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Show : PROPERLY BUILT : POULTRY HOUSE Structure That Makes for Com- fort of Fowls and Profit for j the Keeper. HENS WILL LAY IN WINTER Division of Building Into Two Compartments Com-partments Has a Definite Value Poultry Does Better When Kept in Relatively Small Flocks. By WILLIAM A. RADFORD. Mr William A. Radford will answer questions and give advice OK COST on all subjects pertaining to the subject of building work on the farm, for the readers of this paper. On account of his wide experience as Editor. Author and Manufacturer, he is, without doubt, the highest authority on all these subjecLs. Address all inquiries to William A. Radford, Rad-ford, No. Prairie avenue. Chicago, 111., and only inclose two-cent stamp for reply. A good building is absolutely necessary neces-sary to get the profit out of poultry in the wintertime. Hens, to lay well, require comfort as well as food and drink. It is better to build a good house, as the expense is but little more and the results are much more satisfactory. A well-built poultry house is warm in winter and cool in aboui Jo feet above the concrete floor. There is a door In the west end and another one in the east end of the house. Also there is a doorway through the center partition. It will depend upon the climate whether the west door shall be boarded up tight in the winter or left open for use. In summer sum-mer the doors may all be left open. This poultry house may be built higher or lower, according to the climate; cli-mate; also the upper part of the house is finished differently where the cold is extreme. Sometimes louver openings are put in the ends of the gables and a loose floor of narrow strips placed overhead for a ceiling. Over these strips the little loft is filled with clean straw. Air finds its way slowly through the filling of straw, without causing a draft. Sometimes the straw is supported by stretching woven wire fencing at the proper height It is a good way to ventilate a poultry house if the straw is always kept clean. A permanent perma-nent filling of straw makes a harbor to shelter lice, mites and fleas, the three most persistent insect enemies that pester poultry. Poultry houses built on this plan in the more northern sections of the country, where a great deal of zero weather is expected in the wintertime, winter-time, are ceiled overhead at a height not exceeding six feet from the floor. The ceiling may be level in the front part of the house until where it joins the rafters. The ceiling boards are then nailed to the rafters. A ceiling usually is made by tacking tack-ing building paper on the lower edges of the ceiling joists. This paper is - -ii fey r iMiiiriaiA r m pr 1; 4&iJL"-.u Ll!l!JELiJl..:lgii i if then covered with narrow matched ceiling that is made plain. Beading is objectionable, because it furnishes a harbor for small vermin. For tha same reason the joints between the ceiling boards should be carefully filled with putty and paint. It is impossible im-possible to keep a poultry house clean and free from lice and mites unless it is especially built for the purpose. The building of poultry houses requires re-quires considerable study to meet the requirements. It is quite possible to have fresh eggs all winter in the coldest cold-est farming sections, but all the requisites requi-sites necessary to keep the poultry comfortable and to furnish all the different dif-ferent kinds of feeds must be carefully care-fully worked out to fit the climate and other local conditions. summer, because the same construction construc-tion that keeps out the cold will keep out the heat. This two-compartment poultry house is 16 by 32 feet in size, with a partition parti-tion across the middle. A building put up in this manner, with the roof pitched in two directions, direc-tions, costs a little more than a good shed roof house the same size on the ground, but it has a better appearance. appear-ance. The reason for dividing the house into two compartments is that poultry do better when kept in- smaller numbers. num-bers. Successful poultry raising sems to depend to a certain extent upon limiting the number of fowls to 30 or 40 together in one compartment. compart-ment. Poultrymen differ in regard to the number that may be kept together. Some draw the line at 25. It is difficult diffi-cult to furnish dust baths and clean water, with sufficient scratching surface, sur-face, for a flock of more than 35 or 40 without getting the buildings too large. Large poultry houses are expensive. ex-pensive. Like all other lines of business, busi-ness, there are limitations that should be recognized in order to come out right on the profit side. Poultry houses built in this style usually have a wider slope of roof at the back, so that the back of the building is made lower than the front. Poultry houses usually are faced toward to-ward the south, so that the roof is made I 3CRATCftING riOORPlP SQATCKING fLOOH j? 5g'-Q" higher in front to get the warmth and I light from the sun. The way the windows win-dows are made in this poultry house admits both light and ventilation. The window frames are made in the usual way and are fitted with single sash. Ventilation is provided by one extra wide window for each compartment, which is covered with very thin cotton cheese cloth The cotton is so thin that it admits air as well as light. As the days become longer and warmer towards spring both window openings may be covered with cheesecloth 'The plan shows the roosts at the bacl; and the nest boxes in the fron' part ot the house. These nest boxes are made to ;-act on wall brackeU |