78 ‘COMMON. SENSE 
of the back is nailed a strip 5 inches wide whicn answers the same 
purposes as that at the front, and in addition has the door hinged 
to it. The door consists of a single board which is hinged 
to the back strip, and when raised up may .be hooked to the 
top. In very warm weather, instead of a hook, we use a loop of 
cord, which is so long, that, when slipped over the peg or nail in 
the top, it still allows the top of the door to stand out one or two 
inches from the edge of the top of the box. This allows plenty 
of ventilation, and to prevent the loop from slipping off the peg, 
thus allowing the door to fall down, we push a. rough wooden 
wedge between the door and the. top of the box, so as to-k {> the 
cord taut. There are four compartments in each. box, Se ney 
12 inches wide, and when such a nesting box is: placed within two 
or three inches of a wall, the hens have: plenty « of air and yet are 
securcly held as prisoners. “Iwo boys. can. carry these boxes any- 
where, so that they can be easily taken out to be cleaned. 
I made seven.of.thése boxes, holding twenty-eight hens. Along 
one side of the room I placed three, and along the middle I placed 
two rows of two each. The middle rows were placed back to back— 
that is, with the open sides facing each other and about five inches 
apart. Between them was placed a board 8 feet long and 14 
inches wide, which completely concealed the birds from each. other 
and yet left sufficient space for ventilation. 
Every evening I looked over the laying nests and other places 
which the hens were most likely to adopt for nests for sitting, and 
marked such hens as were decidedly broody. ,I had learned. _by 
experience not to trust a hen on her first attempt | to sit, for. some- 
