POULTRY-HOUSE FITTINGS 



l6i 



Fig. 251 



, Nests under roost platform, 

 entered from front 



and may be used without a top. If it is to be attached to the wall 

 or placed under the droppings board, it needs a bottom but may be 

 used with or without a top. Such 

 a nest as this, sometimes slightly 

 modified in form, or enlarged for 

 very large hens, is the common 

 unit in series of nests for both 

 laying and sitting hens, and is 

 the basis of most trap nests, the 

 trap adjustments being attached 

 to it directly or to an extension 

 of it adapted to them. Wherever 

 more than one nest is needed 

 in a pen, the ordinary nests are 

 usually made double, triple, or 

 quadruple, — rarely more than four in a section, because of the 

 increased difficulty of handling them. All nests should be mov- 

 able. It is a serious mistake to build them into the house so 

 that they are difficult to clean and treat for lice, and cannot be 

 taken out and aired. 



The position of nests in the house may 

 be decided according to other fixtures and 

 the general plan, or according to the con- 

 venience of the keeper or the inclinations 

 and habits of the hens in the flock, — points 

 which it is sometimes necessary to consider, 

 as when hens contract the vice of egg eat- 

 ing. Nests for laying hens are rarely placed 

 on the floor (except when hens persist in 

 laying their eggs there), because in this 

 position they reduce available floor space ; 

 but when tiers of nests are used, they must 

 begin at the floor, in order to get in the de- 

 sired number of nests and have the higher 

 tiers accessible. They may be attached 

 to the wall and fully exposed to the light, or arranged to face the 

 wall (making a partially dark nest), or placed under the droppings 

 board with entrance from the rear and with a hinged cover in front, 



Fig. 252. Nests under 

 roost platform, entered 

 from the rear. Long sec- 

 tional nest box on cas- 

 ters, drawn out to collect 

 the eggs 



