HOW TO GET EGGS IN WINTER 01 
in a given period. Then the best egg producers 
may be used for breeding stock. 
With a trap nest it is possible to identify the hens 
which lay the large eggs and those which go onto 
the nest but seldom lay an egg. In fact, it gives 
the poultry keeper a working knowledge of his flock 
not to be obtained in any other way. Trap nests 
require close attention, of course, but not so much 
of the poultry keeper’s time as might be imagined, 
if there are nests enough. Allowing a nest to every 
four hens, he will not have to visit the poultry 
house oftener than four times a day, and no hen will 
be confined long enough to suffer, unless the weather 
be very warm, and trap nests are not commonly 
used in the warm season. 
There is a simple plan by which the results se- 
cured by the trap nest may be approximated with 
but little trouble to the attendant. A box contain- 
ing a nest is placed in the partition between two pens, 
one end of the box being open while a trap door is 
arranged at the other end, so that the hens can en- 
ter but not leave that way. The hens may be put 
into the first pen in the morning and as fast as 
they lay will pass into the second pen, so that when 
