206 THE BEGINNER IN POULTRY 



if you mate her best daughters with a son who resembles 

 her in general, I think you can make progress. 



At any rate, it is good sense to reproduce from the 

 best all-around stock you have. A bird good in only 

 one or two points is not a desirable breeder, whether for 

 utility or for fancy. The one practical and sure way to 

 follow this out is to trap nest. If you do this, you will 

 know far more about each hen's individual peculiarities, 

 because you will observe her far more closely. I have 

 known farmers, having cross-bred or mongrel stock, to 

 select roughly from outward appearance and noticing 

 which hens laid oftenest. This rule of thumb is worth 

 something, but it is far from equal to trap nesting. And 

 no one can guess how really inaccurate it is until he has 

 done some trap nesting. He will then find that circum- 

 stances have often deceived him. 



The trap nest has its undoubted faults : the nervous 

 hen is fretted by it; the more " stupid" one may persist 

 in laying anywhere but within its narrow confines. But 

 any one who has studied fowls will have learned that he 

 must train them to trap nesting as he trains them into all 

 other desirable habits. " Make it easy to do the right 

 thing and difficult to do the wrong " is good counsel, 

 whether dealing with man or bird or beast. Trap nests 

 must be used without the traps until the fowls are fully 

 accustomed to their use, and no other nests must be al- 

 lowed in the pens. And if you, by chance, have shut 

 your hens in, several days before you furnished them 

 nests, never presume to blame them thereafter for laying 

 in the litter ! 



The selection of the kind of trap is a matter of some 

 importance. Those having a detention pen into which 



