152 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I907. 



hens and chickens are annoyed by certain rank odors, sometimes 

 so much so that they will abandon their homes for more decent 

 ones. 



UTILIZING THE BROODER HOUSES DURING WINTER. 



These houses are used by chickens from about the first week 

 in April to the last of October. The rest of the year — from 

 November to April — they have not been used. At Go-well 

 Farm, last October, when the houses were empty, a temporary 

 roost platform about 6 feet long and 2 feet wide was arranged 

 inside, along the back of each house. It was 23^ feet above 

 the floor, and a curtain, made from bran sacks was hung in front 

 of the platform to shut it off from the rest of the room so it 

 might be warmer during the night. The curtain had a stick 

 nailed to its lower edge and was readily hooked up during the 

 day time to allow the bedroom to dry out. There were no roosts 

 on the platform. The birds just sat down on it, as it was 

 thought they would keep warmer in this way than if on elevated 

 roosts. Six darkened nests were arranged under the platform. 

 A feed trough was hung on the wall within easy reack of the 

 birds. It had separate places for bone, shell, grit, charcoal, and 

 the dry meal mixture. These fixtures were coarse, yet strongly 

 made, so that they could be removed in the spring and put in 

 again the following fall without much tearing apart and remak- 

 ing. One of the windows was opened out and hasped, leaving 

 a space a foot wide at the bottom, and triangular shaped at the 

 sides. This space, at the sides and bottom of the window, was 

 covered with one thickness of burlap, taken from bran sacks. 

 It was fastened to the sash and building by carpet tacks. The 

 air could pass through the burlap and ventilate the room during 

 nights and stormy days, and the snow or rain could not sift or 

 beat through it into the house. The other window was shut 

 during nights, but it was kept turned up — wide open — all days 

 when the weather was not stormy, or dark and severely cold. 



Sixteen of the houses were fixed up in this way and drawn 

 up handy to the barn. They were put end to end about 2 feet 

 apart — as near as the projecting runners would permit. Seven- 

 teen pullets were put in each house the first of November and 

 kept there without going out of doors during the winter. Each 

 100 birds were fed 2 quarts whole corn and 2 quarts wheat 

 mixed together, on the floor litter early in the morning, and 



