56 MAINi: AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I906. 



In seeking for some better system of housing the birds one of 

 the small close houses, formerly used, was changed into an open 

 house. The building was 10 feet wide and 25 feet long. An 

 opening 3 feet wide and 15 feet long was made close up under 

 the plate, and was left open every day in winter, except when 

 the snow or rain blew in. At night the opening was covered 

 with a framed curtain made of cotton cloth. An elevated roost- 

 ing closet along the entire length of the back of the building 

 was made warm, by packing the walls with hay. A close fitting 

 frame-cloth curtain shut them in at night. 



It did not freeze in the closet and the birds apparently did not 

 suffer for lack of air. They seemed to enjoy coming out of the 

 warm sleeping closet, down into the cold straw, which was 

 never damp, as the whole house was open to the outside air and 

 sun every day. There were no shut off corners of the floor, or 

 closet that were damp. This building was used through three 

 winters with 50 hens in it each year and did not have a sick bird 

 in it. Not a case of cold or snuffles developed from sleeping in 

 the closet with its cloth front, and then going directly down into 

 the dry straw, in the cold room, and spending the day in the 

 open air. 



The birds laid as well as did their mates in the large warmed 

 house. Their combs have been red and plumage bright and they 

 have given every evidence of perfect health and vigor. While 

 they are on the roosts, in bed, they are warm. They come down 

 to their breakfasts and spend the day in the open air. Such 

 habits of life seem to work equally well with brute or man. 



After having used this so-called Pioneer house one year, a 

 house was constructed 12 feet wide and 68 feet long. Its front 

 and back walls were 5 feet high and the roof was evenly divided. 

 It was divided into 2 rooms, each 34 feet long. The elevated 

 roosting closets extended along the entire backs of each room 

 and they were constructed inthe same manner as the one in the 

 Pioneer house. The partition between the 2 rooms was made 

 of 2 inch mesh poultry netting. There were 4 openings in the 

 front of the building, 2 in each room, equal distances apart. 

 Each opening was 3^ by 8 feet in size, fitted wtih frame cloth 

 curtains, to be used only on winter nights and stormy days, in 

 the same way that they were in the Pioneer house. These 

 openings were put close up to the plates and came down to 



