There are a hundred ways of raising chickens, and ninety of them are
wrong.
This is not a treatise on poultry raising, for there are many elements
which enter into the problem--incubation, brooding, feeding, etc.
But assuming that one of the main points aimed at is the production
of eggs in winter, when they are scarce and expensive, the _housing_
of chickens is admitted by poultry raisers to be one of the first
considerations.
The house should be sixteen feet deep, should face south, and no
glass should be used in its construction. A window nine or ten feet
long by two and a half feet high placed four feet above the ground is
recommended, and it should be covered with netting or chicken wire on
the outside, but left open all day, even in zero weather. It is closed
at night, by a screen of canvas or duck fastened to a light wooden
frame. The frame is hinged at the top, and hooked up to the ceiling
during the day.
The following description is taken from the experience of several
poultry men who have been successful, and have made money by selling
eggs.
The principle of this construction is that ventilation is a prime
necessity, and that dampness is the one thing to be avoided. With these
objects attained, chickens will stand almost any amount of cold, and
with proper feeding and the strictest cleanliness, egg production will
continue throughout the winter.
Some successful men insist on a wooden floor, others recommend one
of gravel ten inches deep. The construction given here calls for the
gravel floor on the ground level.
Many recommend a litter of straw ten inches or more deep on the gravel.
The morning meal is thrown on this litter so that the chickens are
forced to scratch for their breakfast, getting the blood in circulation
by this early morning exercise.
As the method of building this house is typical of many outdoor
structures, it will be taken up in detail. It would make an excellent
work shop or cabin, with a few modifications, such as a floor of
boards, and the addition of a few windows. Before it is finished the
builders will probably regret, as our boys did, that it was to be used
by their chickens instead of for themselves. (See Fig. 222.)
[Illustration: Fig. 222. The poultry house]
Set eight locust or chestnut posts in the ground and saw off six inches
above the lowest point. Level in the same manner as for the sheltered
seat described for the tennis court, and see that the outsides of posts
measure 15 feet 10 inches over all measurements.
Square the corners by the 3-4-5 method, laying the 4 × 4 inch sill
pieces on top of posts while doing this. The sill is put together with
halved joint, and spiked to the posts with twelve-penny wire nails. The
corner posts are 4 × 4 inch spruce, with square ends toenailed to the
sill.
Plumb these posts, and tie in position by temporary braces, using for
this purpose shingle lath or strips of boards.
The plates along front and back are 2 × 4 inches, nailed to posts from
the top.
The frame may now be finished by placing the 2 × 4-inch studding,
toenailing to sill and plates on the ends, and sill and rafters on the
sides.
The frames for door and window are shown in the illustration.
The rafters spaced three feet apart are 2 × 8 or 2 × 10 inches. This
large size is due to the long span of sixteen feet, with no middle
support from underneath.
The ends of rafters are cut to fit snugly over the plates, as shown,
and sawed straight up and down to correspond with vertical walls front
and back. No overhang is provided for the roof, as commercial roofing
paper is to cover the whole outside of the house. In case it is to be
used for other purposes than poultry raising, this feature should be
modified, and the rafters allowed to project both front and back.
With the rafters nailed in position, permanent braces may be put in at
the corners, as shown in the drawing, and temporary braces removed.
If the building is to be used as a shop, a second door directly
opposite the one shown is recommended. For this purpose the position of
the work bench would be on the front directly under the long window,
and the two doors would then be in the proper place to permit the
planing of long boards.
When the frame is finished, the question of siding must be taken up.
If the original purpose of the building is to be carried out, poultry
experts claim that a double wall is very desirable as a barrier against
dampness, which arises primarily from the exhalations of the birds. If
the walls are cold, this dampness will condense on them, while with
a double wall this does not take place, as the dampness escapes with
the air. The outside casing may be of ship-lap boards or tongued and
grooved material. For a cabin or shop, novelty siding, clapboards or
even shingles may be used. Bring the square ends of the boards flush
with the openings for door and window, and nail to corner posts and
studding with eight or ten penny wire nails.
