18 OPEN-AIR POULTRY HOUSES 



Prof. James E. Eice, of Cornell Agricultural College, in a lec- 

 ture given several years ago said: "The open-air house has become 

 a fixture in modern poultry husbandry. Without pure air in a 

 poultry house a poultrvman cannot stay long in the business, unless 

 he has a large bank account to foot the bills. Hens will do far 

 better in cold pure air than they will in warm impure air; fresh 

 air is of more importance than warmth, if we cannot have both." 



Now, let's consider a few more reasons why you should use open- 

 front open-air houses for the comfort and well being of your fowls 

 and to the betterment of your pi'ofits : 



In the first place, an open-front of the best modern type will 

 cost you less to build than a closed house that will house the same 

 number of birds. It will be a better house and more attractive 

 to look at. It should not cost you over $1 per bird housed, at first 

 cost, and it ought to last at least fifteen years without repairs 

 other than touching up the paint about the windows. 



You will have more healthy fowls and enjoy comparative free- 

 dom from all serious poultry ailments, and you will be able to keep 

 more fowls on the same land. 



Cooped up air, dust laden air, foul breathed out air, is every- 

 where in closed pouJtry coops and buildings, and it is always bad. 

 Pure open air, circulating freely and comparatively dust free, can 

 always be had in an open-front house, and it is always only good. 

 Have an open-front house and so supply your fowls with always 

 good air at all times. 



You can keep 150 layers that will average six pounds each in 

 an open-front house 20x20 ft. and get good results in health and 

 egg yield. You can do it; it has been and is being done, but I 

 prefer not over 100 layers in a house of that size. To house the 

 same number in a closed building you would require double the 

 floor space and would in all p)robability have much less satisfac- 

 tory results and more worry and labor. 



Contrary to the belief of some open-front poultry house users, 

 large flocks are not necessary to the successful use of an open-front 

 house. You don't have to flll the house up with birds to keep 

 them warm; that isn't the idea at all. You can keep larger flocks 

 in open-front houses than you can in closed houses of the same 

 size and get better results. There is less danger from crowding- 

 fowls in an open-air house. If, for any reason, jom wish to carry 

 a small flock in a good sized open-air house you can do so with 

 perfect safety and witji good results. For two winters, both severe 

 ones, I carried a little flock of special mating cock and four 

 females in an open-front house 8x1-1 ft. and apparently they were 



