January, 1912 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
oMITHS 
AUG12 
WARM VS. COLD POULTRY HOUSES 
By E. |. FARRINGTON 
ONCE visited an expensive poultry plant, 
where the houses were clapboarded with- 
out and plastered within, with big stoves to 
keep them warm. A few dozen hens were 
strolling lonesomely about yards that were 
planned to hold half a thousand. The plant 
was a flat failure simply because it was too 
comfortable—too luxurious. At first thought 
this seems a curious anomaly. The fact is, 
however, that the conditions which make 
for a satisfactory egg yield are not to be 
found in tight, heated houses. Such houses 
rob the hens of vitality and stamina. The 
flock becomes debilitated and unprofitable. 
Many a poultry enterprise has been wrecked 
through failure to appreciate this fact. 
Some years since there came a prophet 
in the wilderness of poultrydom, preaching 
the gospel of fresh air. Repeated tests 
established the fact that hens thrived better 
in cold houses than in warm ones, provided 
the houses were free from dampness and 
drafts. Warm houses are more likely to 
be damp than cold ones. The moisture 
in the air collects on the sides of the build- 
ing, so that the walls are actually covered 
with frost in the morning after a cold night. 
Some time was required for practical 
poultrymen to realize that they had been 
on the wrong track, but gradually they be- 
gan to leave windows and doors open all 
night, even in Winter, unless a strong wind 
was blowing. Then came the open-front 
houses, which are used by so many practi- 
cal poultry-keepers the country over. These 
houses have no front walls, being entirely 
open to the air both summer and winter. 
The opening is covered with poultry netting 
to keep the hens in and intruders out, and 
conservative extremists, if such a term may 
be used, drop a muslin or burlap curtain at 
night, when the weather is very cold or 
when a storm is in progress, for the purpose 
of keeping out the wind and snow. 
Those breeds which have small combs 
may be kept in such houses throughout the 
year, even in the coldest parts of the coun- 
try. Hens with long combs, like those of 
the Leghorn and Minorca types, are likely 
to have the combs frosted. If, however, a 
curtain of muslin, tacked to a light frame, 
is so arranged that it may be dropped di- 
rectly in front of the perches at night, when 
the temperature runs low, any variety of 
fowl may be kept in such a house, if the 
floor is covered deeply with a litter of leaves 
or straw and the birds made to scratch in- 
dustriously for what they eat. 
There is another type of fresh-air house, 
however, which is less radical and more 
popular than those having the front entirely 
open. This is the kind which the amateur 
is most likely to adopt when he is convinced 
that he has made a mistake in keeping his 
poultry under hothouse conditions. In- 
stead of glass windows, muslin is used at 
the openings, being generally tacked to a 
frame, which may be opened on hinges or 
pushed to one side, for in practice these 
curtains are kept closed only at night in 
winter and when the weather is stormy. 
The muslin-covered openings. should be 
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