Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/490

 A Portable Colony Poultry House

Bv W. E. Fiudden

��THIS is a simp- ly built poul- try house that will accoininodate 30 full-grown birds and the lumber and the roofing mate- tial that covers the whole house all told, will not cost over $30. It is 8 by 10 ft. in size. Run- ners or skids furnish a foundation for the house.

The skids are 4 by 4-in. pieces and are 11 ft. long. The drawings show where all the pieces go in the house and the photograph shows how the coop looks when it is ready for use. The list of materials tells the exact sizes of the lumber and the amounts of each to buy. The joists are two-by-fours laid

across the skids; when set 2 ft. apart, the same spacing is used for all the framework. All the framing lumber is 2 by 4-in. stock. The floor is covered with 6-in flooring boards, tightly nailed to the joists. The short wall studdings are two-by-fours spaced 2 ft. apart, but at the corners they should be double thick. The w-all studdings are 2>2 ft. high with a 2 by 4 cai)ped along the top, to which the roof rafters are spiked.

The side walls and the lloor framing work is all done first. When this part is completed start with the roof work. The rafters are cut properly to fit. The roof is at half pitch, using 6-ft. lumber for the rafters. With the framing .ill done, cover the entire coop with 6-in. flooring lumber, well nailed to the rafters and studding with tight joints. Then the whole coop is covered on the

���The House will Accommodate Flock of 200 to 300 Chicks or 25 to 30Full-Grown Fowl

���Diagram of the Wall and Floor Frame work with Skids for Foundation

��outsidewitha heavy 3-ply roofing paper with cemented joints, [)ut on in the manner described by the manufac- turer of the roofing. The door is screened and mus- lin-covered for ven- tilation without drafts, and the glass at both sides of the doorway is built in specially with lap- ped joints so as to deflect the incom- ing air upwards to- wards the ceiling and away from the fowls. Direct air- currents are danger- erous in the coop but fresh air is one of the first and most important essen- tials in coop build- ing in a modern way. Nests are built in along both sides and the roosts and the dropping boards are located at the rear of the coop. The following material will be needed for this coop:

4 ins. by 4 ins., 11 ft. long for skids or

��by 4 ins., by 6 ins., by 4 ins..

��S ft. long for floor joists 10 ft. flooring bctirds 2 J ft. long for wall stud-

��2 pes

runners 2 pes. 2 ins 17 pes. I in. 20 pes. 2 ins,

ding 2 pes. 2 ins.

(sides) 2 pes. 2 ins

(ends) 12 pes. 2 ins ifS pes. I in.

door 55 IKS. I in.

roof T, rolls (100 sq

material

12 linlils vilass, 10 ins. by 14 ins., for front I cellar sash, 3 lis. S ins. by 10 ins., for roar wall I screen dotir, 3 hinges and I door lock 15 pounds nails 20 S(], ft. wire mesh screen

��by 4 ins., 10 ft. long for wall plates

by 4 ins., 8 ft. long for wall plates

by 4 ins., 6 ft. long for roof rafters by b ins., 10 ft. long for ends and

��by 6 ins., 10 ft. long for sides and each) ready-to-l.iy roofing

��ft.

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