(ADAPTED FROM BULLETIN NO. 109. ILLINOIS EXPERIMENT STATION.)
[Illustration: FIG. 68—Individual hog house.]
_Individual Houses._—Individual hog houses, or “cots,” as they
are sometimes called, are built in many different ways. Some are built
with four upright walls and a shed roof, each of which (the walls and
roof) being a separate piece can easily be taken down and replaced,
making the moving of these small houses to another location an easy
matter. Others are built with two sides sloping in towards the top so
as to form the roof, as shown in Fig. 68. These are built on skids
and when necessary can be moved as a whole by being drawn by a horse.
They are built in several different styles: some have a window in the
front end above the door, while all may have a small door in the rear
end, near the apex, for ventilating purposes. These houses are built
in different sizes; indeed, there are about as many different forms of
cots as there are individuals using them.
The arguments in favor of this type of house for swine are that each
sow at farrowing time may be kept alone and away from all disturbance;
that each litter of pigs may be kept and fed by itself, consequently
there will not be too large a number of pigs in a common lot; that
these houses may be placed at the farther end of the feed lot, thus
compelling the sow and pigs to take exercise, especially in winter,
when they come to the feed trough at the front end of the lot; that the
danger of spreading disease among a herd is at a minimum; and in case
the place occupied by the cot becomes unsanitary it may be removed to a
clean location.
_Large Houses._—Individual hog houses have certain advantages in
their favor, and large houses, if properly planned and built, have many
points of advantage; among them being good sanitation, serviceability,
safety in farrowing, ease in handling hogs, and large pastures
involving little expense for fences. In order to be sanitary a hog
house should admit the direct rays of the sun to the floor of all the
pens and exclude cold drafts in winter, be dry, free from dust, well
ventilated, and exclude the hot sun during the summer.
[Illustration: FIG. 69—Large hog house.]
The illustrations show a hog house built with this purpose in view. The
building is one hundred and twenty feet long by thirty feet wide, and
has an eight-foot alley running lengthwise through the middle, between
the two rows of pens. It stands lengthwise east and west with the
windows on the south side, the windows being so placed that at noon
of the shortest day of the year, the rays of sunlight passing through
the upper part will fall upon the floor of the south side pen on the
opposite side from the window. This allows the total amount of light
coming through the window at this season of the year and at this time
of the day to fall upon the floor within the pen; consequently, during
the latter winter months, there will be a maximum amount of sunlight
on the floor of the pen; the window in the upper part of the building
performs the same function for the pen on the north side of the alley.
By this arrangement of windows there is possible a maximum amount of
sunlight on the floor of the pens in winter, which will serve to warm
the interior of the house, and especially the beds, during the latter
months of winter, thus making it possible to have pigs farrowed very
early in the season. Sunlight not only warms and dries the building,
but destroys disease germs, thus making the building both warm and
sanitary.
The upper window, which throws light into the pen on the north side is
long, and this necessitates a flat roof for the part of the building
south of the alley, which must necessarily be covered with some
material, such as Paroid Roofing, that will shed water at a slight
pitch. Dryness should be secured by thorough drainage, freedom from
dust by sprinkling with water, and the direct sunlight should be
prevented from entering the pens during the hot part of the summer
days; this is done by the manner of constructing the building—the
lower window is shaded by the eaves and the rays passing through the
upper windows fall upon the floor of the alley.
In order to be most serviceable a hog house should be constructed so
that it can be used every day in the year. In order to be an economizer
of labor the house should be planned so that the largest amount of
work may be performed with the smallest amount of labor, which, with
the present scarcity of labor, is a very important factor. Farrowing
pens should be supplied with fenders, which prevent the sows crushing
the pigs, and should be built so the attendant may lend assistance, if
necessary, with both convenience and safety. By having all the hogs
under one roof handling becomes simpler, and in case of bad weather
much more convenient.
[Illustration: FIG. 70—Ground plan.]
