COMFORTABLE HOUSES FOR BREEDING PENS 



59 





This results in the house being too damp or too cold. 

 In many houses no provision whatever is made for ven- 

 tilation, other than leaving the door open for a certain 

 length of time on a mild day, which in this climate very 

 often cocHs the house too much. Even when provision 

 for ventilation is made, it is often by a system that does 

 not give opportunity for sufficient regulation to meet 

 changes in the weather, as by hinged windows or muslin 

 frames, which must, from the nature of their construction, 

 be either closed, and supply insufficient ventilation, or 

 wide open, when frequently altogether too much cold air 

 enters and altogether too much heat escapes. For the 

 above reasons, particularly when south winds pievail dur- 

 ing cold weather, these hinged windows or curtains must 

 be closed. Through glass windows no moisture escapes, 

 and through muslin too little escapes, because it is too 

 closely woven. Houses with insufficient ventilation are 

 always damp, and the air they confine is impure. The 

 odor in such a house is always offensive, even if the 

 impure air is not a menace to health, which might be 

 questioned. Dampness is, beyond doubt, the greatest 

 menace to good health and good production in the poul- 

 try house. 



3. Poor floors. Earthen floors, the top of which is 

 below the outside level, make the houses very damp and 

 uncomfortable. Wooden floors are hard and are often 

 very cold, unless covered with a deep litter of straw or 

 leaves and even these should be on top of a three or 

 four-inch layer of fine sand. In the absence of sand or 

 loam, shavings probably make the best substitute. 



4. There is no provision for separating the flock. 

 There are many seasons during the year when it is most 

 advantageous to separate the flock. In the fall there often 

 are many surplus cockerels, not ready for market, -which 

 cannot be kept with the females except to the detriment 

 of both; for under such conditions the cockerels gain 

 very little weight, and the females being constantly an- 

 noyed, develop slowly and lay poorly. To get a good 

 return for food and care, the cockerels must be separated 

 from the females. If the hatches were early, the cock- 

 erels should be sold before it becomes necessary to house 

 them, because the price will be considerably higher than 

 later in the season, when the market is glutted with stock. 



A two-pen house is advantageous in that the pullets 

 and hens of the flock may be separated. Pullets are sure 

 to be intimidated by the older birds, and do much better 

 when kept in separate flocks. In the spiing, again, a 

 two-pen house is a distinct advantage, since the most 

 rugged and healthy specimens may be separated and used 

 exclusively as breeders. These may be allowed more 

 room per bird, fed differently, and provided with greater 

 range, while the balance of the flock is forced for eggs. 

 When these existing conditions are considered, it is be- 

 lieved that the following features of this plan .will meet 

 the approval of poultry keepers in general: 



The fundamental idea in ventilating a poultry house 

 is to expel the impure air as well as the excess of 



FIG. 106 DETAIL, OP VENTILATOR IN MINNESOTA 

 HOUSE 



moisture, and to retain at the same time sufficient heat 

 to make the house comfortable; which last, in the coldest 

 weather, means all the heat that can be retained while 

 expelling excessive moisture and impure air. A simple 

 ventilating device adopted for this house places the con- 

 trol of the ventilation absolutely in the caretaker's hands. 

 It is, however, recognized that all ventilation in a poultry 

 house must come from one direction that is, drafts can- 

 not be tolerated. 



By hanging the windows with weights and pulleys as 

 they are ordinarily hung in dwellings, a greater or lesser 

 volume of air depending upon the will of the caretaker 

 may be allowed to enter. This will be found equally ad- 

 vantageous in winter and summer, and makes it unneces- 

 sary to remove the sash, even in very hot weather, since 

 by raising the lower sash three or four inches and drop- 

 ping the upper to the level of the lower, good circulation 

 is established. The object in raising the lower sash no 

 more than three or four inches and lowering the upper to 

 the same level, is two-fold, but the main reason for so 

 doing is that the large opening, which is in this way pro- 

 vided at the upper section, permits a large volume of hot 

 air to escape. A secondary reason is that, with the lower 

 sash no higher, the fowls cannot roost upon or soil the 

 windowsill, whereby just so much cleaning is eliminated. 



During the winter it is convenient to drop the upper 

 sash a little through the day to let the dust and morsture 

 out. In the Minnesota Model Poultry House the ventila- 

 tion secured in this way might be called emergency ven- 

 tilation, or, perhaps, ventilation according to season, the 

 constant ventilation or the ventilation depended upon dur- 

 ing winter, coming chiefly through openings above the 

 windows. These openings may be covered or not, and in 

 two ways: on one side of the inside frame is hinged a 

 burlap-covered frame, while on the other a solid wooden 

 door is hinged. Obviously the caretaker has three options: 

 He may leave the opening entirely uncovered as he cer- 

 tainly should during warm weather and upon an occa- 



FvPONT E-LEVAT/ON 



CROSS SECTION 



FIG. 105 FRONT ELEVATION AND CROSS SECTION OF MINNESOTA MODEL POULTRY HOUSE 

 Reproduced from Minnesota Farm Inst. Annual No. 27. 



