The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1892-01-22
s FRIDAY MORNING, JAN. g. 1892.
VENTILATION OF potlrh HOUSES.
Leading Authorities Espre" rhemselve.

On This Much Vexed Question,
The question of Ventilation comes M
every season and elicits variety Of
opinions. We hear from the extremists,
who demand plenty " fresh air day and
night regardless of outdoor tempera
tur; We hear from the extremists, who
claim that the fad for fresh air has
killed more fowls than it has saved with
drafts that are sure ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF
ventilation. Then, too, we hear from
that small but wise class who attempt to
strike the happy medium between
drafts and foul air in their endeavors
to admit fresh air without creating dan.
gerous drafts, With view to assisting
readers IN deciding this question of ven,
ilatioh we append the expressions OF
several authorities on the subject. Here
is what The FancieS' Journal says;
80 much depends on the size of the
building and its construction that we
can say little regarding the best methods
of ventilation for buildings in general.
We have no ventilators in our buildings.
The latter are constructed as follows
The roosting room Is by feet; adj.
joining this is shed of the same size.
The shed is closed at night by muslin
screens The only opening From the
roosting ROOM lie small door leading tc
The SHED, This is always open and the
fowls are out early in the morning
scratching in the shed The air passing
through the muslin screens is sufficient
to keep the necessary oxygen on top and
the carbolic acid in 'innocuous desue.
tude. We keep twelve fowls in such
building, although fifteen Leghornt
would do nicely In tho same space. The
only window is about two feet square,
set in the south or southeast side. Ir
the daytime the shed is always open, dc
matter how cold it is or how hard il
rains, Unless the rain comes from the
South and beats ina rare occurrence"
A correspondent who tried the non.
ventilating plan last winter to it's fullest
extent reports in The Poultry Monthly
most Favorable results, viz: mot sick
fowl during the entire winter. but all
bright, healthy and happy, with a fail
record as to eggs, to wit Six hur-'
dred and forty-six eggs from eighteen
brown LegRorn pullets from Dec. tc
March IT, The house in which these
pullets and one cockerel were kept is
s by 10 feet, made of matched pine,
lined with tarred paper, furred out two
inches, and lathed and p!astered; ceiled
overhead on the rafters with matched
ceiling; the lower half Of the large south
windows closed with tight board shut:
ters. cracks about doors and slide stopped
closely; tight board floors covered with
stonemasons' sand, and the ventilators
closed during the winter, save on three
occasions in the middle Of warm days.
From fall to spring the fowls were no,
let out of doors more than fifteen times,
and then only on warm days when there
was no snow on the ground and only fol
a little while at ii time, but never to get
chilled. The fowls, however, during
the day had the run of an inclosed an.
mex by 7 feet, built of boards only, well
lighted. with a ground floor plentifully
Uttered with fine hay and lawn clippings,
and the slide entrance to which wa.
closed at night, the house proper being
so warm that there have been but two
mornings when tic droppngs upon the
roost boards were frozen so as to inter
fere in the least with the regular weekly
cleaning"
Wright urges ventilation. and suggests
for the ordinary poultry house the plar
OF having an opening at the highest
point Of the roof, surmourted by ''lan,
tern Of boards put together in the fash.
ion of venetian blinds.
B. Benjamin, Queens county, N. Y,
writes in the New York World Drafts
are as injurious to poultry as to humans
and as most contrivances for ventilation
in our poultry houses create rlr;if IS, muck
harm is done III the northern states
through ventilators. In my opinion 3
uniform warmth with dryness of atmos.
phere is most conducive to egg laying
and other desirable results during the
winter season. My houses are made
warm with Innings of tar paper and i
have no special ventilator, but let the
fowls out in the middle of the day when.
ever the sun Shines and at such times j
not only rentilate, but thoroughly clean
the houses If the roosts and floors are
kept clean there will be no sickness 1t
is the accumulation of droppings that
produces disease. Make the poultry
houses warm with tar paper Innings and
clean them out every day, giving the
floor new layer of fresh earth or sane
and you need not worry about VENT.
iators."