HOUSING AND HYGIENE 299 



Purvis' quotes the New Hampshire Experiment Station as 

 saying: "As is well known, when poultry droppings accu- 

 mulate under the roosts and when they are left in barrels 

 there is a strong odor of ammonia noticeable. The develop- 

 ment of such an odor is a sure sign that gaseous ammonia 

 is escaping into the air, to be lost for the present." Several 

 chemicals of more or less fertilizing value in themselves, 

 may be added to the droppings from time to time with good 

 effect, both in stopping the waste and in making the air of 

 the hen-house more wholesome. The best materials for this 

 purpose are gypsum or land plaster, acid phosphate, and 

 kainit, a cheap potash salt. Each of the compounds has the 

 power of forming new compounds with the ammonia as fast 

 as it is set free from the original combination. Wood ashes 

 or slacked lime should never be used, because neither com- 

 bines with ammonia, but forces it out of the compounds and 

 takes its place. W. P. Wheeler^ states that over 40 per cent, 

 of the nitrogen in poultry manure is normally lost in drying. 

 Philips' reports that Leghorn pullets produce about 21 

 pounds of manure a year while on the perch. 



Hoskins and Walker* report the average analysis of poultry 

 manure as showing 1.44 per cent, nitrogen, 0.39 per cent, 

 potash, and 0.99 per cent, phosphoric acid. At current 

 prices for fertilizers the value of a ton of fresh poultry manure 

 is $6.28. On the basis of the average night droppings from 

 the medium breeds, reported by the Massachusetts Experi- 

 ment Station,^ the droppings per fowl amount to eighty 

 pounds annually, having a value of $0.22. 



Housing and Yarding Ducks. — The chief factors in a house 

 for ducks are dryness, fresh air with freedom from draughts, 

 and cleanliness. It is not necessary to build as expensive 

 houses as for fowls, because ducks are naturally hardier and 

 can stand the cold and lack of sunshine bptter. The floor of 

 a duck-house, which may be any tight shed or outhouse if 

 but few are kept, should be kept well bedded with straw and 



' Poultry Breeding. 



2 Twenty-sixth Annual Report, New York Experiment Station. 



' Purdue Bulletin, 82. 



* Massachusetts Circular No. 35. 



' Ibid. 



