A GUIDE FOR KEEPERS OF POULTRY 253 
and the feed is ready for use. Chicks, laying hens and 
other poultry eat this greedily and it is a very good feed, 
as it is something in the nature of grain and green feed 
combined. Another much-lauded cheap feed secret is 
merely clover hay cut into short lengths and steamed 
until it is soft, then mixed with cornmeal, wheat mid- 
dlings and bran. Alfalfa hay is better for this purpose 
than clover, as it is richer in protein. 
POULTRY HOUSE CONSTRUCTION. — When 
building a poultry house the lowest probable temperature 
that will be experienced in the locality where the house 
is to be built should be kept in mind because the comfort 
of the fowls to be housed is the main consideration. 
While it 1s possible to keep out the cold no house, built 
at a reasonable expense, will keep out the heat. There- 
fore it is the weather of the coldest months that we must 
contend with and depend on ventilation to let the heat 
escape or moderate its effects. Any shed is good enough 
for the summer months, but where the winter tempera- 
ture runs low we must try to secure comfort for our 
birds if we would secure the greatest profits. It is the 
winter-laying hen that makes the largest profits. 
In a country as large as this it is manifestly impossible 
to give any one plan that will apply in every locality. It 
is thought best to give several plans, allowing those who 
build after them to modify them to suit the climate in 
which their fowls must live. In the plans described and 
illustrated it will be noticed that it is recommended that 
the rear wall be double and that the roof be ceiled under 
the rafters as far forward as the front edge of the drop- 
ping board, from which the curtain that drops down in 
front of the dropping board is fixed. If the wall of the 
house and roof are properly constructed it would be a 
