Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 68, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1911 — POULTRY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POULTRY

COLONY HOUSES PROVE BEST Have Many Advantages Because They Can Be Moved From Place to Place Little Trouble. I like colony houses because they can be moved easily from pla'ce to place and thus insure clean surroundings for the chicks. They also enable one to take the broods from an undesirable place such as the dooryard or

the garden and keep them in a field where there is plenty of insect food or scattered grain left by the binder or the reaper, writes W. J. Judson in the orange Judd Farmer. In such surroundings the chicks can save considerable outlay for food by converting into flesh what would otherwise go to waste. Young chickens can be removed from the house or the brooders when about six weeks old. If taken from hens, they should be dusted thoroughly for lice at that time and if hot already marked should be marked with a poultry punch. At first they should be confined to a temporary yard by wire netting not less than two feet high. A convenient size for this yard is one rod each way. Of course, the larger the inclosure, the more grass there will be for the chicks. It is best to keep them here for three or four days, or a week, depending upon their age and the distance they are removed from their former location. When they become accustomed to the place, the fence may be removed by using hoppers which contain one-half to one bushel of feed, but sonsiderable

time may be saved in feeding, it being necessary to fill the hoppers only once or twice a week. A very convenient sized house for 50 to 70 chicks is shown in the accoinpanying Illustration. It is six by three and one-half feet on the ground, three feet high in front and two feet behind. Iron roofing or building paper may be used, both on the top and on the sides. For floors, one-inch matched stuff is best. The bottom may be made rft rough boards, the upper side planed. In the summer the chicks need an opening about ten inches wide, running the entire length of the front. This may be covered on the inside with one-inch mesh poultry wire. Where the door "is full high, three feet, it is much handier to have a screened opening on the top, ten inches in width, as shown in the drawing. Two men can carry such houses from place to place or one person can shift them by moving one end at a time. By using colony houses, I believe the farmer can produce healthier chicks with less expense and better than by the ordinary methods practiced on most farms.

Side Elevation.

Front of Colony House.