58 BOAEID OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



also have a few houses with only one pitch that have four sash 

 at the bottom, one sash running clear up to the eaves in front, 

 which slides, and they also have a large scuttle on the back, 

 so that by opening the front window and back scuttle we have 

 a free circulation of air right through. 



Question. Do you change the location of these houses 

 at all? 



Mr. Almy. We do sometimes. We have houses, how- 

 ever, that have been on the same location ever since I began 

 to raise chickens. Some of them have been upon the same 

 place about fourteen years. 



Question. How often do you remove the droppings? 



Mr. Almy. Usually about three or four times a year. 



Question. Is there any difference in the eggs when the 

 hens are running around in the snow ? 



Mr. Almy. I do not know that there is. No. If they are 

 confined in the house for more than a couple of weeks they are 

 apt to drop off a little from just going out into the snow. 



Question. How much do your Rhode Island fowls weigh 

 on the average, as you breed them? 



Mr. Almy. As I breed them, the females will average 

 about five pounds. I think that is higher, however, than the 

 majority of them run in our section. 



Question. You have no dropping board ? 



Mr. Almy. No dropping board. The roosts are placed 

 quite a distance from the ground. 



Question. I have listened with a good deal of interest to 

 what the speaker has been saying about the distance from the 

 house at which he is keeping these chickens. I would like to 

 ask how he keeps people from stealing them where he keeps 

 them so far away. 



Mr. Almy. Well, if it was necessary I should use a shot- 

 gtm. That is the only way that I can see, but I have never had 

 occasion to do that. I never lost any but once in my life. If 

 I have lost any it has been so few that I did not miss them, v 



