Practical Farm Buildings: Plans and Suggestions

by Andrew Frederick Hunter

This is the method adopted on the Vernon Fruit and Poultry Farm, Vernon, Conn., where some three thousand head of layers are kept, the food-hoppers being refilled once a week; as there is a little brook and numerous springs convenient to the houses no watering whatever is done, each flock of fowls having but fifty to two hundred feet to journey to find an abundant supply of running water.

Fig. 11—Type of house on Rhode Island colony poultry farms.

On the Gowell Poultry Farm, Orono, Maine, there is an excellent example of the continuous-house, and by the partial adoption of the dry-feeding method the labor is so far reduced that one man can do all the work of feeding and caring for two thousand head of layers, kept in a house four hundred feet long by twenty feet wide, which is divided into pens twenty feet square and one hundred birds kept in each. The double-yard system is in use here, there being one tier of yards one hundred feet long by twenty feet wide extending south from the house, and another tier of yards the same size north of the house; when the south-yards have been denuded of green food the birds are turned into those north of the house, and the south-yards are plowed and sown (or planted) to a quick-maturing crop. By this method poisoned ground is avoided and the conveniences of the continuous-house retained; the safety of such a plant would lie, of course, in the intelligent handling of the work. It is worthy of note that on the Gowell Farm the portable colony-house method is in use in growing the young stock (see page 42), while the continuous-house method is used with the laying-breeding stock. This is true of practically all of the large poultry farms, it being conceded that free range over farm-fields, or through orchard and woodland, promotes good growth in the young stock. When, however, it is desired to develop the physical energies towards egg-production the semi-confinement of houses and yards is brought into play; in this manner the greatest egg-yield, and consequent profit is obtained.

Here are three different methods of avoiding the evil of ground-poisoning: First, the continuous-house with double-yard system, one set of yards being used while the other is being sweetened by a growing crop; second, the colony-house plan with houses located a hundred and fifty to two hundred feet apart and convenient to drive to for feeding and watering; third, the “portable-house” plan, which is the colony method with the houses changed from one location to another, and brought together near the group of farm buildings for the winter months. Convenience, amount of capital available, and other considerations, will influence the choice of a method.

Fig. 12—A small “portable” poultry house.

In Fig. 14 we give an illustration of an elevated poultry house used in Florida, which was published in the “Poultry Standard,” of Stamford, Conn., and described as made of Neponset Red Rope Roofing, both top and sides; a better construction would be Paroid Roofing for roof and sides, or Paroid for roof and Neponset Red Rope Roofing for the ends and sides. This house is built upon posts set in the ground at the back and six feet high in front; the six posts, three front and three back, are all the frame required. The light furring to sustain the roof and sides is nailed to the posts, and the roofing securely nailed to the strips of furring.

The open space below the house is enclosed by one-inch mesh wire netting; there is no floor, and a narrow platform along the rear, inside, gives the hens access to the nest boxes, which are hinged at one end, and swing out as shown in the drawing. The roost-poles should be a foot above the open bottom, to be quite sheltered from winds.

Of similar pattern is the “Mushroom Poultry House,” from Southern California. These houses may be built any size, but are usually made four or five feet square. They set up from the ground about eighteen inches, and the closed sides are three feet, the posts being four and one half above the ground. There is no floor used, the air circulating freely beneath. When built of boards no frame is needed, the boarding being nailed to the posts. The roof goes up from all four sides, in pyramid form, and is made water-tight. The roosts are placed about fifteen or eighteen inches above the bottom, as shown by the dotted lines, and a walk or ladder is provided which leads from the ground to the rear roost. This is made movable, so that it can be taken down at night, thus protecting the fowls from marauding animals.