56 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE FIRST LAYING YEAR. 



What is meant by "the first laying year?" All old poultry men 

 know what the above means, and I have no doubt some of my readers 

 may be impatient with me for explaining little things that are so familiar 

 to them, but they will remember that poultry parlance is not all con- 

 tained in the dictionary, and a great deal of the contents of this book 

 may be Greek to the beginners in the poultry business who will read 

 this work. For this reason I cannot be too plain in my language or too 

 careful of details in explaining matters. The first laying year has 

 nothing whatever to do with the age of a hen or pullet. I have had 

 hens that had passed their first laying year when they were sixteen 

 months old. On the other hand, I have seen hens that were over four 

 years old that had not commenced on their first laying year. The hen 

 that had passed her first laying year when she was sixteen months old 

 had commenced to lay when she was four months old, while the hens 

 that were over four years old had never laid an egg. So the reader 

 will see the first laying year commences with the first egg a pullet lays 

 and ends one year from that date, when her second laying year com- 

 mences. Some pullets will commence to lay at four months old, while 

 others of exactly the same type, fed and cared for in the same manner, 

 will not lay before they are eight months old, owing to different en- 

 vironment. Everything else being equal, poultry will develop faster 

 on a warm, dry, sandy soil than they will on a black, damp, heavy soil, 

 and they will mature much sooner in a good corn country, where it is 

 warm in the shade and warm at night, than they will in poor corn 

 country, where it is cool at night and cool in the daytime in the shade. 

 I have raised Leghorn pullets that were fully developed in size and form 

 and laid a full-sized egg when they were four months old. 



It can be done in Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, and 

 Minnesota, and in parts of California, where the nights are so warm 

 that one can sleep comfortable under a sheet only, but not where you 

 have to cuddle under a lot of blankets on a summer night to keep warm. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE SELECTION OF TYPES. 



If the reader has practiced handling a hen as in Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 

 10, and 11, we will proceed with a lesson in judging hens as to the number 

 of eggs they will lay their first laying year. 



We will look for a small hen to commence with, as she will be easier 

 to handle. Having our hen, we will hold her as nearly as we can as 

 in Fig. 5, and try to have her head as in Fig. 6, so she can see nothing. 

 She will then be easier to handle, Place hand across her abdomen, 

 as in Fig. 7. She may be a one-finger abdomen hen, as in Fig. 12. 

 Then hold her as in Fig. 8. Her breast may be as in Fig. 19; if so, she 



