400 AMERICAN POULTRY ASSOCIATION 



CHAPTER HI. 



HOUSING THE FLOCK. 



Housing is one of the most important items in poultry 

 keeping. A flock that is not well housed is not comfortable 

 and a flock that is not comfortable is not healthy, profitable 

 nor satisfactory to care for. It is a mistake to expect the 

 same type of house to prove satisfactory under all conditions. 

 Houses that seem to meet the requirement when placed in 

 sheltered locations fail utterly when exposed to the cold winds. 

 Houses that are used in the northern parts of the country must 

 obviously be more warmly built, and are, therefore, more ex- 

 pensive than those used in the South where the winters are 

 mild. 



Plymouth Rocks have rugged constitutions and do not re- 

 quire particularly warm quarters, but they must be well pro- 

 tected from the elements and at the same time a reasonable 

 provision must be made for fresh air and sunlight. The fact 

 that they will stand extreme temperatures, when healthy and 

 vigorous, without apparent suffering, is no contradiction of 

 the statement that, if part of their energy and heat is used to 

 combat extreme cold, that same energy and heat can not be 

 used to produce eggs or meat. It is best to keep the fowls 

 comfortable. 



Open Front Houses. What is known as the open front 

 house, that is, the house with the north, east and west sides, 

 as well as the roof, tightly and warmly built and the south 

 side entirely open, can be used satisfactorily in warm and mild 

 climates and sometimes proves satisfactory in sheltered loca- 

 tions in all except the coldest parts of the United States and 

 Canada. 



Warm Houses. In most cases, however, poultry keeping 

 in the northern part of this country calls for houses which 

 can be closed up quite tightly during severely cold nights, and 

 which may be opened sufficiently to let in a plentiful supply of 

 fresh air during the daytime. It will be plain to all that in 

 order to properly protect the fowls and conserve their heat 

 and energy, they must have more protection in cold weather 

 than in warm weather, and that the protection afforded must 

 be at all times in proportion to the severity of the weather; 

 that is, houses must be quite open in warm weather, partly 

 closed in moderately cold weather, and almost entirely closed 

 in very cold weather. 



