There are a hundred ways of raising chickens, and ninety of them are wrong.

This is not a treatise on poultry raising, for there are many elements which enter into the problem—incubation, brooding, feeding, etc. But assuming that one of the main points aimed at is the production of eggs in winter, when they are scarce and expensive, the housing of chickens is admitted by poultry raisers to be one of the first considerations.

The house should be sixteen feet deep, should face south, and no glass should be used in its construction. A window nine or ten feet long by two and a half feet high placed four feet above the ground is recommended, and it should be covered with netting or chicken wire on the outside, but left open all day, even in zero weather. It is closed at night, by a screen of canvas or duck fastened to a light wooden frame. The frame is hinged at the top, and hooked up to the ceiling during the day.The following description is taken from the experience of several poultry men who have been successful, and have made money by selling eggs.

The principle of this construction is that ventilation is a prime necessity, and that dampness is the one thing to be avoided. With these objects attained, chickens will stand almost any amount of cold, and with proper feeding and the strictest cleanliness, egg production will continue throughout the winter.

Some successful men insist on a wooden floor, others recommend one of gravel ten inches deep. The construction given here calls for the gravel floor on the ground level.

Many recommend a litter of straw ten inches or more deep on the gravel. The morning meal is thrown on this litter so that the chickens are forced to scratch for their breakfast, getting the blood in circulation by this early morning exercise.

As the method of building this house is typical of many outdoor structures, it will be taken up in detail. It would make an excellent work shop or cabin, with a few modifications, such as a floor of boards, and the addition of a few windows. Before it is finished the builders will probably regret, as our boys did, that it was to be used by their chickens instead of for themselves. (See Fig. 222.)

Set eight locust or chestnut posts in the ground and saw off six inches above the lowest point. Level in the same manner as for the sheltered seat described for the tennis court, and see that the outsides of posts measure 15 feet 10 inches over all measurements.

Square the corners by the 3-4-5 method, laying the 4 × 4 inch sill pieces on top of posts while doing this. The sill is put together with halved joint, and spiked to the posts with twelve-penny wire nails. The corner posts are 4 × 4 inch spruce, with square ends toenailed to the sill.

Plumb these posts, and tie in position by temporary braces, using for this purpose shingle lath or strips of boards.

The plates along front and back are 2 × 4 inches, nailed to posts from the top.

The frame may now be finished by placing the 2 × 4-inch studding, toenailing to sill and plates on the ends, and sill and rafters on the sides.

The frames for door and window are shown in the illustration.

The rafters spaced three feet apart are 2 × 8 or 2 × 10 inches. This large size is due to the long span of sixteen feet, with no middle support from underneath.

The ends of rafters are cut to fit snugly over the plates, as shown, and sawed straight up and down to correspond with vertical walls front and back. No overhang is provided for the roof, as commercial roofing paper is to cover the whole outside of the house. In case it is to be used for other purposes than poultry raising, this feature should be modified, and the rafters allowed to project both front and back.

With the rafters nailed in position, permanent braces may be put in at the corners, as shown in the drawing, and temporary braces removed.

If the building is to be used as a shop, a second door directly opposite the one shown is recommended. For this purpose the position of the work bench would be on the front directly under the long window, and the two doors would then be in the proper place to permit the planing of long boards.

When the frame is finished, the question of siding must be taken up. If the original purpose of the building is to be carried out, poultry experts claim that a double wall is very desirable as a barrier against dampness, which arises primarily from the exhalations of the birds. If the walls are cold, this dampness will condense on them, while with a double wall this does not take place, as the dampness escapes with the air. The outside casing may be of ship-lap boards or tongued and grooved material. For a cabin or shop, novelty siding, clapboards or even shingles may be used. Bring the square ends of the boards flush with the openings for door and window, and nail to corner posts and studding with eight or ten penny wire nails.

Finish the two sides, sawing off the sheathing along the top of rafters. Cover front and back clear up to top of rafters, and bring ends of boards flush with outside of the side sheathing.

Several methods of finishing corners of frame buildings are shown in Fig. 223. At a is shown the corner of this chicken house. No corner boards are used over the outer sheathing, as the whole structure is to be covered with roofing paper.

At b is shown the finish for a stable or cheap cottage, with outside trim nailed over the sheathing. This is the cheapest, easiest, and poorest method of corner finish for ordinary outhouses. At c a better method is shown, with trim nailed to the posts, and clapboards fitted up close to it and nailed to corner posts. A still better finish is shown at d, where the trim is nailed to posts but not lapped. The angles between corner trim filled with a quarter round moulding make a good joint and a neat finish. If the double wall is to be used, a second boarding is made on the inside of studding and under side of rafters, first covering the space with building paper tacked to the inside of studding, and nailing the boards—either ship-lap or tongue and groove—to the frame work.

Door and window sills are made with an outward slant to provide a water table. A cross section of window sill is shown in the detail drawing at e. As there is no window in this building except the canvas screen, the construction of a window frame is not necessary. If the double wall is made, a double door, one opening in and the other out, will be in order. The outside door, flush with outer sheathing, and the same arrangement inside are shown at f.

A door sill will not be necessary, and the construction of the doors is shown at g. The material is tongue and groove boards fitted to the opening, so as to close easily, yet to provide for expansion in wet weather, and held together by heavy cleats 3 × ⁷/₈ inches on the inside, as shown. The inner door is fastened by a hook and eye, and the outer one with hasp, staple, and padlock.

As the window opening is covered with wire, the only way a thief can get in is by cutting the wire and canvas or by drawing the staple. The latter method can be prevented by the use of special staples, with threads cut on each end, and fastened on the inside by nuts, as shown at h. These staples are sold at all hardware stores.

The construction of the frame for the canvas screen is shown in Fig. 222. The lap joint is used throughout, and the outside dimensions are two inches greater than the window opening. Tack the canvas or duck to the side of the frame next the window, and provide two hooks and eyes to fasten it down at night. Strong iron butt hinges should be used on this frame, and heavy T or strap hinges on the doors.

The outside of the house is finished, except for a water-shed over the window, and the cover for the entire outside of strong roofing paper. This is sold usually with a special cement for making tight joints and with tin washers for the nails. The water table is simply a board projecting at an angle and fastened to triangular brackets, as shown at a (Fig. 222). The roofing paper brought down over this board, and tacked to the under side or edge, makes a watertight joint.

The inside woodwork consists of roosts, dropping platform, and nests.

The dropping platform is a floor of tongue and groove boards, placed three feet from the ground on posts, and extending the full length of the house.The roosts are fastened to a strong frame, as shown in drawing, and the frame—in sections—is hinged at the back. Each morning this frame is raised, hooked to the ceiling, and the dropping platform cleaned.

The construction of the nests is a subject on which poultry experts differ widely, but whatever form is adopted, the material may usually be obtained from old boxes or packing cases.

The outdoor runs for summer consist of wire netting fastened to chestnut, cedar, or locust posts. If other woods are used, the lower parts should be coated with creosote. This is also a good disinfectant, to be used for cleaning the roosts occasionally.

Many accessories for the poultry house may be made of wood, but opinions of specialists are so antagonistic that it is hardly safe to advocate any one type. A feed trough is shown at i (Fig. 223). It may be made from box material, and consists of two boards nailed together at right angles, supported at the ends by two horizontal pieces nailed on. Brooder houses, feed, and incubator houses, and the many other details of poultry raising are well within the power of any careful boy, and the designs should be selected from the expert whose system he has decided to follow.