14 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 
the heavier breeds, and they are not so contented 
when closely confined, while they always remain 
rather wild and cannot be petted like the representa- 
tives of the larger breeds. 
Some of these qualities, however, commend them 
to certain amateurs. The fact that they never sit 
is much in their favor if an incubator is to be used 
or if no chickens are to be hatched or raised, or 
if day-old chicks are to be purchased and reared in 
a brooder. Broody hens are a nuisance under such 
circumstances. The fact that these light breeds eat 
much less than the larger ones is distinctly in their 
favor and the difference in the amount of food con- 
sumed by a Leghorn and a Rhode Island Red, for 
instance, is surprisingly large, especially when it is 
considered that the smaller hen will lay the most 
eggs, as a rule, and that the eggs are often as large. 
The author has been keeping a pen of Anconas side 
by side with a pen of Reds, and the eggs of the 
former have averaged notably larger. 
It should be said, though, that the matter of strain 
enters into this proposition as well as into the num- 
ber of eggs produced. Some strains lay much 
larger eggs than those of other strains of the same 
breed, for some breeders make a point of breeding 
