I06 MAINE AGRICULTUR--\L EXPERIMENT STATION. I905, 



• 



The conditions that were laid down years ago and accepted 

 as imperative, that hens could only be kept profitably as layers 

 in flocks not greater than 15. with allowances of at least 10 

 square feet of floor space per bird, required large space for small 

 numbers of birds and w'as expensive. The small pen, even 

 though sparsely populated, means close confinement to the 

 occupants. If one hen was confined and compelled to remain 

 on the generous allotment of a square yard, life would be ver\' 

 unsatisfactory to her. But give her 2^ square yards of floor 

 room to roam over at will and she will be happy, although she 

 may meet 49 neighbors in her wanderings, and divide the room 

 with them, yet the allotment to each individual is reduced to one- 

 half a square yard. 



The seven pens in House Xo. 2 each have 240 surface feet 

 of floor and the 50 pullets in each pen averaged 150 eggs last 

 year. The pullets this year, in the same pens, appear to be doing 

 equally well. 



In House Xo. 3 the pens are twice as large as those of X'o. 

 2, containing 480 square feet. In the first pen 100 pullets are 

 kept, having four and eight-tenths square feet of floor per bird, 

 just the same allotment as is given in the pens of 50 birds, in the 

 Ko. 2 house. Some of the questions w'hich it is hoped to get 

 light upon by these comparisons are : Does the larger room 

 have advantages over the smaller one when both are equally 

 densely populated, by giving greater opportunities and freedom 

 to the birds? Are there disadvantages when the num.bers of 

 birds in the flock are increased, the proportioned floor space per 

 bird remaining the same. 



Should the tests indicate that the greater liberties of the 

 larger pens are advantageous, the question arises : are the 

 advantages such that the number of birds in the large pens can 

 be increased and the ratio of egg production be maintained, or ; 

 how far can the net profit from the pens be increased by increas- 

 ing the number of birds in each pen. although the average egg 

 yield be diminished by the denser population ? 



In House X'o. 3. pen Xo. 3 is a duplicate of pen Xo. i in size 

 and construction, and in it 150 pullets were wintered. The 

 floor allotment per bird in this flock is three and one-fifth square 

 feet. Three roosts instead of two were required for the 



