446 AGRICULTURE 



where the poultry house can not have an open front, two 

 or more sashes should be covered with muslin instead of 

 being glazed, and hung on hinges so that the window may 

 be thrown open in good weather. In bad weather the sash 

 may be closed and yet admit sufficient air. Drafts should 

 never strike chickens either while they are on the roost or 

 the floor. 



Sunlight. Sunlight is the best of disinfectants. The 

 poultry house should front the south, and have a reason- 

 able number t)f glazed windows besides the muslin sashes. 

 Too much glass makes the house excessively hot in the 

 summer and very cold in the winter; too little glass leaves 

 the quarters dark and gloomy, hinders the chickens in feed- 

 ing, and encourages disease. 



Freedom from dampness. When frost gathers heav- 

 ily inside the poultry house in cold weather it shows too 

 great a degree of dampness. This may come from the 

 ground floor, or lack of ventilation and sunlight. If a soil 

 floor is used, there should first be filled in several inches 

 of broken rock. On top of this may be placed a coating of 

 cinders, and over the cinders a layer of soil. The soil floor 

 at its best is hard to keep clean, dry and free from odors. 

 Cement makes an excellent floor, as it can easily be washed. 

 Over the cement should be spread four inches of straw or 

 hay. 



Comfortable roosts. Fowls spend much time on the 

 roosts. It is therefore important that the roosts be com- 

 fortable. Roosts may be made from two-by-two-inch stuff, 

 rounded on the upper edges; they should be placed about 

 two and one-half feet from the floor. Eight inches below 

 the roosts should be a removable board or floor to catch 

 the droppings. 



Nests. The nests may be built in a series along the 

 side, or, better still, under the dropping board. Hens lay 



