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A MODERN COLONY HOUSE. 



This house was designed for use in the Missouri National Egg- 

 Laying Contest, and has given most excellent results. The house can 

 be built 14x14 feet and made stationary, with a cement floor, or built 

 ten feet long and eight feet deep and placed on runners so it can be 

 pulled about the farm with a team. Instead of using a cloth curtain 

 for ventilation, we use the old-fashioned window shutter. It is much 

 better than the cloth, as you always have plenty of ventilation without 

 a draft, and the cloth is easily torn, and the pores in the cloth soon be- 

 come filled with dirt, so that you actually get very little, if any, pure 

 air through the cloth. Put a good-sized window on each side of the 

 shutter, and put a fastener on it, so it can be raised and lowered any 

 distance desired, according to weather conditions. The rear of the 

 house has a six-inch ventilator at the top, just under the eaves, but 

 this is only used in extremely warm weather, and must be made so it 

 can be closed absolutely tight and leave no cracks. Beneath the 



Front view of modern colony house used in the Missouri National Egg Laying 

 Contest, showing windows, shutters, exits, etc. 



droppings boards there are two windows which open outward. These 

 windows afford good light near the floor, and the hens then keep the 

 litter evenly distributed over the floor. It also gives you a rear exit 

 to the house so the hens can use a back yard if you care to provide 

 such for them during the summer months. By having a yard in front 

 and one in the rear, you can cultivate one yard and always have green 

 food growing, and keep your yards from becoming foul. The nests 

 can be placed just beneath the windows in front if they have a cover 

 over them, or they may go on the side wall or under the droppings 

 board. There is plenty of room in the house for hoppers, feed bins, 

 drinking fountain, etc. liens keep exceptionally healthy and do well 

 in this style of house. It can be used as a colony house on free range, 

 or may be divided in the center and used with yards, as suggested 



