The Springdale news., 1906-05-25
FRESH AIR FOR FOWLS.
Effect of Free ventilation on Egg
 Yield and Fertility.


 Although last winter Wa> eN#ept6n ally severe in eastern Massachusetts there were not more than two or three days that the south windows of my poultry buildings did not remain wide open from daylight until dark. writes P T. Woods in Reliable Poultry Journal I never had d sick bird during the en tire winter and the egg yield was ex- cellent. better than the majority of breeders in the same section were able to obtain. while the exceptional fertility and fine hatches obtained were most gratifying
 Two pens of breeders were housed i'll an ordinary poultry house with win dows to the south The windows of this house were seldom closed all win ter until after dark and were always thrown wide open at daylight each morning.
 Two other pens were kept in small portable houses of tue shed roof type. | by feet each. and with waterproof ed muslin fronts. No glass in these portable houses, just an entire front, by feet, of muslin. broken only by the thin wooden strips used for door frames. The walls of these buildings are seven-eighths inch material pine, painted, but not covered with sheath ing material. The roof is seven-eighths inch pine covered with a roofing fabric. The floor is gravel raised few inches above ground level and covered with straw
 Water will freeze in these houses any day when the temperature falls below 20 degrees above zero outside. The fowls roest on perehes placed above q droppings board two and one-half feet from the floor, and the front roost is but a little more than five feet back from the muslin front of the house. An average of fifteen birds were kept in each of these by portable houses all of last winter The muslin door waS thrown open every day for as long q time as possible. the front being pro teeted by poultry wire only. The door was only closed during the day when it stormed hard and blew directly into the front Of the house. At night with the door closed the air could work in through the entire muslin front. The birds appeared to be comfortable at all times, were seldom out of the house during the entire winter. as they were only allowed out on bare ground. and during the most of the time the house was surrounded by deep snow.
 From these birds. all White Wyan- dottes. bred for health. the egg yield was exceptionally good and never from Nov. 1 until March l dropped below 5e per cent in spite of extremely cold and variable weather.
 These portable houses were located in one of the most windy places in east= ern Massachusetts, and the temperaz ture last winter varied from 6e degrees above to 2o degrees below zero often going the full range in forty=eight hours and from dead calm to high wind l in the same time
 During January and February eggs l from the birds in these small, practical | ly open portable houses averaged from i 9o to 95 per cent strongly fertile and I gave most excellent matches of strong sturdy healthy chicks. Most of these I chicks were reared out of doors Tn Feb ruary and March. with no other protec- ] ton than that afforded by an individ- ] ual outdoor brooder. and made q highly satisfactory record.