Cross-section of the house for seventy-five or a hundred fowls, showing the glazed scratching shed on the south front
The care of the young birds is greatly lightened by houses built for them especially. These need not be large nor elaborate, and, since they are for use in the milder seasons of the year, do not require great precautions against the cold.
The care of the young birds is greatly lightened by the use of small houses that can be moved about
While the slant-roofed colony coops, which can be moved about, are best for the care of large flocks of growing poultry, the progeny of the small family flock may be conveniently housed in one long coop divided into compartments, with separate little pens before each division. A coop of this kind, six feet long, thirty inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high, will shelter seventy-five young chicks very comfortably from babyhood to large broiler age. The floor should be made tight and warm, and the coop mounted upon skids or runners, so that it may be moved if desired. The top of this coop slants gently and lifts up like a lid for inspection and cleaning, and this top is hinged to the rear side, and covered with tarred paper.
Since young chicks will crowd and smother if the air supply is limited, the entire front of the coop, to seven inches above the bottom, is covered with coarse muslin or sacking during spring, and with galvanized wire netting in the summer.
The size of the lumber necessary for any of these buildings is about the same: Timber for sills, 5 × 6 in.; cross-beams and main supports, 4 × 3 in.; intermediate joists, supports, and rafters, 2 × 4 in.; and for weather boards and floor boards, any convenient width.
Well-seasoned lumber should be used, and should be first-class of its kind. Second-grade material may be used for the wood-house, but faulty building of the poultry house may mean more in losses from drafty floors or walls than the saving in the first outlay will warrant.