120 POULTRY CULTURE 



in making the length a little greater than the width. The floor 

 space (and so the capacity of the house) may be increased without 

 changing height and width or materially affecting any interior 

 condition. If the outside runs must correspond with the width of 

 the house, the width and area of the run are very materially in- 

 creased. An increase of 25 per cent in area over the standard 

 may be made in this way, but it is not advisable to attempt to add 

 still more room in one house and run by this means. Houses 

 have been built, of standard width and height, with length up to or 

 over one hundred feet and used for one large flock. At one time, 

 also, the continuous long house, divided into many compartments 

 by partitions of wire netting or slats, was a favorite. Many houses 

 of that type may still be found. But in common experience it is 

 found advisable to limit the length of the house, or of a com- 

 partment, to very nearly its width. One reason for this is that the 

 flock in an almost square room is less disturbed by the attendant 

 moving about ; the birds have more room to pass him. In a long 

 house the birds, if at all shy, will rush to the end of the house, 

 and if the flock is large, the disturbance and crowding may be 

 serious. In all very long houses that the writer has seen in use, 

 the flock, though large for a single flock, has been only about 

 half the total number that could be carried in the same space in 

 compartments of standard size. 



The objection to the long house with many compartments and 

 open partitions between is that the air draws through a long, nar- 

 row, low house as through a huge flue, making the house very un- 

 comfortable. It is found in practice that it is not advisable to build 

 a house of this type without making every third or fourth partition 

 solid, and most poultrymen using houses of this kind prefer to 

 make every other partition solid. In a house of the dimensions 

 recommended, it does not appear that there is any advantage in 

 making every partition between pens tight ; but in long houses of 

 greater height and width the draft may be so great as to make it 

 advisable to do this. 



Thus it is evident that, to make the best house conditions for 

 the poultry, the quarters for each flock, or family, whether de- 

 tached from the quarters of other flocks or adjoining them, must 

 be complete. Then the long house of many compartments appears 



