538 JUDGING AND CULLING FOWLS 



should not be confused with the loss of pigment due to pro- 

 duction. A very small ring just on the crest of the curve of the 

 beak very often is the last part of the beak to lose its color. The 

 lower beak bleaches faster than the upper, but may be used where 

 the upper is obscured by a horn, or black color, such as in the 

 Rhode Island Reds and Plymouth Rocks. On the average-colored 

 yellow-skinned birds, and on the average-sized bird, a bleached 

 beak means fairly heavy production for at least the past four to 

 six weeks. 



Shanks. The shanks are the slowest to bleach out, and hence 

 indicate a much longer period of production than the other parts. 

 The yellow color leaves the outer ring of the scales, then leaves the 

 entire scale, on the front of the shanks first, and finally leaves, after 

 a longer and greater production, from the scales on the rear of the 

 shanks. The scales on the heel of the shank that part of the 

 shank just below the back of the hock joint are the last to bleach 

 out, and for this reason may generally be used as an index as to the 

 natural depth of the original yellow color of the various parts of 

 the bird. A bleached-out shank on an average-sized bird with an 

 average yellow color indicates that the bird has been laying fairly 

 heavily for at least from 15 to 20 weeks. 



The yellow color comes back into the vent, eye-ring, ear-lobes, 

 beak and shanks and in these individual parts in the same sequence 

 as it has left, when the bird stops laying, only the color returns 

 much more quickly than it went out. A vacation, or rest period, 

 can sometimes be determined by the end of the beak being bleached 

 and the base being yellow, or a longer vacation, or rest, can be de- 

 termined by the shanks being pale or somewhat bleached and the 

 beak showing a fair amount of yellow pigment. In other words, if 

 the degree of yellow color in a bird gradually increases in density 

 from the vent to the eye-ring, to the lobe, to the base of the beak, to 

 the point of the beak, and to the shanks, it shows that the bird has 

 laid continuously without rest for a period indicated by the 

 amount of yellow present; whereas, if the bird shows more yellow 

 in any preceding part of the sequence as outlined, it indicates a 

 rest period depending on the difference of the yellow color found 

 in these parts. 



Body changes due to laying are of several kinds. They are here 

 considered under several heads : 



