I notice I tend to make a lot of references to "historic chicken houses" in my replies. The reason is that a lot of questions we all have about how to go about building a chicken house, what matters and what doesn't, was all worked out well over 100 years ago. What we seem determined to do is reinvent the wheel.
The houses they built and used back then were intended for small flocks on farms and on backyard lots of the towns and cities. There were a lot of these around.......almost every farm had one........and they were just on the cusp of enlarging them to represent commercial flocks.
Anyway, there was a lot of thought and study about poultry husbandry that went into building those houses.....what worked and what didn't. It seems each state and/or region had a plan for one, but most were all variations on the same theme, and had a lot of things in common.
For those of us now contemplating building a house, even if you don't build one of these, consider the attributes of them.......where they put things and why.......and where they put things to get the most out of their birds. A lot of the parameters of light, ventilation, next boxes, roosts, etc. are all addressed in detail.
Anyway, this was one of the books I have found to be a good reference.
https://books.google.com/books?id=B...#v=onepage&q=fool proof poultry house&f=false
Something to ponder on the long upcoming winter nights.
The houses they built and used back then were intended for small flocks on farms and on backyard lots of the towns and cities. There were a lot of these around.......almost every farm had one........and they were just on the cusp of enlarging them to represent commercial flocks.
Anyway, there was a lot of thought and study about poultry husbandry that went into building those houses.....what worked and what didn't. It seems each state and/or region had a plan for one, but most were all variations on the same theme, and had a lot of things in common.
For those of us now contemplating building a house, even if you don't build one of these, consider the attributes of them.......where they put things and why.......and where they put things to get the most out of their birds. A lot of the parameters of light, ventilation, next boxes, roosts, etc. are all addressed in detail.
Anyway, this was one of the books I have found to be a good reference.
https://books.google.com/books?id=B...#v=onepage&q=fool proof poultry house&f=false
Something to ponder on the long upcoming winter nights.