34 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 



is 40x20 feet, there being two pens each twenty 

 feet square, which might be made the size of a 

 smaller house. If this house were but ten feet 

 deep, it would have to be eighty feet long to give 

 the same number of square feet. A square house 

 is more economical to build than a long and narrow 

 one, for it requires less material. The arrange- 

 ment of the windows at the top of this house makes 

 it light in Winter and helps to keep it cool in Sum- 

 mer. A house that is only four feet high at the 

 rear, where the fowls roost, is warmer at night 

 than one which is higher, but this is a distinct dis- 

 advantage in Summer, and poultry often suffer as 

 much from a high as from a low temperature. 



Another way of lighting and ventilating deep 

 houses and a somewhat cheaper one, is to have win- 

 dows placed sky-light fashion in the front slope of 

 a double-pitched house. The plan has sometimes 

 been tried but reported a poor one because water 

 came in around the windows. This trouble may 

 easily be overcome by attaching zinc strips to all 

 sides of the windows, so that they will come outside 

 the sashes when the windows are closed. Of course, 

 it may be necessary occasionally in Winter to clean 

 the snow from the windows, but as a rule the 



