150 MAINS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I907. 



outside air as it came into the room and they tried to find shelter- 

 ed corners where they might be more comfortable. On this ac- 

 count the width of the opening was reduced from 3*^ feet to 2 

 feet by ceiling up the lower part of it. This gave a bulk- 

 head 3 feet high, sufficient to protect the birds on the floor from 

 the direct inflow of out door air, and they were happy. 



One objection to this house still remains; its front wall is too 

 low to allow room for a large opening, high enough so that the 

 sun can shine in and back across the floor to the back wall dur- 

 ing the short days in winter, when the sun runs low. This 

 feature in construction, seems to be of the utmost importance, 

 for dependence is had upon the sunshine and pure outside air, to 

 keep the floor litter dry and the elevated roosting closet clean. 

 The entire front of the roosting closet being open, leaves no dark 

 corners where the air and light cannot do their thorough 

 cleansing. 



Experience with the house showed its several bad features. 

 On the other hand, the Pioneer house, which had been in use for 

 three years, gave great satisfaction, and the same general plan 

 was adopted in the construction of a large house. 



This house designated as House No. 2, was built 4 years ago. 

 It is 12 feet wide and 150 feet long and is divided into 7, twenty 

 feet sections. In each section, with its floor surface of 240 feet, 

 50 pullets have been wintered each year, most successfully. 



Three years ago another house was built on the same plan, 

 except that it is 16 feet wide instead of 12. It is 120 feet long 

 and consists of 4 sections or houses, each 16 by 30 feet in size. 

 There is no separate walk through the building, but in the close 

 board partition separating the pens, are doors, hung with double 

 acting hinges, which allow them to swing both ways, and close 

 automatically, after the attendant passes through. Each pen has 

 a floor surface of 480 feet and gives ample accommodation to 

 100 hens. All of the hens in these 2 open front houses, in flocks 

 of 50 or 100, averaged laying about 144 eggs each last year, and 

 the birds were in excellent health. The front curtains were 

 open all of the time every day, except the stormiest in winter. 



While the same plan is common to all of these open front 

 houses, the width has been increased in each succeeding one 

 built. The first house was 10 feet wide, the second 12 fe«t, the 

 third 16 feet in width. The house which Professor Gowell 



