HOUSING AND HYGIENE 



285 



The term ''colony liouse" usually indicates that only one 

 group is housed under one roof and usually at a considerable 

 distance from other groups. Portable colony houses are 

 comparatively small, so that a team can haul them froni ime 

 part of the farm to another. Permanent colony houses of 

 sufficient size to house a colony of a thousand birds are being 

 used successfully on specialized poultry farms. In a few 

 cases large-sized colonies of chickens are divided into two 

 groups, each having its own pen. 



Fi.i. 1.5S 



kept 



l"jri:ii'ir' fii[on>- In. use on every farm where 

 iC'ourtes,\' of Kansas A^rieultural Experiment Station.) 



The continuous house, containing several pens, is somewhat 

 less expensive to construct than colony houses containing 

 the same amount of floor space as lhe respective pens. Its 

 pens are better protected in extremely cold weather and the 

 labor of caring for the several groups is concentrated. The 

 contamination of the ground and the loss of fertility will be 

 somewhat greater than with a permanent colony house, and 

 a great deal worse than with a portable colony house that 

 is nio\ed from place to place. The danger of epidemics 

 travelling from flock to flock is very much greater in the 

 continuous house. 



