chicks. It is made of one and one-half-inch mesh wire
with a board top, and the dimensions are as follows :
a to b, four feet ; c to a, two feet ; d to e, two feet ; k k
are doors.
A Light Coop — The materials (Figure 90) are
twenty-one spruce laths, two boards, a, six by twenty-
five inches, two two by two posts, b. four inches high,
and a shoe box, c, twenty-five by eighteen by fourteen
inches. Nail the four boards to the posts, leaving a
space at the bottom ; nail nine laths to the front end of
box and the other end to the end made by nailing the
boards and posts together. Now nail six 'laths to each
FIG QI : SHELTER AND PORTABLE COOP
side of the box and to the end. The second half of
the illustration shows another coop built on a like plan
with slide between box and yard.
Summer and Fall Shelter — Growing chicks can be
kept in a most vigorous condition by having pure air
at night. Shut up in close coops they cannot have this.
Get them to roosting out of doors as early as possible,
but provide a shelter for the roosts.
This can be made very cheaply by putting up a
rough board and stake frame, as shown in Figure 91,
and covering it with tarred paper, tacking a lath on the
outside, over each rafter. This will protect the chicks
from showers in the night, but will not shut out any
pure air.
122 POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
Fowls do well colonized out in small flocks in
summer. They need little more shelter than a roosting
place that is protected from storms and showers. Fig-
ure 92 shows an A shelter boarded with matched
lumber to the ground on one side and end, with nests
and roosts inside. Put the tight side and end toward
the direction of storms. Fowls can thus be colonized
in many flocks on pasture and other rough land, obviat-
ing the necessity of building many yards, and of
FIG 92 : COLONY SHELTER COO
furnishing all the feed Fowls on free range will get
half their living themselves.
A well-ventilated coop is needed for chickens in
the fall. They should also have a chance to roost, as
crowding together in their own droppings is not
healthful. The coop shown in Figure 91, at the right,
fulfills both requirements, and is very convenient and
easily made. The wire netting at the bottom on each
side is six inches wide, this being the narrowest width
of the netting that is sold.
COOPS, YARDS AND FENCES
123
An Orchard Chicken Coop — A coop is shown
herewith (Figure 93) that is made specially for use
under trees. Its pie-shaped form fits it to he revolved
about a tree trunk, giving a succession of new strips
of ground for the chickens to scratch in, and an equal
fertilizing of the soil all about the tree.
To Fatten Quickly — For a few fowls a simple
portable coop may be used. The pen is kept dark
except when the fowls are eating. A'fattening coop
used for single birds is shown in Figure 94.
FIG 93 : ORCHARD COOP
When Sitters Are to Be Broken up the coops
should be cool and airy and supplied with food and
water. A coop of the kind shown in Figure 95 is all
that is needed. The slats are of old fence pickets, and
the structure is stout and durable.
At the right of Figure 95 is shown a plan for a
special coop for sitters with eggs. The house has A-
shaped roof with coating of tar. There are two rows
of nests inside, with a walk between. Feed, water and
I24
POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
grit should be kept inside. After the first few days
the hens will find their own nests after coming" off, but
the safer plan is to remove them all at a regular time
FIG 94: FATTENING BOXES
daily, and visit the coop awhile later to see that all
is well.
Shipping and Show Coops — Expressmen have
found much fault in the wav fowls were occasionally
FIG 95 I COOPS FOR SITTING HENS
prepared for shipment and the result was double first-
class charges used to be made on poultry. As this
seemed an injustice poultrymen and expressmen came
together and decided on what should constitute a
COOPS, YARDS AND FENCES
125
proper coop in consideration of single nrst-class mer-
chandise rates instead of double. This conference
resulted in the adoption of a "one rate" price instead
of a "double rate." Also that coops must be strong
and slatted and not injured by other packages being
FIG 96: SHIPPING AND EXHIBITION COOPS
piled on them. If the coop is sufficiently strong, ex-
pressmen have no objection to coops being lined inside
with cloth to protect birds from a draft. The coop
illustrated in Figure 96 is four feet long, two feet wide
and twenty inches high, made entirely of laths, except-
fv
FIG 97 : YARDS FOR THREE FLOCKS
ing the bottom and the boards around the base, which
are four inches wide, of bottom box stuff. The laths
on the sides are securely nailed to posts which are of
inch-square spruce. Such a coop will carry any
amount of merchandise piled on top of it, as much so
as though it was a box.
T26
POULTRY ARCHITECT U RE
Before fowls are sent to the show room they
should receive a course of training, to accustom them
to confinement, handling and a crowd of visitors.
Unless this is done they will not show at their best and
fail to make the impression on the judge and visitors
of more upstanding, bolder birds. Confine them in
coops, similar to the one shown in Figure 92, for two
weeks prior to the exhibition and handle each one daily.
Yard for Three or Four Flocks — Two good plans
are shown in Figure 97. The first calls for a house
YARD
YARD
HOUSf
YARD
YARD
FIG 98 I YARDS FOR TWO OR FOUR FLOCKS
twenty by thirty feet for one hundred fowls or less.
The hallway takes but little room out of the interior,
and yet it communicates with all three pens. The
inside divisions are of wire netting, allowing the sun-
shine that enters at one side of the house to fall into
all the pens ; but the house should be so located that
three sides may receive morning, noon and afternoon
sun. The same plan is followed for dividing the yard
outside as for dividing the space inside the house.
