242 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 1908. 



The New Maine Station Trap Nest.* 

 The experience of the Station in trap-nesting large numbers 

 of laying hens has served to bring out very clearly and forcibly 

 what are the points to be desired in an ideal trap nest. These 

 points are : 



1. The nest must be so constructed that it will be impossible 

 for a hen to enter it without causing it to close and lock. 

 Whether a trigger, treadle, or spring device is used it must be 

 so adjusted as to operate without fail. Furthermore the ideal 

 trap nest should be so sensitive that the same nest will be 

 adapted to hens of different breeds. This is a matter of partic- 

 ular importance in hybridizing work where one may have in 

 the same pen, for example, Bantam and Cochin or Langshan 

 hens. Obviously one cannot insure that in a mixed pen a 

 Bantam hen will invariably go to a nest which is built especially 

 for her. All the nests should be so constructed that they will 

 operate equally well with either a Bantam or a Langshan, for 

 example. 



2. The nest must be so constructed as to be absolutely cer- 

 tain to lock after it has once been sprung, so that a second hen 

 may not enter while the first one is on the nest. Practical 

 experience shows that this is an important matter. Types of 

 trap nests satisfactory in other ways, often fail at just this 

 point and to see 7 hens and 3 eggs taken from the same trap 

 nest at the same time, as has been the experience of the writers, 

 is certainly not a recommendation for that particular type of 

 nest. 



3. It is desirable that a nest be built in two compartments; 

 a rear compartment in which is the actual nest in which the 

 egg is laid and a front compartment where the bird may stand 

 after having laid and before she is taken out of the nest. If 

 a front compartment is not provided there is great danger that 



* This nest was invented by Mr. F. D. Sterry, Laboratory Assistant. While this bul- 

 letin was passing through the press the writers were informed that a trap nest involving 

 some features similar to those in the nest here described has been in use for some time 

 at" the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station. Careful scrutiny of the bulletins of that 

 Station fails to disclose any description of such a nest. Hence it is impossible to make 

 any further acknowledgement of priority in th? matter than what is here set down. 

 In Bulletin 92 of the Utah Experiment Station is given on Plate 12, a photograph of 

 the trap nest in use at that Station, but from this picture it is impossible to make out 



etails o constiuction and operation. 



