HOUSING AND HYGIENE 



275 



plaster. This floor is durable, rat-proof, and dry. It has the 

 advantage of an air space below it, the same as does the 

 board floor. ' 



Windows. — It is necessary to have windows in a chicken- 

 house for both light and ventilation. The window intended 

 primarily to furnish light is of glass. The window for furnish- 

 ing fresh air is only protected by a light cloth curtain, by 

 open slats, or in some cases not at all. 



Because of the desirability of admitting as much sunlight 

 as possible into the back part of the house it is customary to 

 place the glass windows as high as the construction of the 

 house will allow, and to have their length run vertically so 

 that as much as possible of the floor will be swept by the 

 sunlight. 



Fig. 148 



A row of half-monitor roof fresh-air houses. (Courtesy of F. L. Sewell.) 



The custom often differs in the placing of the open window. 

 It is usually placed high enough so that the wind will not 

 strike the fowls, as in Fig. 145, or clear at the floor, as in the 

 case of the Tolman house in Fig. 163, and the Woods house 

 in Fig. 148. Either way is satisfactory. The main function 

 of this open window is to allow the free admission of fresh 

 air without creating drafts. In extreme cold or stormy 

 weather these windows should be protected by frames 

 covered with light muslin, heavy cheese-cloth, or by a 

 slatted frame as shown in Fig. 153. 



