Poultry houses and fixtures. Page: 7

                                
POULTRY HOUSES AND FIXTURES                 7
marketed at an early age. To some extent, these houses are divided
into pens about 16 feet deep by 14 feet wide, each pen being heated
with a coal stove such as is used in the colony brooder house. Long
brooder houses are better than colony houses for winter brooding in
the northern part of the country.
If long brooder houses are used to raise pullets for egg production,
it is desirable to have colony houses or growing shelters on
range in which the pullets are grown to laying age after the brooding
period is over. This requires two sets of buildings for raising
the chickens and adds to the investment. These range shelters
(fig. 5) are inexpensive and are very easily moved. They may also
be used to house part of the pullets if the colony brooder system is
used.
These long, hot-water-pipe brooder houses are made long enough
for the desired capacity, but are usually from 75 to 150 feet long,
varying in width from 14 to 25 feet. The house is usually divided
into pens from 4 to 6 feet wide, with an aisle in the rear or north
side of the building. A concrete floor should be installed, because
it is sanitary and durable and practically rat-proof. The use of
small brooder yards with floors of wire mesh, concrete, or cinders
is advised, as small narrow dirt yards are very likely to become infected,
with disease germs and are difficult to keep clean. These wire
or concrete yards are made as wide as the brooder pens and from
8 to 12 feet long.
Floors of heavy wire are placed a few inches above the ground
and are built in sections on frames, which may be easily removed
for cleaning. Concrete yards should have considerable slope, in
order to aid in cleaning. The advantage of using these sanitary
yards is that the chickens get the benefit of the direct sunshine and
the extra space without coming in contact with infected soil. Very
good results may be obtained by using brooder houses without any
yards, many poultrymen preferring to follow that plan, making
up for the lack of sunlight by feeding cod-liver oil. The windows
in front of the brooder house may be made of glass substitutes
which admit the ultraviolet rays. Plans of long, stationary brooder
houses adapted for the use of hot-water-pipe brooder system may
be obtained from the manufacturer of the system.
LAYING HOUSES
The size of the flock determines the dimensions of the laying
house. For instance, a back-yard flock is usually limited in number,
and since the floor space required is not great the house is normally
from 12 to 16 feet deep, whereas with a large commercial flock the
house should be from 18 to 24 feet deep. The hens are more comfortable
in deep than in narrow houses as the latter type of house
is more subject to draft. On the other hand, in some sections
of the country land is cheap enough and climatic and other conditions
favorable enough so that flocks are housed in colony houses,
each house accommodating from 25 to about 100 birds (fig. 11). In
the case of most farm and commercial flocks, however, stationary
houses are preferable because of the lower cost of construction, and
because less labor is required in caring for the birds.
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