HATCHING WITH HENS 63 



fourteen inches square, inside measurement, and about 

 «ight high. It has no bottom except the earth on the floor 

 of the pen in which it is placed. The front consists of a two- 

 . inch strip at the bottom and a board eight inches wide 

 hung on hinges. This arrangement makes it possible to 

 fasten the hens on. When there is a sand or board floor, 

 three inches of moist loam should be spread on the floor 

 and this set of nests placted on top of that. This loam 

 should be smoothed off in the nests so that it is just a trifle 

 higher on the outside and in the corners than in the center. 

 This will keep the eggs close together and prevent them from 

 rolling into the corners and getting cold. Rye straw should 

 be placed around the outside of the nest while the middle 

 should be filled with chopped hay or sliort rowen. 



If the hollowing of the earth in the center is just right, 

 it will keep the eggs jbogether, but will not pile one over 

 another so as to crush some of them. Eggs in such a nest are 

 not liable to break as the hens will not have a chance to jump 

 down on them, but must walk in from a floor which is nearly 

 level with the nests. 



Eggs with good shells should always be selected. A 

 broken egg is very disastrous to the success of the hatch 

 unless soon discovered and all the besmeared eggs washed 

 in tepid water. 



Set Hens That Mean Business. 



But to return to the hens themselves. They should be 

 tried two or three days on false eggs. Those that appear 

 wild and intractable should be thrown off and better ones 

 substituted. It is well to have all the hens in each bank 

 of four nests selected from one flock so that they are acquaint- 

 ed. There is then no quarrelling when let off to feed. Good 

 hens having been selected they should sit on worthless eggs 

 for two or three days, when the eggs that they are to hatch 

 should be placed under them. 



We have told how to avoid crushed and broken eggs as 

 much as possible. The other main difficulty and one of 

 the essentials to a good hatch is to keep down 

 the lice. 



Kill Lice and Mites.. 



The hens should be dusted thoroughly with some insect or 



