34 PROFITS IN POULTRY. 
cause they seek their neste whout and under the farm 
buildings in fence corners, under brush-heaps, and va- 
rious out-of-the-way places. If clean boxes, provided 
with straw or other nesting material, had been put up 
atconvenient points, the hens would have used them and 
would not “steal” their nests. A very good size for a 
nest-box is little more than one foot square and nine or 
ten inches in depth. They should be well made; and 
if planed and painted, all the better. Apply kerosene 
freely to the inside, where the boards are nailed to- 
‘gether. This should be applied early in spring, and 
again about the first of July; it will kill hen-lice and 
ajiyy 7 2180 Prevent their getting 
\H i { a foothold about the boxes. 
oN \ 
N Nest-boxes should never 
be permanently attached 
to buildings, but placed 
upon a floor, or hung up- 
on the side of a hennery 
or other convenient place 
for both fowls and atten- 
dant. An excellent plan 
for thus securing the boxes 
is shown in Fig. 18. At 
one side of the box, neat 
the top, is bored an inch hole, through which a wooden 
or iron pin driven in the side of the building passes 
loosely. Considerable annoyance is often experienced 
by laying hens interfering with those that are sitting ; 
often a whole sitting of eggs is broken. This trouble is 
readily avoided by those who have a poultry-house with 
two rooms, by the use of sliding boxes, as shown in Fig. 
19. A hole is cut through the partition about two feet 
from the floor, to the bottom of which is firmly nailed a 
shelf or platform, e, e, about two feet in length and 
nearly one foot in width. Upon this board rest the 
