THE BEST LOCATION 23 



To my mind (lie most objectionable place that would be likely to be 

 devised for any nests, trap or open, is beneath the droppings-plat- 

 forms, and I have tested it thoroughly, yet some prefer them there. 

 Our own convenience, comfort and scruples should, in great measure, 

 govern the matter. 



Were I to fit up a poultry house with what I consider to be an ideal 

 equipment of Ideal nests I would group all of the nests together if the 

 plan of the house permitted such an arrangement. If it did not I 

 would have two or more main groups and single nests where there was 

 a chance for them, if they were needed. 



I do not mean that I would build the nests together but that I would 

 arrange the separate nests in one, two or more groups. 



I would have all that I could of these nests up off of the ground, 

 either on a platform or hung on the wall. These nests would all be 

 made after the style shown in fig. 5 with the hinged front. If any 

 nests were to be permanently used on the ground, I would make them 

 after the style shown in fig. 6 and use them facing the wall and about 

 one foot from it. With such groups of Ideal nests they all look alike 

 and the birds are not so likely to become attached to certain nests as 

 they are when the nests are of different styles and separately distributed. 

 For this reason also I would have no other make or type of nests in the 

 pen. Given such a group of uniform nests the bird that desires to lay 

 will go from one nest to another in the row and select one that is un- 

 occupied. The same hen may use each nest in the group in as many 

 days. A single glance at this group of nests shows the attendant in- 

 stantly which nests, if any, require his attention. This is a matter of 

 no small importance if many nests are used. There is a farmer near 

 here who uses a system of open nests that he thinks is about right and he 

 would laugh at the idea of fooling away his valuable time with traps. 

 Yet I will guarantee that he spends one-third more time in feeding and 

 watering and caring for his hens and picking up 100 eggs a day than I 

 do, and he does not spend half as much time at it as he ought either. 

 He could not distinguish a hen that had not laid 10 eggs in six months 

 from one that had laid 150 in the same time, to save his life. 



Not only does the arrangement of traps that I am describing save 

 time but, if the nests are raised above the ground sufficiently, we have 

 the hen where she can be handled with the greatest of dispatch and 

 ease. I like a distance of 30 to 40 inches from the ground to the bot- 

 tom of nest. 



My Rocks and 'Dottes have no trouble in reaching a bench of that 

 height ancl the dry sand and litter on the floor does not injure them 

 when they jump down. Of course this height is not arbitrary. 



My bench or shelf would be 2 or 2 1-2 feet wide and the nests set 



