40 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 



A hen will often go on the nest several days before beginning to lay. 



At feeding time all hens on the nests should be allowed to come off. 

 If hens are released at any time between the regular rounds, their eggs 

 may be placed temporarily in a vacant nest. which should be locked; or 

 an egg rack may be provided for this purpose. 



In a scratching shed house a platform at the back of the scratching 

 shed will be a cooler location for the nests in summer than the space 

 under the roosts in the roosting room. 



Use the same kind of nest material in all the nests in the pen ; if the 

 same kind of material is used for litter all the better. 



Hens will, in time, learn to use almost any kind of a nest. 



A box 14 inches long may be placed on top of a box 18 inches long; 

 this gives the hens a chance to reach the upper box which should be se- 

 cured so that it will not be pushed off. The more floor space given the 

 hens the better they will lay. 



Clean straw or hay is the best nest material ; sand or dirt sticks to 

 the eggs. Sand is good under the nest material. 



The nest boxes may be made 24 inches or more long and divided into 

 two apartments if desired. There is this objection to such construction 

 however. The hen will sometimes pull her egg into the "waiting 

 room'' where it is likely to be broken if the bottom is bare. If nest 

 material be placed in both compartments the hen will often lay in the 

 "waiting room." Nervous hens are likely to break their eggs racing 

 back and forth from one apartment to the other. The single apartment 

 nest box is the best. 



Don't criticise the Ideal because you think it hard for the hens to get 

 in. It is a very simple matter to make it so that it will be easy for a 

 hen to enter, but, when we do that, we tempt them to go in when they 

 do not wish to lay. A hen will go into an Ideal Nest Box when she 

 wants to lay an egg if she has to climb afoot to do it, but she will rare- 

 ly make such an attempt at any other time unless broody. 



