INCUBATION. 



19 



" This house ia made for fifty hens, and is twelve feet long, from east to west, by- 

 eight feet wide, from north to south. There are doors at the east and west ends, and 

 sliding glass windows, six by eight feet in size, in the south side. Boards six 

 feet long by one foot wide are set on edge under the north side, in such a way as 

 to form boxes one foot square inside the house, and one foot by five feet outside. 



Fia. s. 



The inside boxes are used for laying and hatching, and are connected by doors 

 with the outside boxes, which are used for feed-boxes, and are covered with 

 laths nailed so close together that the young chick cannot get out. The inside 

 boxes have lids, which are shut down when the hen is set, and the door to the 

 outside box is then opened. Feed, water, gravel, etc., are placed in the outside 

 box, and the hen will thus be able to help herself without being interfered with ' 

 by other hens." 



Fis. 4. 



Lice sometimes become so troublesome as to drive sitting hens from their nests. 

 On this account a nest-box should never be used a second time without thorough 

 cleansing and whitewashing, or fumigating with tobacco smoke. Should the hen 

 become lousy, solphur or pyretbrum may be dusted under her feathers^ but no 



