234 THE HANDBOOK FOR PRACTICAL FARMERS 



green feed they mil eat. If there is a limited amount of green 

 leaf feed, save this for the breeders and particularly for the four 

 weeks just previous to the time when hatching eggs are wanted. 

 Mangels and roots will not take the jilaee of cahbage and other 

 green leaf feeds when hatchable eggs must be had. 



HOUSING 



Poultry houses are built to keep the hens comfortable. When 

 the birds are fed rations that approximate the natural feed found 

 in the spring and are protected from the storms and excessively 

 low temperatures of winter a profitable egg yield will result. 

 Ever}^ poultry house should be built to maintain these con- 

 ditions : 



1. Dryness, which depends largely upon proper ventilation, 

 and the distance of the floor above the outside ground level. 

 The hen gives off the body waste moisture through the breath 

 and not through the urine as other animals do. Therefore the 

 hen requires more ventilation as compared with the other 

 domestic animals. 



2. Sunlight is nature's disinfectant and comfort tonic. 



3. Protection from excessive Jieat or cold. — In winter the 

 average man will confine his birds too closely. Good ventilation 

 is obtained only at the expense of some heat, so that the skillful 

 poultr^mian is the one who is most successful in this compromise. 

 A bird with a frosted comb is not a laying bird but hens that 

 are not too closely confined in the fall Avill be able to stand much 

 lower temperatures than those which have been shut up tightly 

 at the first cold snap. 



A laying house that has the features necessary to maintain 

 comfortable conditions in a climate like that of Central Ncav 

 York is shown in the illustration. Its dimensions are, for each 

 unit of one hundred hens, twenty feet deep by eighteen feet wide, 

 five feet high in the rear and nine feet high in the front. 



At ''A" the floor level will be noticed. 



"B" and **B'" are two nine-light, eight by ten-inch pane 

 windows that tip back in Sheringham valves, permitting of 

 adjustment according to weather conditions. In the summer 

 and on nice days in winter, one or all may be lifted out of their 

 places. All six openings, in each pen, are letting in light. 



' ' C " and ' ' C" ' are two burlap screens which prevent excessive 

 drafts when strong winds are blowing and prevent the snow 

 from entering. Most of the time, one or more of the upper 

 windows should be out of the valves even in the A^nnter. 



