114 



COMMERCIAL POULTRY RAISING 



ficial heat is not to be recommended. In fact, it has been tried 

 very thoroughly, and with unsatisfactory results. Birds so kept 

 quickly lose their vitality, and sickness and other troubles de- 

 velop. It is better to build the house substantially, and thus in- 

 sure it against drafts and dampness, for these are the poultryman's 

 greatest foes. 



Egg production is really the result of a secondary circulation, 

 hence if the fowls require all their surplus energy and vitality 

 to combat improper conditions and to keep warm, there is none 

 left for egg production. 



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iCornell Experiment Station) 



Fig. 77- — Types of pens, illustrating arrangement of roosts, partitions, alley- 

 ways and scratching sheds. 



The size of a poultry house is largely influenced by the breed 

 and number of birds kept in each flock. If the fowls are kept in 

 small flocks, more floor space per bird is needed, and the reason 

 is quite apparent. In the small flock, say twenty birds in a house 

 10 by 12 feet, each hen is confined to a very narrow area, although 

 she has an allotment of six square feet ; whereas in a large flock 

 of 500 layers, housed in a building 16 by 100 feet, each bird would 

 have but a trifle over three square feet of floor space, yet it would 

 have the freedom of roaming and scratching over the entire area, 

 and would not be oppressed with the feeling of constraint. 



Ordinarily, the heavier breeds require about one-half again as 



