Newspaper Page Text
Poultry, Pet and Live Stock
— - ' ^ Section of 1 -
The Atlanta Georgian
-«r- AND NEWS
DEVOTED TO POULTRY, PET AND LIVE STOCK. PIGEONS AND KENNEL
: ' . - ATLANTA, GA„ SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 1911.
LESSON IN POULTRY CULTURE-No. 7
There are four heads under which
this subject will be discussed—Laying
houses, in the preparation of which
course we shall have occasion to draw
largely from the experiment station re
ports; colony houses for growing chick
ens, and the incubator and brooder
houses. Since we expect to havo lay
ing fowls for the production of the
eggs which we expect to incubate, we
shall first take up laying houses, be
ginning with their location. This Is
the first step of importance to be taken
into consideration upon which the suc
cess or failure of the venture may de
pend.
A dry location is one of the essentials
of success in poultry work, as the hens
will not do well if kept under unfavor
able conditions. Such a location should
be sheltered as much as possible from
prevailing winds, and If the soil Is not
naturally dry, it should be made so by
drainage. In wet soils, disease germs
find a lurking place.
Next in importance to good water
drainage is good air drainage,
best not to locate the buildings 'so that
they will be engulfed every night in
cold damp air which flows down from
adjacent hills. Often a higher eleva
tion is warmer and more suitable for
poultry than low ground where the air
is likely to be damp and cold. If the
house faces the south or east, it will
receive more sun and be warmer and
more cheerful in winter than tho it
had any other exposure. (Atwood.)
According to Professor Atwood,
the United States department of agri
culture. who has given a thorough
study of the subject, much depends
upon the location and their form, so
far as convenience goes. We Quote
from him as follows: “Steps may be
saved by studying the form and loca
tion of the building. The form and lo
cation have much to do with their con
venience. Time is money; therefore a
poultry house should be built with a
view to saving steps. In the colony
house plan of keeping poultry, in which
each flock has its own little house and
yard, a great deal of time is spent in
going from house to house. If a plat
of ground 300 feet square and contain
ing slightly more than two acres is
divided into sixteen square runs and a
house located In the center of each,
then a man would be obliged to walk
nearly 5G0 miles in a year to care for
the hens in the sixteen houses, provid
ed that the rounds were made six times
per day. three times to feed, once to
water, once to clean the houses and
once to gather eggs. In taking care of
the same number of fowls in a contin
uous house, less than half the distance
would necessarily be covered.
Form, Influence. Cost of Construction.
“Houses built on the colony or sep
arate plan cost more to build than a
continuous house of the same capacity.
One end of each house is saved by
bringing them together. The colony
bouses are also much cooler, because
more exposed.
Yards.
“Fences are expensive and Increase
labor. Every time a division fence is
taken out, each flock has twice as much
liberty as before. Fences increase la
bor. The labor of cultivating small
yards is much greater than it would be
if all were in one field. Hens know
enough to return to their own roost
The biggest bump on a hen's head is
the bump of location.
Features of Large and Small Yards.
“As a rule, make them long and nar.
row. Double yards are desirable. They
allow one to rotate green crops. This
practice converts the filth, which would
become a,source of danger, into a
valuable food crop. The shape of the
fields and slope of land and location
of the other farm buildings will have
much to do with the shape of the yards
and mode of access to the buildings
Generally, the yards should be long and
narrow to facilitate cultivation. Two
rods wide and eight rods -long Is a good
Else for 40 to SO nens. altho more room
would be better. This permits of a
row of fruit trees in the center for
shade, which is a necessity.
Small Flocks Lay Best.
“Ordinarily we expect to get more
eggs from & small flock, in proportion,
than from a large one. But every time
we divide a flock Into two. we double
the labor. Forty to fifty seems to be
about as many as It is safe and eco
nomical to keep together. IT more are
kept, the weaker are crowded and the
individual is tost sight oP.
Construction.
