320 FARM ANIMALS 



twenty different kinds of patented trap nests were 

 used with the result that none of them proved to be 

 as effective as claimed by manufacturers, suffering 

 from the further disadvantage that they were 

 altogether too expensive. The best advice that 

 can be given the poultryman on this point is to 

 consult with some other poultryman who has used 

 trap nests after which a home-made contrivance can 

 be constructed fully as effective as the patented 

 ones and for very slight expense. 



Egg Production and Warm Houses. The subject 

 of warmth in hen houses may be approached from 

 several points of view and some of these have 

 already been mentioned. Warmth may be ob- 

 tained by constructing the houses as tight as 

 possible and depending on the sunlight and the 

 heat of the bodies of the fowls or it may be supplied 

 by some form of stove or hot- water apparatus. 

 In West Virginia a comparison was made between 

 the egg production of hens kept in loosely con- 

 structed nouses and those in tight houses, both 

 being without artificial heat. The number of eggs 

 obtained from the hens in the warm house was 

 one thousand from a flock of one hundred hens in 

 excess of those obtained from those in the loosely 

 constructed house. At local prices that meant a 

 saving of $22.00. As already indicated, however, 

 the matter of warmth for fowls is a somewhat 

 relative one and it should not be insisted that fowls 

 require a high temperature or that they will lay 

 more eggs than when kept at a low temperature. 

 Fowls may become accustomed to one condition 

 or the other and then require a continuance of the 

 temperature to which they are accustomed if they 

 are to produce the best results in eggs. 



The Fertility of Eggs. The most vital question 



