Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 January 1918 — GOOD HOOSE FOR BACK-YARD FLOCK [ARTICLE]

GOOD HOOSE FOR BACK-YARD FLOCK

Comfort, Not Luxury, Is Important for Flock’s Need. OLD SHED IS SATISFACTORY Made Warm and Airy, and With Hen Conveniences, Is All That Is Necessary—Divide Yard for Growing Green Feed. A house for the back-yard flock need not be expensive. It should be comfortable. Often there is-an unused shed or building on the place which can easily be converted into a chicken house. The front of the poultry house should face toward the south, if possible, so that the sun will shine into it. A house which provides a floor space of three or four square feet for each l?lrd is ample in size and fowls are often successfully kept with an allowance no greater than two and one-half to three square feet. Houses must be dry and free from draft, but must allow ventilation. Very satisfactory houses can be made cheaply from piano boxes or other packing cases. Where there is a board fence it is sometimes possible to take advantage of this by building the poultry house in the corner of the fence, making the fence itself, with the cracks coveted by strips or battened, serve as the back and one side of the house. A cheap house 8 feet square can be made .of 2 by 4-lnch pieces and 12inch boards and covered with roofing paper. Such a house would be large enough for a flock of 20 to 25 hens, It can be built quickly and is cheap in construction. Plans for building it, which can be easily followed, with a description of all the material needed, are given in a new" publication of the United States Department of Agriculture, Farmers’ Bulletin 889. If the back yard is well drained, the ground Itself should be dry enough to serve as the floor of the house. Often a slight dampness can be corrected by filling up the floor several inches above the outside ground with sand, cinders, gravel or dry dirt. Three or four inches of the surface of the floor, and of the run, if a very small run is used, should be removed and replaced with fresh dirt two or three times a year. If the ground is so wet or damp that the condition cannot be corrected by filling, it is best to provide a board floor, as this will keep the house dry, will allow easier cleaning, and will promote the general health and welfare of the hens. A house with a board floor should be set on posts or blocks sto 12 Inches above the ground. Built in this way the floor will not rot so quickly and rats are not so likely to take refuge under it. To keep the flock in a clean and sanitary condition dropping boards should be provided and roosts above them. This makes it easy to remove the droppings each morning, and helps greatly to keep the house free from objectionable odors. A little sand sprinkled on the dropping boards after each cleaning will make the cleaning easier. The dropping boards and roosts should be placed against the back wall. Here they are out of the way and at the same time where they are less likely to be reached by drafts. The dropping boards should be about 20 to 30 Inches from the floor, depending on the height of the building. This gives space enough under them so that the .hens have room to exercise and it is not too high for the heavier hens to fly to. The roosts should be three or four Inches above the dropping boards. A piece of 2 by 4 or 2 by 3 laid on edge, and with the upper corners rounded oft, makes a good roost. Nests must be provided and may be very simple- Any box. about one foot square and five or six inches deep is suitable. An ordinary orange bar with a partition in the middle serves this purpose very well, each box forming two nests. With the top removed the box is laid on its side and a strip three or four inches wide nailed across the lower front. Nests can be fastened to the walls of the house or set on the floor. It is preferable to fasten them

against the wall, as they take too much floor space if set on the floor. One nest should be provided for each four or five hens. Straw or other material used in the nests should be kept dean and not allowed to become so low that the eggs will strike the wooden bottom of the nest. This may cause the eggs to break and will start the hens to eating them —a very troublesome habit and one that is very difficult to break up once it is formed. A litter of straw or leaves about three or four inches deep on the floor of the house helps to absorb the droppings, and by feeding the grain in this litter the hens are obliged to exercise by scratching for it Wire fencing is preferable to boards as it is cheaper and the hens are less likely to fly over. If cats prove troublesome, where one is raising young chickens, it may be necessary to cover the top of the yard with wire also. This is practicable for small enclosures. A board should not be used at the top of the wire fence as this gives the hens a visible place to alight and tends to teach them to fly over. A - foot fence is high enough for most conditions, but if the hens show a tendency to fly over such a fence the flight feathers of one wing should be clipped. The larger the yard which can be provided, the better the hens will do, as it-not only gives them better opportunity to exercise but also makes it possible to maintain a sod in the yard. In most cases not enough yard will be available so that a sod can be maintained; If the yard is fairly large it can be divided into two parts and green crops, such as oats, wheat, rye or dwarf essex rape, allowed to start in one yard while the hens are confined to the other. The yard should be turned or spaded up frequently, if not in sod, to keep it in the best condition. This will not only tend to keep down any odors which might arise but also allow the droppings to be absorbed into the soil more readily and therefore keep the yard in better condition for the hens. Although it is necessary to keep the hens confined to their yard most of the time, it is sometimes possible to let them out where they may range on the lawn for an hour or so during the evening when someone can be at hand to watch them, or at certain seasons of the year to allow them to run in the garden plot. The next article on back-yard poultry keeping will discuss the feeding of the flock, with suggestions as to the use of kitchen waste and the amount of grain and other feed needed.

As it is better to have a cold, dry poultry house than a warm, damp one, some means of ventilation should be provided. A cloth curtain over an opening has proved a very successful method of ventilation. If the poultry yards are to be on only one side of the house they should be located on the south side in order that the fowls may have the benefit of the first dry ground in early spring and the warmth from the reflection of the sun on the house during the winter. Your flock need not be objectionable to the neighbors. There will be no disagreeable odors if dropping boards are provided in the chicken house and these are cleaned daily. The noise of the male bird is as unnecessary as the male himself in a flock kept for eggs. Hens lay just as well without the male.