TO OPERATE 17 



Nest eggs are cold hi winter, chilling the birds, often with serious 

 results, and :ire a prolific cause of broken eggs. They have a great ten- 

 dency to produce and foster broodiness and their constant use will 

 lessen egg production. 



The healthy and ambitious layer, pullet or hen, will, as a rule, use the 

 Ideal trap-newts, if they are properly constructed and installed, without 

 the use of nest eggs or other bait. I have had pullets on free range fly 

 over the yard fences, enter the poultry house, and lay their first eggs in 

 Ideal nests. These were exceptional cases of course. 



In flocks of any size eggs are likely to be laid outside the nests oc- 

 casionally, especially before the drones have been weeded out. The 

 various causes for this, although usually preventable, are not always 

 prevented. One egg laid outside may attract several others, especially 

 if the birds have been accustomed to the use of nest esnys. 



-&o - 



TO OPERATE. 



Place the linger under the pawl when it is in the locked position 

 shown in fig. 8 ; raise the pawl and the trap-plate will rise and fall back, 

 leaving the pawl in the position shown in fig. 10 The hen, when en- 

 tering the box, raises the trap-plate by the pressure of her body and the 

 pawl drops into the opening in the back edge of the trap-plate. When 

 the hen is inside the trap-plate resumes its original posiiton, but the 

 pawl has fallen into the notch ]ST and the trap-plate is securely locked. 



If the box has the opening in the front of the top (U fig. 5) one of the 

 catches (fig. -t) can be screwed into the top edge of the front 2 1-2 inches 

 from the side containing the hen opening and will serve as a stop, pre- 

 venting the trap-plate from being thrown too high when the hen enters. 

 A half turn to the right will permit the trap-plate being raised on top 

 of the pawl when an open nest is desired. Turning the catch back 

 will lock the trap-plate. 



