86 MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



the egg after a time disappears it is pretty good evidence that the 

 culprit has been discovered, and decapitation should be the verdict. 



Another advantage in using trap-nests is that it gives one an op- 

 portunity to examine the hens for vermin, and by taking a small 

 can of insect powder around occasionally while visiting the nests, 

 and powdering the hens, they can be kept perfectly clean with 

 very little trouble. I use a baking powder can, having perforated 

 the lid, making a large pepper pot. A liberal use not blown on out 

 of an air gun, but freely peppered on the hens, is very beneficial. 



I visit the nests about three times during the morning to release 

 the hens and gather the eggs. One trap-nest is required for every 

 three hens. \Yhen a hen is taken from her nest, the egg is marked 

 with her leg-band number and the date and credit is given her on 

 the record sheet or record books. This is a sheet or page marked 

 off in squares of thirty-one days with the hen's name or number at 

 the head of the line. I mark B for broody, S for sold, M for mar- 

 keting and so on, and have in this way the history of each hen at a 

 glance. 



Trap-nests have taught me which hens lay the best shaped eggs, 

 which the largest size, which the strongest fertilized, which are the 

 best winter layers, which pullets begin early, the number of eggs 

 they lay in succession, the number of times .they become broody 

 and many other facts that can be learned in no other way; in fact, 

 I find my records exceedingly interesting and profitable reading. 

 Trap-nests were a perfect revelation to me and aided me in my suc- 

 cess with poultry. 



There are a number of trap-nest plans, also trap-nests, on the 

 market, ranging in price from $1 to $25. I have bought and tried 

 several, and find that the most satisfactory trap-nest is one that has 

 two compartments and opens in the front to take the hen off. In 

 other words, it must be comfortable for the hen and convenient for 

 the attendant. 



The nest box here described was made by G. M. Go well, agricul- 

 turist of the Maine experiment station, after a careful study of the 

 various nest boxes on the market, and is intended to combine their 

 excellences and avoid their defects. 



This is the box that is illustrated here, and the description is in 

 Mr. Gowell's own words : The nest box is very simple, inexpensive, 

 easy to attend and certain in its action. It is a box-like structure 

 and is twenty-eight inches long, thirteen inches wide, and thirteen 

 inches deep inside measurements. A division board with a circu- 

 lar opening seven and one-half inches in diameter is placed across 

 the box twelve inches from the back end. The back end is the nest 

 proper. Instead of a close door at the entrance, a light frame of 

 inch by inch-and-a-half stuff is covered with wire netting of one- 

 half inch mesh. The doOr is ten and one-half inches wide and ten 

 inches high, and does not fill the entire entrance, a space of two and 

 one-half inches being left at the bottom and one and one-half inches 

 at the top, with a good margin at the sides to avoid friction. If it 

 filled the entire space it would be clumsy in its action. It is hinged 



