MANUAL ON POULTRY. 29 



HOUSES AND SHEDS. 



Breeders of poultry in Georgia should not be induced to follow 

 the practice of those in more northern climates in constructing 

 houses for the accommodation of tbeir flocks. Here, where the 

 mercury never reaches zero and seldom falls below twenty degrees, 

 very close houses are neither necessary nor desirable. On the con- 

 trary, close houses, in our warm climate, are often fruitful causes of 

 disease and death among poultry that are required to occupy them. 

 Let any one who is skeptical on this subject enter a close house in 

 which a large number of poultry are roosting on a warm night and 

 observe the foul air which the poor birds are compelled to breathe, 

 and the correctness of the above statement will at once be recog- 

 nized. Close barns, built after the pattern of those of the Northern 

 States, have been repeatedly tried in Georgia, and as often aban- 

 doned as unsuited to our climate. Close houses are no better suited 

 to poultry than to cattle in warm climates. They may be used during 

 the winter months to advantage if well ventilated, but the fowls 

 should be excluded from them from May 1st to October 1st, and 

 required to roost either in trees or open sheds. Thorough ventila- 

 tion is absolutely necessary, even in winter, to prevent disease. 

 This should be provided for by a " lantern," rising above the center 

 of the roost and provided on the sides with slats arranged after the 

 manner of Yenetian blinds, or by having the south side of the 

 house, from within three or four feet of the floor to the top, closed 

 in with one by three slats, leaving a space of one inch betweeu 

 them. The roof should be sufficiently tight to perfectly protect 

 the interior of the house from rain, and the north, west and east 

 sides so close as to exclude cold winds. Fowls will suffer more 

 during cold spells, if confined in a house in which they are exposed 

 to draughts of cold air, than if roosting on trees where the whole 

 body is exposed alike to the cold. This is illustrated by the injurious 

 effects of a draught of cold air upon the person of a human being 

 while sleeping. The roosts need not be more than thirty inches 

 from, the floor of the house, and eighteen inches from the wall, 

 especially if the large breeds are kept. At eighteen inches from 

 the floor place a shelf two feet wide, extending immediately under 

 the roost. Dry earth, coal ashes or cotton seed should be sprinkled 



