THE CALL OF THE HEN. 63 



A man once brought me a two-and-a-half-year-old hen that he had 

 trap-nested for two years, and asked me to tell him how many eggs 

 she had laid her first laying-year. I told him she had never laid an egg. 

 Her abdomen was six fingers, she was in good condition, and her pelvic 

 bones were I 1 /* inches thick. He cautioned me to be careful, as he had 

 always trap-nested his hens, and his record showed how many eggs they 

 had laid. I replied, "If that is the case, her record shows that she has 

 never laid an egg." He said no more then, but brought me another hen, 

 asking me how many she would lay. I examined her for capacity. I 

 found she was a six-finger-abdomen hen; her condition was good; her 

 pelvic bones were Vie of an inch thick; they were both alike as to thick- 

 ness. I questioned him as to how he had fed her, and if she had been 

 sick her first laying year. As he is one of the best breeders in the United 

 States, I could depend on him knowing what he was talking about. I 

 asked him then to take off his hat. I could see by the shape of his head 

 he was a strictly honest man. I then told him that I had never raised 

 that breed of hens, but if it was a Leghorn, it might lay 280 eggs its 

 first year, and if a Plymouth Rock, it might lay 270. He said her trap- 

 nested record showed she laid 276 eggs from the time she commenced to 

 lay in her pullet year until she had laid one year. "That's all right," I 

 replied; "but what about the first hen we examined?" "We have never 

 found any in the trap-nest from her," he said, "but she might be in the 

 habit of laying in the yard." And as he offered $1,000 for her, he was 

 very anxious to get some chickens from her. I explained to him that 

 while most typical beef hens could be made to lay a very small number 

 of eggs in the spring when the crows laid, by feeding them a little lean 

 meat and shrunken wheat and bran on a grass plot of white clover (if 

 the blossoms of the white clover are clipped off), that his hen could not 

 be made to lay, as she was a barren hen, as indicated by the rigid cord 

 that connected both of the pelvic bones together, thus indicating that 

 nature never intended her to lay. I could name a number of professors 

 and physicians that have told me they have discovered the same condi- 

 tion after they had taken my lessons. 



The reader will please bear in mind that the two pelvic bones of a 

 hen are not always of the same thickness. Some hens may have one 

 pelvic bone thicker than the other; when this is the case, add the two 

 together and half of the number will be the right thickness to judge by. 

 For instance, if one pelvic bone was V of an inch and the other one was 

 Y 4 of an inch, the added thickness would be 8 /s of an inch; dividing this 

 would give you 3 /ie of an inch as the thickness of one pelvic bone. Where 

 one bone is thicker than the other, the thinnest one is on the left side of 

 the hen. 



Our next hen may be another six-finger-abdomen hen, as in Fig. 

 17; she may be in good condition, as in Fig. 19, and her pelvic bones 

 may be */ f an mcn thick, as in Fig. 25; she would be a 265-egg type 

 hen. 



Our next hen may be a six-finger-abdomen hen in good condition; 

 pelvic bones '/ inch; she would read six fingers abdomen; good con- 

 dition; pelvic bones / of an inch. By consulting Chart 6, we will find 

 this is a 205-egg type hen. 



Our next hen may be a six-finger-abdomen hen, in good condition; 

 J^-inch pelvic bones; this hen will be a 175-egg type hen. 



