676 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



4 GEORGE V., A. 1914 



6. Every person, which means no person, responsible for the poultry. Far 

 better give to one of the boys or one of the girls the management of the poultry 

 plant. Some one person should be responsible; this would mean a better-kept plant 

 and more revenue. Try it. 



EXPERIMENTS. 



open versus COTTON front. 



In the 1912 report, page 216, appears a photograph of an open-front poultry 

 house which was being tried at the Central Experimental Farm. This house has a 

 double roof, the lower part of which is to the front. The open space was 3 feet 

 4 inches high, and took in the whole front of the house. This open condition proved 

 too cold for the Ottawa climate, so the front of one pen was covered with cotton on 

 the first of February, 1913. The result, as shown in the following table, was that 

 the pen with the cotton front had a considerably higher temperature and a better 

 egg yield. Further improvements have been made to this house for this year, as will 

 be seen in the cut, page 680 of this report. A 15-inch board has been placed along 

 the floor, leaving about two feet opening over which cotton screens are hung. This 

 board shows in the picture; also the cotton screens, several of which are down. 



The hens in these pens were Barred Plymouth Rocks of the same strain and as 

 evenly selected as possible. Pen 33, open front, was the east end of the house, and 

 pen 36 the west end. Both pens had a large window towards the end, as shown in 

 photograph. The ration fed in each pen was the same, and consisted of whole grain 

 (wheat, oats and cracked corn) thrown in the litter in the morning and .evening. 

 Bone and beets were fed on alternate days at noon. After April the bone was 

 replaced by meat scraps. Dry mash, consisting of equal parts gluten meal, shorts, 

 ground oats and 10 per cent charcoal, was constantly before them, as was also grit 

 and shell. 



Table showing average temperature and egg yield from cotton and open-front pens. 



The minimum temperature registered during February and March was 20 below 



zero. 



The minimum temperature of cotton front pen No. 30 was 6 degrees above. 

 The minimum temperature of open front pen No. 33, 10 degrees below. 



EXPERIMENT ON FORCED MOULTING BY REDUCTION OF RATION. 



On July 1, 28 White Leghorn hens were selected and divided into two even pens 

 of 14 birds, numbered pen 3 and pen 4. 



