POULTRY MANAGIiMIjNT. 1 3 



weather, when the windows had to be kept shut to save the birds 

 from suffering at night. Another feature against them was 

 their size. A person cannot care for hens in so small a pen 

 without keeping them in a condition of unrest, for they fear 

 being cornered in so small a room. Three years ago one of 

 these io feet square houses was taken for a nucleus and an addi- 

 tion made, so that the reconstructed house was io feet wide and 

 25 long. The end of the old house was taken out, so that there 

 was one room with a floor space of 250 square feet. The walls 

 were about 5^ feet high in the clear, inside of the building. 

 The whole of the front wall was not filled in, but a space 3 feet 

 wide and 15 feet long was left just under the plate. This space 

 had a frame, covered with white drilling, hinged at the top on 

 the inside, so it could be let down and buttoned during driving 

 storms and winter nights, but hung up out of the way at all othei 

 times. The roost platform extended the whole length of the 

 back of the room. It was 3 feet 4 inches wide and 3 feet above 

 the floor. The back wall and up the roof for 4 feet was lined 

 and packed hard with fine hay. The packing also extended part 

 way across the ends of the room. 



Two roosts were used, but they did not take the whole length 

 of the platform, a space of 4 feet at one end being reserved for a 

 crate where broody hens could be confined, until the desire for 

 sitting should be overcome. The space, from the front edge of 

 the platform up to the roof, was covered by frame curtains of 

 drilling, similar to the one on the front wall. The cloth curtains 

 were oiled with hot linseed oil. They were hinged at the top 

 edge and kept turned up out of the way during day time, but 

 from the commencement of cold weather until spring they were 

 •closed down every night after the hens went to roost. The hens 

 were shut in to this close roosting closet and kept there nights, 

 and released as early in the morning as they could see to scratch 

 for the grain which was sprinkled in the 8 inch deep straw on 

 the floor. 



The roosting closet was closely observed and has never been 

 damp, or its odors offensive when opened in the mornings. 

 There was very little freezing in the closets in the coldest 

 weather. The birds seemed to enjoy coming out of the warm 

 sleeping closet down into the cold straw, which was never damp, 

 but always dry, because the whole house was open to the out- 



