Making a Poultry House :: NESTS AND ROOSTS

NESTS AND ROOSTS

When we have come to the interior fittings of the poultry house, we are about ready for the flock to move in, and may consult the peculiarities of our chosen breed to some extent.

In the matter of nests, heavier breeds of fowls need them of easier access than do the lighter breeds. The latter class seem to enjoy an ascent to their nests, and it is as well to favor them.

The nests may be around the sides of the building, beneath the roosts and drop-board, or in any convenient place, and there should be as many as there is room for. Nests that are scattered about and possess some distinctive characteristics seem to make a greater appeal to some fowls. Nests in tiers of three or in blocks of three seem to be readily identified by the hens if the different sets of nests are differently placed, but a row of half a dozen nests exactly alike is confusing to the average hen.

When space is at a premium, the nests should stand beneath the roosts, protected by a wooden drop-board—smooth to be vermin-proof and removable to be sanitary. A hinged board serves to darken the nest and at the same time can be held up by a hook when so desired. For cleanliness the nest should be made of wood and treated with some vermin preventive which should be washed well into all crevices. If the nest is raised four or five inches from the floor and built with a porous bottom, it is more easily kept dry. The compartments should be separated to prevent interference between layers. Each of these should be, as a rule, 16 × 12 × 14 inches, although I am now using nests 13½ in. long by 10½ in. wide and 12 in. high. In order to be lifted for cleaning some light material must be used. A convenient arrangement is a long, narrow box, fitting the available space, divided by partitions into individual nests. Wire netting makes a very good bottom for this type of nest. I like either this or the slat bottom, through which the dust and worn nest material sift and the air circulates. Of course, such a nest should be supported on brackets or suspended so that the air can penetrate its parts. Grocer's boxes may be converted into good nests by removing the bottom and tacking smooth slats across, with one and one-half inches of space between each. Inch-meshed poultry wire may be used if one is going to use the wire netting. A coat of paint gives a more sanitary surface, but if this is not practicable, the wood should be planed as smooth as possible and whitewashed.

Concealment is usually favorable to the use of the nests, and if the apartment is light and sunny, a board screen may be used to secure this, or the nest entrance may be turned away from the light. I am using curtains of sacking with marked increase of popularity among my fowls. Nests which were persistently shunned are now constantly used since thus darkened. The sacking may be hung from a wooden strip placed in front of the nests. It gets dusty, but if one is provided with two or three such curtains, the soiled ones may be hung outdoors in the wind and rain for cleansing.

Alfalfa in the run under netting, through which the hens may pick

Illustration showing a hen entering a trap nest

Even with the small flock the trap nest should be used—there is no use feeding non-producers

The trap nest is as useful to the small poultryman as to the man who runs a large poultry plant. It is so arranged that each laying hen and her product may be identified. A trap nest may be improvised from a box of suitable size. Cut out entrance and exit in opposite sides, and in each suspend a door so that it will swing at a pressure of the fowl's head. The entrance door swings inward only—the exit door swings outward. After the egg is laid, the hen passes through the exit into a small inclosure, from which she is liberated after her achievement has been recorded.

Where rational methods are used in nest construction, it is hardly necessary to use nest-eggs to secure the fowl's patronage of the nests. Where they are used, however, those of dull finish are preferable to the smooth glass ones.

Hens want a roost that they can clasp with their toes. It should be broad enough to support the bird's weight upon the ball of the foot and thin enough to allow the toes to curl under. This act is a reflex one and as much a part of their slumber as scratching is a part of their waking activities. This power of clasping the perch seems to belong to birds in vigorous conditions. Ailing birds that cannot roost seldom have enough vitality to recover.

Roosts two and one-quarter inches wide and not more than an inch thick, with slightly rounded edges favoring the curl of the toes, are satisfactory. They may be arranged horizontally, or slightly inclined, ladder fashion. Light poles cut from young saplings make suitable roosts, if scraped clean of bark and shaved to flatten them slightly on the upper side. Horizontal roosts may be placed about one foot apart, and not more than three lying parallel, or the fowls roosting on the rear perch do not get enough air. I prefer them slightly inclined, ladder fashion, at an angle of nearly thirty degrees, the lowest perch not lower than three feet from the floor, and not more than three perches parallel. Where the fabric curtain is used, all get the benefit of the fresh air coming through the canvas curtain.

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