POULTRY HOUSE CONSTRUCTION.
How to Halid » Good Poultry House nt Little Cost—The Ne
cessity of Fresh Air—Keeping Mites Off the Birds.
By Uncle Jo.
N THE MAJORITY of Instances
the novice in building poultry
houses constructs them In
such a manner as to cut off all possi- 1
bility of fresh air reaching the in- j
terlor. Now, fresh air is the very
essence of life, not only to the feath- |
ered tribe, but to all animal life. It j
matters not whether you build your j
houses for the purpose of producing
eggs or for the rearing of youngsters,
ventilation must not bo overlooked.
The fresh air type of houses is by
far the most valuable one to con
struct, and is considered the bept
for all climates.
In the open-front house that faces
the south, the fowls can be housed
almost as comfortably In winter as In
summer. In severe weather, a storm
curtain can be dropped In front to
break the wind and at the same time
allow a free circulation of pure, fresh
air. It has been found by medical
science that In treating tubercular
troubles the fre*h air treatment Is the
most beneficial. We use the open
front system nnd seldom ever have
a rase of cold. It Is the closely con
fined fowls that contract roup and
colds.
A House for Twenty Hens.
A good-sired house for twenty or
twenty-five fowls Is one 8x10, six
feet in front and four and one-half
at back, facing the south, on slightly
elevated ground. If the conditions
are not surh, then fill In the floor
with six or eight Inches of dirt and :
tramp. Have a door two feet wide
at the left-hand corner, front, open- j
Ing out. In constructing the front, j
nail two ten-inch planks, lengthwise, j
nt top and bottom. This will give!
you forty Inches of solid front. Then
over the opening tuck one-inch mesh
poultry wire, and behind this, on the
Inside, have a curtain on a pole that;
can be dropped down, closing the
opening in stormy weather. We keep
Leghorns in such a house and have
never had a frosted comb.
The house should be free from
cracks or knot-holes on both sides
and back, for this would create a
draft which would be Injurious. The
nest boxes can be made of soap boxes.
Do not nail them, but so arrange as
to be taken out and cleaned when
ever needed.
How to Guard Against Mites.
I use sassafras roosting poles, as
they are almost, not quite, mite
proof, but I make them so in this
way: Cut them six Inches shorter
than the length of the house, tack
cleats on them two feet apart, and
suspend them 21 to 3 feet from the
hen house floor with No. 12 galvan
ized wire. Draw the four ends of
the wire together and form a loop,
and fasten these loops to the middle
roof rafter, thus making a swtnjz
roost, almost vermin proof.
To make assurance doubly sure, we
tie small bunches of raw cotton
around the wire midway between the
roost and the roof and saturate thl«
cotton about once a week with kero
sene oil. and it is very few mites tha:
ever bother our chickens. The whole
thing is simple and effective, and
costs but an hour’s work.
We find that piano boxes, second
hand, when we can get them, make
the best houses for a cock and twelve
hens. Boxes usually cost $1.50. and
for $1.50 more, you can buy all other
material necessary—roofing, hinges
for door, and wire for front. Try it
and see.
A GOOD IIOMK-.MADK BROODER.I
V Cheap Device by Which the Fnrm
er Can Easily Cure for a Large
Number of Little Chicks at this
Season.
Messrs. Editors: We made a num
ber of brooders last year, after a very
simple and Inexpensive plan that
proved very satisfactory. They were
easily operated, and we had very lit
tle difficulty In keeping the heat at
tho required degree. One good feat
ure was the fact that they were fire
less, and, therefore, could be placed
anywhere in any building, or near
valuable property without the least
danger from fire.
Our homemade brooders were
made of boxes about two and a half
feet long and two feet wide. In the
rear end, for n space tho width of
the box. and extending out eight or
ten Inches, wo had an elevated Hecond
ary bottom up about six Inches from
the bottom The space beneath was
left open with a little curtain of flan
nel over the front, but from the front
of the secondary floor to the top of
the box It was boarded up tightly.
The upper floor was stripped only,
with an Inch or morn between each
strip, and a piece of grass sacking
was doubled, and placed over It, the
sacking being tacked In tightly at
each end and side.
The next feature was a tank made
of heavy sheet tin. It was six Inches
high, and eight inches across, with
an opening to receive a funnel at the
top, and a spout outlet at the bottom
attached to the outside of tho tank
and so placed as to extend through s
hole In the boxing and discharge on
the outside entirely, a cork was
used to stop the flow and hold the
water. This tank, after being
placed in the space indicated above
the strips and the sacking, was pack
ed about and on top with a mixture
of crumbled leaves and sand, but
none of the latter was beneath it
The opening at the top for the funnel
to be used in filling the tank was
also spout-shaped, and extended up
and so the tank could be discharged
and filled from the outside without
opening the brooder at all. Placed
under a shed, each brooder could be
operated very conveniently in any
sort of weather.
This heating apparatus, it should
be understood, made the hover, or
artiflicial mother for the chicks
Of course, the water used was heated
on the cooking stove In the kitchina
at meal time, while the stove was
heated up. In the front end of the
box-brooder was a convenient clear
space for feeding the chicks in clover
hulls and other litter, with the little
chick food of seeds and cracked grain
which is best for young chicks. Wa
ter was also placed in the same outer
space of the brooder for them. We
also had a little slatted pen. or run
way, for the chicks of each brood, so
there was no mixing of broods or
chicks of various ages, and each
bunch, being comparatively small,
was healthy and made good progress
in growth.
With several brooders of this kind
we brooded the hatchings of two in
cubators, and of several hens each
month that we would re-set; and we
found them very satisfactory after
we made our tinner understand that
we wanted water-tight tanks, and not
tanks simply welded together. This
is one point to be watched very care
fully in the construction of each
brooder, ease there will be some dis
astrous leaks.
With two or three brooders of this
kind, at this season of the year, near
ly every farmer who reads this can
double his hatching of spring chick
ens if he will, by simply taking the
first hatching from each hen, and re
setting her for another turn, which
may be done without injury to the
hen. Then when the second hatch
ing is off, the chicks may also be
brooded in the brooders, and the hen
put back with the layers.
H. B. GEER.
Davidson Co., Tenn.
“There is no joy In life equal to
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