Milford chronicle., 1915-08-06

the house is devoid of drafts. If this i
the case, then get busy at once to cor
rect the evil. No matter how much
fresh air you give the birds, they viii
not keep their health if forced to roos
in draft, and then too, when they are
taken sick, you will be prone to lay the
blame on the open-front house. when il
reality, 1t is the fault of some draft
Many persons construct poultry houses
hurrledly, giving no thought to the
health and comfort of the birds that are
to occupy them, and thus find the faulty
construction hard to remedy when no,
ticed. If your house is built after such
manner, and you find it impossible tC
overcome the presence of drafts, ther
by all means tear it down and build one
that is correct in every detail. 1t takes
no more time nor material to build a
correct house than a faulty one, and as
anything worth doing at all is worth
doing well, you should apply that prin-
ciple.
You may say that housing birds in
Open-front houses lessons the egg yield.
Well, you are not by yourself in this as
sertion, but that does not make it true,
however. Let's look at it from prac-
tical standpoint. Should this assertion
be true, then why would open front
houses be adopted by all of the large
and extensive egg farms throughout
the country, including extremely cold
climates as well as modern ones?
The wide experience of commercial
egg farmers is surely worth something,
and it isn't reasonable to suppose that
such men would continue to use the open
style of house year after year unless
they were an advantage over other
styles. Such men depend upon the egg
yield for their living, and if these houses
in any way interferred with or reduced
their profits they would have been dis
carded long ago.
Theory is alright, provided you can
get nothing else, but practical eXper-
ience is far better. If the Open-front
house is good for the big fellow, then it
should be good for you. Try it for your
self, and believe that you will be more
than satisfied
Don crowd too many fowls into your
houses. That is a mistake which pro-
duees unhealthy quarters and breeds
disease. Keep the floor of the house
covered with some good light litter. In
the birds should be provided
with a scratch shed in connection with
the open-frOnt house. Scatter all their
grain food in the litter, thus compelling
them to get sufficient exercise by /
scratching it out. This aids wonder
fully in Keeping the birds in good,
healthy condition.
Keep fresh water, oyster shell, grit
md charcoal always before the fowls.
m bitter cold weather it is best to have
he chill taken off the water, rather
han in a freezing cold condition. This
loes not mean that they are to be given
lOt water.
Make your winter preparations now
here is no better time for it. If you
wait for cold weather to arrive, you
nay be too late to do any great good.
If the above suggestions are followed,
md you carefully note the advantages |
If the open-front over the closed style ,
If house, you too will be its advocate in (
he spring. In addition, the youngsters
iatched from your next seasons mat |
ngs will be more vigorous and healthy |
han those which your closely-housed /
owls produced this year, which, of
arse, means larger profits to any
reeder