8o 



Journal of Agriculture. 



[lo Feb., 190Q. 



Egg Yield. — Bear in mind tliat the real cost of eggs can only be 

 estimated by the quantity harvested. You cannot expect a large egg yield 

 by feeding the stale loaf to your pullets. 



SELECTING LAYING STOCK. 



H. V . Hawkins, Poultry Expert. 



There are a great many methods advertised in various pamphlets and 

 papers stating that, if you will practise this or that method of selecting as 

 laid down in the paper, you will be able to determine the drones from the 

 workers. The writer has tried a few of these so-called certainties, and has 

 come to the conclusion the trap nest is the only accurate test. It is by 

 selection and keeping records, that advancement is made along this line. 



Each hen has her own individuality, i.e., certain hens lay eggs that are 

 in nine cases out of ten hatchable. Some hens lay well, but, although their 

 eggs are usually fertile, they wall not hatch whether set under a hen or 

 placed in the best incubator. The chicks develop to a certain size, in many 

 cases being fully formed, but die in the shell. Again, many hens lay eggs 

 that are seldom fertile. 



In selecting birds one has several objects. The saying " that the hen 

 that lays is the hen that pays " is often heard. The majority of those en- 

 gaged in the poultry business consider egg production the best end of the 

 business. It is often the surest. There is not the same amount of risk 

 attached to it. At the same time, if people are foolish enough to believe 

 that Islr. So-and-So can supply eggs from hens, tested by the so-called new 

 system, which have produced 300 eggs per annum they have more faith in 

 the advertiser and the hen than the writer has. 



There is no doubt that certain characteristics should be looked for in 

 a good laying hen. She should be low set, and stand on a pair of shanks 

 fairly wide apart. The head should be nice and clean cut with a full 

 bright eye. In other words, hens should show feminine character and not 

 wrinkled and sunken features. Hens of the latter type should be dis- 

 carded ; in short, masculinity in the hen is a bad sign. A hen with a large 

 capacity for food, i.e., has a large crop icraiu), is usually a payable bird 

 to feed. The smaller the sack of food she takes to roost at night the fewer 

 eggs will she produce. Dairymen know that a cow must have plenty of 

 room for food, in order to produce a large milk yield. 



The advertised systems serve one purpose, viz., by examining the lay 

 bones the amateur knows which bird is about to lay, or is laying. Should 

 the lay bones be relaxed to the extent of about three fingers (closed) the 

 bird is laying ; if they are almost in contact, that is the hen to market, 

 but so much depends on the time of year one wishes to sell table fowls. 



