Questions on Poultry House Construction. 367 



Q. 14. What is the best way to make a house cool in summer? 



Ans. 14. It is as important that the house be kept cool in summer as 

 it is that it shall be warm in winter. It is a common fault in hen house 

 construction to overlook the importance of providing for the free circu- 

 lation of air, particularly the escaping of warm air, which accumulates 

 in the higher parts of the house. In order to overcome this defect in a 

 measure, an opening is provided above the windows where a door hung 

 at the top swings out, shading the opening so that the sun cannot shine 

 in, and permitting the warm air which accumulates at the highest portion 

 of the roof to pass out freely. (See Figs. 345, 349, 350, 351.) This is 

 intended primarily for hot weather use but can be used to advantage at 

 other times. The cloth window is hung so as to be swung outward thus 

 forming an awning during the hot weather. 



Q. 15. Is it necessary to provide a dust-hath? If so, why? 



Ans. 15. Page 290, paragraph 4. A dust-bath is a necessary evil. 

 It is necessary to provide the hens with their most natural and most 

 effective means of destroying lice. It is an evil because necessarily the 

 dust that is kicked up must be breathed by all of the fowls in the house. 

 This dust also causes the house to be dirty. 



An attempt has been made in the house described to construct an 

 inexpensive, warm, dry, sunny dust-wallow that will leave the least 

 possible dust in the house. It is provided by constructing a well six 

 or eight inches deep in the floor of the house directly under the glass 

 window. This was planned for when the floor was made. A two-light 

 cellar sash two feet four inches, by two feet is placed directly under the 

 glass window, and is hung at the top so as to swing outward. A wire 

 screen covers the opening on the inside. The dust-wallow can be emptied 

 or filled readily from the outside. An incline on the inside from the 

 window sill to the floor covers the dust-wallow. The hens enter from a 

 narrow opening at the end. This arrangement furnishes a splendid dust- 

 wallow, with very little dust escaping into the room except when fowls 

 come out to shake themselves, which they frequently do. It is a decided 

 improvement over the dust box ordinarily provided. Use sifted coal 

 ashes with a little land plaster for the dusting material. 



Q. 16. What is the most satisfactory nesting and roosting arrange- 

 ment? 



Ans. 16. Page 286, paragraph 3. The entire inner arrangement of 

 the house is portable. The platform, the perches, the nest boxes are all 

 movable without drawing a nail, which facilitates fighting vermin. 



The arrangement here described (see Figs. 349, 351) provides for 

 a trap nest for which detailed plans are furnished (see Figs. 352, 353, 



