12 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



producer will have bright yellow legs at the end of the laying 

 season. "Two hundred egg'' hens always have white legs at 

 the end of their pullet year. This point is one which may be 

 of a great value to the poultryman when he is culling his flock 

 in the fall and deciding which of his pullets he will keep over 

 to use as breeders the next year. If he has no trap nest records 

 the color of the shanks furnish him one of the best indications 

 he can have as to the way in which these pullets have laid 

 during their first year of life. His first selection should always, 

 of course, be on the strength and constitutional vigor, but after 

 having picked out the good strong healthy birds he should then 

 choose from among those the ones which show the whitest legs. 

 Poultrymen often make a mistake on this point. One fre- 

 quently hears of a poultryman practicing just the opposite — 

 that is, when he culls his pullets in the fall for the breeders of 

 the next year, he will pick out carefully those which have yel- 

 low legs. By doing this he is systematically picking out the 

 poorest layers in his flock to use as breeders, whereas, if he 

 takes those wnth the white legs he is systematically picking out 

 his best layers for breeding purposes. 



Maine Station Methods Win in Feeding Hens for Egg 



Production. 



In connection with the Second National Egg Laying Con- 

 test carried out by Director T. E. Quisenberry at the Missouri 

 Poultry Experiment Station a 12 months test was made, during 

 the past year, of different methods of feeding for egg produc- 

 tion. In the fall of 1912 ten pens of pullets were selected for 

 this test. The birds in these pens were as uniform a lot as it 

 is possible to select. The methods of housing were the same 

 in all cases. The only variable factor was the different methods 

 of feed used in the different cases. Five of the pens were 

 Single Comb White Leghorns and five were Buff Orpingtons. 

 The ten different methods of feeding used and the results ob- 

 tained are shown in the following table. 

 Pen. Ration Fed. Eggs. 



63 Fed according to Maine method i>598 



62 Fed according to New York method 1,522 



67 Fed with Norwich feeders 1,510 



70 Fed and confined to house continuously 1,495 



