56 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT, 



the back of the room. It was 3 feet 4 inches wide and 3 feet 

 above the floor. The back wall and up the roof for 4 feet was 

 lined and the space filled and packed hard with fine hay. The 

 packing also extended part way across the ends of the room. 



Two roosts were used, but they did not take the wdiole length 

 of the platform, a space of 4 feet at one end being reserved for 

 a crate where broody hens could be confined until the desire 

 for sitting was overcom.e. The space, from the front edge of 

 the platform up to the roof was covered by frame curtains 

 of drilling, similar to the one on the front wall, except that it 

 was not oiled. They were hinged at the top edge and kept 

 turned out of the way during the daytime, but from the com- 

 mencement of cold weather until spring they were closed down 

 every night after the hens went to roost. The hens were shut 

 in this close roosting closet and kept there during the night, and 

 were released as early in the morning as they cotdd see to 

 scratch for grain which was sprinkled in the 8-inch deep straw 

 on the floor. 



This building was used through five winters vvdth 50 hens in 

 it. The birds laid as well as the others in the large warmed 

 house ; their combs were red and their plumage bright, and they 

 gave every evidence of perfect health and vigor. ' Wdiile they 

 were on the roosts they were warm. They came down to their 

 breakfasts and spent the dav in the open air. Such treatment 

 gives vigor and snap to the human being, and it seems to work 

 equally well with the hen. 



This house was given the name of the ''pioneer" house. 



THE ABANDONMENT OF THE ROOSTTNG CLOSET. 



\\ hen the curtain-front house was first devised it was thought 

 essential to provide such a roosting closet as described above 

 to conserve the body heat of the birds during the cold nights 

 when the temperature might go well below zero. Experience 

 has shown, however, that this was a mistake. Actual test shows 

 that the roosting closet is of no advantage, even in such a severe 

 climate as that of Orono. On the contrary the birds certainly 

 thrive better without the roost curtain than with it. It has been 

 a general observation among users of the curtain front type of 

 house that when the roost curtains are used the birds are par- 

 ticularlv susceptible to colds. It is not liard to understand why 



