THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



53 



which allows the egg to be delivered without straining on the part 

 of the hen. Not every poultryman, but every poultrywoman has seen 

 cases where a hen has gone on the nest and after a couple of hours com- 

 menced to cackle her head off. Presently we hear the whole flock take 

 up the chorus, and going to see what the trouble is, we find the hens 



FIG. 33 Crooked pelvic bone, "B, B," Position No. 2. Hens with bones curved 

 like this will lay about 20 per cent less than hens of the same type and capacity with 

 straight pelvic bones, as in figure 34. 



holding an "Old Maids' Convention" and declaring they will never lay 

 another egg, it hurts them so much to do so. On examining them, we 

 find the pelvic bones so crooked they come together like the horns of a 

 Jersey cow, and when the hens lay, instead of the vent dropping down 

 between the pelvic bones, allowing the egg to be released in an easy 

 manner in a few minutes after the hen goes on the nest, the egg is forced 

 to be delivered between the pelvic bones and tail bone, thus prolonging 

 the agony of the hen sometimes for hours, when, if she was built right, 

 as in Fig. 34, she would be relieved of the egg without pain in a few 

 minutes. And instead of wasting vitality in getting relieved of the egg, 

 she would be rustling around for material to build another one, and thus 

 add at least 20 per cent to her egg-producing value. This matter of 

 crooked pelvic bones is more frequent in some breeds than in others, 

 and is a serious matter that is very easily remedied by breeding only 

 from birds with the straightest pelvic bones, especially looking after 

 the male birds, as one male bird with crooked pelvic bones will trans- 

 mit this defect to all of his daughters. 



