30 The Hen as a Mother. 



perches in the house, or anything else they can get on above the 

 nests. A dust-box sunk level with the floor, containing sand and 

 ashes, and with a little carbolated lime or carbolic acid 

 sprinkled in from time to time, placed where the sun shines on 

 it through the windows on bright days, will keep the hens clear 

 of parasites. A little sod or grass in the yard is good for their 

 health. I don't have trouble once in fifty times in removing a 

 sitting hen. I let her sit a few days in the nest she has been 

 laying in. to see that she is in earnest ; then I remove her some 

 evening to the sitting-house, place her nest on the floor (as 

 above), and if a number of others can be removed at the same 

 time, so much the better. Then I hang something up over the 

 window to shade the light a little. This I leave for a few days 

 until I am sure that all the hens mean business, and as soon as 

 they settle down I remove the shade, and leave the slides into 

 the yard open, that the hens may get fresh air whenever they 

 please. 



" The advantage of this system may be easily seen by those 

 who have had to spend a large portion of their time in spring 

 watching the sitting hens or lifting them off and driving them 

 back to their nests every day. As many as possible should be 

 set at or about the same time a few days are not of much 

 consequence so that if the hens change nests it would be of. 

 no importance, and if there are no more nests than hens, and 

 the nests are a little way from each other so that the hens can 

 not quarrel, things will go on very smoothly. 



"The second batch of sitting hens should be set in the next 

 compartment so that they may all come out together in the same 

 way as the first. The house should be well ventilated every 

 day and never be tightly closed. As the hens hatch they 

 should be removed with the chicks to their coops. 



' ' Of course, the nests should be looked to and kept clean, but 

 if a little sulphur be sprinkled in them, or, as is better, some 

 tobacco stems used with the straw in making them up, few will 

 be troubled with vermin. The hens should be lifted off at 

 times, if they do not get off of their own accord, to see that 



