PHEASANT REARING 87 



they would lay more by the Rogers plan, but the ground is 

 irregular, so the large enclosure method is easier. 



Hatching. For incubation he employs ordinary hens, in 

 a hatching-house, which is quite a model establishment in 

 its line. The tiers of nest3 are not along the wall, but across 

 the house, which is in the shape of a long shed. Opposite 

 each aisle, with its tiers of nests on both sides, is a door. 

 Outside the door is a double row of small compartments, or 

 feeding-coops, as many as there are nests on one side of an 

 aisle of the hatching-house, numbered to correspond, so that 

 the same hen will always be put back on the same nest. 

 They feed the hens on one side of the aisle, then put them 

 back and use the same feeding-coops for the hens on the 

 other side. 



Cleaning Nests. The nests are constructed in movable 

 tiers or sections, like sectional bookcases. Back of the 

 shed is a large tank or cauldron, in which, before each new 

 hatch, the whole set of three nests is immersed to destroy 

 all insect life. This radical treatment seemed thoroughly 

 effective. The eggs, under this system, are sprinkled, which 

 is ordinarily unnecessary when the nest is directly on the 

 ground, except perhaps in very hot, dry spells. The nests 

 built in the boxes are of turf, with a little hay. 



Alternation. Rearing-fields are used but one year in 

 three or four, being employed for farm crops when not for 

 birds. On my visit three rearing-fields were in use. One 

 was a large open tract of ten or twelve acres, and had 2,000 

 young, mostly well grown. Another was also open land, 

 about half the area, with birds medium size; while for the 

 third an orchard was used for the smaller broods. In all 

 there were about 4,000 young birds. 



Control. The fences are 10 feet high, and the birds 

 mostly remain inside the wire. They seemed to me re- 



