CHAPTER VIII. 



H. H. Stoddard's Open-Air Cage Roost 



IHEN KEEPING POULTRY in a warm climate it 

 is only a short step from oiDcn-front housing to no 

 house at all or to simply a roofed shelter. The 

 open-front house will give excellent service where 

 the summers are hot and the winters are cold or 

 wherever the climatic conditions and variations 

 are such that a house is needed. It has been successfully used in 

 the far north and the far south, but for the south and for tropical 

 or semi-tropical climates a simple roofed shelter or an entirely 

 open cage roost, depending on the frequency of heavy rains, is the 

 most satisfactory method of protecting roosting fowls. 



In most warm climates insect pests abound, especially tick-like 

 bugs and fleas. In the south where the soil is rather sandy, the 

 stick-fast flea is a most pestiferous insect and annoys man and 

 fowl alike. It is almost impossible to keep free of these insect 

 pests when ordinary houses are used. The fleas breed in shaded 

 sandy places under buildings and, once they take up their abode 

 there, moving or burning the building is about the only means of 

 dislodging them. 



Frequent moving of roosting quarters and construction that will 

 admit of sunlight and fresh air penetrating to all parts of the 

 shelter or coop is the best method of protecting the fowls against 

 these insect pests. 



Where rain storms are common and the rainfall heavy, some 

 sort of roofed shelter should be provided. All that is necessary are 

 roosts about 18 inches above the ground, enclosed in wire netting 

 and a not too high roof to keep ofE the rain. See "Stoddard's 

 Bower," Fig. 23. 



H. H. Stoddard, of Eiviera, Texas, has devised a cage roost 

 that has proved most satisfactory' poultry quarters in the warm dry 

 Gulf coast section of Texas. These consist of cages, of one inch 

 mesh poultry netting, containing roosts. These cages may be built 

 any shape or dimensions desired or found most convenient. They 

 should be made easily movable and with as little woodwork as pos- 

 sible. 



The cage roost is designed to provide entirely open-air sleep- 



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