fowls in the open coop during the entire winter, he had sufficient 

 courage to winter flocks of fowls in this pen and to have the curtain 

 up (except during storms driving in) both night and day. The fowls 

 so wintered have maintained perfect health and vigor and have pro- 

 duced more eggs than the similar fowls in the closed pens with win- 

 dows open. In the open pen, the floor of which is thickly covered 

 with straw, the fowls scratch and crake merrily even in the coldest 

 weather. The window sill is about two feet above the floor, so that 

 the birds are not likely to feel direct currents of air. 



The Maine Poultry House for Laying Fowls. 



The type of house now recommended by the Maine Experiment 

 Station for large flocks possesses many features of unusual value, 

 and the writer is glad to present illustrations of this house and to 

 make extensive quotations from a recent bulletin.* He is not con- 

 vinced of the utility of the drop curtain in front of the roosts for 

 such breeds as the Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes and others of simi- 

 lar characteristics under Massachusetts climatic conditions, though 

 ready to admit that they may be useful in the severer climate of 

 Orono. 



"During the summer of 1905 a laying house was built to accommo- 

 date 2,000 hens. It is 20 feet wide and 400 feet long. It is on the 

 same general plan as House No. 2 and 3 at the Experiment Station. 

 House No. 2 is 12 feet wide ; House No. 3 is 16 feet wide, and this 

 one at Go-well farm is 20 feet wide. The widths have been increased 

 in the last two houses, as experience has shown the advisability of it. 

 At first it was thought that the houses should be narrow, so that they 

 might dry out readily, but the widest house dries out satisfactorily 

 as the opening in the front is placed high up, so that in the shortest 

 winter days the sun shines in on the floor to the back. 



Nearly two years use of this wide house shows its advantage over 

 the narrow ones to be greater than was anticipated when it was 

 planned. Its great width and the low down door in the back wall 

 make it much cooler in hot weather. 



During July and August the birds go into the yards early in the 

 morning, but they nearly all come back into the house as the day 

 gets warm, and remain on the floor in the back part of the room, 



* Bui. 144, Maine Experiment Station. 



