18 



TSE COMPLETE POULT BY BOOK. 



lu carrying into practice the suggestions thus received from nature, we should 

 endeavor first to secure eggs as freshly laid as possible, since those which have 

 been laid for some time will not hatch so promptly nor produce such thrifty 

 chicks as those more recently laid ; the eggs should have been laid by young and 

 thrifty fowls, as there will be a large per cent, of infertile ones, while the chicks 

 produced will be of weak constitution, among eggs laid by old hens, and 

 especially among those fertilized by old or puny cocks ; the neMs for the sitting 

 hens should be located upon the ground if possible,- or if this be impracticable, 

 a few shovelfuls of earth, or a piece of sod, should bfe put in the bottom of the 

 nest-box, arranged in the form of a nest, and covered 

 with cut hay or straw, or with leaves. The nest-box 

 should not be so deep but that the hen can leave it 

 without disarranging her eggs^-Fig. 1 represents a 

 good form — and should be so arranged that other hens 

 may be excluded; otherwise there will be continual, 

 ■*<..^i^^-*^ quarreling, resulting in the breaking of eggs and the 



.^* ^'■'-^>, _| laying of fresh ones which will not hatch in season, 



and will thus be destroyed. 



In Fig. 2 we illustrate a hatching-cOop for use 

 where very early chickens are desired. The coop is 

 four feet long, three feet Wide and lour feet high, being made large enough to 

 give ample ventilation when closed. The nest is made in one corner of the 

 coop, or two hens may be set in opposite corners at the same time, and Alrhen 

 the chicks are hatched they may be confined in the' coop when necessary. The 

 sash is 3x4 feet in size, and may be raised or removed entirely when desired. 



Fio. 1. 



Fig. 2. 



Where several hens are sitting at the same time, it is well to have each nest 

 connected with a covered run-way, in which food and water may be placed for 

 the hen, and which will, prevent her returning to the wrong nest, or being dis- 

 turbed by the attempts of other hens to lay to her. Such an arrangement is 

 shown in Figs. 3 and 4, which represent the plan of a sitting-house contrived by 

 a correspondent of Farm amd Fireside from Hillsdale, Pa., who writes under 

 tlie nom de plume of Keystone : 



