Poultry- YARD Fittings. 



[AUG., 



position. Darkness in the nests also tends to prevent egg 

 eating, and any arrangement that will have this effect cannot 

 be otherwise than desirable. A form of darkened nest box 

 suitable for attaching to a wall at some height from the floor, or 

 for laying on the floor, with the open side turned towards the 

 wall, is shown in Fig. 2. 



When arranging or constructing nests for the inside of a 

 roosting house two things must be borne in mind ; namely, that 

 floor space ought to be economized as much as possible, and 

 that the nest boxes must not form comfortable roosting places 

 for the fowls. The boxes should therefore be fixed to the wall 

 so that the hens can use the floor beneath them for scratching. 

 A convenient height would be between two and three feet. But 

 it is still more important that the boxes should not constitute 

 roosting places for the fowls, and if the boxes are made as shown 

 in Fig. 3, the hens cannot rest in any part of them, except they 

 lie in the nest itself or on the board which runs along the front. 

 It may be noted, however, that this board has a sharp upper 

 edge and does not make a comfortable resting place. Hens 

 which have acquired the habit of lying in the nests at night can 

 only be broken of it by removing them after dark to the regular 

 roost. 



Another useful feature of this simple nest is that it can be 

 very easily kept clean. As the various parts are screwed 

 together, the box may be taken to pieces when it is considered 

 necessary to give it a thorough cleaning ; but this is seldom 

 necessary, as there are slits near the bottom at back and front 

 so that the box can be easily swept out. An important point in 

 the construction of these boxes is that the dividing boards are 

 sloping at such an angle that fowls cannot possibly perch on 

 them. The nests can be boarded on top to make them darker 

 and more secluded by running a board from end to end and 

 fastening it to the ends and partitions. 



To provide suitable nests to be attached to the outside of a 

 portable house, the box may be constructed in almost the same 

 manner as that shown in Fig. 2, but without the place for 

 entrance at the ends, and it may be fixed to the end of the 

 house in the manner shown in Fig, 4. This is certainly the 

 most convenient style of nest for small portable houses, because 



