Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/792

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��Popular Science Monthly

��Making a Small Colony Poultry House

ANY American boy is carpenter enough . to build this small colony coop, if these drawings and instructions are followed. It is a modern coop that will house from fifteen to twenty full-grown birds. It has been used with success at the Iowa Agricul- tural Experi- ment Station. It is built on skids or runners so that it can be hauled about to any desired place. The whole house is built on a frame made of 2 by 4- in. material well spiked together. This frame is covered with 6- in. flooring boards. The roof is covered with a prepared paper. The windows are the improved ven- tilating type as found in up-to-date coops, there being four small pivoted sashes. The poultry man can then open the windows part way or wide to suit the weather condi- tions. This way of ventilating the coop does away with the dangerous drafts that chill the fowls. The air here rises and mixes with the warmer air at the ceiling.

The lumber bill has been listed here and each item is marked so that the builder can tell just where each item is to be used.

���With this t ype of windows fresh air can be admitted to the house without causing dangerous drafts that chill the fowls

��The list shows the sizes and the lengths of the lumber. Cut them all first and then spike the frame together. Cut all the framing lumber neatly and squarely, and to the exact lengths designated in the list. The first illustration clearly shows how the coop looks after it is all completed and ready for use.

First cut the skids or runners from timber

4 in. square, 9 ft. long. The ends should be rounded off a little, if the house is to be hauled about. Holes are bored in the ends of the skids so that a team can be hitched to it if wanted. Do the framing work on some level platform if pos- sible. The skids are placed 6 ft. apart and then the sills are cut and set in place. Lap the corners and spike them well. The sills, you will note, are 2 by 4-in. pieces, but they are double thick. This is clearly shown. The outside of the sills are 6 by 8 ft. ; that is to be the size of the house, outside measurement. Study the diagrams carefully and you will see just how all the 2 by 4-in. pieces fit together and where they belong in framing the front wall. The upright wall studdings are 7 ft. long and are capped off at the top with two 2 by 4-in. pieces spiked to the studding.

���q'X4"X4" SKIDS FRAMING OF FRONT

��The studs for the framework are fastened on the upper surface of two sills shaped like the runners of a sled so that the entire house can be moved if desired with a team of horses

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