POULTRY MANAGEMENT. 19 



amount of time required in caring for the trap nests, so far as 

 our work goes, can only be estimated, as the time varies from 

 one day to another, and having only fifty-two nests in operation, 

 the attendant's time was divided with other duties. By noting 

 the total time used per day in caring for the nests, when the hens 

 were laying most heavily, it is believed that one active person 

 devoting his entire time to trap nests, like ours, would take care 

 of 400 to 500 nests used by 2,000 to 2,500 hens. When com- 

 mencing the year's work he would need assistance in banding 

 the birds, but after that was done he could care for the nests 

 without assistance until midsummer, when the egg yields would 

 probably be diminished and a part of his time could be spared 

 for other duties. 



One of the first difficulties encountered was with the leg bands. 

 We procured and used all of the bands that appeared to be 

 durable, and not likely to be lost off. Several kinds were easily 

 put on but would last only a few weeks or months before they 

 would be loosening or breaking, and we finally adopted a make, 

 that consists of a fairly broad metallic band encircling the leg. 

 with the ends held together by small brass spring rings. These 

 rings would sometimes get broken or lost out and we put in two 

 instead of one. Even then, when hens were moulting, broody, 

 or for other reasons not frequently handled and the rings exam- 

 ined, the bands would sometimes get off. Bands with duplicate 

 numbers and double rings are now used on both legs and the 

 likelihood of losing the identity of a bird is small. 



When not using trap nests, the following is a very satisfactory 

 nest. It is a foot wide, a foot high and three feet long with 

 cover. A partition in the middle has an opening just large 

 enough to admit the passage of a hen. The nest openings are 

 away from the light and when a hen goes to the nest and looks 

 in she blocks the opening and shuts out the light and does not 

 see the eggs plainly. The temptation to meddle and break them 

 is thus removed. 



FADING THE HENS. 



For twenty-one years we have been at work with the same 

 family of Barred Plymouth Rocks and have learned one way to 

 feed and handle them to secure eggs, and to avoid the losses 

 which are so common to mature hens of that breed, from over 



