No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICUI/TURE. 291 



first cousidered. Then we bad a group of 21 birds that made the 

 poorest record tbe first year, best the second and medium the third, 

 3i*J eggs, and they stood seventh. Wo then liad a group of 12% 

 that laid the minimum the first, tlie most the second and the least 

 the third. They laid 352 eggs. Then we had a combination that 

 laid medium the first, least the second and most the third; tliey laid 

 389 eggs and stood second in the combination. Finally the highest 

 group record in three years' time was by an individual that was a con- 

 sistently high layer and laid the same number the first and second 

 years and laid in three years' time 426 eggs. The poorest one of the 

 lot laid 232 eggs in three years only about 78 eggs a year. The point 

 that should be emphasized is, that one can never know absolutely, 

 the best hens in his flock unless he knows their records for at least 

 two or three years, for sometimes they come up surprisingly in the 

 second and third years and very frequently the birds tliat make the 

 best records the first year, that is a very, high or abnormal record, 

 will be the birds that lay less eggs in their next year and rest, and 

 come up again and lay more eggs in the third year than in the second. 



A Member: Does your experiment only apply to Leghorns or all 

 types ? 



PEOF. RICE: I think it would apply to most breeds of Leghorn 

 type. I do not believe it would apply in the same way with the 

 heavier breeds; I think there would be a tendency perhaps for some 

 of the heavier breeds to lessen in their production a little more rap- 

 idly as they grow older and yet that is only a guess. 



A Member: Were these birds all treated the same in feeding and 

 otherwise? 



PROF. RICE: Oh, yes. They were all kept on the same farm, 

 fed by the same man and had the same kind of rations. It is very 

 fortunate that we have not varied our rations at the college in our 

 experiments with birds for the past 7 or 8 years. 



The next factor we want to consider is the question not merely 

 of the eggs that hens lay over a period of years, but it is the eggs 

 that they lay during various months of the year. What we want 

 to know is the dollar's worth of eggs that hens lay. We not only 

 want a hen to lay many eggs but to lay just as many as possible 

 when they are high in price. One egg in the fall is worth three or 

 four eggs in the spring. It is exceedingly important that we get a 

 hen that distributes her production properly. We want October, 

 November and December layers, and, therefore, that factor ought 

 to be taken into consideration always in selecting our birds. They 

 lay more dollars worth of eggs then with only fair production than 

 the others even though they may not lay as many eggs in a year as 

 hens that do not lay well in the fall. Generally, however, we have 

 this in favor of the fall layers as pullets or hens that our records 

 show that almost invariably the birds that lay the most eggs in the 

 months of September, October, November and December, whether they 

 are hens or pullets, are the birds that have also laid the most eggs in 



