No. 4.] POULTIIY HOUSING. 401 



and there was an opening here the length of the house wide 

 enoui*:h "to throw a eat through." The west window was 

 wide open all winter. The pullets in this house had been 

 sold early in January, and, as I was expecting to ship them 

 any day, we ke})t no record of their laying. The buyer 

 failed to take them ; but, as I still intended to let them go, 

 and as some weeks had passed with no records kept, we let 

 them go along unrecorded. Through Januarj^, February 

 and March these pullets, nine in number, laid rarely less 

 than seven eggs a day, and often nine for several days in suc- 

 cession. Nearly all their combs were somewhat frosted, and 

 the comb of the male at one time quite badly frosted. 



Now, of what use was it to demonstrate that warm houses 

 are not essential to egg production, and that hens can be kept 

 healthy and productive in very cold houses? 



I went to the extreme, giving my fowls houses that were 

 mere shelters, to show more convincingly, by extreme illus- 

 trations, that warm houses, which are more expensive to con- 

 struct and require more careful attention to operate, were 

 not absolutely essential. My tests, though not furnishing 

 statistics, do show conclusively that egg production is not 

 necessarily dependent upon "spring" conditions; and that 

 the cold, open house for poultry is the style of house in which 

 the labor of carinij for them can be reduced to the minimum. 

 Considered in connection with the general difficulties with 

 tight l^uildings, they indicate also that the safest and most 

 profitable and practical type of house for most poultry keep- 

 ers is the house that is so constructed that it does not require 

 close attention from the poultry keeper to keep conditions in 

 it safe. They have not developed what is the best construc- 

 tion of house. It is reasonable to assume that a little better 

 construction than I have used would be better, — would afford 

 more protection, without making conditions that interfere 

 with the steady renewal, in abundance, of supplies of fresh 

 air. 



Between the house so tightly built that the ventilation in 

 it is very bad, and one so open that the temperature in it is 

 but slightly higher than out doors in extremest cold weather, 

 there is a mediuni form of construction and an intermediate 



