- Thread starter
- #21
Here is yet another old house. This one on Minnie and Veryl's old place (sisters).....about 1/2 mile from where I grew up. Once part of an old estate property. Have had these photos for some time, but failed to post them.
Just a plain Jane midwest chicken house. I would envision problems with not enough light, not enough ventilation (read books from that era and you see that even then a lot of folks rejected the idea of wide open ventilation, thinking it cruel on the birds in winter.....yes even then). Cement foundation, but dirt floor..... a bad idea due to rats.
But inside, here is how they did it.
There are two sets of these nest banks......one on each corner.
Note elevation off the floor, perches for them to use, size (about 14" square) and slanted tops to keep birds from roosting on them. This corner alone had 18 nests. This house held a lot of birds! (maybe well over 100 and they would have been leghorns).
And these were the roost bars........
Look close under all that scrap lumber someone has stacked on top of them and you can see them.......the dark looking things.....the roost bars.......2 x 2's......and all on one level. With ladders, birds will fight for the top rung. So make them all level!!!!
Black, as are the nest boxes..... they had probably been painted several times with mineral oil or worse to kill any mites.
That is a droppings board beneath the roosts. They wanted to be able to easily harvest the pure, clean droppings, as these were utilized as fertilizer on corn fields. Not a waste product but a valuable by-product......just as litter is today from the large commercial poultry and hog operations.
Also note roof structure. This one has 2 x 4 rafters, 2' on center, with 3/4 wide cheap boards as roof decking. Covered with tar paper and cheap metal roof above that.
Just a plain Jane midwest chicken house. I would envision problems with not enough light, not enough ventilation (read books from that era and you see that even then a lot of folks rejected the idea of wide open ventilation, thinking it cruel on the birds in winter.....yes even then). Cement foundation, but dirt floor..... a bad idea due to rats.
But inside, here is how they did it.
There are two sets of these nest banks......one on each corner.
Note elevation off the floor, perches for them to use, size (about 14" square) and slanted tops to keep birds from roosting on them. This corner alone had 18 nests. This house held a lot of birds! (maybe well over 100 and they would have been leghorns).
And these were the roost bars........
Look close under all that scrap lumber someone has stacked on top of them and you can see them.......the dark looking things.....the roost bars.......2 x 2's......and all on one level. With ladders, birds will fight for the top rung. So make them all level!!!!
Black, as are the nest boxes..... they had probably been painted several times with mineral oil or worse to kill any mites.
That is a droppings board beneath the roosts. They wanted to be able to easily harvest the pure, clean droppings, as these were utilized as fertilizer on corn fields. Not a waste product but a valuable by-product......just as litter is today from the large commercial poultry and hog operations.
Also note roof structure. This one has 2 x 4 rafters, 2' on center, with 3/4 wide cheap boards as roof decking. Covered with tar paper and cheap metal roof above that.
