ON A TOWN LOT 45 



CHAPTER VI 



POULTRY HOUSES 

 Building for Egg Production — for Warmth 



THAT constitutes a successful poultry house? I should 



say one that keeps the bird in perfect comfort and 



health, and enables them to produce the largest yield 



of eggs. Of course you don't get eggs from poultry 



houses — but if you take the same identical birds and 



put them in one house and then change them to 



another there may be a decided difference in the egg 



yield just because of the conditions provided by the 



"fowl" dwelling. 



I am certain that a light and airy house will encourage egg laying and 



that a dark, stuffy house absolutely will not. The three big factors in 



egg production are : 



1— food 

 2— light 

 3 — air 



Specifications for Economical Houses 



An open air poultry house is recognized by practically all prominent 

 poultry men to be the most satisfactory for laying flocks. On page 60 

 will be found an illustration of the type of laying houses used on my 

 farm. This building is 322 feet long and can be built any length desired. 

 It is 20 feet deep. If the house is more than 8 feet deep, it would be 

 a good plan to locate windows at the back of the house as well as at the 

 front. One-quarter of the front of this long house for laying flocks, is 

 open and the opening is covered with one-inch poultry netting on the 

 outside. Frames are covered with a medium grade cotton and operated 

 from the inside so that the attendant can raise and lower them and leave 

 as much as desired. During the fine weather these spaces are left entirely 

 open. During the cold weather, when the thermometer registers from 

 zero to 20 degrees and below, the curtains are kept down all the way. 

 These curtains of cotton also keep out rain, snow and strong wind. 



A glass window every 12 feet, lets in light in case of stormy weather 

 when the curtains are kept dovm. There are very few days that the 

 curtain cannot be raised, and I find it makes a very practical house. The 



