256 POULTRY PRODUCTION 



I 

 there has been a "general enfeeblement (of the races), which 

 is the penalty we have to pay for breeding under unnatural 

 conditions, for inbreeding to fix defined characters, and for 

 using as stock birds those specimens which, in respect to 

 vigor of body, are the least fit, even though they show the 

 racial type to the highest degree." Artificial protection is 

 necessary to offset this general enfeeblement. 



It is also necessary in order that as much as possible of 

 the energy derived from feed may be used for productive 

 purposes, rather than in withstanding heat or cold winds and 

 dampness. The tree-roosting hen is usually vigorous, but 

 she is not a great producer except in very favorable weather. 



Comfort the Prime Essential. — Other things being equal, 

 production of meat or eggs is in direct proportion to the 

 comfort of the hens. So far as the hens are concerned, 

 egg production is essentially reproduction. The balance of 

 the process of bringing a new creature into the world may 

 be accomplished without the aid of the hen. The conditions 

 which lead to rapid reproduction are those which tend toward 

 comfort. The natural laying and breeding season is in the 

 spring, because conditions are those which furnish comfort. 

 The successful hen-house will furnish its occupants with 

 permanent protection from dampness, drafts, wind, filth, 

 vermin, or other causes of discomfort and disease, and 

 from their larger enemies. At the same time it will give 

 free access to the sunlight and fresh air. It furnishes all the 

 protective advantages of the tree limb or hedge row without 

 furnishing their discomforts or adding others, and insofar 

 as possible duplicates spring conditions the year round. 



Location. — Comfort in the ppultry-house is as much a 

 matter of location as it is of construction, and the location of 

 the building has very much to do with its success. In a 

 general way the house fixes the centre of the circle which 

 marks the limits of the birds' range. This is increasingly 

 true under modern methods of feeding, where each flock of 

 fowls is always fed in or near its own house, whether it 

 be fed by hopper or out of hand. 



The house marks the spot where they spend much of their 

 time in the winter, which is the season that most taxes the 



