34 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



sirable feed; it is of a carbohydrate character but has a very- 

 small amount of protein, and you cannot make eggs from corn 

 alone. 



Question. Would you tell me what is your opinion of 

 feeding green corn, to chickens eight or ten weeks old, on the 

 cob? 



Professor Lewis. I don't know that I ever fed any of it. 

 I don't know why it would not be all right. It is succulent 

 and palatable, and they would probably relish it as a part of 

 their ration. It could not be substituted for dry mash or 

 grains at all, because green corn is primarily a carrier of water, 

 having 70 or 80 per cent of water present. I think there are 

 other sources which would supply succulents in large quantities 

 more economically. 



Mr. Hawkins. I would like to ask if there are any special 

 characteristics by which we can select the hens that are the best 

 layers by their general type and appearance? 



Professor Lewis. You saved me by putting on "appearance" 

 at the end. There are' certain factors which a number of in- 

 vestigators have brought to light recently which tend to be 

 correlated with egg production. We have all said that the 

 heavy producers, in the majority of cases, must have deep, 

 long, wide bodies. I do not mean to say that every bird that 

 has a deep, long, wide body is a heavy producer, but that 

 practically all heavy producers have abundance of room in 

 there, just as a good dairy cow has certain well-defined 

 characteristics. There are other factors aside from that, 

 definitely correlated with egg production. One is the color of 

 the shank. Professor Rice has found that the heavy layers 

 laid the color out of their shanks. A pullet will start out in the 

 fall with bright yellow shanks; the color pigment in her shanks 

 and her ear lobes will be utilized in going into egg production; 

 by spring she will have pale shanks and ear lobes. The Con- 

 necticut station has done a lot of work on the color of the ear 

 lobe of the cockerel as related to egg production, and there are 

 other characteristics, such as the prominent eye and deep- 

 seated head, which are indicative of vigor. 



It is not such an awful proposition to take ten of the best 

 hens picked by their external appearance and put them in a 

 coop and trap-nest them during December, January and 



