A Practical House for Small Back-Yard Flocks. Has Muslin Ventilation, and Well-Protected Perches. Just Right for a Pen of Bantams.
By E. L. POTTER
The drawings at the foot of this page illustrate a convenient and practical house suitable for a small backyard flock of eight to ten fowls. This house will prove especially convenient for a bantam flock, though it may be used for large fowls with entirely satisfactory results.
The curtains in front of the perches should be omitted, as they are of little use except in extremely cold sections of the country or for fowls having extra-large combs. If this house is used as a colony house, it will accommodate twelve to fifteen Leghorns, about twelve fowls of larger breeds, or twenty bantams.
It may be built for a small sum, depending somewhat upon the locality and the price of lumber.
In our climate this house’ has proved warm enough, but in cooler climates I would advise the use of thin sheathing or ceiling, nailed on over a tar-paper lining, or the house may be covered on the outside with roofing material, placing the strips on up and down and using bands on the seams, or simply cementing the edges and nailing it on in the usual way.
Following is the complete bill of materials required for building this house:
- 13 pieces of either 2 x 3-inch or 2 x 2-inch spruce for the sills, joists, corner posts and intergirts, also rafters.
- 3 pieces, 11/2 x 1-inch furring-, 14 feet long, for frame of screens and supports for nest bases and roosts.
- 1 piece, 2-inch x 3-inch furring, 14 feet long, for perches.
- 350 feet of tongue-and-groove flooring, either pine or spruce.
- 4 pounds of 8d wire nails.
- 221/2 feet of one-ply prepared roofing.
- 1 gallon of paint.
- 2 sashes (6-in. x 8-in. lights), 2 ft. 6 in. x 2 ft. 6 in.
- 110 feet of 2-inch mesh poultry netting if yard is to be covered on top, or in case of only a fence, 94 feet will be enough.
- 2 pounds of staples.
- 4 pieces, 3-inch x 1-inch furring, 12 feet long, for top of yard posts.
- 6 pieces, 3-inch x 8-inch cedar posts.
- 2 pieces, 3-inch x 1-inch furring, 13 feet long, for gate.
- 2 6-inch x 1-inch spruce boards, 12 feet long, for bottom of wire.
- 2 6-inch x 1-inch boards, 18 feet long, for bottom of wire.
Ventilation
The muslin screens in the upper part of the front are movable and should preferably be hung from the top on hinges, so that they can be hooked up out of the way when not in use.
In this poultry house the windows should be hinged at the bottom so that they can be dropped in from the .top for additional ventilation and during warm weather should be entirely removed.
In a chicken house as narrow as this it is difficult to use muslin shutters without exposing the fowls to direct drafts when on the perches, and for this reason it would seem that the perch curtain should not be omitted.
A practical method of protecting the fowls from drafts under such conditions is to fasten the curtain in the position shown in the diagram, so that it will act as a screen, without confining the fowls or seriously restricting ventilation.
Plans of Poultry House
Poultry House Plan Front Elevation
Poultry House Plan – Floor Plan and Side Section View
Poultry House Plan West Elevation, Details of Gate and Ventilation
Plan of Poultry House Yard
About this Poultry House Plan
This article is taken from Poultry Houses and Fixtures, eighth edition, published by Reliable Poultry Journal Publishing Company of Quincy, Illinois in 1919. Price $1.00
It was filled with poultry house plans and layouts for small farms and back yard enterprises, many of which had been produced by universities and the US department of agriculture.
Poultry House Plans etc.
- A-Shaped Back-Yard Poultry House Plans
- Attractive Back Yard Poultry House Design
- Chicken Coops from Recycled Packing
- Combined Portable Poultry House & Run Design
- Elevated Poultry House – Full Plans
- Locating & Setting Up Poultry Houses
- Plan for a 20 Chicken Poultry House
- Plan For One Man, Ten Acre Poultry Farm
- Plan for Poultry House for Adult Fowls or Bantams
- Practical Back Yard Mini Poultry Farm
- Practical Plan for a 10 Acre, 1,000 Hens Poultry Farm
- Preventing Drafts in Small Poultry Houses
