30 THE TKAP NEST TEXT BOOK 



advertisement means that all tlie nests are made together, as a group of 

 Ideal nests can be made if desired. It is, in my opinion, a bad plan 

 and I advise against it. 'The nests should be single and separate so 

 that they can be moved readily, taken out of doors and cleaned if 

 need be, and arranged in the pen as convenience and circumstances 

 may dictate. 



This whole matter of the construction, arrangement and use of 

 trap nests is so very simple when once understood that such a treatise 

 as this would seem to be unnecessary did the author not know how 

 little the matter is really understood. 



I am writing frankly, and as plainly as I know how, as an instructor 

 and I trust that each reader is an earnest student and willing to learn. 



Should he have but a small flock and a roomy house and grasp my 

 meaning and understand its importance at once, he may think that I am 

 long-winded and take too much time to explain obvious matters. If so, 

 I will remind him that there are others with larger flocks, differently 

 constructed houses and various conditions to contend with that make 

 the matter of trap-nest installation a fair problem. There are also some 

 with heads so full of original (?) notions that it is pretty hard to crowd 

 in a practical truth without causing concussion of the brain. I hope to 

 have a large class and they will be varied in their individual make-up 

 and be surrounded by conditions differing widely. 



ONE OR TWO COMPARTMENTS; WHICH ? 



Either the single or double compartment ideas for a nest box are not 

 patented or patentable. Those who would like to divide their nest 

 boxes into two parts, one for the nest and one for a ••waiting room"' 

 can do so without infringing upon anyone's rights. I designed, years 

 ago, quite a number of two-compartment nests and have also used and 

 examined many others. 



Our Ideal nest box can be made about two feel long and divided by 

 fastening a i inch strip across the center of the box, or a box some 2£ 

 feet long witli the hen-opening made in the side can be used. This 

 side can be hinged at the bottom so as to lie opened downward, A 

 strip four inches wide and of suitable length can be nailed across the 

 box diagonally and the nest placed in one corner. After the hen has 

 remained on the nest as long as she desires (from live minutes to as 

 many hours) she may come off and wait patiently to be released or. if 

 she is nervous, she max' race back and forth on and off the nest. She 

 can pill ] her egg out of the nest or cal it where it is. if she knows how. 

 She can roost on I he edge and soil the nest if she likes, and she is far 

 more likely to do Ibis than were she in the nest itself. 



