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adapted to West Virginia conditions a description of it should 

 be of interest to West Virginia poultry-men. 



The house under discussion is of the open front or Tolman 

 style, and is characterized by having the front completely open 

 or covered only with wire netting in order to keep out stray 

 animals or vermin. The house is twenty-four feet wide and 

 sixty-four feet long and is divided by solid board partitions into 

 four sections, or rooms, each sixteen feet wide and twenty-four 

 feet long. The house is five feet high in front and six above the 

 basement or scratching room in the rear. The roof is of unequal 

 span, the peak being located two thirds of the distance from the 

 front to the rear, and having an elevation above the floor of ten 

 and one-half feet. 



Being located on sloping ground, the house was provided 

 with a scratching shed underneath. This portion is about four feet 

 high with a dirt floor and the fowls gain access to it through 

 trap doors placed in each section. This provides a place for the 

 fowls to dust themselves and exercise in winter and is a very 

 desirable feature. 



The perches are on a level with the front opening. In 

 winter when the fowls have gone to roost the warm air resulting 

 from their presence tends to collect in the upper portion of the 

 house maintaining a comfortable temperature even in severe 

 weather. Last winter with its zero temperatures the combs of 

 S. C. White Leghorn hens were not frozen even when the front 

 of the house remained constantly open. In poultry houses hav- 

 ing a shed roof the warm air constantly flows away from the 

 fowls, when they are on the perches, thus making the she:l roof 

 type of house somewhat colder for the fowls at night. 



In order to keep the house cool during the warm season two 

 doors are provided in the rear wall of each section of the build- 

 ing, opening underneath the nest boxes. When these doors are 

 open, as in summer, the wind has unobstructed passage through 

 the house and the fowls when on the perches remain comfortable 

 even on very sultry nights. 



This house has been in use for a year and seems to be well 



