FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



EGG LAYING CONTEST 



Three Flocks Average Over 200 Eggs 

 Per Bird for the Year 



Mrs. R. P. Thayer of Hadley got the 

 highest production of eggs per bird in 

 the county this year with an average 

 production of 218.12 eggs. There were 

 thirty Rhode Island Reds in this flock. 

 Frank D. Steele with a flock of three 

 hundred twenty Rhode Island Reds 

 led the flocks with from one hundred 

 to five hundred birds with an average 

 production of 213.76 eggs per bird. P. 

 L. Wheelock of Amherst was next with 

 200.2 eggs per bird. This flock had 170 

 birds at the beginning of the year. 



The following is a list of the high flocks 

 during the past year. 



Eggs 

 per Bird 

 218.12 

 213.76 

 200.20 

 196.92 

 186.63 

 183.89 

 179.61 

 178.80 

 176.53 

 173.04 

 169.79 

 164.16 

 1, 1925. 



Name 



Address 



No. 

 Birds* 

 30 

 320 

 175 

 300 

 114 

 182 



Mrs. R. P. Thayer, Hadley 



F. D. Steele, Cummington 

 P. L. Wheelock, Amherst 

 John Bloom, Ware 

 Wm. S. ChafFee, Pelham 

 Mrs. A. G. Eldridge, Am'st 

 Mrs. E. H. Alderman, Mid'ld 178 

 H. F. Duncan, Belchertown 324 

 S. G. Waite, Southampton 128 

 H. C. Booth, Belchertown 1420 

 Frank Rhood, Southampton 525 



G. H. Ball, Amherst 289 

 * Number of birds November 



Many poultrymen honestly believe that 

 their flocks lay at least fifty per cent all 

 of the time. This would mean produc- 

 tion of 183 eggs per bird during the year. 

 Only six of the flocks reporting reached 

 this goal. In fact one hundred sixty 

 eggs per bird is no mean production so 

 this is taken as a standard. We use the 

 New Jersey one hundred sixty egg stand- 

 ard which is given in the table below. 

 This gives the number of eggs per bird 

 needed each month to make one hundi-ed 

 sixty eggs for the year. The other 

 column gives actual production per bird 

 of a high, medium and low flock for each 

 of the twelve months. 



Flock A owned by Frank Steele of 

 Cummington started out only two eggs 

 per bird above the standard but soon 

 passed it and never was below. This 

 flock of Rhode Island Reds has been bred 



up by Mr. Steele for several years. The 

 birds were hatched early in April and 

 have been bred for early maturity and 

 persistency of laying. It takes skillful 

 feeding to keep up such high production 

 for so long a period. It may interest 

 breeders to know that excellent hatches 

 were obtained all through the season 

 from these birds which bursts the idea 

 that breeding birds should be held back in 

 production. This flock record is some- 

 thing to aim for. 



Flock B started out 5.4 eggs per bird 

 above the standard in November. As is 

 common with too high production in Nov- 

 ember the birds went through a partial 

 molt in February and March and were 

 below the standard in March, April, May 

 and June. This can easily happen when 

 scratch feed is not increased along with 

 production in the fall. This flock was 

 skillfully fed through the partial molt 

 or the birds would have dropped away 

 below the standard. 



Flock C is an illustration of the re- 

 sults obtained by hatching too late and 

 then failing to feed the birds so as to 

 bring them into production. The flock 

 reached standard in January but failed 

 to hold the gain. It is probably that 

 scratch feed was not increased along 

 with production. If the birds had been 

 properly fed they would have maintained 

 production from January on but they 

 could never make up for the time they 

 lost in November and December. 



The following is the production of these 

 flocks for the first six months of the 

 year: Standard 80, A, 106.81; B, 93.87; 

 C. 65.48; Flock A and B were 26.81 and 

 13.87 eggs respectively above the stand- 

 ard while flock C was 14.52 eggs below. 

 For the last six months the results were: 

 Standard 80; A, 106.95; B, 79.17; C, 

 88.74. In the last six months flock C 

 gained 8.74 eggs on the standard while 

 flock B was .83 of an egg behind. The 

 9.57 eggs that flock C gained over flock 

 D did not make up for the 28.39 eggs 



Merritt Clark 8C Co. 



Clothiers, Furnishers 



and 



Hatters 



HART SCHAFFNER AND 

 MARX CLOTHES I 



144 Main Street 

 NORTHAMPTON, MASS. 



LINCOLN v^^^^ FORDSON 



JUNE 21, 1926 

 NEW IMPROVED FORD PRICES 



All cars, Balloon Tires and Starters 



CHASE MOTOR COMPANY 



NORTHAMPTON, MASS. 



24 Center Street Telephone 470 



