THE LEGHORNS 



orous specimens are kept. A weakling will never make a 

 layer of sufficient worth to pay her board. 



Right at the start we avoided two common errors. 

 We did not build ramshackle houses in which no hen 

 could well thrive, nor did we overcrowd. At the very 

 least, three square feet of unencumbered floor space must 

 be allowed per hen; and furthermore, this holds good 

 only where the flock numbers fifty birds or over. For 

 smaller flocks, four and even five square feet must be 

 provided. This is a matter of vital importance, and one 

 on which I have personally noticed most beginners go 

 wrong. It follows, as a natural consequence, that the 

 flock of fifty or even larger numbers, is the most economi- 

 cal to house. The old idea of the "long house," divided 

 into numerous connecting small pens, has been abandoned 

 on the most successful commercial plants. The birds are 

 housed in separate houses, in flocks approximating fifty. 



Starting on a city lot, and appieciating that we would 

 have to move a number of times, before we were finally 

 settled in a permanent location, we were put to it to make 

 our houses portable. After much diligent search, we 

 could find nothing portable of suitable construction. It 

 was about this time that the "fresh air" houses were being 

 much talked of, and satisfactory results were being ob- 

 tained in all localities. The "fresh air" principle has 

 probably done more for the success of the poultry plant 

 using it than any other idea that has been advanced in the 

 last decade. 



The many articles that ap- 

 peared in Reliable Poultry 

 Journal describing the "Tol- 

 man Fresh Air House" de- 

 cided us. Just before starting 

 to build, however, Mr. H. 

 Heidenhain's article outlining 

 his modification of the Tolman 

 house, appeared in the May. 

 1906, issue of the Reliable 

 Poultry Journal. We set about 

 planning this house on the 

 portable scheme and erecteil 

 our "House A," an interi-ii- 

 and exterior view of whicli i- 

 presented herewith. The up- 

 rights are two by three spruce 

 and are bolted firmly together. 

 Each side is made in four sec- 

 tions, and the roof and floor 

 are in twelve sections each, 

 making forty sections in all. 

 Except for the portable feat- 

 ure, the house is identical with Mr. Heidenhain's plan. 

 We use upper and lower muslin screens in each door, 

 which are closed at night or during storms. We find it of 

 great advantage to have these screens outside instead of 

 inside, as in this way the necessity of opening each house 

 to close the screens, is obviated. 



The accompanying photographs of our "House B" 

 show how we modified an old time glass front house to 

 the "fresh air" type, by taking out the two middle win- 

 dows and substituting screen doors and muslin frames. 



We also adopted Mr. Heidenhain's plan of keeping 

 the hens in the house the entire winter. The floor was 

 covered to a depth of six inches with sawdust of a 

 coarse variety (planer shavings) in which the grain was 

 scattered to enforce the needed exercise which is so es- 



sential to winter egg production. This 14 by 14 house 

 wintered the seventy-two pullets, and our egg yield ex- 

 ceeded forty-five per cent the entire winter, with eggs 

 selling from the door at fifty cents a dozen. We did not 

 have a case of sickness in the house the entire winter. 



The droppings board was cleaned, without fail, each 

 morning. The floor space of the house being entirely 

 clear, the birds were forced to roost during the day on 

 the perches, thus keeping the sawdust clean. We ascribe 

 much of our success to the scrupulous cleanliness of the 

 houses and nests. Little as it may be supposed, hens 

 like nice, clean, sunny quarters; and a happy and well-fed 





FiK, 3. — .\urora Leghorn 

 Farm's "Style B" house, a 

 modified, glass front 

 house. Note the wire 

 screen doors with muslin 

 frames hooked back for 

 summer use and the win- 

 dows open. 



pullet cannot fail to re- 

 spond to such surround- 

 ings. 



Value of Green Cut Bone 



We are inclined, how- 

 ever, to ascribe much of 

 our success in securing 

 winter eggs to the feed- 

 ing of green cut bone. 

 We would not be with- 

 out this food at any cost. 

 Three pounds for each 



one hundred fowls, fed daily, will produce more eggs than 

 any food with which we are acquainted. There is no 

 comparison between green bone and beef scraps. 



From the start we have endeavored so to conduct our 

 plant that a system could be devised which is susceptible 

 of application on a larger scale. We have tried not to 

 get into the habit of giving the few houses of chickens 

 which we have so much care that it would be impossible 

 to carry the system out on a large scale. It is here that 

 so many fail. We hear talk of the "five-hundred-hen man" 

 and the "one-thousand-hen man," and of the "few two- 

 thousand-hen men." Our hens received no more care 

 or supervision than we could supply to same hens if ten 

 or twenty times the number were kept. 



Bearing in mind that we wished to secure a system 



