10 BULLETIN No. 215. 



night; whereas a house with little or no glass is damp and 

 dreary, and the hens almost never thrive in such a place. A 

 poultry house must be light so that the hens can readily see to 

 eat and so constructed that it is comfortable. In order to make 

 the hens comfortable it must be free from drafts, dampness, 

 bad odors, or foul air, and constructed so as to be as free as 

 possible from sudden changes of temperature. 



A poultry house usually needs more ventilation than is given. 

 Fresh air is far more important than warmth. Fresh air means 

 health but must never be supplied by a draft. The hen was 

 never intended to live in a house. A tree is her natural home; 

 but the northern winters are so cold that it is impossible to get 

 eggs from hens roosting in trees as it takes all they can eat to 

 keep them alive. The poultry house, then, should furnish pro- 

 tection from storms and cold winds, and always provide a 

 clean, dry feeding floor and a clean, dry roosting place. If a 

 house is damp in winter it is usually because there is not enough 

 ventilation, and more air must be admitted in some form to 

 carry out the dampness and bad air. The best system of ven- 

 tilation for the ordinary poultry house is a cloth covered window 

 which will allow air to pass slowly back and forth through it. 

 This cloth window will need to be open a large part of the 

 time, only closed during storms and the very coldest nights. 

 In most locations, a cloth window should be placed on the south 

 side and hinged in such a way that it is readily opened. Where 

 a house has a south side largely of glass, a part of the glass 

 should be removed and cloth covered frames inserted. In 

 houses with little glass, openings should be cut in the same way 

 as would be done for a glass window, and a cloth covered frame 

 inserted in the opening. As a general rule, a poultry house 

 should have about one square foot of glass to fourteen or sixteen 

 square feet of floor space, and about one sauare foot of cloth to 

 eight or ten of floor space. The amount of cloth necessary will 

 depend to a large extent on the operator, that is, if the attendant 

 is careful to keep the cloth window open during all mild days, 

 less cloth will be necessary. As a rule poultry houses are too 

 low to permit of the King system of ventilation. Where a 

 poultry house is located away from other buildings so that the 

 wind does not blow over a building and down onto the house, 

 the King system of ventilation may be installed, but where the 

 located near the barn or on a side hill, this system will 



