| OCR Text |
Show ROOST CLOSET FOR POULTRY Considerable Stress Laid on Curtain in Front of House at Maine Experiment Station. In the curtain front type of poultry house used at tho Maine experiment station a feature of the original plan on which considerable stress was laid was the canvas curtain in front oT the roosts. This curtain, together with th back wall of the bouse and the droppings drop-pings board under the roosts, formed a closet In which the birds were shut tip at tilKht during cold weather. Whn the curtain-front bouse was first derided it was thought essential to provide snrh a closet to conserve the body heat of the birds during the cold nights when tbe temperature might go well below sero. Experience Expe-rience has shown, however, that this was a mistake. Actual test shows that the roosting closet la of no advantage, ad-vantage, even In such a severe climate cli-mate as that of Orono. On the contrary, con-trary, the birds certainly thrive better bet-ter without the roost curtain than with it. It bas been a general observation ob-servation among users of the curtain front type of boose that when the roost curtains are used the birds are particularly susceptible to colds. It Is not hard to understand why this should be co. The air In a roosting closet when It is opened fti the morning Is plainly bad. The fact that it Is warm In no way offsets physiologically the evils of its lack of oxygen and excess of carbon dl-oxld, dl-oxld, ammoulacal vapors, and other exhalations from the bodies of the birds, i for some time past It has been felt that tho roosting closet was at least unnecessary. If not In fact a positive evil. Consequently the time of beginning be-ginning to close the roost curtain In the fall has been each year longer delayed. Finally, In the fall of 1910, It was decided not. to use these cur tains at all during the winter. Consequently Con-sequently they were taken out of the house, or spiked to the roof, as the case might bo. The winter of 1310 11 was a severe one. On several occasions occa-sions tbe temperature dropped to 30 degrees below xero. Yet during thif winter tbe mortality was exceptionally exceptional-ly low and the egg production exceptionally excep-tionally high. In view of this experience the station sta-tion has decided to discontinue tho use of the roost curtain. It would seem to be generally undesirable or at least unnecessary. ' |
