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Show 1 MLmi TWELVE-DOLLAR KEN HOUSE Serviceable Shelter Is Constructed Out of Sod, Straw, Corn Fodder and Earth. What results would you expect from 75 hens wintered in a coop of this ost? I had 75 May-hatched pullets in winter, says a writer In Rural New Yorker. I built a coop 12x18 feet, inside measurement. The material was sod for the sides; the roof was straw, covered with corn fodder; the Boor, Nature's deodorizer, natural sarth. I first selected a well sheltered location, then proceeded by setting Twelve-Dollar Hen House. three crotches, each crotch set three feet deep. This for the peak of my roof. Next I set ordinary six-foot fence posts on sides four feet apart, two feet deep, leaving sides of coop tour feet high, plenty high enough for sites of any coop. Then I spiked poles on to those fence posts on top, and nailed on small poles on side posts; laid poles in those center crotches, '.hen laid poles from post plate to :rotch poles for rafters, and my frame was complete. I put in a window frame of plank on south side 2xS feet, covered same with muslin curtain (no Slass) ; put door In east end. I cut sod and sodded up sides; put a little brush crosswise for rafter poles, cover-sd cover-sd with straw and shingled with corn fodder. The foundation of my coop Is raised slightly so water runs away from It, which Is very important. So my labor and all would amount to ibout $12. I put pullets In coop Id December and they soon began laying '.n January, February, March and April averaged close to five dozen eggs per day. My Income was a little better bet-ter than one dollar per day, clear ol feed; and they have continued laying well all summer till molting this fall. N'ow they are through the molt and ire going right into the egg producing business again. |