134 The Truth About the Poultry Business 



so I went and got my feathers and thread and began to 

 experiment. 



I soon found that this house was draughty in a heavy 

 wind. I made countless experiments, and at last I fixed up 

 part of one of these houses so that it would be like the 

 other house I was using; that is, it would have a roof and 

 three air-tight sides and a lattice work extending far out in 

 the front. This would provide not only a cool place for the 

 hens in warm weather, but it would break the wind. If it 

 would break the wind there would be no wind striking the 

 front of the building, and there could be no draught inside. 

 Not only this, but the hens would be in the fresh air all the 

 time and there would be no draught. 



Here, in fact, I would have practically outside conditions 

 and at the same time there would be inside protection. That 

 was just what I wanted, for had not the pullets that I had 

 with the roup years ago got well when I put them in the 

 house out in the oak grove? At a later time when my hens 

 were afflicted with roup and canker they also got well when 

 I turned them out to roost in the trees. I now brought my 

 feathers and threads into play again and conducted countless 

 experiments to find out if the house was draughty. It proved 

 not to be, and I brought over some of the hens that were 

 suffering slightly from the roup — that is, their heads were 

 not swollen like some of the others. These hens soon got 

 well and I experimented on a great many hens in the same 

 way and they all recovered in a short time. 



It stands to reason that the moment you provide your hens 

 with plenty of fresh air in a place that is not draughty they 

 are not going to get sick because you are providing them 

 with conditions that nature intended them to have, and 

 nature knows more about it than all the rest of us put 

 together. 