Finish the two sides, sawing off the sheathing along the top of
rafters. Cover front and back clear up to top of rafters, and bring
ends of boards flush with outside of the side sheathing.
Several methods of finishing corners of frame buildings are shown in
Fig. 223. At _a_ is shown the corner of this chicken house. No corner
boards are used over the outer sheathing, as the whole structure is to
be covered with roofing paper.
[Illustration: Fig. 223. Details of poultry house]
At _b_ is shown the finish for a stable or cheap cottage, with outside
trim nailed over the sheathing. This is the cheapest, easiest, and
poorest method of corner finish for ordinary outhouses. At _c_ a better
method is shown, with trim nailed to the posts, and clapboards fitted
up close to it and nailed to corner posts. A still better finish is
shown at _d_, where the trim is nailed to posts but not lapped. The
angles between corner trim filled with a quarter round moulding make
a good joint and a neat finish. If the double wall is to be used, a
second boarding is made on the inside of studding and under side of
rafters, first covering the space with building paper tacked to the
inside of studding, and nailing the boards--either ship-lap or tongue
and groove--to the frame work.
Door and window sills are made with an outward slant to provide a water
table. A cross section of window sill is shown in the detail drawing at
_e_. As there is no window in this building except the canvas screen,
the construction of a window frame is not necessary. If the double
wall is made, a double door, one opening in and the other out, will be
in order. The outside door, flush with outer sheathing, and the same
arrangement inside are shown at _f_.
A door sill will not be necessary, and the construction of the doors
is shown at _g_. The material is tongue and groove boards fitted to
the opening, so as to close easily, yet to provide for expansion in
wet weather, and held together by heavy cleats 3 × 7/8 inches on the
inside, as shown. The inner door is fastened by a hook and eye, and the
outer one with hasp, staple, and padlock.
As the window opening is covered with wire, the only way a thief can
get in is by cutting the wire and canvas or by drawing the staple. The
latter method can be prevented by the use of special staples, with
threads cut on each end, and fastened on the inside by nuts, as shown
at _h_. These staples are sold at all hardware stores.
The construction of the frame for the canvas screen is shown in Fig.
222. The lap joint is used throughout, and the outside dimensions are
two inches greater than the window opening. Tack the canvas or duck to
the side of the frame next the window, and provide two hooks and eyes
to fasten it down at night. Strong iron butt hinges should be used on
this frame, and heavy T or strap hinges on the doors.
The outside of the house is finished, except for a water-shed over the
window, and the cover for the entire outside of strong roofing paper.
This is sold usually with a special cement for making tight joints
and with tin washers for the nails. The water table is simply a board
projecting at an angle and fastened to triangular brackets, as shown
at _a_ (Fig. 222). The roofing paper brought down over this board, and
tacked to the under side or edge, makes a watertight joint.
The inside woodwork consists of roosts, dropping platform, and nests.
The dropping platform is a floor of tongue and groove boards, placed
three feet from the ground on posts, and extending the full length of
the house.
The roosts are fastened to a strong frame, as shown in drawing, and the
frame--in sections--is hinged at the back. Each morning this frame is
raised, hooked to the ceiling, and the dropping platform cleaned.
The construction of the nests is a subject on which poultry experts
differ widely, but whatever form is adopted, the material may usually
be obtained from old boxes or packing cases.
The outdoor runs for summer consist of wire netting fastened to
chestnut, cedar, or locust posts. If other woods are used, the lower
parts should be coated with creosote. This is also a good disinfectant,
to be used for cleaning the roosts occasionally.
Many accessories for the poultry house may be made of wood, but
opinions of specialists are so antagonistic that it is hardly safe to
advocate any one type. A feed trough is shown at _i_ (Fig. 223). It may
be made from box material, and consists of two boards nailed together
at right angles, supported at the ends by two horizontal pieces nailed
on. Brooder houses, feed, and incubator houses, and the many other
details of poultry raising are well within the power of any careful
boy, and the designs should be selected from the expert whose system he
has decided to follow.