CHAPTER IX

SPECIAL PURPOSE BUILDINGS

Cold Storage of Poultry Products-The only really satisfactory means for keeping eggs and poultry meat is cold storage. The system is working a revolution in the trade; tending to equalize prices and increase demand. In course of time the difference between spring and winter prices will no doubt be far less than at present. Meanwhile there is a good profit in holding

ICE ROOM

FIG 73: PLAN OF COLD STORAGE HOUSE FOR POULTRY

stored eggs. A commission man and buyer lately remarked that farmers could secure this profit themselves by putting up little storage plants on the plan of cooperative creameries, and selling the product at the right season to retail customers. He expressed the opinion that a town of one thousand or more people would furnish ample scope for such an enterprise and

the plant could be used a part of the time for storage of fruit. The design given herewith (Figure 73) is for storage with ice, is not expensive, and has been successfully used by a Michigan poultry farmer.

The ice room is eight by twelve feet in the clear, being started with a six by six-inch sill laid in a trench three inches deep. After the sills are laid in the ground dirt is pressed in solidly, so as to leave no opportunity for air to enter in at the bottom-a very important point. The studding of the inner room is two by eightinch lumber, twelve feet long, set twenty-four inches from center to center, and having a plate of the same size firmly spiked to the top, the inside of the studs being sheathed with rough boards clear to the top of the plate and around the bottom except at a, where one stud has been left out, leaving an opening through which the ice is passed in filling the house. This opening is stopped with boards and simply laid in as the house is filled. The top of the ice should be no higher than the plate, and be covered twelve or eighteen inches deep with hay or straw, well trodden down.

The outer wall is of two by four-inch studding, twelve feet long, the sill set in the ground the same as for the inner room, but carefully sheathed on both sides with good, tight boards, and the space between filled with sawdust clear to the plate. The outside is finished with drop siding, having a thickness of paper between that and the boards.

At B the inner and outer sheathing boards project one and one-half inches beyond the studs, and other loose boards are cut one and one-half inches shorter than the space between the studs.

Then, as the ice is fitted in, these shorter boards are laid up and the space between filled with sawdust, this opening being only to fill the ice room. About thirty-five tons of ice can be put in this house, which

will be sufficient to last until cutting time another year. The entrance door is made double; that is, a sort of vestibule is built out so that the door can be closed behind when going in or coming out, thus avoiding warm currents of air in the cooling room. The fourfoot space around the house is floored over six inches above the ground sill, and provides ample room for butter, meat, poultry or eggs, though eggs must not be kept at a lower temperature than forty degrees above zero.

If desired, another story may be added by placing joists across the space eight feet from the lower floor. This gives a larger amount of room for storing onions, etc. The roof is hipped and provided with a ventilator having lower slats arranged to open or close at will. They should never be tightly closed, as fresh air should always have more or less access to the top of the ice.

A six by six-inch timber is fastened at one end under the hip rafter, projecting over the outer wall line and provided with a stout eye-bolt to which the pulley is caught in filling the ice room. This timber is braced down to the plate with sticks of the same size.

The roof is shingled, and the cornice is made with eight eight by eight-inch holes in the soffit, each being provided with a board to close and open, thus perfecting the ventilating arrangement. Windows are in both sides, tightly fitted with two double sash for each eight, and are set in the sides, so as to throw light in the end passages. A box drain should be laid in the ground, made of two by eight-inch stuff, and should project three or four feet beyond the outside wall, and at each end a small pit should be dug, filled nearly to the top with small stone, with an armful of straw next, and dirt filled in, well rammed down. No flooring will be required in the inner room, as the ice can be laid on the ground.

An Ontario Turkey House-My turkeys have a large range, and as foxes are numerous in this vicinity a great many of the finest birds were killed last year. In June I had a house built like the accompanying illustration (Figure 74, at the upper half of the illustration)

to secure the flock at night, to provide a feeding place for the young birds during the day and to prevent the old birds from eating with them.

The building is twelve feet square, ten feet high in front and eight feet at the back. The foundation con

sists of tamarack planks spiked solidly together and four posts are set in at the corners. The sides are of fine slats, four inches wide, nailed an inch apart so as to provide light and air within. The roof is made of boards put on to exclude the rain. On one side is a door, a, six by three feet, fastened by hooks on the outside and inside. On the front there is an opening, b, and a door, c. On the ground the opening, b, is four inches high and five feet long and permits the ingress and egress of the young birds only. This is closed by means of a drop board. The hanging door, c, is twelve feet long, two feet wide and two feet from the ground, is formed of boards like the sides, is fastened by hooks and is attached to the front by strong hinges. Inside the house are drinking and feeding troughs for the young birds, clean straw at one side and three tiers of roosts, the first very low, the second midway and the third of strong poles as near the top as possible.

In the morning I dropped the hanging door to let out the old birds, fed them outside, and closed the door. Went in at the side door, fastened it, fed and watered the young birds and left them until the dew was off the grass. By raising the board the young ones could come out to the old ones. Three times a day they came to be fed, the board being utilized to shut them in until all were fed. At night the young ones remained in and by dropping the hanging door the old hens flew in. When the turkeys grew too large for the opening, b, I fed them just outside the house and they entered by means of both doors, which were fastened before dark.-[Mrs Edwin Colquhoun,

Ontario.

Another Turkey House-Most people who have had experience with turkeys know that these birds prefer to roost on the ridgepole of a building rather than under it, and that, too, in exceptionally cold