136 POUL TRY- CRAFT. 



hours, ventilation requires close attention. Moisture rapidly collects on walls 

 and ceilings. Damp walls are good conductors of heat, and too quickly 

 equalize inside and outside temperatures. To keep the walls dry there must 

 be good circulation of air through the house for some hours daily. This 

 applies to clear cold as well as to wet cold weather. A house facing south 

 is likely to become much too warm through the middle of the day if closed 

 tight on a clear day, no matter how cold. Whenever the weather permits 

 that is, whenever a storm would not sweep in at open doors and windows 

 .the poultry house should be well opened up, especially through the middle of 

 the day. The windows of a house fronting south should be open as much 

 and as long as the house can be kept comfortable with them open. They 

 should be both opened and closed gradually ; not opened wide all at once 

 after the house has become over- warm, and closed tight all at once when it 

 has turned cold after sundown. A house with two rows of pens, facing east 

 and west, and with large doors at the north and south ends of the passage, 

 and small doors in the east and west sides, is nicely aired by leaving the two 

 large doors open ; or by opening all the small doors, or one large door and 

 the small doors on one side. The direction and force of the wind have to be 

 considered. 



A good general rule for cold 'weather ventilation, is to open the house as 

 much as can be done, and still leave it at a comfortable temperature for the 

 person doing the work in it. 



181. In Warm Winter Weather, great caution needs to be observed in 

 feeding. If corn has been fed generously the quantity given should be much 

 reduced. Most cases of liver disease date from a warm spell in winter. 

 Heavy feeding and highly carbonaceous rations are continued when, for the 

 time, the hens need a narrower ration and much less food. In warm winter 

 weather mashes should have the proportions of hay or vegetables and of bran 

 somewhat increased ; oats should be substituted for a part of the corn fed. It 

 is the more needful to watch this point, because the bad effects of injudicious 

 feeding at such seasons are rarely discerned, either in the condition of the 

 fowl or in the egg yield, until disease is in an advanced stage. Most cases of 

 liver disease do not develop outward symptoms for some weeks, or even 

 months. 



182. Care of Laying Stock in the Spring. In the spring hens need 

 and will stand very heavy feeding ; though it takes less of the food to keep 

 them warm, it takes considerably more for egg material. If fed no more 

 than they were in the winter, most hens quickly " lay themselves poor." The 

 novice is not apt to discover this state of affairs until his hens begin to stop 

 laying, exhausted, and not likely to again be reliably profitable layers. Many 

 hens which should have been good layers for several years, are spoiled in this 

 way ; and it is the best hens that are most likely to suffer. Whoever will keep 



