POULTRY EXPERIMENTS. 57 



within 1 5^ feet of the floor. There were no glass windows in 

 the building-. 



This house was not satisfactory. There were currents of air 

 from one end of the building to the other, even when there was 

 little wind outside, and when the wind was high in winter the 

 loose snow would be sifted in and distributed over a large part 

 of the floor, dampening the litter and making life uncomfortable 

 for the birds. The wire partition between the pens was replaced 

 with one of close boards, and conditions were bettered ; but each 

 of the pens still had 2 openings, about 8 feet apart, and the same 

 troubles from currents of air and sifting snow continued, 

 although somewhat lessened. One of the openings was closed 

 by screwing glass windows on the outside. This left each of 

 the rooms with one opening and one large glass window. 



This change entirely corrected strong air currents through 

 the building and sifting snow, except in heavy storms when the 

 wind is strong from the south. Of course the large opening 

 allows the wind to blow into the room, but as there is no outlet 

 for it except where it came in, there are no drafts of air across 

 the birds to cause them to be uncomfortable and take colds. 



Another difficulty remained ; the opening came down to 

 within ijA feet of the floor, and the birds, sunning themselves 

 on the floor or scratching in the litter, were in the direct course 

 of the outside air as it came into the room and they tried to find 

 sheltered corners where they might be more comfortable. On 

 this account the width of the opening was reduced from t,}^ 

 feet to 2 feet by ceiling up the lower part of it. This gave a 

 bulkhead 3 feet high, sufficient to protect the birds on the floor 

 from the direct inflow of out door air, and they were happy. 



One objection to this house still remains ; its front wall is too 

 low to allow room for a large opening, high enough so that the 

 sun can shine in and back across the floor to the back wall dur- 

 ing the short days in winter, when the sun runs low. This 

 feature in construction, seems to be of the utmost importance, 

 for dependence is had upon the sunshine and pure outside air, to 

 keep the floor litter dry and the elevated roosting closet clean. 

 The entire front of the roosting closet being open, leaves no dark 

 corners where the air and light cannot do their thorough 

 cleansing. 



Experience with the house showed its several bad features, 

 On the other hand, the Pioneer house, which had been in use for 



