12 Diseases of Poultry 



fallacious idea. As a matter of fact, even in the coldest cli- 

 mates, fowls will lay better during the winter months in a 

 properly constructed house wide open to the outside air in 

 the day time, so that they are living practically out of doors, 

 than in any heated house which has yet been devised. If a 

 laying house is dry the temperature factor may be neglected. 

 If a house has a tendency to dampness, it will give poor 

 results regardless of temperature. 



From the economic standpoint there are two systems of 

 housing poultry to be considered. One of these is the 

 system of long, continuous houses for the laying birds. The 

 other is the so-called colony house system, in which the 

 birds are housed in small separate houses which may either 

 be set a considerable distance apart over a relatively wide 

 area, or may be placed relatively near one another. Each 

 system has its strenuous advocates. Experience covering a 

 fairly long period of years now has demonstrated that both 

 systems have good points. As to which shall be adopted 

 in a particular instance depends upon a variety of considera- 

 tions, each in some degree peculiar to the particular case in 

 hand. 



In the extreme northern part of the country where the 

 climate is very cold in the winter and there is an abundance 

 of snow there can be no question that the long house is much 

 to be preferred to a colony system. There are two reasons 

 for this. In the first place experience indicates that the 

 birds are somewhat more productive and keep in better 

 condition in a properly constructed and managed long house 

 than in colony houses. Furthermore the labor expense 

 involved in caring for a given number of fowls is much less, 

 under such climatic conditions, than with the colony house 

 system, where the birds are scattered over a wider area and 

 more paths must be broken out in the snow. 



The great advantage of the colony house system is its 



