

POULTRY EXPERIMENTS. Ijl 



in the way the removal of the old litter, and the renewal of the 

 bedding, would be much more quickly and easily done, as the 

 teams could be brought close to the walk in front of the building. 



THE MAINE' STATION TRAP NEST. 



This trap nest is original with us; it is a box-like structure 

 without front end, or cover. It is 28 inches long, 13 inches wide 

 and 16 inches deep, inside measurements. A division board 

 with a circular opening 6 inches in diameter is placed across the 

 box, 12 inches from the back end and 15 from the front end. 

 The lower edge of the 6 inch opening in the division board comes 

 down to within 4 inches of the floor of the box. The rear sec- 

 tion of the box is the nest proper. 



The double box with nest in its rear is necessary, as when a 

 hen has laid and desires to leave the nest, she steps out into the 

 front space and there remains, generally trying to escape, until 

 she is released. With one section only she would be very likely 

 to crush her egg by stepping upon it, and learn the pernicious 

 habit of egg-eating. 



The door is made of seven-eighths inch pine board. It does 

 not fill the entire front, by 2 inches at the bottom and one inch at 

 each side. A hole 2]/ 2 inches in diameter is bored in its center, 

 to admit more light. For the same purpose a section is cut out 

 of its upper end, leaving enough of the board at each side of the 

 opening to extend up to the cross piece and hold the hinges, 

 which are made of leather, tacked on the inside of the door and 

 the top. cross-piece. 



The trip latch is made of a piece of stiff wire, about three- 

 sixteenth of an inch in diameter and 23 inches long. This piece 

 of wire is shaped so that a section of it, 12 inches long, rests hor- 

 izontally across the circular opening in the division board, leav- 

 ing about two-thirds of the 6 inch opening below it. It is held 

 in place by 2 clamps, one on either side of the circular opening. 

 The clamps have slots large enough to allow the wire to work up 

 and down, about 3 inches, without friction. The next section of 

 the wire is 8 inches long and is bent so that it is at right angles 

 with the 12 inch section. It passes along the side of the box, 

 back towards the entrance door. It is fastened strongly to the 

 wall by staple and clamp, yet loosely enough so that the wire can 

 roll easily, when its 12 inch section is pushed up by the passing 



