Double Doors
There are double doors at both ends of each House, swinging inward, the opening being six feet in width. These doors are made of two thicknesses of matched boards, one side being vertical, and the other diagonal, with a lining of roofing paper between. These are kept closed only in cold and stormy weather.
A board, twelve inches wide, is fastened to the floor a little over three feet back from the door opening. This board runs across the width of the House for six feet, and at that point a board of the same width, three feet long, is fastened to it and carried down to the end wall of the House. This makes a clear space in which the doors can be swung open without being blocked by the litter, which the hens would otherwise be sure to bank up against the doors. A vestibule of wire netting, on sectional frames, is fastened to the ceiling and baseboard, with wire hooks and eyes. See details shown in drawing, at the back of the Book.
The second pair of doors, which open outward, are covered with inch mesh wire down to within three feet of the floor, and are used during the Summer months and in mild weather in Winter.
A small glass window, about eight by ten, is placed in one of the solid doors at a convenient height. This enables one to observe the conditions in the Laying Houses without being obliged to open the door.
At the west end of all the Laying Houses there is a flight of stairs with a platform at the top, five feet square and with a hand rail around it, giving easy access to the House through the end from which the least number of violent storms comes. The east ends of the Laying Houses do not have steps and platforms.
The dropping boards are placed three feet above the floor in all the Houses, except in the Cockerel House, where they are thirty inches from the floor, as we found the growing cockerels needed additional space overhead to prevent injury to their combs. This leaves abundance of room in the Laying Houses for the birds to work in the litter, and is also of sufficient height to allow a man to get under the dropping boards to search for the eggs which the hens often deposit in the litter.
This height also gives the Sun an opportunity to reach every nook and corner of the House at some time during the day.