POULTRY-HOUSE COHVENIEHCES. 



37 



drop out of reach. Such a nest is shown in the engrav- 

 ing. It consists of a box with two sloping floors ; one 

 of these being depressed below the other sufficiently to 

 make a space through which the egg can roll down out 

 of the way. An extension of the box with a lid affords 

 a means by which the eggs can be removed. Upon the 

 bottom board of the nest a wooden or other nest egg is 



Fig. 21. a 



fastened by a screw or by cement. The sloping floors 

 may be covered with some coarse carpet or cloth, upon 

 which it is well to quilt some straw or hay, and the 

 bottom floor should be packed with chaff or moss, upon 

 which the eggs may roll without danger of breaking. If 

 the eggs do not roll down at once, they will be pushed 

 down by the first attempt of a hen to pick at them. 



A BARREL HENS NEST. 



A hen's nest made of a whole barrel is vastly better 

 than one in which the head is knocked out, and the hen 

 is obliged to jump down from the top into her nest, and 

 thus break the eggs. Two staves are cut through im- 

 mediately above the hoops, and again eight inches above 



