200 PROGRESSIVE POULTRY CULTURE 



which for easy manipulation should be tacked upon 

 frames to be held in iplace by hinges or buttons. 



llf a hen house is close and unventilated or poorly 

 aired in sultry summer weather the birds should, if prac- 

 ticable, be allowed to roost out of doors. The trees of 

 an orchard provide ideal perching places for old fowls 

 or growing chicks during warm weather. 



3. TEMPERATURE. By means of houses we seek to 

 surround the fowls with an artificial climate during a 

 considerable portion of the year. If the severity of the 

 winter 'be thus modified and the conditions made suffi- 

 ciently comfortable the fowls require less food to main- 

 tain body temperature and continue egg-production. 



'A house for hens should be sufficiently warm to pre- 

 vent the freezing of combs and wattles and the crusting 

 of the drinking water with ice. The conditions of humid- 

 ity and ventilation are closely related to the matter 01 

 temperature. Fowls will keep comfortable, thrive and 

 lay well in an atmosphere that is quite cold if the air is 

 dry or free from excess of moisture and supplied without 

 strong direct drafts blowing upon them. A house with 

 dry floor and tight roof, back and sides may have an 

 open front and the fowls do better than if kept in a 

 close, ill-ventilated apartment. During very cold nights, 

 when the birds are quiet on their perches a curtain of 

 burlap dropped in front of their roosting place is all that 

 is needed to keep them comfortable. In the day time they 

 should keep warm enough scratching in straw or other 

 litter for a portion of their ration^. 



4. LIGHTING. In locations where wire netting is used 

 for the front of the hen-house, the matter of lighting the 

 interior requires no further consideration. It is advan- 

 tageous, however, to place open front houses under 

 apple trees or other trees that shed their leaves in 

 autumn, but provide ample foliage for shade in summer. 



In northern latitudes hen-houses facing southerly are 

 usually lighted (by windows in front but may well have 

 some lighting on the east and west so as to catch the 

 rays of the rising and setting sun for the comfort of the 



