POULTRY EXPERIMENTS. 163 



The roost platform is made tight and extends along the whole 

 length of the room against the back wall. It is 4 feet 10 indies 

 wide and 3 feet above the floor, high enough so that a person 

 can get under it comfortably when necessary to catch or handle 

 the birds. There are three roosts framed together in two 10 

 feet sections. They are one foot above the platform and hinged 

 to the back wall so they may be turned up out of the way when 

 the platform is being cleaned. The back roost is 12 inches from 

 the wall, and the spaces between the next two are 16 inches. 

 They are made of 2 by 3 inch spruce stuff, placed on edge, with 

 the upper corners rounded off. The roosting closet is shut off 

 from the rest of the room by curtains, similiar to the one 

 described above. For convenience in handling, there are 2 of 

 them, each 10 feet long. They are 3 feet wide and are hinged 

 at the top so as to be turned out and hooked up. The space 

 above this curtain is ceiled up and in it are two openings each 3 

 feet long, and 6 inches wide, with slides for ventilating the closet 

 when necessary. There is a door in every partition, placed 5 

 inches out from the edge of the roost platform. They are 3 

 feet wide and 7 feet high ; they are divided in the middle, 

 lengthwise, and each half is hung with double acting spring 

 hinges, allowing them to swing open both ways, and close. 



Ten nests are placed against the partition in each end of the 

 room, in 2 tiers. They are of ordinary form, each nesting 

 space being one foot wide, one foot high and 2 feet long, with 

 the entrances near the partition, away from the light, and with 

 hinged covers in front for the removal of the eggs. Each section 

 of 5 nests can be taken out, without disturbing anything else, 

 and cleaned and returned. In constructing the house it was 

 designed to use these nests only one year. At the end of that 

 time they were removed and 400 trap nests substituted for them. 



Troughs are used for feeding the mixtures of dry meals, shell, 

 bone, grit and charcoal. The bottoms are made of boards 7 

 inches wide ; the ends being of the same width and 18 inches 

 high. The back is of boards and the cover is of the same mate- 

 rial and slopes forward sufficiently so the birds cannot stay on 

 it. A strip 5 inches wide is nailed along the front edge of the 

 bottom to make the side of the trough. Pieces of lath are 

 nailed upright on the front, 2 inches apart, between which the 

 hens reach through for the food. A thin strip 2 inches wide is 



