14 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I904. 



side air and sun every day. There were no shut off corners of 

 floor or closet that were damp. We used this building through 

 three winters, with 50 hens in it, and have not had a case of sick- 

 ness in it yet. Not a case of cold or snuffles has developed from 

 sleeping in the closet with its cloth front, and then going 

 directly down into the cold room and spending the day in the 

 open air. 



The- birds have laid as well as their mates in the large warmed 

 house have done; averaging last year above 150 eggs each. 

 Their combs have been red and their plumage bright, and they 

 have given every evidence of perfect health and vigor. While 

 they are on the roosts, in bed, they are warm. They come down 

 to their breakfasts and spend the day in the open air. Such 

 treatment gives vigor and snap to the human, and it seems to 

 work equally well with the hen. 



The results of the three years use of this house have been such 

 that we feel very sure that this is one of the right systems of 

 treatment and housing of hens, and it was decided to build sev- 

 eral houses on the same plan and join them together under one 

 roof, as one house. 



THE CURTAIN ERONT HOUSE FOR HENS. 



This building was erected in 1903 and is 14 feet wide and 150 

 feet long. The back wall is 5^ feet high from floor to top of 

 plate inside, and the front wall is 6^3 feet high. The roof is of 

 unequal span, the ridge being 4 feet in from the front wall. The 

 height of the ridge above the floor is 9 feet. The sills are 4x6 

 inches in size and rest on a rough stone wall laid on the surface 

 of the ground. A central sill gives support to the floor which at 

 times is quite heavily loaded with sand. The floor timbers are 

 2x8 inches in size and are placed 2 feet apart. The floor is two 

 thicknesses of hemlock boards. All of the rest of the frame is 

 of 2x4 inch stuff. The building is boarded, papered and 

 shingled, on roof and walls. The rear wall and 4 feet of the 

 lower part of the rear roof, are ceiled on the inside of the stud- 

 ding and plates, and packed, very hard, with dry sawdust. In 

 order to make the sawdust packing continuous between the wall 

 and roof, the wall ceiling is carried up to within 6 inches of the 

 plate, then follows up inclining pieces of studding to the rafters. 



