Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Mar., 1888
Specification Accepted, 20th Apr., 1888.
I, JOHN HUXTABLE of 22 Bismarck Road, Highgate Hill, in the County of
Middlesex, Architect, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
The object of this invention is to supply a secure fowl coop which shall combine the
requirements of a sitting box and laying nest or double laying nest fastening pen or
separating coop so as to be serviceable to poultry keepers all the year round."
Although primarily intended for ordinary fowls it is applicable to bantams ducks
or geese and can be made in various sizes to meet the requirements of different
creatures. It is also suitable for pheasant rearing and other similar purposes.
When made for birds the size of the ordinary Dorking or Barn-door Fowls it
consists of an enclosure of wood, galvanised iron or other suitable material having an
area, when made in its single form of about 19 inches long and 18 inches wide, and
when made in its double form, that is, divisible into two compartments, having an
area about 39 inches long and 18 inches wide. This latter area is divided trans-
versely to its length into two compartments, by a movable partition, which has an
opening at its lower end large enough for chicken to pass through, so that when used
for breeding purposes the hen can be confined in one compartiment, while the chicken
have the run of both chambers, and can also when desired pass through the movable
bars in the front of the coop to the outside.
Owing to the foregoing arrangement an important advantage is gained, as food
can be left over night for the chicken in one compartment where the hen cannot get
at it, and it is no longer necessary to rise early to feed them.
My improved coop has a floor, part of which is removable as hereafter explained, a
hinged cover, and three walls or sides which do not open. Ventilation is obtained by
perforations near the top of these walls. One of the long sides forms the front, and
is fitted with loose shifting vertical bars, any or all of which can be easily removed
when required. This is effected by dropping their lower ends into sockets, their
upper ends being also held in staples eyes or sockets so arranged that they can be
lifted out of the lower sockets and withdrawn. Thus for instance one compartment
may have its bars all or partly removed so as to form a nest for laying, while a
brooding fowl may be sitting on eggs in the other division. Or, the bars of both
Or both
compartments may be removed, thus forming two nests for laying.
divisions may be enclosed with the bars so as to form two fattening, separating or
hatching pens.
The cover slopes upwards from back to front, and carries two hinged flaps which

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is ;-
1. A coop for poultry and like purposes, in one compartment or having two com-
partments separated by a special movable partition, and having also all movable bars,
a floor with movable spaces in which gratings are inserted, a hinged cover with
folding flaps, also folding flaps at lower end of bars, with stays and fastenings, as
herein described and set forth.
2. A coop forming either one single or one extra-large coop or breeding box, or a
combined sitting box and laying nest, or a double laying nest fattening pen or
separating coup or half of one and half of another of these latter forms, as herein
described and set forth.