“The working unit in building a hen
house is the floor and air space re
quired for each hen. A safe working
rule is about five or six square feet
floor space, and ^ight to ten cubic feet
of air space for each fowl. The lighter
breeds because more active and rest
less. require about as much room as
the heavier breeds. Foundation walls
should be built deep enough to prevent
heaving by frost in colder localities,
and high enough to prevent surface
water from entering. In the absence of
foundation materials the building may
be set upon posts.
Square Houses Economize Labor.
“The nearer square a house is, other
things being equal, the less lumber it
will require. It is 20"feet farther around
a house fifteen feet wide and 45 feet
long than it is around a house fifteen
feet wide and 30 feet long. Both houses,
however, have the same floor space.
The long narrow house is colder be
cause it has more exposed surface.
“Cost and value affected by the form
of the roof. The shape of the roof af
fects the value of the poultry house.
It takes the same amount of material
to build a gable root a one pitch roof,
or a combination roof, if the pitch of
the roof and the ground plan are sim
ilar. The shape of the roof influences
the cost of the sides of the house,
we assume that the window is six feet
high in a building fifteen feet wide, it
would be necessary with a gable roof
to have both sides of* the house the
same height, which makes more inte
rior air space than is necessary and
requires the rear wall one and one-half
feet higher than would be needed with
a one pitch or combination roof. A
one slope roof will cost the extra lum
ber to build three feet higher in front
than is required by the combination
house. The steeper the pitch the great
er the comparative expense of building
& shed* roof house, as compared with
the gable or combination roof house.
Shingle roofs are generally, or should
be. one-third pitch. Most of the roof
ing fabrics last longer on rather flat
roofs, as they have less tendency to
creep down the roof and thus tear
loose from the nails. Usually a slope
of one foot in eight or ten feet will
be sufficient. In sections where much
snow falls, flat roofs must be .sub
stantially built to withstand the heavy
burdens of snow which they may have
to carry.
Each form of roof has its advan
tages and disadvantages. The shingle
span roof is the easiest to build. It
gives the highest vertical front exposed
to the sun’s rays which are reflected
back, drying the ground and making
a warm shelter. It throws all of the
rain water to the rear, lessening tho
length of eaves-trough one-half and
keeping the front of the house dry
where no eaves-troughs ape used. It
allows the windows to be placed high
up. A tarred paper roof will last*many
years longer If not exposed to the verti
cal rays of the sun. The gable roof
provides for a large garret space which
can be stuffed with straw, making the
house warmer and dryer. The combi
nation hou^e shares in the advantages
and disadvantages of each of the oth
ers.
Alleyways are expensive and do not
always economize labor. They occupy
one-fourth to one-fifth the entire space
of the house, which would accommo
date one-fourth to one-fifth more hens.
Twenty to twenty-five per cent of the
total area of a building is too much to
pay for a free passageway. Every
time one enters the pen from an al-'
leyway he opens and shuts twice as
many doors as he would in a similar
house without an alleyway, if one
passes from pen to pen and returns out
side. If alleyways are boarded up
tight, one can not see the fowls with
out opening the doors. If they are not
tight, they encourage draughts.
“The nesting and roosting conven
iences can be so arranged that most of
the work may be done from the alley-
way, which might be a saving of labor,
but in so doing one would not be
among his fowls, which would be a de
cided disadvantage. Long houses should
be divided by tight partitions, either
cloth or board, between every two pens
at least, to avoid draughts.
“Sunlight Is a necessity. It carries
good cheer and tends to arrest or pre
vent disease. Too much glass makes
a house too cold at night and too warm-
during the day. while at the same time
it is expensive. Allow one square foot
of glass surface to sixteen feet floor
surface, if windows are properly
placed. They should be high and
placed up and down rather than hori
zontally and low. In the former the
sunlight passes over the entire floor
during the day from west to east, dry
ing and purifying practically the whole
interior. The time when sunshine is
most needed is \jrhen the sun Is lowest
—that is, from September 21 to March
21. Window sash with small glass
seriously obstruct the light. Very large
Photo, by Mathewson.
