Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 77, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1912 — POULTRY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POULTRY

GOOD HOUSE FOR CHICKENS

There Is No Need of Elaborate Structure, but It Should Be Dry and Free From Draughts.

In describing what he deems the best, house for chickens, Air. Glenn T. Sponenbergh of Oswego county!, New York, writes the Farm and Home aa follows:

If concrete is used in the construction of the foundation and floor it will make a rat and water-proof floor that is sanitary and easily cleaned. The rest of the house should be built of wood, as the forms for concrete would cost nearly as much as the siding itself. The frame is 2x4-inch material and the siding and roof boards of yellow pine surfaced both sides. If the sides are covered with roofing paper, it makes a tight and very warm house. The roof .should be covered with some good roofing laid according to directions so as to make it as tight as possible. Shingles are not suitable for a building of this kind, as the roof is apt to be damp most of the time. The curtain front house is the driest and most easily regulated in accordance with the weather., It is cheaper to build, is more easily cleaned and the floor space is more fully utilized than in the scratching-shed type. This house should be built tight so that the ventilation is from the south, therefore no drafts. With the scratch-ing-shed house the roosting room is almost always sure to be damp. But by removing the partition this is eliminated and healthier hens are the result. If any one doubts that a flock of hens stir up much dust just let him stand on the front side of a curtain front house when they are fed. Open the curtain and when he sees the cloud of dust they raise I believe he will think fowls nfeed more ventilation.

A shed roof is best, as it is easier to build, provides greater volume of sunlight and has no peak to become filled with cobwebs. The pens should be deep rather than long and shallow. This places the sunlight on the floor instead of on the back wall, therefore a dried floor and happier hens. The pens should be large enough to accommodate 50 hens and two or more cocks. One 20 feet deep and 12 feet wide will furnish the required floor space.

The accompanying plans of side and front elevations and floor arrangement illustrate what I think is the best house. , This contains pens 12x20 feet, the front being 8% feet and the back 5 feet high. This is as high as is necessary to build and as low as ia easy to work in. The front contains, to ehch pen, one double sash window with the upper sash hinged at the top. This is opened when too cold or stormy to raise the eurtain. A frame 5x5 fqet, with the top hinged to swing in, is covered with muslin or cheesecloth. On the outside of this opening is tacked woven wire to keep the fowls in while curtain is open during the day, except during a hard storm and in very cold weather.

'The platform under the roost is 2V 2 feet from the floor, and the nests are the same height, being entered from the platform. This leaves* nearly all the floor space available to the hens, and every nook and corner Is cleaned with ease. The roosts are 2x2-inch material rounded at the top. For a

breeding house I would make the pens 12 feet deep and 8 feet, wide, which would hold as many hens as are desired with one cock, but for a laying house the larger size is the better and more economical.

Front Elevation and Floor Plan.

Side Elevation Mr. Sponenbergh’s House.