June, 1942] Agricultural Experlment Station 



21 



In contrast to the above, 

 the poultry pen litters started 

 with a moisture content aver- 

 aging about 40 per cent, grad- 

 ually increased to a high of 68 

 per cent (Pen 15) and then fol- 

 lowed a general downward 

 trend to a low of 23 per cent 

 on May 23. The litter moisture 

 in 'Pen 1, however, does not 

 follow this trend. It is, no 

 doubt, due to the fact that the 

 pen is insulated, heated, control 

 ventilated and has floor heat 

 from the incvibator cellar be- 

 low. There is no general up- 

 ward or downward trend, al- 

 though there are variations 

 from week to week. The mois- 

 ture content holds very near an 

 average of 28 per cent. 



The poultry pen air hu- 

 midity holds fairly steady for 

 the months of December, Jan- 

 uary and February, averaging 

 over 80 per cent. Following 

 this period there is a gradual 

 decline in per cent humidity to 

 about 64 at the end of the per- 

 iod. 



When new litter additions 

 were made to pens 2, 11, 13, 16. 

 17, and 18 a surprisingly rapid 

 rate of moisture increase oc- 

 curred. Shavings required two 

 weeks to achieve a stable and 

 normal rate of gain. During 

 this two weeks they gained 

 from 23 - 32 per cent of mois- 

 ture, averaging 26 per cent. 

 Peat moss required but one 

 week to gain 26 per cent. After 

 this initial period of moistvire 

 gain, the new litter settled 

 down to a more uniform rate 

 of increase, corresponding to 

 that held previously by similar 

 types of litter. 



tempecatube: °f 



HUMIDITY (To) 



Fig. 2. Sample — daily variations in tem- 

 perature AND HUMIDITY, Jan. 16-22, 1939. 



