The illustrated book of poultry : With practical scheduals for judging, constructed from actual analysis of the best modern decisions / by Lewis Wright.

  • Wright, Lewis, 1838-1905.
Date:
[1873]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The illustrated book of poultry : With practical scheduals for judging, constructed from actual analysis of the best modern decisions / by Lewis Wright. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    four feet square will do ; and much more will only increase the liability to cold and roup in winter, on account of the difficulty in maintaining a proper temperature. For, while ventilation is all- important, to secure it without either cold or draught is equally so ; and much harm has been done by writers who have advised that cracks and chinks should be deliberately left all about the walls for the purpose of securing “ pure air.” For the air supplied there should be but one well-defined source—the hole by which the birds enter—and their perches must then be so arranged that they are out of the draught there will always be between this and the ventilator, which should be as high above the perch as possible. The ventilation may consist of anything except an unprotected aperture, which is bad. Louver boards answer well, but perhaps the simplest plan is to provide a sufficient hole in the wall, as near the roof as possible, and cover it with a piece of perforated zinc. The cost of this in England is generally sixpence per square foot; and it entirely prevents injurious draught, while providing ventilation perfectly. A window, however small, is also necessary. In the numerous cases where only a few fowls are required to provide a family with eggs and an occasional chicken for table, some brick or stone building is frequently available, and if so, SHED. HOUSE. OPEN YARD. Fig. I. should be turned to account in preference to erecting a slighter one. If the house has to be built, by far the cheapest (and on the whole the best) material will be wood ; and the simplest possible plan wall be to erect a small square structure in any convenient corner—say five feet by six feet, extending the roof sidew^ays to form an open shed, and either fencing in as much open yard as can be spared in addition (as in Fig. i) ; or, provided the shed be large enough, and the stm can reach it during a good part of the day, wiring-in that alone. For a very few fowls the shed is not absolutely necessary, provided the house be so well lighted that the fowls resort to it readily in wet weather. If the amateur erects the house for himself, he should employ boards an inch thick, using scantling three by four inches for the frame ; and, as planks are almost universally cut into twelve- feet lengths, the best size will be six feet high in front, and six feet from front to back, which will use it up without waste. The boards should either be tongued, which costs very little, or have a thin lath nailed over each junction to avoid draught from the cracks. The putting-up will be very simple. The two back uprights must be fastened to the wall with stay-nails or holdfasts, holes being first dug two feet in the ground for them. Another, but horizontal piece must also be fastened to the wall for the rafters to rest on, and the front uprights and door-post deeply sunk in the ground, truly perpendicular, and in line with each other. A second horizontal piece being spiked to these for the eaves, all is ready for spiking-down the rafters, which completes the frame ready for