Proceedings of Seventeenth Normal Institute 221 



EXTERNAL INDICATIONS OF EGG PRODUCTION 

 O. B. Kent 



Since those bens that are the most persistent layers — that is, 

 that lay during the most weeks or months — are the best layers, 

 it is comparatively easy, by selecting those pnllets that begin to 

 lay fairly early in the fall and lay late the following summer or 

 fall, to cull out the poor producers and grade the birds according 

 to their performance. In a flock that is well cared for most hens 

 will average about five eggs a week while laying. In order to lay 

 200 eggs, it is necessary for a hen to lay from about December 1 

 until the first of the following September, or for nine months. If 

 she takes a vacation in the winter, it will of. course take longer. 



While five eggs a week does not hold true for all hens by any 

 means, yet it is a fair average. Some hens, like Lady Eglantine, 

 will average better than six eggs a week, and keep it up. But 

 what is much more common, some hens will average only two or 

 three eggs a week ; yet there is a much greater difference in the 

 length of the laying period of a high and a low producer than 

 there is in the number of eggs laid per week. Realizing this, 

 we want to know how we can most easily and surely recognize 

 those hens that are laying. 



Pullets that are laying can readily be distinguished by: (1) a 

 full, bright red comb, showing sexual maturity; (2) a distended 

 abdomen showing that the ovary is full of developing yolks, and 

 that the oviduct is distended; and (3) by the laying out of the 

 color of the ear lobes in yellow-skinned, white ear-lobed varieties. 

 In flocks which are not selected particularly for pure white 

 plumage, the ear lobes of the pullets are yellow before they begin 

 to lay. While a bird is laying, either pigment is drawn from the 

 body to give the yellow color to the yolk, or else a new supply is 

 not forthcoming to the different parts of the body. This results 

 in the bleaching or fading of the yellow color in the ear lobes, 

 beak, shanks and plumage. This fading proceeds in the order 

 just given. As a result, the ear lobes that were yellow before the 

 laying period become white very rapidly after the pullets start to 

 lay. This is the easiest, and in most flocks the most reliable test of 



