120 The Egg- Type Hen. 



of the flock will be improved. A high-scoring fowl will lay no 

 better than one of ordinary merit, but I have found that my 

 finest specimens were good layers, and their attractive appear- 

 ance, both in form and plumage, makes it a pleasure to care for 

 a flock of high-scoring standard fowls. My varieties are the 

 Plymouth Rocks and Wyandottes, and I breed them with deep, 

 full breasts and broad bodies and orange-yellow legs, all desir- 

 able market qualities as well as high standard points. I have 

 had flocks of these breeds that averaged 200 eggs each in a 

 year, and if there is any form that will make them do better I 

 should like to know it; but I do not believe there is. A. C. 

 HAWKINS. 



Actions Speak Louder Than Shape. From the peculiar shape 

 or type of an individual specimen of a breed of fowls, I don't 

 think anybody can tell whether she is or is not a great egg- 

 producer in comparison with the other members of the flock. 

 But from her actions as a pullet, when nearly matured, one 

 can almost always say, with a fair degree of certainty, that the 

 bright, active, nervous, mischievous specimens, in short, the 

 workers, those that are always busy, are theshellers-out of the 

 eggs. The laying quality of any breed can be improved by 

 continually selecting and breeding from those specimens that 

 are the greatest layers, regardless of type or markings, if eggs 

 are all the breeder is desirous of obtaining. F. B. ZIMMER. 



A Good Layer is Active. I find that a hen of rather light 

 build, indicative of great activity, and of medium, or perhaps 

 rather under medium size for the breed, is usually the best 

 layer. '* A hen with short legs, chunky body and small head" 

 is not the best type for a prolific layer, though, in exceptional 

 cases, such hens may prove good layers. To improve the lay- 

 ing qualities of a flock of fowls it is better to select the best 

 layers, let their type be what it may, and mate them with male 

 birds bred from good layers, than to attempt to do this simply 

 by selecting a given type, although it may be possible to make 

 improvement in laying by selecting the type that is indicative 

 of great prolificacy. H. S. BABCOCK. 



