126 FIRST LESSORS IN rOUL'l'lil' KEET1XG. 



Most, poultry keepers still continue to provide many more nests than are used. I find a nest 

 to every five or six bens enough, and have often allowed only one nest -to seven or eight hens, 

 say three nests in a pen of twenty to twenty-five hens, and found the allowance satisfactory, 

 even when the hens were laying well. That, however, depends on the flock. Sometimes all the 

 hens iu a flock are quick layers, again they are slow to very slow, or the laying habits of the 



Triple Set Skeleton Nests in Place in Poultry House. 



hens are very uneven. So I allow as a rule one nest to a pen of three or four hens, two to a pen 

 of six to twelve hens, and from four to six to a pen of twenty to twenty-five hens, according as 

 they seem to need them. 



Styles of Nests. 



The nest boxes should be movable. Whenever more than one nest Is necessary it is custom- 

 ary to make the ne.-ts in sections of two or more. Sometimes these are built under the drop- 

 pings board, but even here the construction may and should be such that the nests are easily 

 moved and taken out of the house for thorough cleaning and airing. 



It has been a very common practice to make and place the nests so they would be quite darko 

 This is done in part because the hen is supposed to prefer a secluded place to lay, and In 

 part to prevent the development of the egg eating habit among the hens. 



To economize floor space as much as possible, it is customary to place the nests on the wall 

 several feet from the floor; or if they are put under the droppings boards, these are usually 

 placed high enough to allow the hens the use of the floor below the nests, though sometimes 

 in a house with low north wall and roosts next this wall, the nests are on the ground, with the 

 droppings board forming the top of them. 



Leghorns and other high flyers will go as a rule to the highest nest accessible. I once 

 nailed a small box in a corner close up to the roof in a pen of Silver Dorkings, and all but one 

 or two very heavy hens would go to that nest though there were others more accessible. 

 Hens of the larger breeds will often go to the corners on the floor of the poultry house to 

 lay, no matter how many or how attractive nests are provided for them elsewhere. It is 

 very difficult to break hens of that habit. In many of them it is hereditary, and the best thing 

 to do is to either put a box a common soap box is good on the floor in the corner, and let 

 them use it for a nest, or by fastening a nest to the wall a few inches from the floor try to 



