44 VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



reading and recording the number on the leg bands of the birds. 

 Several shelves are put on the walls, \ x / 2 feet above the floor, for shell, 

 grit, bone, etc. The doors which admit from one room to another, 

 throughout the building, are frames covered with 10 ounce duck, so as 

 to make them light. They are hung with double acting spring hinges. 

 The advantages of having all doors push from a person are very great, 

 as they hinder the passage of the attendant, with his baskets and pails, 

 very little. Strips of old rubber belting are nailed around the studs 

 which the doors rub against as they swing to. so as to just catch and 

 hold them from opening too easily by the wind. Tight board partitions 

 were used between the pens instead of wire, so as to prevent drafts. 

 A platform 3 feet wide extends across both ends and the entire frorit of 

 the building, outside. 



The house is well made of good material and should prove to be 

 durable. It costs about $850. A rougher building with plain instead 

 of trap nests, with the roof and walls covered with some of the pre- 

 pared materials, instead of shingles, could be built for less money, and 

 would probably furnish as comfortable quarters for the birds for a 

 time, as this building will. 



This house accommodates 350 hens — 50 in each 20 foot section. It 

 was not ready for occupancy until the 6th of December. Since then 

 there has been some very severe weather, considerably below zero at 

 night and about zero during the day, with a good deal of high wind. 

 During this rough weather the bedding on the floor has kept com- 

 paratively dry; and the voidings on the platform, as found when the 

 curtains were raised in the mornings, have been but slightly frozen. 

 The yields of eggs during this severe weather and the week immediately 

 following it, were not below those immediately preceding it. It should 

 be borne in mind that had the weather been mild during that time the 

 hens probably would have increased in production, rather than remained 

 stationary. They were doubtless affected by the severe weather, but 

 not seriously, as they began to increase in production very soon after 

 the weather became usual for midwinter. 



THE YARDS 



The yards to most poultry houses are at the south, or sheltered sides 

 of the buildings, to afford protection during late fall and early spring, 

 when cold winds are common. The north house has yards on both 

 north and south sides with convenient gates. The south yards are 

 used until the cold winds are over in spring, when they will go to the 

 north yards, which are well set in grass sod. With the new curtain 

 front south house the yards are to be on the north side only. The birds 

 will be kept in the building until the weather is suitable for opening 

 the small doors in the rear wall. The necessity for getting them out 

 from the open front house, where they are really subject to most of the 

 out of door conditions during the day time, is not so great as when 

 they are confined in close houses, with walls and glass windows. The 



