54 AMERICAN POULTRY ASSOCIATION 



at a time, and removed either immediately after mating, or when 

 the next female is brought to the male. When trapnesting is 

 practiced, it is handy to take the hen from the trapnest after 

 laying to the pen in which the male is kept. 



Resting Males. Quite another method to increase the per- 

 centage of fertility of the eggs by overcoming the neglect of 

 some of the females by the male, is to use different males on 

 alternate days. It is reasoned that with two males, fewer females 

 would be neglected, as the males would be unlikely to select the 

 same favorites. However that idea proves out, the common 

 practice of confining each male on alternate days certainly affords 

 an opportunity to rest, and eat sufficient food, of which oppor- 

 tunity a male, more than probably, does not avail himself while 

 running with the females. Males, under this system, keep in 

 better condition physically, and consequently are more able to 

 propagate strong and vigorous offspring. 



Large Matings. Infertility of hatching eggs, accountable to 

 the favoritism of males, is naturally infrequent in breeding flocks 

 so large as to require the presence of several males. In this 

 case, the explanation offered in the preceding paragraph remains 

 'rue. 



Individual Disposition. The disposition of the fowl should 

 receive serious consideration. Very often we see such individ- 

 uals that when at a distance or unaware of the fact that they 

 are under observation or in close proximity to a human being or 

 any animal except those of their own genus, pose strikingly and 

 show splendid form; yet when approached, go all to pieces, as 

 the expression is, which means that they become so frightened 

 that they lose all style, and all semblance of correct shape dis- 

 appears. The most kindly overtures and best efforts to accustom 

 these individuals to the ways of complete domestication are 

 wasted, and only one conclusion is possible, namely, that such 

 birds lack the ordinary intelligence even of their order of animal 

 life. Such individuals are of little use either in the show coop 

 or the breeding pen. In the show coop, because they stand un- 

 naturally and awkwardly, and seem persistently intent upon 

 making an escape, and must consequently show in poor form; 

 and for breeders because dispositions as well as any other char- 

 acteristics are transmittable and, more than that, it is admitted 

 that the contented, happy hen is the hen that lays most fre- 

 quently, from which it follows that these individuals that lack 

 contentedness to the extent of never being competent to adjust 



