24 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. ig02. 



her fourth year's work. No. 14 laid 208 eggs the first year, 141 

 the second and 28 the third year. She moulted in July, 1900, 

 and met with an accident in August which came very near end- 

 ing her existence, but her great vitality enabled her to rally and 

 she shed her feathers again, completely, and grew a second suit 

 that season. She did not begin laying again until the following 

 March when she laid 28 eggs by the close of May. At moulting 

 time in June she died. She was an upheaded, strong hen and 

 the first one to give us over two hundred eggs in one year. No. 

 101 laid 201 large brown eggs the first year; 30 the second year 

 and 63 the third year. She is now on her fourth year's work. 

 No. 286 was a late hatched pullet and did not commence laying 

 until February 12, 1899. In a year forward from that date she 

 laid 206 eggs. In the first year, commencing November 1, 1899, 

 she laid 191 eggs, with 157 during the second, and 138 in her 

 third year. When nearly three and a half years old she died 

 suddenly, having laid 119 eggs during the last 160 days she lived. 



With many poultry keepers and farmers the idea is prevalent 

 that if a hen lay but few eggs the first year she is likely to do 

 better the second year than though she laid well during the first 

 year. The data so far secured does not show that hens that yield 

 120 eggs or less the first year yield satisfactorily the second year. 

 Those that yielded in the vicinity of a hundred or less the first 

 year yielded very light the second year. On the other hand 

 many of those that yielded from 130 to 200 or over during the 

 first year laid quite well the second year. 



Of the 67 hens carried through two years, 10 laid more eggs 

 during the second than the first year, and 57 laid more during 

 the first than the second year. 



The right hand column of the tables shows the number of eggs 

 laid by each bird during the first full year after she commenced 

 laying, and in most cases it is larger than when the year is reck- 

 oned forward from November 1st. We have found it necessary 

 to have the pullets, of the breeds we have used, hatched by the 

 middle of April, at the latest, in order to have them laying by the 

 first of November. They then have a full year for work, before 

 they are removed, the following fall, to make room for the new 

 pullets that must be in winter quarters early, if they are to do 

 satisfactory work. If the pullet does not commence laying until 

 January, she does not have a full year before she has to give way 



