ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS 373 
trous results. About fifty chicks is a large enough number in a 
single colony house. In some sections the practice is to place 
only twenty-five in each house. The capacity will depend upon 
the floor space and fresh-air feature. A house 6 x 8 feet, if prop- 
erly ventilated, will accommodate fifty growing pullets without 
any trouble. Colony houses are usually elevated above the ground 
from ten to twelve inches and provided with a wooden floor. 
Fig. 173.—Ffour types of summer developing houses. A, Fresh-air house so constructed 
that both side walls hinge and open upward, allowing an unlimited circulation of air; B, shed- 
roof colony house; C, a wide-open house; D, a portable summer chick shelter, showing a 
luxuriant vegetation furnishing an abundance of green feed and shade. 
The houses should be located at frequent intervals about 
the range (Fig. 170), care being taken to place them on high 
spots that are not damp or muddy during wet weather. If they 
are some distance apart, there will be less possibility of the birds 
mixing. One hundred feet will provide ample range, and, if the 
birds are confined for two or three days when first placed on the 
range, there will be little mixing in their houses. Roosts should not 
be placed in the colony houses until the birds are at least four 