The alley through the middle of the building is eight feet wide; this
permits driving through the building with a wagon, which allows the
bedding to be hauled directly to the pens, and the manure to be loaded
on the wagon directly from the pens and hauled to the fields. The pens
are ten feet wide and eleven feet deep. Each pen has a slide door
opening to the outside, and a door opening to the alley; the latter is
hung so that when it is opened it will turn the pigs towards the front
end of the house, for weighing, etc. It also permits changing pigs
from one pen to another, and gives easy access to the attendant. The
trough is placed on the side of the pen next the alley, and a swinging
panel above the trough, shown in the illustration of the interior,
makes feeding a very easy and convenient operation. The “fender” is
shown in the ground plan, and consists of a two-inch iron pipe placed
on posts of the same set in concrete in the floor. This fender should
be placed eight or nine inches above the floor and about six inches
from the wall, it is to prevent the sows crushing the pigs at farrowing
time; the sow will necessarily make her bed in this corner as the other
three corners are occupied, two of them by doors and the other the feed
trough.
There is a four-inch drain tile laid from each pen to the main lines
on either side, which are placed on the outside of the pens, leading
off down the ravine. The tile opens up through the floor of the pens
by means of a perforated iron disk, which is laid in the bell-end of a
length of sewer pipe. The floor is made to slope toward the drain so
that it can be flushed with water.
All the gates and partitions of the interior are made of wire netting
panels. Wire is better than lumber for this purpose, for several
reasons. They are no obstruction to light, the rays of light coming
through the windows are not cut off from reaching the floor, where they
are most needed; they keep the floor and bedding warm and disinfected.
In case the hog house should become infected with disease germs it can
be flushed out and disinfected much more easily and thoroughly. Wire
partitions allow the hogs always to be in sight of each other and of
the attendant. By this means the sows, when they are shut up to farrow,
will not become estranged from one another, and will not be so likely
to fight after returning to a common pasture.
[Illustration: FIG. 71—Large hog house—interior.]
A hog house built and operated according to the above outlined plan
makes it possible to perform a maximum amount of work with a minimum
amount of labor, and to put the pigs on the market at seasons of the
year that are out of the ordinary; it can be expected that pigs thus
marketed will sell for higher prices than those that are marketed along
with the general supply.
_The Question of Space._—A question which most frequently comes
to the front is: “How much room is required for a horse, cow, hen,
etc.?” and there is no one question about which there is greater
difference of opinion. A good size of horse stall is four feet wide
by nine feet long, and a good size of cow stall is three feet wide
by five feet long; of course these dimensions taking no account of
gutter-space at rear of stalls for catching the manure. Another good
dairyman will tell us that he wants his cow stalls four feet wide,
and will present strong arguments in favor of the greater amount of
room; it is obvious that twenty-five per cent. increase of width of
stalls decidedly increases the space-cost per cow. The best testimony,
however, is in favor of being liberal in space, as, for example, is
said about the sheep sheds: “Crowding is most injurious when it results
from restricted room at the feeding rack and when it occurs through
narrow doors. A breeding ewe weighing one hundred and fifty pounds will
require fully one and one-quarter feet of space at the fodder rack.”
The same suggestion applies to floor space per hen. It has been
demonstrated that it is unprofitable to crowd fowls too much, and
well known writers have urged that ten square feet of floor space be
given to each bird; in practice, however, very much less space per
bird gives good results in health of flocks and average egg-product.
In the scratching-shed plan of house, on pages 18 and 19, the floor
space is recommended as seven and one-fifth square feet per bird with
twenty-five fowls of the American varieties per pen, and six square
feet each with thirty birds of one of the Mediterranean varieties per
pen. In the Gowell Poultry Farm house, on pages 16 and 17, four square
feet of floor space is allotted to each bird, and it is the plan there
to keep the birds wholly confined to the pens for the five cold months.
These illustrations show that there is wide range in actual practice,
but we believe it is wise to allow at least five to six square feet of
floor space to each fowl.