IIS4 



Rural School Leaflet 



VI. selecting and keeping eggs for hatching 



James E. Rice 



One of the easiest ways to increase the money-earning value of poultry 

 is to improve the quality of the eggs. The best customers usually are 

 willing to pay a higher price for eggs of superior quality. Frequently this 

 difference in price is as high as from five to ten cents a dozen. Each hen 

 in a good flock should lay on the average from ten to eleven dozen eggs 

 a year. If the eggs are of such quality that they will sell for even two cents 

 more a dozen than ordinary eggs, this would mean a net difference of 

 about twenty-five cents a hen in a year. This extra price is nearly all 

 clear profit, due to the uniformity in size, shape, and color of the eggs. 



Croups of eggs showing the various sizes and shapes that are obtained from almost any 

 flock. All the eggs in the same row were laid by one hen. Note thai the eggs laid by 

 one hen have a characteristic shape. Only uniformly shaped eggs should be marked 

 as first-class 



The kind of eggs that brings the highest price will depend somewhat 

 on the market. The poultry raiser should first find out what kind of 

 eggs will bring the highest price and pay the largest profit in his market ; 

 then produce that kind only. 



There are several things that can be done that will help to improve the 

 selling quality of the eggs: 



1. A pure breed of poultry that will lay eggs as nearly as possible the 

 right size, shape, and color to meet the requirements of the market, should 

 be kept. Such fowls cost little, if any, more to keep than fowls that 

 lay an inferior quality of eggs. 



2. Only those eggs should be used for hatching that are of best market 



