20 



POULTRY HOUSES AND FIXTURES 



FIG. 29 SELF-CLOSING 

 YARD DOOR 



lin affords fairly good ventilation in cold weather, though 

 it does not provide for a very rapid exchange of air in' 

 .warm weather and is practically air-tight when wet. 



In order to get the best results with curtain-front 

 houses, more or less adjustment of the curtains or shut- 

 ters is required. Muslin 

 retains a great deal of 

 heat when the sun is 

 shining, even when the 

 thermometer is very low, 

 for which reason it sel- 

 dom is necessary to keep 

 the shutters or curtains 

 closed on sunshiny days, 

 even in the coldest 

 weather. In stormy 

 weather or on cold nights, 

 however, there usually 

 will be sufficient air cir- 

 culation with the shutters 

 down, and in such cases 

 there is nothing whatever 

 to be gained by leaving 

 them open. 



In a properly constructed house there is little danger 

 of fowls being injured by cold, so long as the temperature 

 does not drop down to zero or below. However, the 

 amount of cold that the fowls can stand without injury, 

 or without having the egg yield affected, depends largely 

 upon whether or not they have been properly accustomed 

 to open-front conditions. 



For the section lying between the Ohio River and 

 the Great Lakes, one square foot of muslin to ten or 

 twelve feet of floor space generally will be found satis- 

 factory for laying houses that are constructed as directed 

 in this book. This is with the understanding that the 

 shutters or curtains will be left open all the time in warm 

 weather, and when the sun is shining even in winter 

 weather, so long as the temperature does not drop lower 

 than ten to fifteen degrees above zero. In 

 stormy weather or in lower temperatures, the 

 openings must be closed. 



South of the Ohio River it is safe to omit 

 all sash and increase the proportion of muslin- 

 covered openings to one square foot to eight 

 of floor space. Several different methods of 

 installing fronts have been tried out, but noth- 

 ing is as satisfactory as the use of frames 

 made of 1x3 inch strips, and hinged at the' top 

 so that they can be swung up inside and held 

 out of the way by means of hooks and eyes. 

 These frames, being of rather light con- 

 struction as a rule, should not be too large. 

 3x4, 4x4 or 4x6 feet are practical sizes. Noth- 

 ing is better for covering than a good grade 

 of heavy unbleached muslin. There is no ad- 

 vantage in using waterproof muslin unless the 

 opening is directly exposed to severe storms. 

 The material used in the waterproofing closes 

 the pores and practically defeats the purpose 

 for which the muslin is used. 



Where the top of the opening is consid- 

 erably below the rafter plate, a convenient 

 way of hanging the shutter so as to have it 

 entirely out of the way when open, is to 

 use side strips long enough to reach to the' plate, hing- 

 ing them as shown in Fig. 31. 



With hinged shijtters there usually is no way of ad- 

 justing the size of the opening, the shutter being kept 



closed or wide open. In a house having several shutters, a 

 degree of adjustment may be secured by leaving some 

 closed, opening only as many as are necessary. One way 

 of making the shutteis adjustable is illustrated in Chap- 

 ter VII, on page 77. In this case the shutter is made 

 in two parts, hinged together so that the upper part may 

 be left open while the lower half is closed. Another 

 method of securing an adjustable shutter is shown in 

 Chapter VI, where the frame is arranged to slide up anf' 



FIG. 31 MUSLIN-COVERED SHUTTER WITH 

 EXTENSION RAILS 



down, and may be fastened at any desired height by 

 means of a hook screwed into the top, and catching in 

 the netting back of the shutter. 



The house shown in Fig. 34, one of the buildings 

 on the Poultry Plant at the University of California, 

 provides for an unusual degree of shutter adjustment. 

 Each shutter is made in four narrow vertical sections 

 hinged on the side to swing out. By opening one or 

 more of these, any desired adjustment in ventilation may 

 be secured. In windy weather the sections that open 

 back against the wind can be fastened in posi- 

 tion to act as windbreaks. All the sections 

 of a shutter are enclosed in a substantial frame 

 which is hinged at the top to swing out. When 

 fastened in the position shown on the right 

 side of illustration, the shutter acts as a sun- 

 shade. This style of shutter is well adapted 

 for use where the summers are hot, or where 

 wide variations in temperature make an 

 unusual degree of adjustment especially de- 

 sirable. 



H 



Substitutes for Shutters 



Where large openings are to have muslin 

 protection, loose curtains are considered more 

 desirable by many. As a rule, these are pro- 

 vided with small metal rings at suitable in- 

 tervals, top and bottom, these rings sliding on 

 wires. With the curtains on the outside of 

 the building, they do not flap much in the 

 wind, but are simply blown back against the 

 wire netting which encloses the opening. 

 These curtains appear to last almost as long 

 as the muslin on inside frames. The house 

 ,hown on page 49 is equipped with muslin 

 curtains in the manner just described. 



One of the objections to the use of muslin shutters 

 and curtains for ventilation is that they require frequent 

 adjustment in changeable weather. Failure to open 

 them on warm days, or to close them promptly when the 



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