Prize-winning Pouter pigeon, bred, owned and exhibited by Yosemite
Pi goon Lofts, H. E. Boynton, ownir, Atlanta, Ga.
lights break too easily and are too ex
pensive; 8x10 is a good sized glass to
bo used In a twelve-light sa$h, mak
ing It about thre feet nine inches high
by two feet five inches wide. Use two
of these In a house that is about fif
teen square. Single sash are qsually
less expensive thart double sash of the
same size, and the cost of window
frame is less. Single sash may swing
from the side or top, or may be made
to shove to one side, and are against
the wall where least likely to be broken.
With double sash this is more difficult.
Whitewashing the inside of a house
makes it as much lighter as an extra
window.
“Extreme temperature may be modi
fied by careful ventilation. It is as im
portant that houses be kept cool in
summer as it Is that they be kept warm
in winter. Therefore, remove windows
in warm weather. Curtains over win
dows* tho adding to trouble and ex
pense, can be used to advantage dur
ing night time in the coldest weather,
and during the day time in the hottest
season. Hens must be kept comfort
ably warm. This is especially true at
night when the fowl is less active. The
great difference between summer when
hens naturally lay most eggs and win
ter when they always lay the least Is
a difference In temperature and sun
shine. Therefore, we must build our
poultry houses so that we can, as far as
possible, consistent with cost, over
come this condition.
‘A low house is warmed more easily
than a high one. Solid walls radiate
heat rapidly. The best way to make a
poultry house warm is to build it as
low as possible without danger of -
bumping heads. There will then be
ample air space tor as many fowls as
the floor space wtil accommodate. Too
much air space makes a "house cold.
It can not be warmed up by the heat
given off by the towla. The walls
should furnish insulation. Matched
lumber is cheaper in the end than un
matched* battened sides. Line with
tough building paper*, always making
the laps tight.
Dampness is fatal in hen houses; so
drain to prevent this. Better by far to
have a cold dry house than a warm
damp one. When this moist air comes
in contact with a cold surface, con
densation takes place, which is often
converted into hoar-frost. The remedy,
therefore, is to remove the moisture as
much as possible by first cutting off
the water from below which comes up
from the soil. Dirt floors are usually
damp. Board floors are short-lived and
harbor rats. A cement floor is nearly
as cheap as a board floor, is rat proof,
cuts off the dampness from below, an<V
if properly put down will last forever.
If covered with straw or soil, it makes
a warm floor. Make cement floors by
filling in with small stones or coarse
gravel,, if possible, for drainage, then
work in and smooth off one to two
inches of mortar by mixing thoroughly
while dry one part good cement to three
parts clean sharp sand, then wetting
and thoroughly mixing again.
"When air is warmed It expands and
rises. Cooling has the opposite effect.
Damp air may be removed by ventila
tors. which will necessarily make the
house cooler. Warm air rises, there
fore the best ventilator is one that has
an out-take near the floor, with a tight
galvanized shaft leading up thru the
warm air of the house to the roof and
out at the peak. The metal being more
quickly affected by heat, will cause
currents of air in the shaft to rise more
quickly. The in-take air should be re
ceived from the bottom on the outside
and conducted to the celling before be
ing allowed to enter the room. This
avoids direct drafts and causes the cir
culation necessary for the removal of
the moisture. The less the difference
between the Inside and outside temper
ature and the quieter the air. the more
difficult it is to ventilate. The tighter
and the wanner buildings are made,
the easier they are to ventilate. The
larger the amount' of air space, the less
need will there be for ventilators, pro
vided there is a change of air thru win
dows or doors during the day. Stuffing
the sides and the roof of the house
with straw to prevent condensation of
moisture will help to keep the moisture
in the air so that it can he removed by
ventilation. Pure air is as necessary
for good health and good egg produc
tion as are pure food and pure water.
It will require a perfect system of
ventilation and considerable personal
attention to keep the air In a poultry
houi*e as pure as it would be outdoors.
It will, therefore, often be found advis
able to adopt the scratching shed house
which allows fowls some discretion in
choosing an open-air temperature."
(To be Continued.)