FARM AXIMALS 319 



lower prices. The market classes of fowls include 

 also the common poultry sold at all seasons of the 

 year. In killing fowls for market it should be 

 remembered that the by-products are worth saving, 

 particularly if the farmer is operating on a large 

 scale. All fresh blood should be saved since this 

 furnishes an excellent food for laying and young 

 fowls. The feathers of chickens, ducks and geese 

 are worth from four and one-half cents to sixty 

 cents per pound depending on the quality. The 

 loss in dressing poultry varies somewhat according 

 to the breed. In comparative tests carried on in 

 Connecticut the loss in dressing varied from twenty- 

 four per cent, in Barred Plymouth Rocks to thirty 

 per cent, in Rosecomb Brown Leghorns. 



Warmth During the Night for Hens. It has fre- 

 quently occurred to poultrymen that hens might 

 be more comfortable and perhaps lay more eggs 

 if kept warm at night, especially during the cold 

 snaps of winter. This matter, however, depends 

 'entirely on how the heat is furnished. If with the 

 heat a close and stuffy atmosphere prevails it does 

 not pay to furnish warmth. In a number of 

 instances curtains have been tried as a method of 

 keeping hens warm at night. Usually, however, 

 this device has not given satisfactory results. 



Trap Nests. It is, of course, an important 

 matter to know whether a given hen is laying or 

 not and the ordinary method used for determining 

 this point is to use some form of trap nest by means 

 of which the hen is marked by a ring or some other 

 way so that it may be known just how many eggs 

 she lays. A great variety of trap nests have been 

 invented and placed on the market and very 

 sturdy claims are made concerning the usefulness 

 of these nests. In a series of tests in Rhode Island 



