516 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



So much has been said in the past about over-feeding laying hens 

 that a good many people actually starve their flocks until their powers 

 of production are destroyed. It is entirely possible to over-feed hens 

 that are deprived of their liberty and kept where all they have to do is 

 to eat and then sit around waiting for the next feeding time. It should 

 be remembered that the hen is naturally an active being and delights in 

 working for her living, and in this she should be indulged. All grain 

 feed should be scattered in straw or other similar material and the hens 

 allowed to dig it out. The busy hen never gets too fat to become non- 

 productive. This is one of the secrets of successful egg-production. The 

 exercise -obtained when a hen is permitted to indulge her natural desire 

 to scratch for her living keeps her in the vigorous condition that is most 

 conducive to the highest production of eggs. 



A warm house is necessary to the winter production of eggs. It 

 should be remembered that a house that would seem quite cold to a man 

 is warm enough for a hen to live in with perfect comfort. The blood 

 of a man has a temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, while that of a 

 hen is 103 degrees Fahrenheit. Here is a difference of more than four 

 degrees to begin with, in the hen's favor, and her feathers are the warm- 

 est material she could have for clothing. These advantages give her a 

 capacity to endure temperature without inconvenience that would make 

 a man suffer. 



The poultry-house need not be elaborate in material or construction, 

 but it should be tight enough to exclude the free circulation of air — 

 tight enough to prevent draughts, for these are the source from which 

 colds, catarrh, croup and similar diseases arise. There are but few farms 

 in the country where there is not waste lumber enough to build a com- 

 fortable poultry-house for fifty hens. In New York State the other day 

 I saw some poultry-houses built of old fence boards in which were kept 

 last winter a very nice flock of fowls, and their owner assured me his 

 hens laid all winter. Given a tight poultry-house filled with fowls, and 

 it will require a very cold night to lower the inside temperature below 

 the point of comfort, for the animal heat from the bodies of the fowls 

 will maintain the temperature at a point where the room will be per- 

 fectly comfortable. 



Fowls should be allowed to run out of doors all the time except dur- 

 ing stormy or extremely cold weather. I have found it perfectly safe to 

 allow laying hens to run out at any time when the temperature was not 

 below 18 or 20 degrees. At the same time, if the house is roomy, it i.> 

 perfectly safe to keep the flock confined for a week at a time if tlt*^ 

 weather is severe. All that is necessary is to cover the floor with straw 

 and throw the grain feed into it and let the fowls dig it out. 



The poultry-house should be well lighted, for light is almost as 

 necessary as warmth to the laying hen. I have in mind a poultry-house 

 which is lighted from a large window in which common sheeting is 

 used in the place of glass, and the owner tells me that he believes the 

 sheeting the better of the two materials, because the cloth allows the 

 air to filter in without making a draught, and both light and ventila- 



