EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



501 



The window in the west pen, Pen 1, was six feet and three inches wide by 

 five feet and eight inches high, containing 35.41 square feet. In the next 

 pen east, Pen 2, the window was but five feet and three inches wide and 

 contained therefore 29.75 square feet. For Pen 3 the window was but 

 four feet and three inches wide, having an area of but 24.08 square feet. 

 Fairly good ventilation was secured by wooden boxes, six inches square 

 extending from the ceiling to a foot and o T >e half above the roof. These 

 ventilators were provided with slides, that the amount of air escaping 

 could be regulated. 



Maximum and minimum thermometers were placed in each pen and 

 their readings noted daily at the same hour through the winter. In 

 the following table there is given the maximum and minimum tempera- 

 ture and the difference for the day in each week showing the greatest 

 variation. The figures given are degrees Fah. 



The results are inconclusive but it is interesting to note, that in Pen 3, 

 the thermometer rarely fell more than two degrees below freezing while 

 in the pen with the largest window, Pen 1, it fell on several occasions to 

 22 degrees and often to 28 degrees. On the coldest days of winter, February 

 10th and 17th, the minimum thermometer in Pen 1, stood at 22, in Pen 2, 

 at 24.5 and in Pen 3, at 27. The sun shone brightly during the day 

 with a brisk south west wind. The mercury out doors fell to — 22° 

 during the night and rose no higher than — 10° during the day on the 

 16th and 12 above during the day on the 17th. The maximum theruiom 

 eter in the pens showed the following readings: Pen 1, 54; Pen 2, 54.5; 

 Pen 3, 58. 



On the 19th of February a cloudy day with a southwest wind, follow- 

 ing a very cold night in which the thermometer dropped to 4 below, the 

 maximum thermometer in Pen 1, rose to but 37£ degrees during the day 

 while the lowest reading of the minimum thermometer during the night 

 was 22. A study of the temperatures in the pens during the winter 

 seemed to indicate that for the cold and cloudy weather of winter the 

 windows in Pen 1, were slightly too large. On the other hand on clear 

 days the abundance of warm sunshine was heartily enjoyed by the hens. 

 There were no cases of roup among the fowls in any of the pens nor did 

 any of them suffer with colds indicating any bad effects of extreme 

 variation of temperature. 



