Mary Roberts Conover

“ The shape of the roof may be governed by taste, the prevailing type of architecture, etc., but where the welfare of the fowls themselves is jeopardized by a certain style, personal preference must yield and the health of the birds themselves determine the choice.
Roofs that can be made watertight with the least difficulty, which do not overhang so far as to prevent sunlight from entering the windows, and which are sightly, are the aim of the average builder. ”

“ The single-pitched roof is the most economical of material and labor, a consideration of importance in the housing of large flocks
Wood, metal, and the tarred paper or felt roofing have peculiar qualifications which adapt them to individual requirements. The paper or felt roofings appeal to a great many people, as the work of applying the material can be done by an amateur. These roofings are laid on over boards and secured in position by nails, the joinings being made watertight with cement. Pliant roofings should be turned well over the edges of the roof and fastened securely. ”

“ When space is at a premium, the nests should stand beneath the roosts, protected by a wooden drop-board—smooth to be vermin-proof and removable to be sanitary. A hinged board serves to darken the nest and at the same time can be held up by a hook when so desired. For cleanliness the nest should be made of wood and treated with some vermin preventive which should be washed well into all crevices. If the nest is raised four or five inches from the floor and built with a porous bottom, it is more easily kept dry. ”

“ Windows really ought to be of such a size and position that the sunlight can reach every part of the floor space during some part of the day. Though we all believe in the benefit of sunlight, we do not always realize how important a part it37 plays in the care of poultry. When we consider that vermin and disease thrive in its absence, and that remedial measures are more or less troublesome and expensive, we will work into our building schemes every possible inlet for sunlight. ”

“ As far as materials are concerned, wood, brick, cement blocks, or stone, are equally34 satisfactory if their requirements are understood, and they are used to suit conditions. Some poultrymen object to brick or stone, claiming that they are damp, yet we know that stone does not create moisture. Of course, masonry being a better conductor of heat than wood, moisture already in the air will condense upon stone, concrete, etc., when it will not be evident on wood. The moisture-laden air, which is cold and unhealthy for the fowls, must be due to a damp floor, poor ventilation, or some such reason. ”

“ In that the family flock may range in size from half a dozen to fifty or seventy-five fowls, the size of the building, and even its style, must vary to suit one's needs. A small coop, almost square, may house your flock of eight or ten, but the larger flock requires a house longer and higher, with more ample ventilation.
Ventilation by means of the canvas or burlap curtain has so simplified the fresh-air problem that less building room is needed where sleeping-quarters alone are considered. Hence the necessary house room for hens depends upon the mode of ventilation. ”

“ Only that poultry house is a good shelter which in winter conserves as much warmth as possible, and yet permits an abundance of fresh air; that admits sunlight, and yet in summer is cool. Such a building must offer no hospitality to other than poultry life, and it must be constructed in line with the economic value of its residents. In short, the structure must be so contrived as to guard against drafts, dampness, disease, and vermin, to insure a profitable result. A maximum of3 comfort with a minimum of risk insures healthy poultry. ”

“ One poultryman who has had experience with metal, felt, paper, and shingle roofing, prefers the last, claiming that it serves him best for least cost.
Where other buildings have just been constructed, there may be left-over roofing material of a higher grade, which will serve to cover the poultry house. ”

“ It must be high enough to actually raise the building above the earth and its dampness. Where the soil washes in around the foundation, gradually covering it and partly burying the wood above, it is likely to cause the weather boards to decay around the base.
Get a man who understands his job to do the work of foundation-laying, else your superstructure will suffer.
THE ROOF28 The roof of the poultry house is, for the average poultryman, a problem solved by the state of his pocketbook, climate, and the location of his buildings, as well as personal preference. ”

“ THE RUN50 The runs are essentially a part of the problem of housing. Fowls need plenty of exercise, yet they are entirely too meddlesome to be given full liberty where one has a garden, a good lawn, and flowers. While hens may be kept in buildings and, with proper care, still retain their health, the average owner of a small flock can keep the birds more economically if he gives them the natural advantages of outdoor exercise. ”

“ Admitting the fabric-covered window—now so universally used—to be the best solution of how to admit fresh air with the least loss of heat, the accompaniment of this is perfect tightness of the windowless sides. ”

“ SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS FOR HOUSES7 While no one style of hen house can meet all the conditions for all localities, almost any good model may be adapted to almost any locality, or at least suggest adaptable features. ”

“ While the height of the roof from the floor should be influenced by the other dimensions of the building, the fowls will do as well with a low-roofed building properly cleaned and ventilated, as with one of lofty roof, but the inconvenience of caring for the low-roofed building must be considered, and hence few of us want a roof lower than six feet. ”

“ It is a strange fact that human beings, animals, and poultry can better stand a current of air coming directly toward the front of the head than from the rear or sides; hence I would place the roosts so that the fowls face the window and get the fresh air on a level with the nostrils rather than from above or38 below. Thus they are fortified against a drop in temperature. For example, where the roosts are to be two feet above the floor, I would have the windows about twenty inches from the floor, provided the roof is correspondingly low. ”

