Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1916-10-19
Simplicity, Economy and
Convenience the Es-
sential Features.
Explanation of the Fun
damental Principles of
Poultry House Con
struction.
ny Robert Armstrong,
Expert Poultryman and Writer

While fowls can be kept almost any
conditions, they do best in congenial iv-
ing quarters There is no one best and
most economical type OF construction for
poultry buildings; much depends upon
latitude. climate and soil conditions. Il
house is unpleasant for the attendant to
work in, the chances are it is unfit for his
flock to inhabt. At the same time. the
mere spending of money on a house does
not necessarily make an ideal building
The ideal, practical poultry house should
be serviceable above all things, fairy
roomy, we'll ventilated and yet free from
direct drafts. capable of being flooded
with direct sunlight. ana dry and sanitary
at all times. 1t should he built whereve-
possible with the view to simplicity.
economy and convenience. To spend large
sums on it unnecessarily is almost as
grave an error as to slight it, for money
expended for useless purposes on poultry
farm is an eYtravagance-dead capital
and brings no returns on the investment.
I'm the manner of housing fowls there
may be said to he two general systems
widely different In their extremes-the
colony plan, which consists in placing
small houses for small hocks far enough
apart to overcome intermingling, or TO
erect yards for the different focks. and
the more intensive plan of keeping tie
birds in long continuous laying houses.
This latter arrangement may consist or a
series of separate pens under one roof,
connected by an alleyway at the rear. ar
| by gates between the pens. or II may bo
| one long house capable of accommodating
units Of from 500 to 1000 birds. The rela-
I
GUS There is a tendency to accept the
idea that small flocks produce the create
egg Weld. To offset this virtue, however,
it costs more in labor to produce a dozen
eggs by the colony plan than by a more
intensive arrangement.
LONG HOUSES SAVE MATERIAL,
The cost of building houses on the co..
ony plan is much higher per bird, not
only because n number Of smaller houses
require so many additional end wall :,
/ hut being smaller the allowance of iio0-
area per bird in the colony plan should
he almost double that required in the con-
tinuous house. The reason for this Is
obvious While the actual floor allotment
per fowl in the long house is small, say
| about three or four square feet, the fowl
may roam at will throughout the enthe
house, hence it is not oppressed with the
idea OF confinement
| A suitable location is the first consider
alton in the erection of a poultry house
Wherever possible select a site havins Il
natural drainage away from the building
and IT can be built in the lee of wind
break of, some kind, such as a hill OF
woods, so much the better. \ sandy ~
gravelly, porous soil is preferable to q
clay soil since the former Is more easily
kept in "A sanitary condition, and II 1t h
limpracticable to select a soil that ia nat
urally drained. the site should be mad'
dry by undcr-drainage of some sort Inc
buildings should face the south. or n rev
degrees to the eastward. which Will eN
pose the interior of the house to the early
morning sun-much desired on cold, winte
mornings,
The floor Of the house may be naturn
earth floor. filed in for about foot aboV
the outside ground level, or it may be o
wood or cement; location and soil condi
tions arc the determining factors. 1t !
highly important, however, that the hoo
be dry Mt all times, otherwise II will b
Impossible TO keep litter in the house DIR