This gives a large amount of y?rd space, with the
yards conveniently located. This building is
COOi'S, YARDS AND FENCES 1 27
all over the outside, with the heaviest building paper
under the shingles, and may either be sheathed or
lathed and plastered inside.
The second plan comprises a three-pen, shed-
roofed house with three yards of the usual size and a
large yard that can be used for one pen of fowls on one
day and for another the next day. This "common"
yard may be an old pasture or field that need not be
fenced except near the poultry house. With such a
run into which to turn the fowls on alternate days,
almost the same results may be obtained as when free
range can be had and at much less expense for fencing
than when very large yards are provided for each pen.
FIG 99 : MOVABLE POULTRY YARD
Figure 98 shows a plan for four flocks with house
in center, or for two flocks with alternate yards, allow-
ing one yard to be plowed and sowed to green crops.
The latter is a good plan for breeding flocks kept on
limited range.
Movable Yards — The section abed (Figure
99), is of light boards, covered with poultry netting.
To bottom board, c d, are fastened three heavy planks
or supports, e f g, meeting the board at right angles.
These hold the structure upright, and four similar
pieces hooked together make a convenient poultry yard
which may be moved without trouble.
A handy movable panel, shown in second half of
Figure 99, is of two boards below and netting above.
128
POULTRY ARCHITECTURE
It is neat and will hold fowls of any size. The hooks
shown at the corners fit into rings in the posts.
Making a Picket Fence Hen-Tight — On many
farms the hens could be given free range if the garden
fence were a sufficient barrier to the fowls. The cut
shows a picket fence with a picket extending upward
for fifteen inches every twelve feet. To these extended
ends of the pickets is stretched a twelve-inch strip of
wire netting, as shown in the sketch (Figure 100).
In the prominence of the pickets the fowls do not
clearly notice the netting until they fly against it.
After a few trials they will give up the attempt to fly
FIG IOO: MAKING A FENCE CHICKEN PROOF
over. Poultry yard fences can be constructed in this
way, using ordinary pickets, and above them any
needed width of netting, according as the fowls are
Brahmas, Plymouth Rocks or Leghorns.
The ordinary poultry fencing is all right for
fowls, but will not turn chickens until they reach the
age of ten or more weeks. A simple device for making
poultry netting chicken-tight is shown in Figure 100.
Two or three laths are woven into the lower meshes, in
the manner shown, making a barrier that small
chickens will not pass. This is both easy of construc-
tion and effective.
INDEX
PAGE
Additions 83
Barrel coops 1 16
Hoarding, crosswise 3
Box coops 1 1 8
Brooder attachment 99
box 93
cold 9«
house bank 97
combined 92
double 91
Oregon 99
P>pe 94
single 94
Matteson's 97
Building, low cost 1 1
Business poultry plant 76
Colony house 24
shelter coop 125
system in Rhode Island 33
Convenient house 13
Coop, a light 121
A-shaped 117
brood 1 20
Coops, box 118
for fattening 123
for orchard 123
hay sheds 114
rat proof 112, 114
ten-cent 115
with glass roof no
Cornstalk shelter 23
Drainage 3
Duckhouses 106
Early chicks, coop for in
house for 100
Exhibition coops 124
Experiments, West Virginia 5
Farmers' poultry house 37
Feed house 29
Fence, hen tight 127
Fattening coops 123
Floor, a cement 3
of clay 56
Foundation, a post 2
stone 2
France, G. R., house of n
Glass in houses 6
Heating pipes 93
Hennery, handy 16
Home, a practical poultry 80
PAGE
House, a business 25
a Kansas 60
a Maine 58
a Nebraska 6_>
a ten-dollar 19
cheap and labor-saving 14
convenient i
cost of per fowl 8
economical, small 22
for cold storage 101
for ducks 106
for mild climate 10
for one hundred fowls 49
for thirty fowls 20
for turkeys 1 04
farmers' poultry 3,
good winter 53
in bank wall 68
in sand bank 63
light 56
L-shaped 51
model 78
movable 45
octagon 51
of sods 59
poultry and pieeon 108
prize, Grundy's 35
protected for winter 9=;
removable 40
Rhode Island colony 3-'
satisfactory 54
situation of 3
warm 68
well made 70
windproof 65
with cloth run 50
with scratching shed 21
Houses, effect of heating 5
northern colony 30
Ice room 102
Incubator house 90
Mrs Fairbanks's 91
room banked 90
Layers, house for 18
Lean-to for poultry 84
Location of poultry plant 2
Log house 66
6
6
Material, preserving
second hand
Nest boxes
Notes for builders
130
INDEX
PAGE
Octagon house 51
Pigeon lofts 107
Pollard's poultry house 76
Poultry plant, plan of 89
Rhode Island colony house 32
Roof, hning for 6
Roosts 7, 75
movable 55
warm 5
Run, cool for chicks 113
for winter 86
Runway to second story 82
Sand house 67
Sash with double glass 7
Second story room 82
Scratching pen 83
shed 21
sheds protected 87
Shelter, cornstalk 23
summer and fall 121
sunny 84
Shipping coops 124
Site for poultry buildings 2
Slope for poultry plant 2
Sod houses 59
to lay 62
Soil for poultry plant i
Stoddard's poultry house 25
Tank and incubator house 92
Troughs and fountains . .„ 8
Turkey houses 104
Ventilator 56
Wall, a warm 4
Water supply 92
Windows, double
removable 6
Winter protection 85
Yard for three flocks 125
Yards, movable 127
for two or four flocks 126
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