A Concrete Chicken House

A CONCRETE CHICKEN HOUSE It is easier to keep a chicken house clean when it is made of cement than it is to care for such a house built of any other kind of material. Besides, the concrete chicken house is rat-proof. The protection against rats, weasels, etc., and the ease with which such a structure is kept clean, should be sufficient reason to give it pref erence over every other kind.

Excavate a trench 12 inches wide, to a depth below frost, and fill with concrete one part Port land cement, three parts clean, coarse sand, and six parts cinders. On this foundation, and at equal distance from either edge, build a solid wall 5 inches thick, one part Portland cement, two and one-half parts clean, coarse sand, and five parts cinders; or, if cinders are not obtain able, a hollow wall should be built 12 inches thick, consisting of two 3-inch walls and a 6-inch air space. The roof may be made of wood or of concrete. If the house is not more than 8 feet wide, a roof with slope in one direction may be made of a 4-inch concrete slab reinforced with steel rods or heavy wire mesh. For a shorter span, a less thickness may be adopted.

Hens' nests are also made of concrete. They are vermin-proof, and are adapted to maintain ing the desired evenness of temperature. They can be washed out, or kept in perfect sanitary condition by filling with straw or other com bustible material, and burning out.

Poultry House of Concrete Blocks. The fol lowing is a plan for a poultry house. The front is 6 feet high and the rear feet. The ground space is 8 by 16 feet. A partition is built 6 feet from the front, leaving an 8 by 10-foot scratch ing shed. This shed has an open front 3 feet high, with a wire netting stretched across, and a curtain to drop in rough weather. The roof is

made of cement mortar, but not in the ordinary way. The rafters are 2 by 4-inch, set to 16-inch centers. The roof is lathed with strips 1 by 2 inches set of an inch apart.

The mixture for the roof is the same as for cement mortar—one part Portland cement and two parts sand. Strips should be nailed around the edge of the roof, extending five-eighths of an inch above the edge as a straight-edge for the finishing. The cement should be troweled down smooth. The roof made in this manner will prove eminently satisfactory in every case.

Another plan provides that a trench 12 inches wide should be dug below the frost line. Fill it with concrete consisting of one part cement, three of sand, and six parts gravel or crushed stone. The walls of the chicken house, which should be reinforced with iron rods a foot apart, should be five inches thick. For these, forms will be necessary, allowances being made for the windows, which should be on the south side of the little structure. The roof may be made with one slat, and of reinforced slabs of a 1:3:5 mixture, with wire netting reinforce ment. The concrete for the walls should be of one part cement, three parts sand, and five parts gravel or crushed stone that will pass a half inch mesh.

A concrete poultry house will be found to prevent lice in chickens more readily than a wooden structure that has to be whitewashed frequently, besides being warmer in the winter and thus encouraging hens to lay when eggs are at their highest.