WHERE TO KEEP FOWLS 51. 



roost platform so the fowls can go round the ends and. 

 enter any apartment from the back, the front (hinged 

 at top and secured by a simple button at the bottom) 

 lifting up to allow of removing the eggs. Keeping this 

 front closed makes the nests dark and secluded, most 

 important aids to prevent forming the egg eating habit.. 

 We make the floor of scratching shed ten by ten. 

 feet, and plan for two curtains four and one-half by 

 five and one-half feet to close the front. Both these 

 curtains can be hinged to right and left, the right hand 

 one being a door to admit to shed and thence to pen ;. 

 or they can be simple curtains on frames secured by 

 buttons, excepting that the shed at end must have a. 



FIG. S MAINE TYPE OF CURTAIN FRONT HOUSE 



door for entrance. A better plan, and probably the 

 best, is to have the curtains hinged at top so as to 

 swing in and up along the roof rafters, where a hook 

 secures them. This plan has many advantages, not. 

 the least of which is having the curtains hung up out 

 of the way all summer, when they are not wanted. 



The Curtain Front House — This is a style of 

 building designed by Prof. G. M. Gowell of the Maine 

 experiment station, and is a modification of the scratch- 

 ing shed house. It has been in use by him for many 

 years. Figure 5 shows a general view of it. This, 

 building is 150 feet long, fourteen feet wide, five and. 

 one-half feet high in the rear and six and two-thirds 

 in the front. The sills are four by six inches in size: 



