Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-06-20

ADVICE TO BEGINNERS
Rr.ssieal mats Ssr Farmers Whe Thank
- Gssagaag h Reultzy RaisinG
The hrst thing 10 . suitable build
ing. located olsa dry spot and raised
above tho surrounding ground 80 that
Il viii not be possible for water to got
In during the early spring. though
there be . large amount Of snow to
melt Some have forgotten this fact.
and the consequence has been wet,
muddy coop and diseased fowls. Allow
about one hundred square feet Of space
for every fifteen fowls. and make tho
building warm and free from cracks.
The first building erected was long
enc about fifteen feet wide, with
pitched roof. having good wide door
in the center. and q passage way two
and half feet wide the whole length
of the building. / prefer this ar
rangement to-day. though ! know
there are many who utilize all the
space for the fowls. In this case one
needs to pass through one apartment
to get to another, to open and shut
doors, and to walk where the fowls
have been, which is disagreeable.
For these reasons prefer the passage
way.
Every poultry house should have
tube and top ventilators so constructed
that they can be tightly closed in cold
weather. / combine the two in one,
the tube connecting with the top ven-
tilator. There is very little use for
the top ventilators in winter. Keep
them closed and prevent loss of heat
and cold draughts The tube venti!a-
tor should reach nearly to the floor
and have q slide at the bottom SO that
it may be closed in cold weather. as
there is no odor from the oppings
when the weather is freezing. If the
building be intended for moro than
one flock, divide it with wire netting.
1t is well to use two boards at the bot
tom to prevent the males from fight
ing. The floor should be of finely
screened gravel or sand. Shutters
should be provided for the windows.
There is otherwise great loss of heat.
There is such a thing as too much glass
in poultry house. I have in mind
one which cost IS, 600, but there is SC
much glass in the roof and front that
it is far from satisfactory; as soon as
tho sun begins to set. the heat is radi-
ated very fast so that before morning
it is quite cold. thus causing two ex-
tremes of temperature, which should
always be avoided. The gentleman
could have erected a nice practicable
coop, stocked it with the finest speci-
mons money could buy, and still have
had q nice sum at interest had he
sto pped to reason the matter out
Roost and nests should be so con-
structed that they can be moved from
tbs building at will. A gentleman
friend built poultry house costing
over 5000. He thought it would be
AN excellent plan to build the nests
30 that he could collect the eggs from
the passage way by opening small
doors. Happy thought! He made
two rows of nests, allowing eight for
each apartment of fowls. ALI worked
well for awhile. Later on these
nests were found fairly swarming with
vermin and the only thing to be done
was to tear them ell out. The rOost
should be low to prevent humble foot
and breakage of eggs. have seen
strips of sheet-iron tackled to joist
and placed under the rOOst to catch
the droppings In a short time the
lice bred between the sheet-iron and
the joists by the million. SO l again
say, make your roosts and nests so
they can be moved and so that every
part of them can be reached with the
oil dropper. There are several ways
to support the ro0sts without giving
the lice chance to breed. One is to
rest them on one-fourth inch rods sus-
pended from the roof They are not
partial to the cold iron and will coll
lect on the roost where they may be
with q little oiL-William
Parker, in Farm and Home.