POULTRY EXPERIMENTS. 1 59 



erected at his farm is 20 feet wide and is the best one with which 

 we are acquainted as it is typical of those already described, and 

 in addition embodies other features which make it more com- 

 fortable for the birds and lessens the labor required in their 

 care. 



During the summer of 1905 a laying house was built to ac- 

 comodate 2,000 hens. It is 20 feet wide and 400 feet long. It is 

 on the same general plan as House No. 2 and 3 at the Experi- 

 ment Station. House No. 2 is 12 feet wide; House No. 3 is 16 

 feet wide, and this one at Go-well farm is 20 feet wide. The 

 widths have been increased in the last 2 houses, as experience ha9 

 shown the advisability of it. At first it was thought that the 

 houses should be narrow so they might dry out readily, but the 

 widest house dries out satisfactorily as the opening in the front 

 is placed high up, so that in the shortest winter days the sun 

 shines in on the floor to the back. 



Nearly 2 years use of this wide house shows its advantage 

 over the narrow ones to be greater than was anticipated when 

 it was planned. Its great width and the low down door in the 

 back wall make it much cooler in hot weather. 



During July and August the birds go into the yards early in 

 the morning but they nearly all come back into the house as the 

 day gets warm, and remain on the floor in the back part of the 

 room, apparently enjoying the shade and the cool air which 

 draws across the floor, even when the air seems very still outside. 



The differences in the temperature of the wide and narrow 

 houses is very great, and the birds show what they think about it 

 by staying in the yards in preference to the narrow houses. Of 

 course, the comfort of the birds is not greater than when they 

 have good shade out of door but the runs have not trees or 

 shrubs sufficient to furnish shelter. 



The economy in the cost of the wide house over the narrow 

 ones, when space is considered, is evident. The front and back 

 walls in the narrow house cost about as much per lineal foot as 

 those in the wide house, and the greatly increased floor space is 

 secured by building in a strip of floor and roof, running length- 

 wise of the building. The carrying capacity of a house 20 feet 

 wide is 66 per cent greater than that of a house 12 feet wide, 

 and is secured by building additional floor and roof space only. 

 The walls, doors and windows remain the same as in the narrow 



