12 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. IQGvj.. 



currents of air while on the roosts. The roost platform is along 

 the back wall. Four trap nests described beyond, of our own 

 devising and construction, are placed at the back of the house, at 

 the end of the roost platform. 



All the windows are double. Eight of the large outside ones 

 are hinged at the top and kept hasped out one foot at the bottom, 

 except in the roughest weather, and cold winter nights. This 

 furnishes ventilation without drafts, as the position of the out- 

 side windows prevents strong currents of air from entering. 



Although this house was thoroughly, built, we found that the 

 windows had to be closed during rough winter weather, or water 

 would freeze quite hard inside the building. Closing the win- 

 dows caused dampness and frost on the walls, and the straw lit- 

 ter absorbed the moisture and became, while yet clean, disagree- 

 able to the hens. A hot water heater was placed in a pit at the 

 lower end of the building, and one line of two inch pipe was car- 

 ried under the roosts to the upper end of the building and 

 returned to the boiler. By use of this heater the building is kept 

 above the freezing point at all times, and there is not much 

 trouble from moisture except when extremely cold weather 

 necessitates the closing of the windows. 



The birds in this house have always been in excellent health, 

 and have never shrunk in their egg yields from cold weather 

 except one season when coal was not procurable and the tem- 

 perature ran low. 



The ease with which the hens are cared for, the availability 

 of the entire floor space, and the welfare and productiveness of 

 the birds kept here, commends this building as one of the best. 

 It was planned and constructed so as to obtain conditions neces- 

 sary for the welfare of the birds and economize the labor 

 involved in their care at as small cost as was consistent with 

 quality. Not a single part was made for show. "Wlhile a single 

 walled building would have cost less, it would not have kept 

 the hens warm or given protection from dampness, that prevails 

 in close single-walled houses. 



THE PIONEER ROOSTING CLOSET HOUSE. 



A dozen years ago several little houses, each 10 feet square, 

 were built for colonies of hens. They were well built and warm, 

 but were apt to be damp and lined with white frost in very cold 



