THE ALL-OPEN-FRONT POULTRY HOUSE
This “Fresh Air Poultry House” has been evolved by Mr. Joseph Tolman, a practical poultryman of eastern Massachusetts, some twenty-five miles south of Boston, and differs from most other plans in that the front is wide open night and day all the year around; the south front is always open, being closed by one-inch mesh wire netting only.
Fig. 33—The All-Open-Front Poultry House.
The roof and sides are one inch boards nailed to two by four inch rafters and studs, and covered with sheathing paper and two-ply Paroid; this makes a tight roof, and east, west, and north walls, excepting that there is a window in the center of the west side and a door opposite it, in center of east side. In operating this house in summer both the door and window are removed and wire netting tacked to a light frame set in the places; for convenience we recommend that the door-screen be hinged to outside of door frame, and when not in use hooked back against the wall. There are many nights in spring and fall when it is desirable to leave the door open excepting that the opening is closed by the wire screen, and possibly the very next night it is better that the door be closed; having the door-screen hung to the wall enables adapting to weather changes at will.
Fig. 34—Ground plan.
The house here shown is made eight by fourteen feet in size, four feet to eaves and seven feet to apex of roof, and makes a fine home for twenty-five fowls; a larger size of this house is recommended to be made twenty-one by fourteen feet on the ground, with five feet posts in north and south ends and eight feet to apex of roof; this would comfortably house fifty head of layers.
2. BARNS, STABLES, ETC.
There is a very great diversity in plans of barns and stables, the taste of individual owners seeming to favor this or that plan, which they think is best adapted to their needs. Observation of various types of farm buildings, however, will convince the thoughtful man that too often a single point of convenience is magnified till other points are wholly obscured, and to secure the one advantage several decided conveniences are sacrificed; in a study of conveniences all possible points should be considered and a decision arrived at which will give the greatest and sacrifice the least number.