286 PROGRESSIVE POULTRY CULTURE 



supplied by natural streams or by a system of piping 

 and the feed is principally furnished in large hoppers 

 the necessary work is minimized. 



If the poultryman prefers to raise his laying stock 

 he uses the eggs of his best stock laid during the second 

 year. He must of course have a suitable equipment of 

 incubators and brooder houses. 



In conducting an egg farm in a location having a 

 severe winter climate another method may be followed. 

 Long houses, about twenty feet wide, the fronts partly 

 open have been very successfully used by the poultry 

 specialists of the Maine Experiment Station. The pens 

 may be twenty feet wide, separated by partitions of 

 boards or canvas. One open space is provided for each 

 pen front, extending down from the plate two and one- 

 half or three feet and along the front about ten feet. 



A curtain or frame of burlap or duck is provided for 

 protecting the open space in case of storm that would 

 drive rain or snow into the house. Another frame 

 covered with cloth is hinged at the top in front of the 

 roosting place, which is in the back part of the pen. 

 In very severe weather the frame is let down to protect 

 the fowls upon the perches. 



The yards for summer use are arranged at the 

 rear of the long laying houses. The fowls are kept in 

 the houses during the winter. Dry straw is used to 

 litter the floors and feeding is mainly done by means 

 of large hoppers. 



There is a door in the front of each pen and a plat- 

 form walk runs the length of the house at the front, 

 on the outside. 



Horses and wagons can be driven close to the 'front 

 of the houses in cleaning out the pens and bringing fresh 

 supplies of litter. 



Doors on double hinges connect from pen to pen 

 through the middle of the house and feed supplies are 

 conveyed by a car running upon an overhead trolley. 

 Flocks of Plymouth Rock fowls have laid better during 



