THE CALL OF THE HEN. 57 



will be in good condition. Next go through movements as in Figs. 9 

 and 10 and hold her and examine her pelvic bone as in Fig. 11. Her 

 pelvic bone may be one-sixteenth (1/16) of an inch thick, as in Fig. 24. 

 Now look on Chart 1. Your hen is one-finger abdomen, in good condi- 

 tion, and her pelvic bone is one-sixteenth (1/16) of an inch thick. You 



CHART 1. 



One-finger Abdomen 



1/16 pelvic bone 36 eggs 



1/8 pelvic bone 32 eggs 



3/16 pelvic bone 28 eggs 



1/4 pelvic bone 24 eggs 



5/16 pelvic bone 20 eggs 



3/8 pelvic bone 16 eggs 



7/16 pelvic bone 12 eggs 



1/2 pelvic bone 8 eggs 



9/16 pelvic bone 4 eggs 



5/8 pelvic bone eggs 



will see that she is a 36-egg type hen. That means that if this hen is 

 one of a large number on a commercial poultry plant, she is capable of 

 laying three dozen eggs her first laying year, if she is fed and cared for 

 properly, barring accidents and disease. So we will call her a 36-egg 

 type hen. 



We will drop this hen and take another from the crate and go 

 through the same movements. Hold her as in Fig. 5 or Fig. 7, with 

 head as in Fig. 6 (she may also be a one-finger abdomen hen, as in Fig. 

 12), then examine for condition, as in Fig. 8. Her condition may be 

 good, as in Fig. 19; then hold as in Figs. 9 and 10, and measure thickness 

 of pelvic bone, as in Fig. 11. Her pelvic bone may be three-eighths 

 ( 3 /s) of an inch thick, as in Fig. 27; in that case she would read like this: 

 One-finger abdomen; good condition; three-eighths ( 3 /s) pelvic bone. 

 Now, look on Chart 1, and you will find she is a 16-egg type hen. 



We will drop her and take another from the crate, and go through 

 the same movements as before. This hen may be a one-finger abdomen 

 hen also, in good condition, with pelvic bone J/ inch thick, as in Fig. 

 28, and by consulting Chart 1 we find she is an 8-egg type hen. 



We drop her and take another from the crate. She may be a 

 hen with a one-finger abdomen, as in Fig. 12. When we examine her 

 condition we find she is like Fig. 20, which indicates that she is one 

 finger out of condition (the subject of "Condition" is explained in Chap- 

 ter V.) ; her pelvic bone may be Vie of an inch thick, as in Fig. 24. This 

 hen will read different from the other hen that was Vie pelvic bone. 

 This hen is out of condition. She may have been in condition up to 

 a few weeks previous to our examination of her; the cause of her lack 

 of condition may be improper food or care, or both, or it may be due 

 to moulting, or she may have been broody. In any of these cases it 

 would not be the hen's fault that she was out of condition, and she 

 should not be held responsible for it. Her condition indicates that there 

 is something wrong, and it's up to her owner to right the wrong, and 

 when we do right the wrong, the hen will come back into condition, and 

 her abdomen will then measure two fingers instead of one finger. We 



