96 PROGRESSIVE POULTRY CULTURE 



and a little labor. If preferred chicken colony houses 

 may be constructed of lumber, each provided with a 

 door, a window and a ventilator. A floor is made of 

 matched boards. The roof is covered with shingles or 

 roofing paper. Perches placed about eighteen inches 

 above the floor and fifteen inches apart leave little room 

 except for the feed and grit hoppers and waiter fountain. 

 Such a house eight feet square will shelter one hundred 

 growing chicks nicely during the night-time and when 

 the weather is stormy or ^uncomfortable out of doors. 

 Such houses being portable may be used on the range in 

 summer and brought/ in to be grouped in a sheltered lo- 

 cation for use in winter. The house may have frames of 

 wire netting made to fit its door-way, window-frame and 

 ventilator space so that it may be safely closed at night 

 ,nd yet allow full andi free circulation of air for the 

 chickens on the perches. If rain storms are liable to 

 drive ini and drench the fowls, when on the roosts, the 

 regular board door may toe closed and; the window sash 

 or a board shutter or a frame of burlap or a curtain of 

 cotton cloth be used to fill the window space. The ven- 

 tilator may be placed in! the front near the top of the 

 house and should have a board cover, which when well 

 opened forme an awning over the ventilator opening, 

 thus preventing rain from driving in upon the chick- 

 ens. More complete details of the plan of this kind of 

 chicken house will be given inj the chapter on poultry 

 buildings. Such a house is easily kept clean. Fresh 

 loam may be thrown upon the droppings over the board 

 floor every morning and all cleaned out weekly. Wihen 

 the chicks are first placed in the colony houses care 

 should be taken to induce them to use the perches at 

 night and not hover in the corners on the floor. 



Lift the ends of the perches from their supports oc- 

 casionally and search for insect parasites. If mites 

 should be found, remove all the furnishings, clean the 

 floor and) spray all of the interior surfaces with a two 

 per cent, solution of carbolic acid (two parts carbolic 

 acid to ninety-eight parts of water). Also saturate the 

 furnishings thoroughly with the solution before return- 



