CHAPTER I.
THE UNIT HOUSE.
How It Is Built—Its Size—General Specifications Covering Construction and Equipment.
The unit house can be one unit or twenty units in length just as one's funds and ground will permit. The modern unit house is built upon posts which protrude from the ground about two feet. Six inch cedar posts being most generally used. Upon these posts is built the floor. A double floor with ordinary building paper between the thicknesses is preferable. Use 2x4 stock for joists, ordinary sheeting for the first floor and shiplap for the second floor. No. 2 stock is amply good. The frame work and rafters are also 2x4 stock. The roof is of ordinary sheeting, covered with a good grade of prepared roofing. The entire house inside is lined with tar paper in order to keep out drafts and dampness. The roof can be of the ordinary shed variety, with just sufficient pitch to carry off the water, or it can be of the hip shaped variety if preferred. The size of a single unit should not be less than 10 feet wide, 12 feet from front to rear and the roof not lower than 7 feet at its lowest point. Make provision for one window, in size about 24x32, in the front of each unit. If you are building but a single unit the door can be put in the side or rear of the building as desired. The window is of course to enable the birds to pass in and out from the squab house into the flying pen on the outside. The window should be arranged so that it may be opened or closed as desired. A sliding sash is the simplest, and permits the window being only partially open in cold weather.
If more than one unit is to be built then a change in the dimensions of the building is necessary. It should be built 15 feet in dimensions from front to rear and an additional 10 feet added to the length for each additional unit it is proposed to erect.
