Show I 1 V M VENT ventilation MATION IS OFTEN SLIGHTED let in fresh air and remove foul from house poultry men of necessity use usa many types of buildings to house layers and breeders bleeders bre eders chickens are housed in all sizes and shapes of rooms in basements and on fourth floors of barns as well as on the floors between and under roofs of varying shapes and heights it la Is in these converted concerted houses that ventilation or the lack of it causes most trouble says prof H U E botsford Dots ford of the new york state college of agriculture it Is wrong he says to insist that ch chickens lekens should be kept only in certain types of houses but he adds it would simplify the winter ventilation problem several methods are gov arned by 1 the he same principles and once ih these ese p principles r laci ples are in mind it Is easy to construct a 8 system that works warm air in the alie poultry house bouse tends to rise and collects mol moisture stura it it cannot get out it accumulates and when it cools around the root and walls the moisture mod sture condenses and gathers gat liers as frost or water on the root roof and walls or drops and makes wet litter the moisture and lack of fresh air may make tile the liens hens lose vigor and be susceptible ibe to colds and other troubles the air outlet Is most important it should be the highest point in abe the house and protected by the eaves or by an overhanging board the outlet should extend across the entire width of the house and should always be left open if the roof Is other than the flat or shed type it may be desirable to consider building a straw loft or ceiling cel ling advises professor botsford cornell recommends open space near the center ot of the front of each pen or house nt at the rate of one square foot of opening to 12 to 15 feet of floor spam space these openings should be between 2 or 3 feet above the floor and longer than they are wide windows may be placed at the end of the open space and should be kept closed all winter if the temperature Is below 15 or 20 degrees above zero or it there are storms or high winds tile the front will need to be covered by the curtains oats found valuable for layers at ohio that oats make a valuable feed for layers and provide something which functions more effectively than yellow corn has been substantiated by extensive tests at the olito experiment station during the past three years A total of COO layers were used in the experiment conducted by D 0 Ne kennard rinard in charge of poultry investigations the nine groups of layers which received rations with 20 per cent of the corn replaced by that amount of plump oats eve averaged raged 15 per cent better egg production while the hatchability of the eggs and the mortality of the birds were practically the same the groups which received the oats ate 10 per cent more teed feed and averaged 3 per cent more in monthly body weights it should be emphasized however that even the oats ration carried 40 to 50 per cent yellow corn just how much more of the corn could have bare been replaced by oats was not determined |