Bill of Material for the Construction of Colony House
- Skids, 2 pieces, 3″ × 4″ × 12′, and 1 piece, 2″ × 4″ × 10′.
- Braces, 2 pieces, 2″ × 4″ × 10′.
- Uprights, 5 pieces, 2″ × 3″ × 12′.
- Nailing Pieces, 2 pieces, 2″ × 3″ × 10′.
- Rafters, 2 pieces, 2″ × 3″ × 14′.
- Plates, 2 pieces, 2″ × 3″ × 10′.
- Roof, 60′ of 12 inch cheap boards, 10 feet long.
- Floors and Walls, 300 feet #4 flooring.
- Window Frames, 2 pieces pine, 1″ × 4″ × 8′.
- 75′ of 2 ply roofing.
It is impossible to give prices of lumber, as there is a great variation according to locality. The above list will enable anyone to work out the full bill of lumber required, and the builder or lumber dealer will be able to give the prices in a very few moments.
The cost of labor on the Laying Houses is from $1.50 to $1.75 per running foot. This would include every item of labor in the construction of these Houses down to the smallest detail.
CHAPTER XXX
The Original Thirty Hens
The egg production of the Original Thirty Hens on The Corning Egg Farm is an interesting story, but, of course, it must be remembered that this record is of one hundred and fifty-three days, the banner days of the year for eggs from yearling hens.
The Biddies arrived in different lots, the last days of February, our record beginning with March first, and ending with July 31st. During that period they laid 2466 eggs, and at the end of the third month we lost two of them. The cause of death we were unable to tell, for, at that time our experience was not of sufficient duration to have made even a close guess.
The average for the birds, it will be noted, was eighty-five eggs per hen. Had we been better posted as to feeding methods, doubtless the hens would have been capable of producing eggs in numbers considerably greater than the figures show.
PULLETS IN LAYING HOUSE NO. 2, FALL OF 1911
The record, however, for real yearling hens (and these were real yearling hens, because when they started to lay with us they were fully eighteen months of age), was very far from a poor one, and the novice who succeeds in caring for his breeding stock in such a way that he does not fall short of this average, may consider that he has done very well.