578 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



a variety of food, consisting of meat scraps, grain, vegetables, shells, bone, etc., together with 

 finely cut, well-cured rowen hay. Corn fodder is also excellent, and should be kept by them. 

 It is surprising what an amount of green food fowls will eat when permitted to have constant 

 access to it. 



Egg Production. Quality Of Eggs, etc. There has been considerable discussion 

 among poultry breeders relative to the number of eggs which may be produced by a hen in 

 a year. . We believe it is generally conceded by those who have given the subject much 

 attention, that with the best breeds for egg production the number of eggs will average from 

 a hundred to a hundred and seventy-five per year with proper care, while even higher 

 numbers maybe reached in individual cases. Mr. A. M. Halsted says: &quot; Some years since a 

 tabulated statement went the rounds of the press, showing that a hen could not possibly lay 

 more than six hundred eggs in the course of her natural life. 



This number was parcelled out as follows: 



The first year after birth 15 to 20 



&quot; second &quot; 100 &quot; 120 



&quot; third &quot; &quot; &quot; 120 &quot; 135 



&quot; fourth &quot; &quot; &quot; 100 &quot; 115 



The fifth year after birth, 60 to 80 



&quot; sixth &quot; &quot; 50 &quot; 60 



&quot; seventh &quot; &quot; &quot; 35 &quot; 40 



&quot; eighth &quot; &quot; &quot; 15 &quot; 20 



This table was assumed and based upon a microscopic investigation of the ovarium of a 

 hen, by some European savant. For once, science was wrong. Within the past five years, a 

 number of persons have kept careful count and have found an egg-production of nearly one 

 thousand, during the eight or nine years of a hen s life. I, myself, have had a yield of over 

 three hundred and fifty eggs per hen, in two years; averaging one hundred and seventy-five 

 yearly, from a flock of Crevecoeurs, and my Brown Leghorns yearly exceed that record. 

 Two years since from a flock of sixty-one hens at first, of which two died in February and 

 March, and thirty-four were killed for the table prior to July, I gathered between January 

 1st and September 1st, sixty two hundred and fifty-seven eggs. Taking forty-three as the 

 average number of hens through the season, this gives an average of one hundred and 

 forty-five eggs per hen, for eight months. Of these sixty-one hens, only twenty-five were 

 Brown Leghorns; six were Light Brahmas; four Plymouth Rocks, and the rest were crosses 

 and mongrels. Had the flock been all Leghorns, I have no doubt but the average would 

 have been fully one hundred and seventy-five eggs per hen. 



This production of eggs may be forced by suitable feeding, and, in breeding for profit, 

 it should be done. Assuming the table given above to be correct in the proportion of eggs 

 laid at certain ages of the fowl, it follows that to get the full value of the egg-production, we 

 must keep her until the fourth year. If, by proper feeding and attention, we can cause her 

 to lay three-fourths, or more, of that possible number during the first two years, we can then 

 fat her for market, and fill her place in the yard by younger fowls, to go through the same 

 forcing process. It is folly to feed and keep a hen four years, when the bulk of profit may 

 be obtained from her in half that time. I should, therefore, advise fitting her for market as 

 soon as she has finished the best of her second season s laying, which is usually about June. 

 The cocks may be kept until three years old if desired, but usually two years will be found 

 the most profitable age to market them. 



In the old times it was a good flock of fowls which averaged fifty eggs per hen per 

 annum. Now an average of one hundred is esteemed a low figure; one hundred and fifty per 

 head being considered the necessary number to entitle a flock to be called good layers. We 

 frequently hear of instances where an average of two hundred and upwards have been 

 produced by small-sized flocks, but these are exceptions to the rule. In eggs, the 

 improvement of quality is equally noticeable. The idea that an egg is an egg no matter 

 whether fresh or stale, whether stringy and tasteless, or meaty and rich, has exploded. Wo 

 find as much difference in the quality of eggs, as with any other article of food ; the quality 



