DRY LAND FARMING IN EASTERN COLORADO 
13 
thirty inches from the floor. The roosts should be about two inches 
wide and flat on top with rounded edges. A dirt floor, raised a few 
inches above the ground outside to keep out water, is as good as 
boards in the dry climate of the Plains. Eight inches below the roosts 
should be a tight dropping board to catch the droppings and they 
should be raked off each day into a basket and taken away from the 
house. The dropping board can be made cheaply from dry goods 
boxes. 
Roosts and Dropping board with nests underneath. The hens enter 
the nests at the back and when on the nests are in darkness. The top 
over the nests is sloping so that the hens cannot roost on it and is hinged 
so that the eggs may be easily reached. 
The important point in Colorado is to secure thorough ventilation 
in the hen house without draught. The average daily change in tem¬ 
perature each twenty-four hours is twenty degrees, and with such a 
great change it is difficult to ventilate through tubes or open windows 
without draughts. A draught on a hen is sure to cut down the egg 
yield, and usually brings disease. To prevent draught, have the house 
face the south. Make the north side, roof, and east and west ends 
without openings or cracks of any kind. Use heavy muslin in place of 
glass for windows. The air will circulate through the cloth without 
any draught, and light will pass through as well. Arrange the nests 
so that when the hens are on them, they will be in the dark. Keep 
the eggs in a cool, dry, dark place. 
Hens on the treeless plains need cool shade in summer; sunflowers, 
trees or any low straw shed open on the north and south sides will 
supply this. 
Lice and Mites. 
Lice and mites thrive particularly on the Plains, and a persistent 
fight has to be made against them the year round. The dropping 
