36 FIRST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 



it will be inconvenient to care for the hens. Too many of the places improvised for sitting hens 

 are faulty in these particulars, and as a result the hens may get too much attention from others 

 and too little from the keeper. 



There are often rooms, or sheds, or corners in large buildings that can be partitioned off that, 

 as far as indoor accommodations go, are just as good as quarters in a poultry house, but often 

 such quarters do not admit of letting the hens out doors during incubation, and in case it is 

 possible to make arrangements that will give the hens a daily outing that ought by all means to 

 be done. 



It is also important in taking a place sometimes used for other purposes for sitting hens, not 

 to continue its use for other purposes if that would at all interfere with the proper treatment of 

 the hens while incubating. 



Individual Compartments for Sitting Hens. My experience in using a separate small coop 

 for each sitter never went beyond the experimental stage, because I never had average hatches 

 that way that made it seem worth while to continue any of the numerous arrangements of this 

 kind that I have tried. The bens confined to nests and to very small runs when off the nest 

 have always been restless, and good hatches under such conditions have, with me, been rare. 



The Unit of Nest Boxes for Sitting Hens. 



The single nest box for a sitting hen, shown in the accompany- 

 ing cut, is so simple and works so well that it seems to me not 

 necessary to discuss other possible forms of nest receptacles; 

 barrels, half barrels, and boxes in almost endless variety have 

 been used, but for economy of material and room, combined 

 with convenience, 1 have never seen anything that approached 

 a system of nests in which this is used as the unit. 



The most convenient dimensions for nests for medium sized 

 hens are 12 x 14 in. on the ground, and 14 in. high, 12 in. high 

 Single Nest Box for Sitting Hen. will answer, but such low nests are not as convenient for hand- 

 ling the hens. For small hens 12 x 12 on the ground will do, but I would not advise anyone 

 cutting up lumber for nest boxes to make them smaller than 12 x 14 x 14 in. Make the small 

 nests only in case you can use a few of them and have odds and ends of lumber that will make 

 them, but would not make the larger size. For large hens make nests up to 16 x 16 x 16 in 

 size, that size making airoomy nest for the largest Brahma hens. Note that very much of the 

 trouble with large hens breaking eggs is due to their not having room to turn in the nest. 



This nest may be made either with or without a bottom. For single nests it is advisable to 

 have a bottom, because the nest is so light that it is easily moved out of position. In that case 

 if the nest is in the box the eggs are not disturbed, but if the nest box is simply a cover over a 

 nest built on the ground the eggs may be injured. Where double or triple nests are used, the 

 weight and the binding of the earth produced by shaping a nest in it when the box is in posi- 

 tion, hold the nest box so firmly that it is not easily displaced, and there is no need of a bottom 

 unless it is thought advisable to have nest boxes that can be moved with the hens in them if 

 desired. 



The narrow strip at the bottom of the front of the box should be 3 to 4 in. wide according to 

 the height of the box. 



With nest boxes of this construction a hen cannot jump down on the eggs as she may if set in 

 a barrel or half barrel, or box open at the top, while it is very much easier to inspect the nest 

 when the hen is on by simply putting a hand under the hen and lifting her body enough to let 

 you see the eggs. She is disturbed but little by this, when she would be much annoyed by 

 being lifted off to let the attendant see the eggs from above. 



The Beginning of a System of Nest Boxes. 



In the double nest box shown in the illustration on the next page, we have the beginning of a 

 system of nests based on the unit just described. This box also has a movable front which can 

 be used to confine the hens to the nests. 1 have sometimes made nests in sets of three or four, 

 but for my own use prefer to have them in pairs, because more easily handled and generally 

 fitting better into spaces available. 



