8o LETTERS TO YOUNG SHOOTERS LETTER 



as many as you require, and the boxes fitted to them 

 (figs. 13, 14, and 15). 



By this arrangement all the daily trouble of taking 

 the hens off their eggs is dispensed with, as, if given 

 runs, they can leave their nests for a rest, or to feed, 

 as instinct directs, and if you see any hens that do 

 not return to their eggs after 'feeding in the runs, it is 

 an easy matter to remove them and substitute others. 



There is besides no handling of the hens necessary 

 in order to place them back on their nests, or tethering 





FIG. 15. NESTING BOXES AND RUNS (AS IN FIGS. 13 AND 14). 



The box of each run should be movable, so that if the hens desert their eggs 

 they may be taken away without trouble. Place the boxes opposite the square 

 openings cut in the runs, and drive a small stake into the ground at the back 

 of each box, so as to wedge it up close to the wire netting of its run. 



of them to pegs in the ground ; and when the chicks 

 do hatch they have a safe abode for a day or two 

 previous to their transference to the coops in the 

 rearing field. 



Though this system saves trouble, ic adds to the 

 cost of rearing ; and if economy has to be considered, 

 the hens can, as is usual, be put on their eggs in 

 nesting boxes or in coops, and be taken out once a 

 day, and tethered to pegs. 



