DIVISIOX OF POLLTRY 



979 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



Wyandottes, were also used for breeding- stock. Of the peas, two were composed ot 

 pullets and one of yearling hens, and all were mated with ten cockerels. 



The male birds were used alternately, being separated from the flock for two days 

 at a time by putting one into a slatted 2i-foot square coop. 



TEMPERATURE OF VARIOUS HOUSES. 



Temperature reeords were kept during the month of February, which is the 

 coldes^t month, and the mean average maximum and minimum in the five cotton 

 houses, 8 feet by 12 feet, and the large house were as* follows : — 



No. 1. — JNIatched lumber, peaked roof with straw overhead, the front having 

 10 square feet glass and 10 square feet cotton 



No. 2 — Shed roof, tar paper over matched lumber, the front having 10 

 square feet glass and 10 square feet cotton 



No. 3. — Matched lumber, shed roof, the front having 10 square feet glass 

 and IG^ square feet cotton 



No. 4. — Shed roof, open front, 8 inch boards and battens, the front having 14 

 square feet glass, and 33 square feet cotton 



No. 5. — Shed roof, open front, matched lumber covered with tar paper, the 

 front having 14 square feet glass and 33 square feet cotton 



No. C— Large house with three pens 8 feet by 13 feet each and passage on 

 north side, slatted top with 2 feet of straw above, shingled sid»s, three 

 windows, each 3^ feet by 5 feet and two side windows each 2 feet by 4 

 feet. There were no cotton screens to the windows", and they were 

 closed practically all of February 



The outside temperature 



Maximum. 



32-6 

 21 93 



Minimum. 



221 

 6 45 



It will be noticed that there was the least variation in temperature in the large 

 house with three pens, and while this was the warmest house some of the birds had 

 their combs frozen slightly. The birds in the open front houses apparently were well 

 hardened off and did not suffer from frozen combs. No. 2 colony house with the shed 

 roof and 10 square feet of glass and cotton was the dampest house of the lot, while 

 No. 1 with the peaked roof and straw overhead but with the same sized openings was 

 perfectly dry. 



It would appear that for a dry house, the peaked roof with slatted ceiling and 

 straw overhead is the best; also that the open-front houses with cotton screens are 

 quite satisfactory under our climatic conditions. This is the house with shed roof and 

 one glass window 3A feet by 4 feet in the south side and the rest of the front from 

 20 inches up from the floor to the roof covered with cotton screens. 



EGO PRODUCTION. 



The winter, which was a severe one, was not apparently favourable for egg pro- 

 duction. The stock purchased was not secured until late and it was impo^-^ible to get 

 stock from an early hatch at a reasonable rate, consequently the pullets did not lay 

 till late. 



1 F.KD. 



The feeding ration given during the winter was made up of two parts corn, one 

 part whole wheat and one part oats scattered in the litter twice daily before 8 o'clock 

 in the morning and at 3.30 in the afternoon. The feed consumed averaged three quarts 



Kentville. 