“ Roofing tile and asbestos shingles make excellent roofs, and are very sightly, but their use demands a different treatment of the roof framing, and an experienced workman to make a satisfactory job.
WALLS, WINDOWS AND VENTILATION33 Obtain an influx of fresh air without drafts and without too great cooling of the air, and you have solved the problem of ventilation. To prevent an undue fall of temperature, there must be, in addition to a fresh-air supply, a continuous heat supply, and this exists in the fowls themselves. ”

“ Where circumstances compel one to use a damp location, the building must be constructed so as to meet these conditions. Foundations of concrete, brick, or stone do not meet the conditions for a dry floor where one must use a badly-drained site. ”

“ Nests which were persistently shunned are now constantly used since thus darkened. The sacking may be hung from a wooden strip placed in front of the nests. It gets dusty, but if one is provided with two or three such curtains, the soiled ones may be hung outdoors in the wind and rain for cleansing.
Alfalfa in the run under netting, through which the hens may pick
Even with the small flock the trap nest should be used—there is no use feeding non-producers
The trap nest is as useful to the small poultryman as to the man who runs a 47large poultry plant. ”

“ Nests and boards are supported by stout wooden brackets about three feet apart. Nests and perches are reached by climbing-boards at one end of the room. The door is placed at the opposite end of the building, and is twenty-six inches wide and six feet high. It can be made wider if desired, as there is room.
Cross-section of the house for seventy-five or a hundred fowls, showing the glazed scratching shed on the south front
The care of the young birds is greatly lightened by houses built for them especially. ”

“ Ailing birds that cannot roost seldom have enough vitality to recover.
Roosts two and one-quarter inches wide and not more than an inch thick, with slightly rounded edges favoring the curl of the toes, are satisfactory. They may be arranged horizontally, or slightly inclined, ladder fashion. Light poles cut from young saplings make suitable roosts, if scraped clean of bark and shaved to flatten them slightly on the upper side. Horizontal roosts may be placed about one foot apart, and not more than three49 lying parallel, or the fowls roosting on the rear perch do not get enough air. ”

“ Having conceded her a legitimate place in the scheme of the country home, good housing is of the utmost importance, and it is in regard to this that one easily blunders. Few would idealize a rickety hovel as a home for the flock, but many of us, while we would not put our highly prized birds into an airtight box, so over-house2 them that they weaken instead of profiting by our care. ”

“ After one has decided the form of the roof, the next point is the material.
In counting the cost, one must consider the possible expense in keeping in repair a roof cheap at the outset. Some roofs absorb the sun's rays to such a degree as to make the building too warm. In certain30 locations a fireproof roof is imperative, by law or expediency. ”

“ A trap nest may be improvised from a box of suitable size. Cut out entrance and exit in opposite sides, and in each suspend a door so that it will swing at a pressure of the fowl's head. The entrance door swings inward only—the exit door swings outward. ”

“ A house eight by seventeen feet should give ample roosting and nesting room for a flock of thirty or forty hens. One used by the author is seven feet wide, fifteen feet long, and ten feet high from peak to floor, and is satisfactory during spring, summer, and fall. ”

“ A single board wall can be made comfortable as winter quarters by covering the outside with roofing paper and having it painted black. These black-painted36 hen houses and coops are too warm in summer, however. ”

“ In winter, however, a scratching-shed of equal area is desirable.8 It need not be higher than three feet. It should adjoin the hennery, and a section of its roof should be movable to allow a change of litter. The sunlight should be freely admitted to this through glass.
The front of a house that will shelter satisfactorily a dozen fowls
A small coop that will house a dozen fowls, and may be used where one has little space, or is just getting into poultry keeping, is eight feet long and six feet9 deep. ”

“ Nests that are scattered about and possess some distinctive characteristics seem to make a greater appeal to some44 fowls. Nests in tiers of three or in blocks of three seem to be readily identified by the hens if the different sets of nests are differently placed, but a row of half a dozen nests exactly alike is confusing to the average hen. ”

“ The cost of the cement and nails necessary to the work is included in the price of the roofing per roll. There are several good tarred roofings on the market at one dollar and eighty cents or one dollar and ninety cents 31per roll of about one hundred square feet. ”

“ Grocer's boxes may be converted into good nests by removing the bottom and tacking smooth slats across, with one and one-half inches of space between each. Inch-meshed poultry wire may be used if one is going to use the wire netting. A coat of paint46 gives a more sanitary surface, but if this is not practicable, the wood should be planed as smooth as possible and whitewashed. ”

“ Making a Fireplace; Making Paths and Driveways; Making a Rock Garden; Making a Garden with Hotbed and Coldframe; Making Built-in Bookcases, Shelves and Seats; Making a Garden to Bloom This Year; Making a Water Garden ”