284 



POULTRY PRODUCTION 



has a basket or bucket in one hand, may pick up the eggs 

 with the other without bending over. 



Probably the commonest location for the nests is under- 

 neath the perches, though it is not necessarily the best. Nests 

 and perches are the two commonest locations for infestations 

 by mites. It would seem that the chance of discovering and 

 eradicating them before they have infested both the perches 

 and the nests, and so drain the vitality of the laying hens both 

 by night and by day, is better if these two fixtures were some- 

 what separated. When the nests are placed under the perches 



Fig. 156 



A good type of wall nest. 



a dropping board is necessitated and the nests must either 

 be too low for the convenience of the caretaker or the perches 

 too high for the hens in heavy laying. If the perches are not 

 more than three feet high the bottoms of the nests will per- 

 force be so low as to make it difficult to clean out below them 

 and so dark that the floor is of little use for feeding, and the 

 hens are likely to lay there rather than in the nests. 



The perches should be the most frequently disinfected 

 of any part of the house. With the nests below the perches 

 they are very likely to catch some of the drippings from the 

 spray and the eggs be tainted. 



