Plan For A Poultry House

Bear in mind that no iron clad rule will apply in all localities nor under all circumstances to housing or feeding, but to get eggs in winter we must, as near as we can, provide Spring conditions. First, arrange an enclosure 30x100 feet, extending north and south, with a gradual slope to the south if possible. Build your house 8x14 feet, extending east and west, fronting to the south ; make "the north side and both ends snug and tight, having the south side open. Floor your house if not in a well drained location, inclining the floor slightly to the front. Make the floor two feet off the ground ; place a partition six feet from one end, thereby giving two apartments, one 6x8 feet for roosts, and one 8x8 feet for a scratching shed. Place two ten-inch boards above floor of scratch shed at front to hold litter, and make the remainder of front secure with wire netting. Run fence from each end of house to the lot fence, making in effect two lots 30x50 feet. Sow land to rye or other small grain in September.

The house and grounds are of sufficient size for eighteen or twenty hens. When rye is well started put the desired number of hens of some well known heavy laying breed in one of the pens, changing them from one to the other as the condition of the rye indicates, endeavoring to keep them in the south end in the most severe weather. Provide plenty of litter for scratch shed, thereby compelling hens to take plenty of exercise when she would otherwise be idle and drawn up with cold. Oak leaves gathered from the forest make an excellent litter. Keep house and yards in a thorough sanitary condition. Give birds slightly warmed water in cold weather and a warm mash, composed of wheat bran and corn meal in the morning. Keep a sprinkling of some small mixed grain in litter in severe weather to keep them moving. I have found nothing better at night than a bountiful feed of whole corn thoroughly warm but not hot. Do not feed in the litter but on the yard or some clean place just before they go to roost. A little beef scrap and ground bone fed three or four times a week is beneficial. Give plenty of charcoal and grit at all times. Did you know that lime and coarse sand well mixed and made into a mortar such as is used in laying brick, if beaten up after It is dry, makes an excellent grit.

Make each nest separate and apart from every other nest and where it may be hidden from passers by and the other busy hens. (I will send a plan for nest to as many as will send a stamped addressed envelope for same. It is not a patent device and is not for sale). Do not disturb your hens in such a way as to make them shy, but go among them at feeding time and have them as gentle as you can. Study to promote the comfort and satisfy the appetite of your hens, and they will do the rest. Too much is being written on the diseases of poultry and not enough careful study and close application on how to keep them in a bright healthy condition. A little nature study will help us along. — Mutton Doss, Kimberly, Ala.