As poultry is an indispensable appendage to the farm, in all cases, the
poultry-house is equally indispensable, for their accommodation, and for
the most profitable management of the fowls themselves, and most
convenient for the production of their eggs and young. Indeed, without
well-arranged quarters for the fowls of the farm, they are exceedingly
troublesome, and of doubtful profit; but with the proper buildings
devoted to them exclusively, they become one of the most interesting and
agreeable objects with which either the farm or the country house is
associated.
It is hardly worth while to eulogize poultry. Their merits and virtues
are written in the hearts of all provident housekeepers; and their
beauty and goodness are familiar to every son and daughter of the rural
homestead. We shall, then, proceed at once to discuss their proper
accommodation, in the cheapest and most familiar method with which we
are acquainted.
The hen-house--for hens (barn-door fowls, we mean) are the first and
chief stock, of the kind, to be provided for, and with them most of the
other varieties can be associated--should be located in a warm,
sheltered, and sunny place, with abundant grounds about it, where they
can graze--hens eat grass--and scratch, and enjoy themselves to their
heart's content, in all seasons, when the ground is open and they _can_
scratch into, or range over its surface. Some people--indeed, a good
many people--picket in their gardens, to keep hens _out_; but we prefer
an enclosure to keep the hens _in_, at all seasons when they are
troublesome, which, after all, is only during short seasons of the year,
when seeds are planted, or sown, and grain and vegetables are ripening.
Otherwise, they may range at will, on the farm, doing good in their
destruction of insects, and deriving much enjoyment to themselves; for
hens, on the whole, are happy things.
[Illustration: POULTRY LAWN.]
We here present the elevation of a poultry-house in perspective, to show
the _principle_ which we would adopt in its construction, and which may
be extended to any required length, and to which may be added any given
area of ground, or yard-room, which the circumstances of the proprietor
may devote to it. It is, as will be seen, of a most rustic appearance,
and built as cheaply, yet thoroughly, as the subject may require. Its
length, we will say, is 20 feet, its breadth 16, and its height 10 feet,
made of posts set into the ground--for we do not like sills, and floors
of wood, because rats are apt to burrow under them, which are their
worst enemies--and boarded up, either inside or outside, as in the case
of the ice-house previously described, though not double. Plates are
laid on these posts, to connect them firmly together; and the rafters
rest on the plates, as usual. The chamber floor is 9 feet high, above
the ground, and may be used either for laying purposes by the fowls,
or reserved as a storage-room for their feed. The roof is broadly drawn
over the body of the building, to shelter it, and through the point of
the roof, in the center, is a ventilator, with a covered top, and a vane
significant of its purpose. It is also sufficiently lighted, with glass
windows, into which our draughtsman has put the diamond-paned glass,
contrary to our notions; but, as he had, no doubt, an eye to the
"picturesque," we let it pass, only remarking, that if we were building
the house on our own account, there should be no such nonsense about it.
The front windows are large, to attract the warmth of the winter's sun.
A section of picket fence is also attached, and trees in the rear--both
of which are necessary to a complete establishment; the first, to secure
the poultry in the contiguous yards, and the trees to give them shade,
and even roosting-places, if they prefer such lodgings in warm
weather--for which we consider them eminently wholesome.
The wooden floor is dispensed with, as was remarked, to keep rid of the
vermin. If the ground be gravelly, or sandy, it will be sufficiently
dry. If a heavy or damp soil be used, it should be under-drained, which
will effectually dry it, and be better for the fowls than a floor of
either wood, brick, or stone. Doors of sufficient size can be made on
the yard sides of the house, near the ground, for the poultry to enter
either the living or roosting apartments, at pleasure, and hung with
butts on the upper side, to be closed when necessary.