No. 4.] RAISING CHICKENS. 365 



influence all through, even if no other effort to secure regularity were 

 made. 



Make the nests in banks or tiers, built up like shelving in a store, 

 or perhaps more graphically described as resembling a sectional book- 

 case. The nests need no back, for they are placed against the wall. 

 The fronts should have covers of slats, or of a board just wide enough 

 to leave space for air above and below it. Each cover should be the 

 length of a section, opening and closing all nests in one section together. 

 The covers should be hinged at the bottom (leather hinges will do), 

 because they must be fastened when closed, but if hinged at the top, 

 they must be fastened to keep them open as well. Besides this, the 

 cover front hinged at the bottom may be used as a running board 

 in front of the nests if so desired. For ordinary hens nests should be 

 twelve inches square, inside measurement. For nesting material use 

 short, fine hay or broken straw, and shape the nest well with the hand. 

 If the nest is not shaped before the eggs are put in it, and the material 

 well pressed down, eggs are likely to be broken during the first days of 

 incubation. 



Set only hens that are evidently in good health, and give the prefer- 

 ence to those in fair flesh. Set no hen that is not easily handled after 

 dark or that will fly from the nest if approached by daylight. To have 

 hens that are healthy, quiet and easily handled means freedom from a 

 large portion of the usual losses in the early weeks of the chick's life, as 

 well as during incubation. 



Select for incubation, eggs of uniform size and good form and color. 

 If for any reason it is desired to set some eggs larger or smaller than 

 the average, sort the eggs and give the special sizes to separate hens. 

 The rule of thirteen eggs to a hen is a good one to follow if all nests are 

 twelve inches by twelve inches. Some hens can cover more, but, for a 

 reason which will shortly appear, the number of eggs should be adapted 

 to the smallest hens in the lot. If nests are of different sizes the 

 largest nests and hens may have more eggs, though fifteen is as large a 

 number as it is advisable to give any hen. 



Have the hens come off for food and water daily. If a large number 

 of hens are set at the same time — all the apartment will contain — 

 they may all be let off together and the nests closed while they eat, 

 drink and dust themselves. If the floor is of earth, without too much 

 broken droppings in it, no special dusting box need be provided. The 

 food should be corn or other hard grain, corn preferred, and whole 

 corn used rather than cracked corn. For the first few days the hens 

 should be watched closely, to prevent fighting. After they become 

 used to the place and to each other, the attendant may let them out, 

 close the nests, and leave them until time to return them to the nests, 

 — twenty minutes to half an hour. In returning hens to the nest 

 make no effort to have the hens go back to the same nests. On the 

 contrary, if any are noticed which persistently take a certain nest 



